For a second summer in a row, Kent Hughes has taken on the job of hosting the show in the NHL. And for a second summer in a row, it involves Jeff Petry.
After the Mike Matheson and Sean Monahan trades last summer, Hughes once again used the summer season to reshape his team, this time partnering with the Penguins and Sharks to facilitate the Erik Karlsson trade.
Hughes traded forwards Mike Hoffman and Rem Pitlick to the Pittsburgh Penguins for defenseman Jeff Petry, goaltender Casey DeSmith, forward Nathan Légaré and a 2025 2nd round pick.
Petry therefore returns – on paper – to Montreal, but at 4.688 million dollars, since the Penguins have agreed to pay 25% of his salary of 6.25 million. He has two years left on his deal. It says “on paper” because there’s nothing stopping Hughes from trying to trade Petry again, now that his contract is less onerous. The general manager of the Canadian could even retain an additional portion of 50% of his salary, so that he could exchange it at a salary of 2.3 million.
In 61 games with the Penguins, Petry had 31 points (5 goals, 26 assists) and posted a 2 differential. The 35-year-old averaged 22 minutes per game, the second most among defensemen in the team behind Kris Letang.
The arrival of DeSmith adds a layer of intrigue to the CH situation in net, since the team already has Jake Allen and Samuel Montembeault. DeSmith played 38 games last season as the Penguins’ No. 2 goaltender. The 31-year-old American — he’ll be 32 next week — was 15-16-4, 3.17 GAA and .905 save. He has one year left on his contract, which counts for $1.8 million under the cap.
If ever DeSmith does not dislodge Allen or Montembeault, he could always be transferred to Laval, but would have to go through waivers first, just like Cayden Primeau. We can however believe that the latter, younger (soon to be 24 years old), would have a better chance of being claimed there.
Légaré, 22, will obviously have to go through Laval to start. A 3rd round pick (74th overall) in 2019, he still hasn’t played in the NHL and has two years of experience in the American League. He had 19 points (8 goals, 11 assists) in 68 games last season.
As for the choice of the 2nd round in 2025, it will be necessary to wait two years before knowing its identity, according to the principles of the Gregorian calendar.
For his part, Hoffman was only on paper in Pittsburgh, since he was immediately traded to the Sharks in the Karlsson transaction.
Hoffman will serve out the final year of his contract in 2023-24, at $4.5 million. He had two relatively similar seasons in Montreal, scoring 15 goals and 20 assists in 2021-22 and 14 goals and 20 assists last season. He played 67 games in each of two seasons. Hughes therefore succeeded in what seemed unlikely: trading Hoffman without withholding salary. However, he had to accept Petry’s contract.
Pitlick remains with the Penguins. In five years in the professional ranks, he is already at a fourth organization.
The departure of Hoffman and Pitlick will ease the pressure on the management of CH, taken with a surplus of attackers. The team now has 12 forwards on one-way contracts for next season. Added to them are Juraj Slafkovsky and Sean Farrell, who played games with the Habs last season, not to mention Emil Heineman, who should be fighting for a position.
Penguins receive: Erik Karlsson, Dillon Hamaliuk, 2026 3rd round pick (San Jose)
Sharks receive: 2024 first-round pick Mikael Granlund, Mike Hoffman, Jan Rutta (Pittsburgh)
The Canadian receives: Jeff Petry, Casey DeSmith, Nathan Légaré, 2nd round pick in 2025 (Pittsburgh)
