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Lucas Condotta

Canadiens Sign Lucas Condotta To Two-Year Extension

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The Canadiens agreed to a two-year, two-way contract extension with Lucas Condotta on Wednesday, according to a team release. This is his third contract signed with the Canadiens organization. His deal will earn him $350K in the minors each season with a $400K guarantee, accompanied by the league-minimum $775K NHL salary, per PuckPedia.

Condotta, now 27, began his professional career when the Habs signed him to an entry-level contract out of UMass-Lowell in 2022. The center made his NHL debut the following season, scoring his first of two career goals in a loss to the Bruins at the tail end of the 2022-23 campaign. He’s appeared sparingly for Montreal since then, totaling 11 career games, including a career-high seven appearances in 2024-25.

The 6’1″, 218-lb pivot has thus spent most of his professional career with the AHL’s Laval Rocket, where he now holds the captaincy. A checking forward with decent secondary offense, he has 27-47–74 in 194 career minor-league games with 164 PIMs and a plus-four rating. His goal-scoring has steadily declined over the past few years, dropping from 16 in 72 AHL games in 2022-23 all the way down to just three tallies in 50 games this year.

He’ll stick around in the organization for the 2025-26 and 2026-27 campaigns as a leadership fixture on the farm as the Canadiens continue to develop and graduate their prospects from Laval. Previously a pending unrestricted free agent, he’ll now need to wait two more years to test the open market.

Canadiens Recall Joshua Roy, Reassign Lucas Condotta

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12:34 p.m.: While no corresponding transaction was required, the Habs made one anyway by announcing they’d reassigned center Lucas Condotta to Laval. The 27-year-old pivot had one goal and a -2 rating in seven games since being recalled near the beginning of the month, averaging 8:12 per game and winning 58.6% of his draws with three blocks and 10 hits.

9:04 a.m.: The Canadiens announced they’ve recalled right-winger Joshua Roy from AHL Laval. Montreal had an open spot on the active roster, so no corresponding moves are necessary.

The Habs give Roy’s first crack at playing time this season ahead of their home game tomorrow evening against Utah. It’s unclear whether Roy will enter the lineup, as he becomes the 14th healthy forward on the Montreal roster, but it’s hard to see the reasoning behind the 21-year-old getting a summons without the intention of playing him.

If he plays, it’ll mark his second season in the NHL after making 23 appearances across a couple of call-ups between January and March last season. Roy is in just his second professional season after being drafted in the fifth round by Montreal in 2021, spending a pair of post-draft seasons with the QMJHL’s Sherbrooke Phoenix before jumping to pro hockey with Laval in 2023. The 6-foot youngster adjusted better than most expected, earning that recall and posting four goals and five assists for nine points with a -2 rating, averaging 12:08 per game in his first NHL audition.

That led to speculation that Roy would make the opening night roster last month. He remained on the roster until the last round of cuts but was assigned to Laval when opening night rosters were due on Oct. 7.

He’s taken the assignment in stride, posting eight goals and eight assists for 16 points over 17 appearances in the AHL. The Quebec-born forward has a +3 rating after finishing with a team-worst -17 mark last year, and he’s three points ahead of Alex Barré-Boulet and Logan Mailloux for the team lead in scoring.

Roy still has two more pro seasons or 137 NHL games left until he requires waivers, so the Canadiens can return him to Laval without any fanfare. It’s not out of the question that he’ll be returned to the minors in short order, but with them obtaining an extension for winger Rafaël Harvey-Pinard’s conditioning loan as he recovers from offseason leg surgery (per Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports), there could be a bit of an extended opportunity for him to show he belongs on the NHL roster.

Canadiens Loan Oliver Kapanen To SHL, Recall Lucas Condotta

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The Canadiens announced a flurry of roster moves Wednesday morning, most notably returning center Oliver Kapanen to Timrå IK of the Swedish Hockey League. They filled his roster spot by recalling center Lucas Condotta from AHL Laval, as initially reported by Marc Antoine Godin of Radio-Canada. He’ll join the team for their four-game road swing starting in New Jersey tomorrow.

