Wild Trade Benoit Pouliot to Montreal For Guillaume Latendresse

Bob Gainey addressed the Montreal media today about the Latendresse trade from Monday. He had this to say:

“We’ve been happy often with the play of Guillaume over the last couple of years, but we find ourselves in a position where the team has changed drastically,” Gainey said after Canadiens practice Tuesday. “We’ve shifted out of a plan where we showed patience and waited for a group of young players that had been drafted. We’ve moved into a time where we need production from what could be considered mature players.”

Latendresse had played 232 games for the Canadiens, so it could be understood that the team ran out of patience. Still, Latendresse is having his worst start to a season in his career. A change in scenery could do him well.

Hockey Wilderness, SB Nation’s Minnesota Wild blog, takes a look at the effect of this trade has for the Wild as the team looks to find a way out of the basement of the Western Conference.

In the last three days, the Minnesota Wild have added Andrew Ebbett off waivers from the Chicago Blackhawks and traded Benoit Pouliot to the Montreal Canadiens for Guillaume Latendresse. These moves are likely seen from the front office as a way to spark a rather anemic offense and to try to provide some change to a team that has been underperforming to the expectations set by the franchise and the fanbase.

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With everyone healthy, lines might look something like this:

Andrew Brunette – Mikko Koivu – Martin Havlat
Owen Nolan – Eric Belanger – Antti Miettinen
Guillaume Latendresse – Andrew Ebbett – Petr Sykora
Cal Clutterbuck – Kyle Brodziak – Chuck Kobasew