Jeff Petry will only have been back with the Canadiens on paper. The defenseman was traded to the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday afternoon after only a few days of uncertainty.

In return, the Habs get 24-year-old defenseman Gustav Lindström and a conditional fourth-round pick in 2025. Said pick will be the later of the Red Wings’ pick and the Boston Bruins’ pick.

It’s a homecoming for Petry, who is originally from Michigan and lives there during the offseason.

In the exchange, the Canadian retains 50% of his remaining salary, or about 2.3 million per year for two years. Recall that Petry was acquired from the Pittsburgh Penguins last week. The latter then withheld 25% of his salary.

Lindström, a 6-foot-2 Swede, is a former second-round pick in 2017. He played 36 games with the Red Wings last season. In four seasons and 128 games in the NHL, he registered 2 goals and 23 assists.

After this exchange, the Canadian has nearly 5 million for phantom defenders (Jeff Petry, Joel Edmundson and Karl Alzner). The fact remains that adding Petry to the Canadiens roster was not entirely meaningless. The 35-year-old veteran would have immediately become a safe bet on the right flank, which would have, for example, spared Justin Barron from facing the best opposing lines at the start of the season. Or what would have allowed David Savard to avoid playing shorthanded too often.

Still, the outcome seemed inevitable. At first, Kent Hughes had exchanged Petry for the first time last season to satisfy the request of the defender and his family. Then, the Canadian had still not organized any media availability for Petry, despite his eight seasons in Montreal.