Nashville acquires Hal Gill from Montreal

In the eyes of a few general mangers out there - if you wait for it, you're going to lose it. Such was the case this afternoon as the another domino fell in the trade winds as the Nashville Predators acquired Montreal defenseman Hal Gill (& a conditional 5th round pick) for Blake Geoffrion, R. Slaney, and a 2012 second round draft pick.

The 6-foot-7 defenseman will be a veteran presence to the Predator locker room while using his size and strength to clear the traffic in front of Pekka Rinne on the ice. Don't expect for Nashville to use him in any offensive scenarios as Gill has just 8 points in the 53 games he has played this season. His skills will primarily be used on the penalty kill and potentially shadowing the oppositions' support players - as Suter and Weber will tackle the top targets. The downside to this trade is that Gill is 35 years old and is only averaging 16+ minutes a game. Some say that the big body defenseman is having additional mobility issues as he ages.

With only 56 points in the standings, Montreal has officially raised the white flag on the season and will begin to unload as many players as possible over the next week. Other players that could find their way on the trading block include defenseman Chris Campoli, and forwards Travis Moen and Andrei Kostitsyn. Moen is pretty much guaranteed to find a new team in the next few days, as there have been plenty of teams interested in the gritty forward. On top of all the potential trades that the Canadiens could make, many media and fans wonder if current GM Pierre Gauthier will be replaced at the end of the season. If they do plan to replace him, now would be the perfect time to get rid of as many contracts as possible so that the new GM has plenty of flexibility moving forward.

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