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Sabres' Gorges: Divorce with Canadiens was 'a shock'

Ed Mulholland / USA TODAY Sports

For eight seasons, Josh Gorges provided the necessary ancillary support for the Montreal Canadiens. 

Blocking shots, killing penalties and facing both the opposition's best players and the Canadian media, Gorges helped general manager Marc Bergevin continue piecing together a championship team in Montreal.  

As such, it came as a surprise for many when Montreal began pursuing trade options for its shut-down man before ultimately coercing him into a trade with the re-tooling Buffalo Sabres

Gorges included.

“I wish I had a really good answer — where this came from and why, and how it came about — but I don’t, to be honest,” Gorges told Larry Fisher of the Kelowna Daily Courier

“It was a shock to me.”

The news caught Gorges by surprise, but the fact that decisions loomed for the cap-strapped Canadiens suggests that it really shouldn't have. With P.K. Subban and Andrei Markov leading a lengthy list of free agents on the roster, Bergevin had to be creative and unfortunately choose a casualty. 

To fill the void, the Canadiens re-upped Mike Weaver and added Tom Gilbert for a collective cap hit of just over $600,000 more than Gorges' $3.9 million annual salary.  

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