The Montreal Canadiens have made a huge move just a few weeks before free agency opens, extending Jeff Petry for another four years. Petry was still under contract for the 2020-21 season but will now be locked up through 2024-25. The new deal is worth a total of $25MM, giving him a $6.25MM cap hit starting in 2021-22. It also includes a 15-team no-trade clause and a no-movement clause, meaning he will require automatic protection in the upcoming expansion draft. Chris Johnston of Sportsnet tweets the full breakdown:
- 2021-22: $5.0MM salary
- 2022-23: $3.0MM signing bonus + $4.5MM salary
- 2023-24: $3.0MM signing bonus + $4.5MM salary
- 2024-25: $2.0MM signing bonus + $3.0MM salary
Though he still doesn’t get quite the recognition of one, Petry has developed into one of the best two-way defensemen in the league over the last few years. In fact, his 128 points over the last three seasons put him 17th among all NHL defenders, while his 36 goals sit 11th over the same time period. Though he’ll never get the same type of press that teammate Shea Weber receives, Petry is almost equally important to the Canadiens and showed it this postseason.
The 32-year-old defenseman averaged more than 25 minutes a night as Montreal shocked the hockey world by defeating the Pittsburgh Penguins in the qualification round and took the Philadelphia Flyers to six games. For a team that wasn’t even expecting to be included in the playoffs, their performance was admirable and as Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic tweets, could have had a real impact on the uber-competitive Petry’s decision to remain.
There’s no doubt that Petry earned an extension with his play, but it’s not like this deal comes without a fair bit of risk for the team. Petry will turn 33 in December (likely before the 2020-21 campaign even begins), meaning this deal takes him deep into his thirties at an expensive cap hit. While his current play is deserving of a raise on the $5.5MM cap hit he currently carries, it’s hard to expect him to continue at that level for the duration of his new contract.
Combine that with the fact that Weber still has six years left on his current contract, which keeps him at a $7.86MM cap hit through 2025-26 and the Canadiens will have quite a bit of space eaten up by two aging defensemen. Of course, there are ways around that, including a revamped cap recapture system should Weber decide to retire before his contract expires. But with a Montreal team that is still looking for an identity upfront, committing so much money to aging defensemen could end up backfiring.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
The end of this might not be too good, but that’s not a bad number as long as he can be productive for another three or four years.
Petry was phenomenal against us in the pre-first round.
That’s crazy money for a guy like that. And he’ll be 37 at the end of the deal. They’ll regret that deal sooner rather than later.
Petry has his moments of questionable play but you take the good with the bad with him. Yes, the Habs are tying up a decent chunk of cap to two guys on the wrong side of 30 but they also have a rather strong pipeline of D prospects on the horizon(Alexander Romanov, Jayden Struble, Jordan Harris and Mattias Norlinder, all of whom project as potential 2-4 D) and that’s not even factoring in Josh Brook, Cale Fleury, Noah Juulsen or Otto Leskinen, who all seem poised to be NHL regulars, if not more. Bergevin has a pretty clear plan for his defensive unit, now he has to figure out a way to add a top 6 goal scoring wing to the fold.
Otto Leskinen is not tracking to be an NHL regular lol
I’m higher on Leskinen than most. He moves the puck well and is a good skater. His size and lack of shot limits his ceiling quite a bit but it would not surprise me if he occupies a 3rd pairing in the NHL. He’s obviously the least rated and lowest ranked member of that group.
Love this he’s been nothing but excellent since joining the Habs and never gets injured
Pretty good deal. He has earned it. Surprised he wasn’t moved at the deadline.He can play grandpa for young d men at the end of the deal.I still think of his father when I heard his name.
Great contract for team and player, petry took a minimal raise probably would have got more o the open market. He’s a great skater which will help towards the end of the contract Habs probably wanted 3 but took the 4th with a team friendly cap hit for what petry brings