The Montreal Canadiens re-acquired defenseman Jeff Petry last weekend at 75% of his $6.25MM cap hit as part of the blockbuster Erik Karlsson trade with the Pittsburgh Penguins and San Jose Sharks. However, this homecoming of sorts for Petry is likely to be short-lived, as Sportsnet’s Eric Engels reported immediately after the trade was announced that the Canadiens could be looking to move him once again. With the ability to retain an additional 50% of his cap hit, Montreal is positioning itself to facilitate a potential trade during training camp or early in the regular season.
While few teams would have interest in a 35-year-old defender making more than $6MM against the cap, Petry is certain to have plenty of market interest at a reduced price of $2.34MM until 2025, the lowest Montreal can bring him down to through retaining salary. As Chris Johnston of NorthStar Bets and SDPN noted on an episode of his podcast earlier this week, it makes sense Montreal would be willing to facilitate a deal. There’s a strong history between the player and team here – Petry played just over 500 games in a Canadiens uniform over parts of eight seasons, tallying 70 goals, 178 assists, 248 points, and averaging 22:42 per game. Montreal honored his trade request last summer, too, shipping him to a team thought to be playoff-caliber at the time.
Obviously, it didn’t quite pan out. Petry himself had an acceptable season for his role, scoring five goals, 26 assists and 31 points in 61 games and posting respectable possession metrics with a 51.5% Corsi for at even strength. Still, he was part of a quickly-aging core in Pittsburgh that sputtered last season, especially when it came to depth scoring. The Penguins missed out on postseason play for the first time since 2006 because of it, and only the second time while Sidney Crosby’s been a member of the team.
That being said, Petry is still a good second-pairing defender and an excellent third-pairing option if his next team shelters his minutes further. The right-shot can routinely produce upwards of 40 points in a full season and, while he’s far from a shutdown defender, isn’t a liability in his own zone.
Per Johnston, the Dallas Stars are likely to emerge as a fit for his services. They’ve had rumored interest in Petry at multiple points over the past couple of seasons, and they’d been reportedly looking to add on defense earlier in the offseason to no avail. Like most other teams looking to contend for the Stanley Cup next season, though, it would require a fair amount of cap gymnastics to get a deal done, even with Petry’s bargain bin price.
The Stars are currently projected at $317.8K over the $83.5MM Upper Limit for next season with a full 23-player roster, according to CapFriendly. Simply exposing veteran depth defenders Gavin Bayreuther and Joel Hanley to waivers and assigning them to the AHL would not clear the room to add Petry – they’d still need to clear about $1MM to be cap-compliant. The only waiver-exempt player on the roster who could feasibly start the season in the minors is defenseman Thomas Harley, although Dallas would love to see him take on a larger NHL role this season. Wyatt Johnston also does not require waivers, but he’ll be sticking with the team in a top-nine role in 2023-24 after scoring 24 goals and 41 points during his rookie campaign last year. With that in mind, the Stars would likely need to ship a roster player back to Montreal in any prospective Petry trade to make a deal work or make a corresponding trade with another team.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Everyone seems to have already traded Petry. Yet, Kent Hughes, the one with say in the matter, has not. As this article suggests, trades are hard to make this time of year. The teams that could use a veteran D-man like Petry are basically out of cap space now. I highly doubt that there’s any roster player Dallas is willing to trade now that the Habs would want. The best thing is for the Habs to start the season with Petry and look to trade him at the deadline or next June.
Wasn’t the hurricanes/flyers deal nixed because the canes shipped DeAngelo to Philly just the year before and were now shipping him back with retention?
The league blocked it because when they tried to put the trade through, it was less than a calendar year after the initial trade. Montreal sent Petry to Pittsburgh on July 16 last year, so there was more than a calendar year between the two transactions. Thus, it was a legal move.
The deal still pretty much happened it’s more the optics of it. The deal they tried to trade him back on wasn’t the same as the deal they acquired him on. It was a different Flyers GM, president, and governor of the team as well. The Flyers ended up making a minor trade too getting the prospect they wanted as well as a 5th round pick and kept their salary retention slot which made it better, and now DeAngelo is on Carolina on the contract they would have paid him anyway. It’s all pick and choose with the league when you consider what teams like the Lightning get to do with LTIR and trades.
Definitely agree: Petry at $6 would have few takers. Petry at $2.3, I can’t imagine any contender not on a serious youth movement not to grab for it.
And the answer plainly is not a roster player. Especially if the Habs retain max salary, a 2nd rounder would not only do it, but be a solid return.
