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INSTANT ANALYSIS: Canadiens Quickly Move On From Petry

Published

9 months ago

on

Montreal Canadiens GM Kent Hughes

The Montreal Canadiens recently announced that they had traded defenceman Jeff Petry to the Detroit Red Wings in exchange for Gustav Lindstrom and a fourth-round pick in 2025.

The Canadiens will retain 50 percent of Petry’s salary, which means he will only carry a $2.343 million cap hit next season.

Simply put, this was the culmination of a series of trades that started with the original Petry trade, which saw defenceman Mike Matheson join the Canadiens in 2022-23.

The Canadiens then re-acquired Petry in the Karlsson trade, only to ship him to Detroit shortly thereafter.

The overall return for the Canadiens is as follows:

  • Mike Matheson
  • Casey DeSmith
  • Nathan Legare
  • Gustav Lindstrom
  • 2nd-round pick (2025 Pittsburgh)
  • 4th-round pick (2025 Detroit)
  • 4th-round pick (2023 Pittsburgh)

Whereas the Montreal Canadiens lost the following assets:

  • Ryan Poehling
  • Jeff Petry ($2.343 million retained)
  • Mike Hoffman
  • Rem Pitlick

Brass Tacks

The Detroit Red Wings certainly received a good player in Petry, especially since both the Penguins and Canadiens are retaining a portion of his salary.

In a vacuum, you can certainly say they’re the big winners of Sunday’s trade.

As for the Canadiens, it was clear that they weren’t interested in having Petry on the roster at the start of training camp. This trade clears up the situation and reassures the younger right-handed defenceman that they’ll still have an honest chance of making the team next season.

As much as Petry would have helped the Canadiens win a few more games next year, it would have come at the cost of a better draft pick, not to mention opportunities for the aforementioned defencemen.

It also goes to show the market for Petry was rather mediocre, to say the least. Not to mention, Kent Hughes did him a favour by sending him to his hometown team.

The Canadiens ended up clearing a healthy amount of cap space by moving Hoffman and Petry and did so while acquiring decent draft picks.

It’s not a jaw-dropping series of moves, but it’s still tidy business by Hughes and Co.

As for Lindstrom, he’s the epitome of a tweener and is unlikely to make a long-term impact in the NHL, however, as Shayna explains in the tweet below, the Canadiens can afford to give him the type of opportunity they gave to players like Kirby Dach, which could lead to a resurgence.

He’s a calm presence on the ice, rarely venturing very far into the offensive zone. He can execute a solid first pass, which is an area in which the Canadiens need reinforcements. His defensive acumen is average, as is his overall production.

As it stands, Lindstrom is likely expected to spend the majority of the season in the AHL with the Laval Rocket.

MUST READ: Projected Defensive Lineup for the Laval Rocket In 2023-24

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