One Year Later: The Jacob Perreault Trade

By Thomas Harrington

One year ago, the Anaheim Ducks traded forward Jacob Perreault to the Montreal Canadiens for forward Jan Mysak. This was a trade of struggling prospects. Both players had been chosen in the 2020 draft, taken about 20 picks apart.

The Ducks drafted Perreault 27th overall in 2020, their second pick of the first round, after taking defenseman Jamie Drysdale sixth overall. After being drafted, Perreault went to the AHL and played in 27 games for the Gulls, scoring three goals and 17 points. Most years, Perreault wouldn’t have been eligible to play in the AHL. However, because of the ongoing pandemic, exceptions were made and a number of junior players made their way to the AHL. The following season, Perreault scored 14 goals and 37 points in 55 games for the Gulls, while also making his NHL debut with one game in Anaheim. His play declined after that; he only scored 19 points in 48 games in the 2022-2023 season, and then scored seven goals and 18 points before the trade.

Montreal drafted Mysak 48th overall in 2020. After being drafted, Mysak played in the Czechia league and the AHL, while also playing for Team Czechia at the World Juniors. The following season, Mysak went to the OHL rather than stay in the AHL the way Perreault did. In the OHL, Mysak scored 64 points in 61 games for the Hamilton Bulldogs, and then another 11 points in 17 playoff games. Hamilton won the OHL Championship and advanced to the Memorial Cup, where Mysak scored two goals in five games. Hamilton lost the Championship game to the Saint John Sea Dogs. Mysak returned to the AHL for the 2022-2023 season, where he scored five goals and nine points in 40 games for the Laval Rocket. Before the trade, he had scored 13 goals and 20 points in 48 games.

After the trade, Mysak scored one goal in the final 14 seasons with the Gulls. He played primarily on the fourth line and was a healthy scratch many nights. This season, Mysak has seen significantly more opportunity with the Gulls and excelled as a result. This season, he’s scored 15 goals and 33 points in 50 games. He started the year playing a lot on the fourth line, but has been on the second line for much of 2025. He and Sasha Pastujov have become a dangerous offensive duo for San Diego.

After the trade, Perreault played with Laval for 13 games and scored a goal and two points. This season, Perreault only played in six games for the Rocket and was scoreless. He was also assigned to the ECHL, where he played in five games and scored a goal and five points. Since he wasn’t working out with Montreal, the Canadiens traded him to Edmonton for defenseman Noel Hoefenmayer. Perreault is now playing for the Bakersfield Condors, where he’s scored two goals and 11 points in 32 games.

A year later and the Ducks can look back on this trade as a partial win. There’s no question that Mysak has done more than Perreault since this trade took place. I call it a partial win because Perreault’s development stalled, and the Ducks chose to trade a former first round pick who once showed lots of promise. The three players taken immediately after Perreault are Ridly Greig, Brendan Brisson, and Mavrik Bourque. They’ve combined to play over 200 NHL games.

For the first couple of years after Perreault was drafted, he looked like a future NHL player, one who could potentially score a lot on the powerplay. But his play declined and he never got back to where he was in the 2021-2022 season. The Ducks got good value for him, but it’s never good seeing a former first round pick not work out.

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March 7th, 2025