The Montreal Canadiens acquired Brett Berard from the New York Rangers for William Trudeau on June 26, 2026. The swap sent a 24-year-old forward to Montreal and moved a defenseman who has held a steady top-four role for the Laval Rocket over the last four years the other way.
Berard's path in New York
Berard turns 24 in September and is entering his fourth full season of professional hockey. He was a fifth-round pick in the 2020 draft, made 35 NHL games with New York, and scored 10 points while trying to climb a depth chart that had already tilted toward Adam Sykora and Jaroslav Chmelar later in the season.
That split line matters because his profile changed over time. He had a 25-goal, 48-point rookie campaign in 2023-24 with the Hartford Wolf Pack, then followed it with nine goals and 23 points the next season. In 2025-26, he posted 22 points in 41 games but had no points in 13 NHL games.
William Trudeau to New York
Trudeau turns 24 in the fall and brings a different file to New York. He is a 6-foot-1, 205-pound left-shot blueliner, and his four-year run with the Laval Rocket gives the Rangers a player who has already spent time in a steady top-four role at the AHL level.
The trade also fits the contract layer attached to both players. Each is a pending RFA with arbitration rights, and neither is waivers-exempt, so the deal exchanges two young players who still sit inside NHL roster and negotiation decisions rather than cleanly passing through another roster mechanism.
Gorton, Drury and the deal
Peter Baugh of The Athletic first reported the trade, and Mollie Walker of The New York Post first reported Trudeau’s inclusion. The connection between the front offices is part of the backdrop: Jeff Gorton drafted Berard in the fifth round while running the Rangers, Nick Bobrov played a major role in those draft efforts, and Chris Drury was an assistant general manager under Gorton before replacing him as general manager of the Rangers.
Arthur Staple wrote in 2024 for The Athletic that there is no love lost between Gorton and Drury, but this move points to a colder, more practical read. Montreal gets a young forward who can compete for a roster spot and potentially serve as a cheap bottom-six option, while New York adds a defenseman with a longer AHL track record and a cleaner path to a different kind of opportunity.
What happens next for either player is the real issue for both teams. The trade changed the depth picture immediately, but the larger roster and contract decisions still have to play out around two pending RFAs who have not yet been sorted into their next NHL roles.
