The Detroit Red Wings have acquired defenseman Jeff Petry from the Montreal Canadiens just days after Montreal re-acquired him from the Pittsburgh Penguins in the three-team Erik Karlsson blockbuster, according to a team release. Montreal receives defenseman Gustav Lindström and a 2025 conditional fourth-round pick in return.
Montreal is retaining an additional 50% of Petry’s salary in the trade, bringing his cap hit with Detroit down to $2.34MM. CapFriendly reports Montreal will receive the later of Detroit’s or the Boston Bruins’ 2025 fourth-round picks, both of which Detroit currently owns.
This is an expected move, although most reporting indicated Canadiens GM Kent Hughes would wait a little longer to hit send on a deal. Sportsnet’s Eric Engels reported immediately after the Karlsson trade went through that Montreal was going to flip Petry again with salary retained but didn’t think the move would happen until closer to training camps and the start of the regular season. It also marks a return home for Petry, who was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and played college hockey at Michigan State.
Petry, 35, had a decent lone season in Pittsburgh last year but wasn’t quite worth the $6.25MM he was costing them against the cap. He finished the year with five goals, 26 assists, 31 points, and a +2 rating in 61 games, a slight rebound from the 2021-22 campaign in Montreal. He once again logged heavy minutes, averaging 22:21 per game.
However, at his age, the chances of Petry producing the 40-plus point campaigns with solid defensive metrics he was known for in Montreal are slim. $2.34MM is quite a manageable number for his services, though, and he still has the potential to challenge Justin Holl for the second-pair right defenseman slot behind undisputed number-one Moritz Seider. Detroit hopes he can at least keep up NHL-caliber play for the next two seasons until his contract expires in 2025, avoiding too sharp of an age-related decline.
Aside from their top pairing of Seider and Jake Walman, Detroit’s depth defense was quite weak last season when it came to controlling possession. While he isn’t a shutdown defender by any stretch, Petry isn’t a liability either, and he should help improve possession numbers for Detroit’s second or third pairing marginally. Adding Petry into the fold also gives Detroit the option to bench Ben Chiarot, who had a disastrous first campaign with Detroit after signing a four-year, $19MM contract with trade protection in free agency last summer – a deal that’s quickly looking like an albatross.
Some are likely questioning this move, given Detroit’s now added a trio of NHL defensemen this offseason and have blocked a potential lineup spot for 2021 sixth-overall pick Simon Edvinsson. However, the 20-year-old defender likely won’t be ready to start the season after undergoing shoulder surgery in May, and without participating in training camp, starting the season with AHL Grand Rapids again isn’t the worst idea. With Detroit evidently looking to challenge for a playoff spot in the Atlantic Division in 2023-24, Petry is a significant upgrade over Chiarot if that’s the lineup swap head coach Derek Lalonde chooses to make.
In Lindström, the Canadiens receive a young depth defenseman still trying to demonstrate he can give an NHL team reliable minutes. Detroit selected the 24-year-old 38th overall in 2017, and he’s gotten into 128 NHL games since then over the course of the past four seasons. Last season, he recorded a goal and eight points in 36 games, along with a -16 rating. The Red Wings signed him to a one-year, one-way deal worth $950K earlier this offseason, and he’s slated to be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights in the summer of 2024.
As CapFriendly notes, this was a significant step for Montreal to become cap-compliant next season without sticking netminder Carey Price’s $10.5MM cap hit on LTIR.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Welcome to hockeytown! Great move by Yzerman. Huge upgrade over Lindstrom, and this gives the young D in GR a chance to develop and not be rushed to the big show
Petry is horrible. You can gladly have him
Time will tell
I disagree. He was 0.5 ppg last year. He isn’t done.
LOL!!!!!!!!!!
I feel bad for the poor soul who was expecting a first rounder in return for Petry a couple of days ago on here.
I know right? I was saying on here the other day that petry wasn’t going to fetch much even at half retained.
I even thought the 2nd round pick being talked about was a little high.
But Petry wanted to play for a contender right?
Is Detroit a contender?
I think it was more that he wanted to be close to home. Either way, the trades being discussed were crazy.
Yeah, I guess that was me. Mea Culpa. But for the record, I didn’t say i was expecting a first rounder. I said that I didn’t think that Hughes should trade him away for anything less than a first or a second plus a prospect at this time. Better to wait till the deadline. Not a good move by Hughes. After winning three Petry trades (the Pittsburgh trade was a win simply by getting rid of Hoffman), the Habs finally lost one.
I think this was done as a favor to Petry. He has connections in Detroit. He should be happy there.
I’m sure they hope that they’re a contender, but I don’t see them having the horses to do better than 6th place.
IMHO, Detroit snagged quite a deal: a warm body and a 4th rounder for Petry at $2.3? The Habs sure choked on it there.
Three teams paying one guy’s paycheque… This salary cap era has a goofy meta game to it.
The Phoenix Coyotes have entered the chat.
Hopefully they can dump Holl or Chiarot
It’s hilarious that people already want Holl dumped before he’s even suited up a preseason game for them. I can’t believe Yzerman somehow thought Chiarot and Holl were worth bringing in at those prices. They’re borderline 7th defenceman.
Great point! Since Steve Yzerman has never had any success as a GM, I hope he hires your consulting service soon.
This 100% feels like Montreal doing Petry a favor sending him to a kind of home town. The return was minimal and a happy Petry still has plenty to offer.
I think your right, and it helps the habs get some browny points with NHL players. This is the first time in years montreal is becoming more of a place to sign even with the high taxes.
His father is Dan Petry who pitched on the 1984 Detroit Tigers World Series Championship team were he won 18 games and is now a color analyst for the Tigers
Im confused as to y he took a dman back as even without him they have too many. I was lane Hutson to get every chance to make the squad, they have Reinbacher who wont make the team but will get his chance to. Then theres Ghule, Matheson, Savard, Barron, Xhekaj (jackeye), Kovacevic and Harris. So they have 7-9 guys that deserve a NHL spot.
I’m pretty sure Lindstrom is considering playing in Europe for 2023. Maybe trade changes that, but he’s basically a young-ish “4-A” type of guy…too many games played in the AHL but not good enough to make a NHL Top 6
Another low risk move by Yzerman. Now, please jettison Chiarot.
Chiarot was another “low risk” move by the great Yzerman.
No, it was one of Y’ worst moves.
He was picked up for his toughness. He ate a lot of minutes. Lots of youth back there. Has no really great stats but is a veteran with leadership qualities. NOT every guy can be MO. This year, obviously, will not be that minutes gobbling guy anymore. It will be interesting to see how the pairings are now. Should be a better season for the Wings “D”
Petry didn’t fit into Penguins system. His struggles were related to the Pens always having dmen pinch down the wall. He struggled on reads and getting back. A more defensive oriented system will allow him to be more effective imo
For some reason people absolutely insist on pretending that Yzerman’s work with Detroit has been every bit as good as his admittedly very good work in Tampa and so far, not really.
The defense is pretty much Seider and a bunch of stuff he found at yard sales.
He just keeps chasing one hit wonder netminders.
The forwards are mostly small and soft with no top center in sight.