Kapanen, 21, had cracked the Habs’ opening night roster somewhat unexpectedly. The Finnish pivot had earned praise early in September after a strong showing for Timrå in the SHL’s exhibition schedule before reporting to Montreal for NHL training camp. The 2021 second-round pick was a healthy scratch for the season opener but has played in every game since, recording two assists and a -4 rating in 12 appearances. He averaged 11:38 per game and recorded 13 shots on goal while going 23-for-50 on faceoffs (46.0%).

Possession-wise, things didn’t grade out spectacularly for Kapanen. Even accounting for Montreal’s league-worst 43.3 CF% at even strength, Kapanen’s shot-attempt share lagged behind the team average in relatively even two-way deployment. It’s far from unsurprising for a rookie center, though, and he did flash legitimate upside with his strong skating ability.

Since Kapanen wasn’t a first-round pick, he couldn’t have been assigned to Laval without first being offered back to his Swedish club, thanks to the NHL’s transfer agreement with the country. It’s no surprise Timrå wants him back in the fold. He already established himself as an impact player in a top European league last year with Finland’s KalPa, whom he led in postseason scoring with 14 points (7 G, 7 A) in 13 games. He also polished off his season nicely with six goals in eight games for the Finns at the 2024 World Championship.

It’s the second recall of the young season for the 27-year-old Condotta. The first lasted just two days in late October, serving as an extra forward for an Oct. 27 matchup against the Flyers. He watched from the press box and was returned to Laval the following day. The 6’1″, 223-lb pivot has four NHL games under his belt, all coming in a Montreal sweater over the past two seasons. He scored once, coming in his NHL debut back in 2022-23, and has averaged a paltry 8:23 per game.

Given Kapanen had been centering the Habs’ fourth line for much of his time in the lineup, it’s fair to assume Condotta may get a crack in the same role and earn a more extended audition than he has in the past. The stocky Ontario-born pivot was named Laval’s captain prior to the start of the season and has responded with four assists through his first nine games. He’s never been a major offensive factor at the AHL level, only recording a career-high 16 goals and 31 points in 72 games two years ago. But he’s carried intrigue for the Habs as a potential bottom-six checking piece ever since he signed, and he’ll now get a chance to help stop the bleeding and help Montreal limit chances against.

Canadiens Place Kaiden Guhle On IR, Reassign Lucas Condotta

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The Canadiens quietly recalled center Lucas Condotta from AHL Laval over the weekend. While the news evaded PHR at the time, the team announced this morning that he’d been reassigned back to Laval. Condotta was rostered for yesterday’s 4-3 win over the Flyers but did not play. They also moved defenseman Kaiden Guhle to injured reserve, per the NHL’s media site, giving them the 23-man roster spot to house Condotta temporarily.

The 26-year-old Condotta is in his third year of professional hockey after four seasons at UMass-Lowell. He’s spent all of them in the Habs pipeline, signing there as an undrafted free agent immediately after his senior season. The 6’1″, 223-lb pivot saw NHL ice in each of his first two full seasons under contract, recording a goal and a +1 rating in four appearances across the 2022-23 and 2023-24 campaigns.

Condotta hasn’t been a needle-mover offensively with Laval but has shown value as a strong checker. He was named their captain ahead of this season and is off to a good start with three assists and a +2 rating in six appearances. In 150 career AHL games since turning pro at the end of the 2021-22 campaign, he has 24 goals, 30 assists, 54 points, 108 PIMs, and a +1 rating.

The Ontario native is in the back half of a two-year, two-way deal he signed in 2023 as a restricted free agent after his one-year entry-level contract expired. With his 27th birthday coming next week, he’ll be eligible for unrestricted free agency for the first time next summer.

