New contracts for minor league players continue to pour in, with the Montreal Canadiens the latest to sign one of their pending free agents. Jake Lucchini has inked a new one-year, two-way contract with the team that will carry a $700K NHL salary ($85K in the AHL).
Lucchini, 25, arrived in the Montreal organization along with the recently re-signed Joseph Blandisi through a trade with the Pittsburgh Penguins. The late-February deal sent Phil Varone and Riley Barber the other way. While Blandisi has quite a bit of NHL experience, Lucchini has never played a game at that level and instead spent the entire 2019-20 season in the AHL.
That’s not to say he won’t ever get a chance with the Canadiens though, as Lucchini did have a ton of success at the NCAA level. An undrafted free agent signing in 2019, his college career resulted in 104 points in 164 games. That kind of production wasn’t evident with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins through most of this season, but Lucchini did score four goals in just eight games after the move to the Laval Rocket.
Perhaps in that situation again next season he will be able to show his worth and become a useful depth piece for the Canadiens down the road.
Another depth move…get your heart and soul player, Gallagher, extended like Petry…I think Domi will be on outside looking in….Winnipeg looks like the destination