Rangers acquire defenseman William Trudeau from Canadiens for Brett Berard
Roughly eight hours before the start of the 2026 NHL Draft, and with Mason McTavish trade rumors swirling around them, the New York Rangers made a minor deal Friday. They acquired defenseman William Trudeau from the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for forward Brett Berard.
Trudeau is a 23-year-old defenseman entering his fifth professional season. He’s yet to make his NHL debut after Montreal selected him in the fourth round (No. 113 overall) of the 2021 draft. Trudeau recorded 20 points and tied his career high with eight goals in 62 games with Laval of the American Hockey League this past season.
He’s got good size (6-foot-1, 205 pounds), some physicality to his game, and totaled 27 points (seven goals, 20 assists) as a rookie pro in 2022-23.
It’d appear that Trudeau provides young organizational depth as a left-shot defenseman, likely ticketed to play at Hartford. The Rangers have Vladislav Gavrikov, Matthew Robertson, Drew Fortescue, and Urho Vaakanainen ahead of Trudeau on the left side of their depth chart. He provides insurance in Hartford should lefty defensemen Connor Mackey and Brandon Scanlin depart the organization as unrestricted free agents this summer.
Like Berard, Trudeau is a restricted free agent with arbitration rights. He requires waivers to be sent to the AHL. Each player turns 24 next season — Berard in September, Trudeau in October.
Rangers trade Brett Berard after disappointing season
The trade reunites Berard with the executive who drafted him back in 2020. Jeff Gorton was New York’s general manager when the Rangers selected the 5-foot-9 forward in the fifth round (No. 134 overall) that year. Gorton now is Montreal’s president of hockey operations. He moved to the Canadiens after the Rangers fired him in 2021 and was replaced by Chris Drury. This is the first trade between the teams since New York canned Gorton.
Berard receives a fresh start in Montreal after a lost season with New York in 2025-26. So, a Berard trade was not surprising. NHL Network analyst Kevin Weekes recently reported Berard “could be on the move.”
After failing to make the opening-night roster, Berard struggled mightily to start the season with Hartford. He opened the AHL season with a 14-game goal drought and closed it out with a 16-game dry spell. His season ended in mid-March due to an upper-body injury.
Berard scored six goals and totaled 22 points in 41 games with Hartford. And things were even worse for him on Broadway, where Berard was pointless with 10 shots on goal, averaging 10:33 TOI in 13 games with the Rangers.
This after he impressed as a rookie in 2024-25. In 35 games with the Rangers two seasons ago, Berard scored six goals and totaled 10 points as a bottom-six sparkplug. However, he failed to make a solid impression under first-year coach Mike Sullivan this past season, lost confidence, dealt with injury, and was bypassed by Adam Sykora, Tye Kartye, Noah Laba, and Jaroslav Chmelar in the battle for a a third- or fourth-line role in New York.