Condotta is no longer waiver-exempt, but he cleared them without incident in September. Based on the timing of each announcement, the Habs only burned one day off his temporary waiver-exempt status, so he can still spend 29 days on the NHL roster (or play up to 10 games) this season until he requires waivers again to return to Laval.

Meanwhile, for Guhle, There’s no material change in his timeline for a return to the lineup. He remains day-to-day with an upper-body injury that’s kept him out of the lineup since Oct. 17. That’s over seven days ago, so he’s eligible to come off IR at any time. There’s now a roster spot for him to walk right into with Condotta being sent down. After missing nearly all of training camp while recovering from appendectomy surgery, Guhle had one goal and three assists for four points and a +4 rating in five showings to begin 2024-25.

Canadiens Reassign Three Players

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Oct. 7: The Habs returned Condotta, Gignac, and Trudeau to Laval last night, the team announced Monday morning.

Oct. 5: Several teams today have promoted players from the AHL in advance of their final preseason game tonight.  Montreal is the latest to do so as they’ve recalled forwards Brandon Gignac and Lucas Condotta along with defenseman William Trudeau from AHL Laval per the NHL’s Media Portal.

Gignac spent most of last season in the minors but saw his AHL contract converted to a two-year, two-way NHL deal in February.  He got into seven games with Montreal last season, scoring his first NHL goal.  Meanwhile, in Laval, he had 19 goals and 36 assists in 61 games.

Condotta, meanwhile, has now been recalled for the second time since clearing waivers less than a week ago.  The 26-year-old was held off the scoresheet in three appearances with the Canadiens last season while adding 19 points in 65 contests for the Rocket.  Condotta, a full-time forward, wound up taking some shifts as a defenseman last weekend when the Canadiens were down to just four available to them early in a preseason game against Toronto.

As for Trudeau, the 21-year-old has yet to see NHL action in his first two professional seasons.  Instead, he has played exclusively with Laval and put up eight goals and 16 assists in 70 games in 2023-24.

Meanwhile, the team revealed earlier today (Twitter link) that blueliner Kaiden Guhle will play his first preseason game after undergoing an appendectomy last month, causing him to miss their first five contests.

As for the other three, they will likely be returned to Laval before Monday’s deadline to submit season-opening cap-compliant rosters to the NHL.

Canadiens Recall Lucas Condotta, Luke Tuch

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The Canadiens have recalled forwards Lucas Condotta and Luke Tuch from the AHL’s Laval Rocket, per a team announcement. They’ll be available again to suit up in preseason action this week after they were a part of separate rounds of camp cuts in the past few days.

Condotta landed on waivers Sunday and cleared Monday without incident. The 26-year-old is entering his third full season in the Habs organization and is an alternate captain with the Rocket. An undrafted free-agent signing out of UMass-Lowell in 2022, the 6’1″, 223-lb center has 24 goals, 27 assists and 51 points in 144 appearances with Laval.

He’s also seen brief NHL action in each of the past two seasons, posting a goal and a +1 rating in four games while averaging 8:23 per contest. He’s coming off a down year with the Rocket, scoring eight goals and 19 points in 65 games after notching 16 goals and 31 points in 72 contests in 2022-23. He won’t need waivers to return to Laval, which will likely happen after tonight’s game against the Senators.

Tuch, the younger brother of Sabres fixture Alex Tuch, is a name with longer-term relevance. The 22-year-old was a second-round pick of the Habs back in 2020 and is beginning his professional career after a four-year run at Boston University. The New York-born left winger had 30 points in 39 games last year as a senior, setting career highs across the board while finishing sixth on the team in scoring. He won’t be on the opening night roster after initially being cut from camp last Saturday, but he could be a name to watch for an in-season recall if he starts off on the right foot in Laval.

Canadiens Reassign Lucas Condotta

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Feb. 9: The Canadiens reassigned Condotta to AHL Laval on Friday, per a team announcement. He logged a +1 rating and one shot on goal in a season-high 10:34 of ice time against the Capitals on Tuesday.

