Montreal opted not to tender Rem Pitlick a qualifying offer back on Monday but less than a week later, he’s back with the team as the Habs announced on Saturday that they’ve signed him to a two-year deal.

With minimal cap space to work with, the Habs are spending the early part of free agency shoring up their depth as they announced the signings of Mitchell Stephens and Anthony Richard to one-year, two-way contracts.

The Habs have added a bit of defensive depth for Laval as they’ve agreed to terms with Madison Bowey on a one-year, two-way contract.

Montreal took care of a trio of pending free agents before free agency officially opened up on Wednesday, announcing the re-signings of Alex Belzile, Joel Teasdale, and Nate Schnarr to one-year, two-way contracts.

If Kent Hughes’ game plan wasn’t clear enough at last season’s trade deadline, what he did at the recent entry draft and during the qualifying period for restricted free agents are pretty good indications of what kind of a rebuild he plans on overseeing.

The Canadiens sent qualifying offers to five players by Monday’s 5 PM ET deadline while declining to tender an offer to three others, making them unrestricted free agents on Wednesday.

Prior to Monday’s qualifying offer deadline, the Habs took care of another one of their restricted free agents, announcing the re-signing of Michael Pezzetta to a one-year deal. 

With qualifying offers due on Monday, the Habs took care of one of their restricted free agents as they announced the re-signing of Corey Schueneman to a one-year, two-way contract.

Not only did the Habs make a big splash with their first-overall draft pick but they also made a big splash on the trade front, completing a three-team trade that saw them move Alexander Romanov and two draft picks while acquiring Kirby Dach from Chicago. Our writers offer up their thoughts on the swap.

After passing on Shane Wright with the top pick, the Habs struck a move to acquire a young centre, acquiring Kirby Dach from Chicago in a three-team trade.