Headlines

Go To MLB Trade Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Michael Pezzetta

Maple Leafs Sign Travis Boyd, Benoit-Olivier Groulx, Dakota Mermis

at CDT | by 4 Comments

The Maple Leafs announced they’ve signed forward Travis Boyd to a one-year, league minimum contract, forward Benoit-Olivier Groulx to a two-year contract with a cap hit of $812,500, and re-signed defenseman Dakota Mermis to a two-year deal with a cap hit of $812,500. Toronto also confirmed the previously reported signing of Michael Pezzetta.

Boyd led the AHL’s Iowa Wild in scoring last season with a lofty 22 goals and 53 points in 63 games. He was a core piece of the lineup through the extent of the year, providing strong play on both sides of the puck and even serving as an alternate captains during home games. He also appeared in three NHL games on the year, but didn’t manage any scoring. Boys spent the last three seasons with the Arizona Coyotes, and routinely reached promising production. He scored 17 goals and 35 points in 74 games of the 2021-22 season; and 15 goals and 34 points in 82 games of the 2022-23 campaign.

Boyd didn’t offer sharp play away from the puck at an NHL level, but his hot play was halted by injury during the 2023-24 season. Just 16 games and eight points into the season, Boyd sustained a porn pectoral muscle and was forced to end the year early. With a full, strong year in the minors this season – he could be set to slowly walk back to the third-line upside he carried through a trio of years in Arizona.

Groulx is in much of the same position – looking to climb his way back to NHL action after a productive year in the minor leagues. He scored 15 goals and 37 points in 47 games with the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack, good for second on the team in scoring behind Alex Belzile’s 56 points. Groulx played in 45 NHL games last season – after entering the season with just 20 career games up to that point. But he wasn’t able to do much with the extended look, netting just two assists, 22 penalty minutes, and a minus-nine. The performance marked the only changes to Groulx’s NHL stat line since he recorded three points and one penalty in 18 games of the 2021-22 season.

Finishing the trio of signings will be the return of Mermis, who appeared in three games with the Maple Leafs and 32 games with the Marlies. He scored one assist at the NHL level and seven assists in the minor-leagues. Mermis has wandered across the NHL over the last three seasons, moving from the Minnesota Wild, to the Utah Mammoth, and then to Toronto. He served as an extra defender across all three clubs, and will likely return to the rotation of depth NHL minutes and routine AHL ice time on a new deal in Toronto.

PHR’s Gabriel Foley contributed significantly to this article.

Maple Leafs Sign Michael Pezzetta To Two-Year Deal

at CDT | by 2 Comments

The Maple Leafs are signing winger Michael Pezzetta to a two-year contract, TSN’s Bob McKenzie reports. It’s a two-year deal with a cap hit of $787,500, according to Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic.

Strictly playing in a fourth-line role with the Montreal Canadiens, Pezzetta finishes his tenure in Quebec with 15 goals and 38 points in 200 games, averaging 8:03 of ice time per game. Without producing much in the way of offense, Pezzetta was typically used in a defensive role when on the Canadiens roster, starting 54.8% of his shifts in the defensive zone, and maintaining a 90.1% on-ice save percentage at even strength.

Unfortunately, after spending much of the last season as a healthy scratch, there was no real point for Pezzetta to remain in Montreal. In Toronto, he’ll play a similar role, and could again be a healthy scratch on most nights. Still, after trading Mitch Marner to the Vegas Golden Knights, the Maple Leafs have found themselves in a unique monetary position to add a host of depth players this offseason.

Over the past several years, due to the high-priced contracts for Auston Matthews, William Nylander, John Tavares, and Marner, Toronto has typically had challenges procuring the necessary depth to last throughout the regular season. Starting with Pezzetta, the team aims to strengthen its bottom six so it does not remain a liability throughout the regular season and playoffs.

PHR’s Brennan McClain contributed significantly to this article. 

Free Agent Notes: Marchand, Gavrikov, Provorov, Granlund, Faksa, Pezzetta

at CDT | by 4 Comments

If the Panthers can’t get a deal done to keep Brad Marchand in Florida before the market opens tomorrow, Darren Dreger of TSN expects the Bruins, Mammoth, and Maple Leafs to be his most aggressive suitors in free agency.

A Boston reunion would be surprising given there’s been no change in the front office that wasn’t willing to match Marchand’s cheaper requests for an extension during the season, resulting in the Bruins trading their captain to the Panthers at the deadline. Nonetheless, it’s a financially feasible move for them and one that would address their rather significant need for top-six forwards. The club still has $12.74MM in cap space after getting extensions done for names like John Beecher, Morgan Geekie, and Henri Jokiharju in the last 24 hours, per PuckPedia. Marchand would likely command a contract in the $8MM range annually if he hits the open market.