Feb. 4: The Montreal Canadiens have recalled forward Lucas Condotta to the NHL roster. Condotta was up with the Canadiens roster for three days last week, playing in two games and going without a point. It was just the second and third games of Condotta’s career, with the 26-year-old making his NHL debut and scoring his first career goal last season.

Condotta has otherwise spent the entire 2023-24 season in the AHL, playing in 40 games and scoring 13 points with the Laval Rocket. He’s in just his third professional season, joining the Canadiens organization following the end of UMass-Lowell’s 2021-22 season. The undrafted free agent appeared in 17 AHL games through the end of the year, between the end of the regular season and the postseason, scoring a combined five points. He had a much stronger showing in his official rookie AHL season last year, netting 16 goals and 31 points in 72 games.

Condotta isn’t the only new face at Montreal’s Sunday practice, with the team also inking Brandon Gignac to a two-year NHL contract and recalling him to the top club. Gignac is currently leading the Rocket in scoring, with 42 points through 43 games. It’s a career year for the 26-year-old, who has already outscored his previous career-high of 33 points set in 49 games last season.

Gignac and Condotta will battle for a spot in a Montreal lineup that’s opted to ice 11 forwards and eight defensemen since recalling Arber Xhekaj on January 22nd. The Canadiens are without Brendan Gallagher for their next four games, after the winger earned the first suspension of his career with an elbow to Adam Pelech’s head. They are also without Christian Dvorak, Alex Newhook, and Kirby Dach, with all three forwards on injured reserve for varying amounts of time. These absences could provide a chance for the pair of minor-league forwards to find ice time, though which of the two will slot in and for how long is yet to be seen.

Waivers: 9/30/23

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With the start of the NHL season now just ten days away, daily waiver activity will be continuing league-wide.  Here is a listing of the players that are on the wire today per various team announcements and TSN’s Chris Johnston (Twitter link).

Buffalo Sabres

G Devin Cooley
F Justin Richards
G Dustin Tokarski

Edmonton Oilers

F Drake Caggiula
F Greg McKegg

Montreal Canadiens

D Nicolas Beaudin
F Lucas Condotta
D Brady Keeper
F Mitchell Stephens

Nashville Predators

F Anthony Angello
D Kevin Gravel
G Troy Grosenick
D Jordan Gross

New York Rangers

F Jake Leschyshyn

Ottawa Senators

F Josh Currie
D Dillon Heatherington
F Garrett Pilon
D Lassi Thomson

While Ottawa’s players were announced as being waived on Friday, it was after the 1 PM CT cut-off which means their waiver clock starts today.

Vegas Golden Knights

F Byron Froese
D/F Mason Geertsen
D Dysin Mayo
F Gage Quinney
F Sheldon Rempal
F Jonas Rondbjerg

Most of the forwards on this list have cleared waivers in the past with Condotta being the lone exception as this is his first time eligible for waivers.  He spent most of last season in the minors but scored in his lone NHL appearance.  Quinney and Rempal were productive in the minors last season, averaging just shy of a point per game while Caggiula had over 50 points as well.

Among the defensemen, Thomson could be one to keep an eye on for a potential claim.  The 23-year-old was the 19th overall pick in 2019 and is still on his entry-level contract.  He hasn’t had much success at the NHL level so far but as a young right-shot defender, a rebuilding team or two might be inclined to take a flyer on him.

Mayo logged nearly 21 minutes a night on the back end for Arizona back in 2021-22 but cleared waivers last season and was eventually traded to Vegas in exchange for Shea Weber’s LTIR-eligible contract.  He has two years left on a one-way deal worth $950K per season which could scare teams off.  Beaudin is a former first-rounder himself back in 2018 (27th overall) but has just 22 NHL games under his belt, none of which came last season between Montreal and Chicago.

