People talk about the Sergachev-Drouin trade like Marc Bergevin had no idea what he was giving up. He knew how good Sergachev was and knew what he would be. And there’s more context to that deal that has to be considered 1/

The Canadiens had the fourth-best goals against average in the league and came out of a six-game series with New York having scored just 11 goals. Drouin had followed up 14 points in 17 playoff games with a 53-point season. 2/

When the trade was made in June, Radulov and Markov were still presumed to be signing. Sergachev may have been unproven, but the Canadiens knew what he would be. They didn’t want to trade him, but they made a move to get better and still secured an asset with a lot of upside. 3/

I don’t know what, if anything, can change to make it a more even deal. Perhaps it will never be one. But Drouin can still provide good value for what he’s paid. So if you want to revisit the trade—seems many people do—you have to at least consider why it was made. 4/4