While Utah has seemed to dial back its rhetoric of making a significant free agent splash, instead placing complete trust in its young core and opting for more youthful pickups via trade, like JJ Peterka, Marchand might make more sense on a shorter-term contract. They still have nearly $15MM in cap space and enter 2025-26 with one of the youngest forward groups in the league – their only forwards 30 or older are Alexander Kerfoot and Liam O’Brien.

The Leafs also have their cap flexibility for Tuesday dialed in after getting rather affordable extensions done for Matthew Knies ($7.75MM) and John Tavares ($4.38MM AAV) in the last few days. They’d presumably be one of the more appealing fits for Marchand to remain both with a contending team and in a top-six role, potentially even seeing top-line minutes in place of the departing Mitch Marner.

Here are a few more rumors from around the NHL ahead of the official start of free agency on Tuesday:

  • Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic relays that the Kings are making a last-ditch effort today to reach an extension with defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov. While general manager Ken Holland said over the weekend he expects Gavrikov to test the market, L.A. still hasn’t heard back from Gavrikov’s camp on their final offer.
  • While things were quiet on extension talks between the Blue Jackets and defenseman Ivan Provorov for weeks, they re-engaged in negotiations yesterday, Aaron Portzline of The Athletic reports. They presumably decided getting yesterday’s extension for Dante Fabbro done, ensuring they retain depth on their weaker right side of the blue line, was a priority over Provorov’s talks.
  • Center Mikael Granlund and the Stars continue to have mutual interest in an extension, according to LeBrun. It still looks unlikely something will get done before tomorrow with the Stars having just $980K in projected cap space for next season, but they could reach a handshake agreement if Dallas is confident they can move out other contracts to make Granlund’s money work. They’ve already been successful in retaining vets Jamie Benn and Matt Duchene on below-market-value deals.
  • Depth pivot Radek Faksa will have plenty of options tomorrow if he reaches the market, given the lack of centers available, but there’s still the possibility he stays with the Blues. The two sides remain in extension talks, says Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic.
  • The Maple Leafs are among the teams expected to have interest in Canadiens enforcer Michael Pezzetta, assuming he hits the market tomorrow, reports LeBrun.

Canadiens Notes: Hutson, Laine, Free Agents, Dach

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

Lane Hutson put up historic numbers in his rookie season, and the Canadiens will look to capitalize on that by discussing a long-term extension as he enters the final season of his entry-level contract, general manager Kent Hughes said today (writes Marco D’Amico of RG). He’s not eligible to put pen to paper on a deal until July 1, but doing so immediately would prevent Hutson from a potentially testy ride through restricted free agency in 2026 and allow the Habs to achieve long-term cost certainty before he potentially increases his value in his sophomore campaign.

Hutson’s likely Calder-winning campaign needs no introduction. The 5’9″ defenseman exploded for 66 points in all 82 regular-season games, tying Lightning star Victor Hedman for sixth in the league in scoring among rearguards and leading all rookies in scoring. Not only does that make him the highest-scoring rookie defenseman in Montreal’s 107-year NHL history, but his 60 assists also tied Larry Murphy for most by a first-year blue liner.

Regardless of when they reach an extension, it’s a foregone conclusion they won’t be able to keep him under the internal salary hierarchy they stuck to when negotiating star winger Cole Caufield’s eight-year extension two summers ago. They’ve yet to sign a deal eclipsing captain Nick Suzuki’s $7.875MM cap hit since he signed that deal in 2021. Patrik Laine is technically the team’s highest-paid player at an $8.7MM cap hit, but they acquired that contract via trade. After seeing youngsters like Flames winger Matthew Coronato land a long-term deal at $6.5MM annually, Hughes will almost certainly have to go into the $8-9MM range on a new deal for Hutson.

There’s more on the Canadiens:

  • While it wasn’t a glowing end to the season for Laine, Hughes credits his impact earlier in the year as instrumental in Montreal’s postseason berth (per D’Amico). The 27-year-old managed 20 goals and 33 points in 52 games after a quicker-than-expected return from a preseason knee injury, but 75% of his goals and 63% of his points came on the power play. His 5-on-5 possession numbers were among the worst on the club with a 43.0 CF% and led to diminished usage in Games 1 and 2 of their first-round series against the Capitals before a broken finger sidelined him for the final three games of their season.
  • Hughes hasn’t made a decision either way on whether to pursue contract extensions with the team’s slate of pending unrestricted free agents, notes D’Amico. Luckily for him, he doesn’t have many of those decisions to make. One has already been made for him on defenseman David Savard, who announced his retirement. The comprehensive list of others includes NHL-rostered forwards Joel Armia, Christian Dvorak, and Michael Pezzetta; minor-league centers Alex Barré-Boulet and Brandon Gignac; and depth netminder Connor Hughes.
  • The Canadiens “haven’t given up” on 24-year-old center Kirby Dach after a second major procedure on his right knee in as many years, D’Amico writes. Nonetheless, he relays executive vice president Jeff Gorton “didn’t look overly confident” when discussing Dach and notes he’ll need an eye-opening training camp to regain a top-six role. After playing just twice in the 2023-24 campaign, Dach’s performance wasn’t pretty in 2024-25 before the knee injury ended his campaign in February. He scored 22 points with a team-worst -29 rating in 57 games.