Grosenick and Tokarski are no strangers to the waiver wire.  Tokarski has cleared all five times while Grosenick has cleared six out of eight times he has been waived over the years.  This will be Cooley’s first time on waivers but while he had a decent season in Nashville’s system last season (posting a .909 SV% with AHL Milwaukee), it would be surprising to see him picked up.

Each player will be available to teams until 1 PM CT on Sunday.

Montreal Canadiens Sign Nicolas Beaudin, Lucas Condotta

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The Montreal Canadiens have signed a pair of depth players this morning, inking defenseman Nicolas Beaudin to a one-year, two-way contract and forward Lucas Condotta to a two-year, two-way contract.

CapFriendly reports Beaudin’s contract has an NHL salary of $775K, an AHL salary of $90K, and a minimum guaranteed salary of $110K. Condotta’s compensation hasn’t been reported yet.

A 2018 first-round pick, Beaudin found himself in the Canadiens organization this season after they acquired him from the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for minor-league forward Cameron Hillis just weeks into the campaign. The move has since panned out extremely well for both Beaudin and the Habs.

The 23-year-old defenseman had gone through some troubles adjusting to the pro game while in Chicago, issues undoubtedly exacerbated by the inconsistencies of playing time during the COVID-19 pandemic. He’s also got a rather slight frame, standing at just 5-foot-11 and 168 pounds.

But things took off for the left-shot defender with the AHL’s Laval Rocket, where he scored twice and added 23 assists for 25 points in 39 games after the trade, trouncing last season’s offensive production. He saw some limited minutes at even strength, but he dominated them defensively – per data from Pick224, he was on the ice for just 16 goals at even strength in 42 total AHL games last year. He’s not expected to earn a spot with the Canadiens out of camp, but do look for him to take on an increased role in Laval next year.

The 25-year-old Condotta, meanwhile, made his NHL debut last April against the Boston Bruins, scoring a goal in the process. An undrafted free agent signing out of the University of Massachusetts-Lowell, Condotta scored 16 goals and 15 assists for 31 points in 72 games with the Rocket in his first full pro season in 2022-23. He did so largely in a bottom-six role in the minors, where he’ll likely stick around as some younger and higher-ceiling Canadiens prospects take precedence.

Beaudin will be a restricted free agent again at the end of his deal, while Condotta’s extension walks him to unrestricted free agency in 2025.

Montreal Canadiens Recall Lucas Condotta On Emergency Basis

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The Montreal Canadiens are rewarding a hard-working AHLer during the final game of their season. 25-year-old undrafted forward Lucas Condotta has been recalled on an emergency basis, allowing him to make his NHL debut tonight against the Boston Bruins.

Condotta signed with the Canadiens last March, inking a one-year entry-level deal. He earned the contract after a strong final season at UMass-Lowell, a year where he captained the team and scored 10 goals and 23 points in 33 games. Condotta had scored 10 points in his previous two seasons of college hockey and just nine points his freshman year, meaning his senior campaign represented a significant increase in both responsibility and production.

He made his pro debut last season with the Laval Rocket and skated in seven regular-season contests and 10 playoff games. While he struggled early and failed to leave a mark in the regular season, Condotta’s three points in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Springfield Thunderbirds nearly helped lift the Rocket to their first-ever Calder Cup Final.

This year was Condotta’s first full year as a professional, and he’s carried the momentum he built against Springfield to the Rocket’s regular season. He’s scored 16 goals and 30 points in 71 games, tied for fourth on the team in goal scoring with surprise standout Rafael Harvey-Pinard. Condotta stands six-foot-one, 223-pounds and brings the type of energy and physicality to the ice that quickly endears him to coaches.

While Condotta’s stay in the NHL might be brief, this recall serves as a concrete recognition of how well his debut pro season has gone. Should the Rocket make the playoffs this season, it’s likely that Condotta will be a forward to watch.

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