At this point I don’t think a second rounder should or will do it. Hughes will want a solid prospect in addition to the second rounder, or he’d want a first rounder. Especially if he retains 50% of the remains cap hit. Petry is a solid RD who’s scored at a 40+ point per 82 game pace these past several years. Those players are quite valuable especially if cap hit is only $2.3m. I don’t see that happening right now though. Hughes need not be in any hurry. Can wait till deadline or next June.
Do you honestly think petry will ever put on a habs jersey again? He probably already told Hughes he is not playing in montreal he will be moved before the season starts id say its 99%
Renegade…..no offense but thats just crazy talk. Hes not fetching anywhere near any of that. 50% retained or not. An equal to value cap dump, a B prospect and at best a 2nd, but probably a 3rd
I wouldn’t say that just yet it all depended on how many teams are interested? Petry at 2.3 is a contenders dream i know my leafs would just love him for 2 years, right handed good skater big. Petry was top 50 in ppg last year on a bad pens team
Sorry, but it’s not crazy at all. Petry is a solid RD who can put up points. Those players are in very high demand. He’s averaged 45 points per 82 games the past several years. Even last year, when things didn’t go that well in Pittsburgh, he scored at a .5PPG pace. That is sure as hell not a cap dump. Especially with 50% retained. And with only 2 years left on his deal. Remember, Chiarot, a much lesser D-man, fetched a first and a prospect. Time is on Hughes side. He doesn’t have to move him till he gets the right deal. The Habs can easily handle his cap hit and have room at RD with Reinbacher and Mailloux at least a year away. Notwithstanding the thoughts of all of the armchair GMs on this site, Hughes will not dump him off or give him away.
Silly, it’s not as if it’s up to him. He’s been traded to the Habs. He had a 15-team no trade clause. The Habs were obviously not on it. What are his choices? To sit at home all year and not get paid. If the season starts and he’s still on the Habs and doesn’t want to be, I would think the best way for him to get out of there would be to play well enough to ensure a return that Hughes would be happy with.
As much as you think its not up to him it is i will almost guarantee Hughes talked to petry before trading for him and assured him he will be traded to another team that is not on his list
You will almost guarantee? Do you have a mole or listening device inside Hughes office? Or are you really Jeff Gorton?
Lol no but cmon do you really think he will play for the habs after asking for a trade a year ago?
Things were different them because of the Covid closures. That’s over now. The Petrys were quite happy in Montreal before Covid. Which is why he signed two extensions. I don’t imagine Petry will still be a Hab at this time next year, but I don’t think a trade gets done until at least February. But he’ll play till a trade is made.
Your not getting a 2nd and top prospect for Petry after he just had 2 horrible seasons!
After seeing monahan and edmundson get hurt before being able to move them at the deadline he will be moved before the season starts
He’s still a solid defenseman … who’s still 35 years old.
And only has 2 years left on his contract that could be a steal at 2.34 million
Chiarot was 30, Petry is 35.
Chiarot was making half of what Petry was.
Habs retained half his salary.
Chiarot is a shutdown D-man who had been having progressively better offensive years.
In summary, Chiarot fetched more than Petry will simply because he was younger, cheaper, and better than Petry is at this point in his career.
Why do people keep calling it a bad Pens team. They missed the playoffs by 1 point. They simply choked the last 2 games of the year losing to Columbus and Chicago. They win just 1 of those games and theyre in the playoffs. They had 91 points to finish the season. Not 60 or 70 points. They were not a bad team !!
Petrys defensive metrics were poor, and in a 2nd pairing role. They’ve been blasted all over social media. Dont nit pick the very few good ones that you can count on 1 hand. He doesn’t want to play for montreal and wont. He will be traded before the season starts and the return will not be great
People will be surprised when Petry gets traded contending teams would love a rhd for their top 4 that can put up points. And yes the pens were bad last year picking up Karlsson might get them in to the playoffs but really doesn’t make them a contender
I told you so Renegade.
I think Petry actually would have been a better option for Detroit than Justin Holl. ( Who , incidentally, shouldnt have commanded 3.5 million per year.) Even given his age, Petry doesn’t have as many flaws in his game as Holl.
How bout a 3-way:
Buffalo needs help on the RS, soooooooo…..
Holl to Buffalo
Petry(no retention) to Detroit
Sabre’s ’24 2nd to Montreal
I would prefer Chiarot being dealt instead of Holl……but I think Y is gonna have to eat that one!
You think that Buffalo is going to give up a 2nd for Holl on that all contract? Good luck with that one
Well, Detroit could retain $400K.
He was terrible in Pgh !!
No, he was just overpaid.
What Mr Goodkat said. If Petry was making $4 MM last year, playing on second pairing, no one would’ve blinked. If he was making $2 MM last year, people would’ve been cheering at the bargain they had. He’s no longer a top pairing defenseman, but he hasn’t yet started sucking.