Last year, the Habs made a big move just prior to the 3:00 PM EST trade
deadline. This year, Marc Bergevin has struck early, acquiring defenceman
Jeff Petry from the Edmonton Oilers. In exchange, the Canadiens give up a
pair of picks in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, a 2nd rounder and a conditional 5th
round pick.
Petry has spent his entire five year NHL career with Edmonton after being
drafted by the Oilers in the 2nd round in 2007 (45th overall). This year,
he has four goals and eleven assists in 59 games. His +/- rating is quite
ugly though at -25, ranking him 832nd overall in the league (out of 839 players)
while averaging just shy of 21 minutes per game. For his career, the 6’3,
198 lb blueliner has played in 295 games, picking up 17 goals and 57 assists
with 139 PIMS and a -65 rating.
As a right shot defenceman, it seems likely that Petry will slot in on the
second pairing behind P.K. Subban. As a physical player (101 hits, fourth
on the Oilers), he’ll be a nice fit on a blueline that isn’t that hard to play
against from that perspective while also providing some strong puck movement.
He can also help both the power play and the penalty kill, logging over a minute
per game in each situation this season with the Oilers.
With both the Rangers (Keith Yandle) and Lightning (Braydon Coburn) adding
top four defencemen in the past 24 hours, it’s logical that the Habs have
countered. They now boast very impressive blueline depth as two of Mike
Weaver, Tom Gilbert, Alexei Emelin, and Sergei Gonchar will be scratches when
everyone is healthy. That’s nice depth to have heading into what they hope
will be a lengthy playoff run.
Edmonton will also be hoping the Habs have a nice playoff run as the
conditional 5th round pick is based on the Canadiens’ playoff success. If
Montreal wins a round, the pick moves up to a 4th; if they win two rounds, it
becomes a third round selection. If the Canadiens lose in the first round,
they will send Colorado’s 5th rounder that was acquired in the P-A Parenteau –
Daniel Briere swap.
With a cap hit of $3.075 M, Petry eats in to a good chunk of Montreal’s cap
space. Not factoring any bonuses into the equation, the Habs have up to $4
million left in cap space. If you do factor in some of Galchenyuk’s
pending bonuses (two Class A ones at $212,500 each), that space gets cut in
half. You can look at their cap situation through our trusty
Cap Sheet.
Petry’s Stats:
