Gauthier Makes His First Move: Acquires Moore from Panthers

It took just three days since taking over as GM of the Montreal Canadiens for Pierre Gauthier to make a trade move.

The Canadiens acquired forward Dominic Moore on Thursday, from the Florida Panthers, in exchange for a second-round pick in the 2011 entry draft. The team press release can be found here.

Moore has eight goals and nine assists in 48 games for Florida this season, averaging just under 15 minutes of ice time per game.

One of his best attributes is his faceoff play, where he has a win/loss record of 55.8% this season (54.1 % last season).

By comparison, the top four Canadiens centres, Scott Gomez, Glen Metropolit, Tomas Plekanec and Maxim Lapierre, have win loss percentages of 50.6, 50.4, 48.0 and 47.2 respectively.

A third-round pick of the New York Rangers in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft, Moore is making $1.1 million this season and becomes an unrestricted free agent on July 1.

Maxwell demoted: The Canadiens, in the same press release, returned Ben Maxwell back the Hamilton Bulldogs on Thursday.

Frolov deal in the works?: There is also a rumour abuzz that the Canadiens could be looking to acquire Alexander Frolov from the Los Angeles Kings. Names floating to go the other way are Matt D’Agostini, Yannick Weber and Glen Metropolit.

P.K Subban called up from the Bulldogs: The Canadiens have announced the call up of prospect P.K Subban from Hamilton (AHL).

The charismatic Subban was a third round pick of the Canadiens in the 2007 draft.

With defenceman Josh Gorges and Andrei Markov having therapy days on Thursday, Subban’s call up is a likely precaution in case the two veterans are unable to play Friday and Saturday against Philadelphia. Expect the Bulldogs star to be returned to Hamilton once the Olympic break kicks in on Sunday.