Habs Trade Dustin Tokarski to Anaheim for Max Friberg

The Montreal Canadiens have traded goaltender Dustin Tokarski to the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for 23-year-old winger Max Friberg. This probably isn’t the trade that Montreal fans were hoping to see on Thursday.

The move is interesting on Anaheim’s behalf and may portend another move coming, since Eric Stephens of the Orange County Register reports that the injury sustained by John Gibson on Wednesday is not considered to be serious and that this trade is not in response to that injury. He also notes, unsurprisingly, that Tokarski will report to the San Diego Gulls of the AHL.

Could the Ducks have a taker for Anton Khudobin finally? Or is there a bigger move coming that involves Frederik Andersen now that Gibson has started to perform the way they’ve long hoped?

Montreal must have confidence that Carey Price is close to a return. Mike Condon has taken the majority of the workload in Price’s absence, but Tokarski had been his back-up, up until Ben Scrivens took over prior to the Winter Classic.

On the other end, Friberg has had some success in the AHL, but hasn’t been able to make the step into the NHL full time. Over the last two seasons he’s played six NHL matches with no points. Montreal has already announced as well that Friberg will report to their AHL affiliate, the St. John’s IceCaps.

It’s an interesting trade that seems to point toward another move coming on the part of Anaheim.

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