Montreal Canadiens: A signed Max Pacioretty has more trade value

The Montreal Canadiens may choose to go the sign-and-trade route with Max Pacioretty which could change how teams approach a deal to acquire him.

Similar to offer sheets, the sign-and-trade is something often discussed that rarely happens. Signing or extending a player to immediately move them to another team is usually seen in the NBA. Trade-and-signs happen more often, and the Montreal Canadiens are one of the recent teams to do that with Jonathan Drouin.

There have been instances where there was a relatively short delay between a player getting traded after signing a new contract. Marian Hossa was moved to the Atlanta Thrashers in exchange for Danny Heatley hours after the Ottawa Senators avoided arbitration signing him to a three-year $18 million contract.

The next closest example may be Jeff Carter who was traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets at the end of the 2010-11 season. Carter had already signed an extension with the Philadelphia Flyers in November of that year, but it wouldn’t kick in until the following season. Tyler Seguin falls into this category as well.

In this day an age, the only benefit of a sign-and-trade is if the new team wants to get an extra year out of the acquiring player. Free agents can only sign a max term contract of seven years. However, a re-signing a player grants you eight.

Montreal Canadiens Trump Card

Talk has been on the steady rise around Max Pacioretty. Darren Dreger revealed that the Montreal Canadiens and his camp are in early talks of a possible extension with the club. That wasn’t to say that the Habs were planning on keeping Pacioretty, but just that those conversations were beginning to take place.

Saturday night on Headlines had Sportsnet‘s Elliotte Friedman bring up the interest from other teams in a sign-and-trade for Pacioretty.

"Some teams that don’t want to go in free agency… they have called Montreal and asked about Max Pacioretty."

Nothing new here. The value in acquiring Pacioretty boosts the scoring depth of any team who chooses to make the deal. His 17 goals this season are a clear outlier of the success he’s had in the past. Therefore, teams like the Kings, Panthers, and perhaps the Oilers make the most sense.

What teams may be paying attention to is his contract. The 29-year-old is going into the final year of his deal that will see him make $4.5 million. The salary in of itself is a bonus as a team will get the talent and still have room to maneuver. It’s what comes after the season ends in having to extend him if that’s their choice, that may generate some concern.

Because of that, the sign-and-trade card is getting laid out. From Freidman again,

"I think (teams) are also wondering… what he might want as an extension. So I think there’s been some asking about the possibility for a sign-and-trade for Pacioretty. So we’ll see where that goes."

With Evander Kane‘s extension with the San Jose Sharks, you could argue that Pacioretty would be in that similar ballpark. Teams may be able to handle a say an eight-year $64 million price tag if the two camps agree to it. If Pacioretty is traded has an unbelievable year and commands closer to $9 or $10 million, then his new team may risk losing him to free agency the following offseason.

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Security is everything as far as managing player contracts in the NHL nowadays. A signed Pacioretty would increase his trade value and make whatever the asking price from Marc Bergevin even more justifiable. However, as Friedman said in his quote, we’ll see where that goes.