Habs deal Wisniewski's rights to Jackets

By foxsports
Published

The Montreal Canadiens traded the rights to defenseman James Wisniewski to the Columbus Blue Jackets for a seventh-round pick on Wednesday.

A condition of the deal is that if the Blue Jackets are able to sign the potential unrestricted free agent to a contract, the pick will be in the fifth round next year rather than the seventh.

The Canadiens obtained Wisniewski from the New York Islanders on Dec. 28 for a second-round pick and a conditional fifth-round selection. The power-play specialist had 51 points (10 goals, 41 assists) in 75 games last season.

He earned $3.25 million last season.

The Canadiens were not expected to try to retain Wisniewski after they made a contract offer this week to veteran Roman Hamrlik, who can also become an unrestricted free agent on Friday.