Dan Ellis has departed Nashville. The poor keeper never got a good opportunity to succeed in Nashville and was supplanted by Pekka Rinne with the Preds. Montreal acquired Dan Ellis and forward Dustin Boyd along with future considerations in exchange for Sergei Kostitsyn and future considerations. With all the considerations, who the hell knows what is going on, but for now this looks like a good deal for Montreal.
Carey Price has definitively NOT proven himself to be a reliable #1 keeper, and Sergei Kostitsyn is basically worthless to Montreal. Nashville gets out from under a significant contract that they definitely do not want to deal with, and gain a player that has been mediocre in Montreal. Maybe a change of scene will be good for him, but even if not, at least they ditched the contract of Ellis. In all, it looks like a good deal all around, and if Price collapses (as is likely), at least Montreal has somebody to help shoulder the load.