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Brandon Prust was lying on a bed in Rome around 8 p.m. local time on July 1, an eye on Twitter to follow the comings and goings of many players on the first day of NHL free agency.

“Funny, I saw the headline, ‘Zack Kassian traded to the Canadiens from the Canucks,’ but I didn’t see at first who he was traded for,” Prust said Friday from his off-season home in London, Ont.

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So Prust turned to his fiancée, Maripier Morin, the longtime couple engaged during their nearly two-week trip to Italy, and shared the news of the Kassian acquisition.

“M.P. said, ‘Who’s that?’ ” Prust said. “And I said, ‘He’s kind of a similar player to me,’ and she goes, ‘Oh, no, that’s not good for you.’

“I said, ‘Hey, it’s always good to have someone like that on your team, maybe someone to help me. It’s good for our team.’ And then a minute later my phone rings and I see Berg on the call display. And now I’m thinking, ‘Oh oh. …’ ”

Berg would be Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin. During their brief call, Prust learned that he was going to Vancouver for Kassian and a 2016 fifth-round draft pick.