Injury Notes: Mantha, Stephenson, Barron, Pezzetta

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

In the team’s game tonight against the Chicago Blackhawks, Danny Webster of the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that Vegas Golden Knights’ forwards Anthony Mantha and Chandler Stephenson are both considered day-to-day due to injuries. Keeping that in mind, it is unlikely that either Mantha or Stephenson will draw into the lineup tonight as the Golden Knights prepare to defend their Stanley Cup title.

Mantha, who Vegas acquired from the Washington Capitals during this past trade deadline season, has played in 18 games for the organization up to this point. In those 18 contests, Mantha has been serviceable even though his goal-scoring rate has decreased, putting up three goals and 10 points altogether.

Joining Mantha on the list of Golden Knights expected to reach unrestricted free agency this summer, Stephenson has once again been a massive return on investment in Vegas. Making a salary of only $2.75MM this season, Stephenson has put up 16 goals and 51 points in 65 games overall, sitting fifth on the team in scoring.

Other injury notes:

  • As the Winnipeg Jets look to clinch second place in the Central Division for the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs, they will have to do so without forward Morgan Barron as the team announced he would miss the rest of the game tonight with a lower-body injury. During the game, Barron was only able to register 2:23 of ice time and registered zero points but did reach a 100% faceoff rate in the game.
  • In a similar fashion to Barron, the Montreal Canadiens will be without forward Michael Pezzetta for the remainder of their game and the season with an upper-body injury (X Link). As a depth forward for the team, Pezzetta was only able to register 25 seconds of ice time over one shift, and left the game after the end of the first period.

Montreal Canadiens Sign Michael Pezzetta To Two-Year Contract Extension

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The Montreal Canadiens have announced that forward Michael Pezzetta has been signed to a two-year, one-way $812.5k contract extension.

With this extension, Pezzetta will avoid having to become a restricted free agent at the start of the new league year next month, and now has a contract that will walk him to unrestricted free agency in the summer of 2025.

While not the heftiest contract extension in terms of finances (it’s just a shade above the $775k new league minimum) this deal is a solid reward for a player who has quickly endeared himself to Canadiens fans over the course of the last two seasons. The 25-year-old is a 2016 sixth-round pick who spent three seasons developing with the Canadiens’ AHL affiliate, the Laval Rocket, before making his NHL debut in 2021-22.

Despite compiling just 19 points in 107 games at the AHL level, Pezzetta managed to play 51 games with the Canadiens in the 2021-22 season, and this past year had his first campaign spent entirely at the NHL level.

While the former Sudbury Wolves captain has scored at a similarly low rate in the NHL (26 points in 114 games) and has averaged under nine minutes of nightly ice time across that span of games, he’s nonetheless managed to skate in head coach Martin St. Louis’ nightly lineup more often than not.

He’s earned his current role on the Canadiens on the back of his work ethic and energetic physical play. At this sort of price tag, it’s easy to see why Montreal would want to keep Pezzetta around to maintain the depth on their NHL roster.

Montreal Canadiens Sign Michael Pezzetta

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

It’s been an impressive rise through the ranks for Michael Pezzetta, and today he was rewarded with a new one-year, one-way contract. The Montreal Canadiens have signed the depth forward for a $750K salary, avoiding any restricted free agent negotiations this summer.

Pezzetta, 24, was a sixth-round pick of the Canadiens in 2016 and spent several years playing limited minutes in the minor leagues, including time with the Maine Mariners of the ECHL. This season, he became a regular in the Montreal lineup and actually produced at a reasonable pace, scoring five goals and 11 points in 51 appearances.

He’ll never be known for his offense but Pezzetta adds a bit of fire and toughness to the Canadiens’ fourth line, as he racked up 156 hits and 81 penalty minutes in those 51 games. That included five fighting majors, easily the most on the club in 2021-22.

This deal will represent the first one-way contract of his career, and sets him up for a full-time role with the team next season. It will leave him as an RFA again in 2023, as long as he avoids Group VI UFA status by playing in a minimum of 29 games.

Pro Hockey Rumors is not affiliated with National Hockey League, NHL or NHL.com

scroll to top