Montreal Canadiens News: Mathieu Perreault Signs One-Year Deal, Jon Merrill to Minnesota

As expected when free agency started, there was some more news yesterday. Mathieu Perreault signed a one-year contract with a $950,000 AAV with the Montreal Canadiens, and on the other hand, Jon Merrill signed a one-year $850,000 contract with the Minnesota Wild.

Merrill was brought in during the season to give the Canadiens a better chance at making the playoffs and having a deep run, and although he did not play big minutes, he did play nonetheless, and with all the new additions to the blue line, there is no need to keep him on the team.

He is in a very similar situation to Erik Gustafsson who was brought in to help with the powerplay, and who is also expected to sign with another team this offseason.

As well, Corey Perry signed a two-year contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning, and it now makes more sense as to why the Canadiens did not force something with him, as great as he was as a Hab.

They were aiming for shorter contracts and were able to find players willing to take those, such as Perreault and Cédric Paquette.

Perreault would be a replacement for Perry. The former tallied nine goals and 19 points in 56 regular-season games, and the latter had nine goals and 21 points in 56 games. But the big difference between them is their playoff performance. Perreault had one goal and two points in eight games, while Perry had four goals and 10 points in 22 games.

It won’t be easy to replace Perry, but when we look at all the additions made so far, David Savard, Mike Hoffman, Perreault, and Paquette, it sure looks like the Canadiens could be alright next season.

As well, both Perreault and Paquette are from Quebec, and the Canadiens faced a lot of criticism earlier this year when Jonathan Drouin and Phillip Danault were both injured and there were no Quebecers in the lineup. Now, that shouldn’t be an issue.

There should also be more news announced soon regarding Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Artturi Lehkonen’s contracts, probably once Shea Weber is officially put on LTIR, or if he decides to retire.

Some more changes to the lineup are to be expected, as the Canadiens currently have 10 wingers on the team and lack a veteran centre to play with the youngsters, so that’s something they will need to address soon, whether with a trade, a UFA signing, or both.