Canadiens: What If Jeff Petry Does Not Get Traded?

With the trade deadline inching ever closer, the Montreal Canadiens are in the middle of many trade rumors. Some logical, some a little more far fetched. One of a couple of players in which their situation is an enigma is the one of Jeff Petry.

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The veteran defenceman is in his 7th year with the Canadiens, having been traded from the Edmonton Oilers in 2015 for a 2nd and 4th round pick. As a matter of fact, March 2nd marks the anniversary of the trade.

At the time, Petry was inconsistent and frustrating in Edmonton. He had shown flashes of brilliance but it seemed that he simply didn’t fit with the OIlers’ mold at the time. Once in Montreal, Petry held his own in the final 19 games of the regular season registering 7 points. He also got on the scoresheet in the playoffs, registering 2 goals and an assist in 12 games.

Petry tried his best in 2015-16 showing promise but the disastrous season which saw the Canadiens end the season with 82 points while using 5 different goaltenders and a total of 45 skaters is one to forget. Especially considering the team won the division the year before. Sound familiar? Petry spent the year rotating with different defenceman but the bulk was spent alternating between Alexei Emelin and Nathan Beaulieu on his left side.

For the next five seasons we saw the Jeff Petry we grew accustomed to. Hard working, showing signs of leadership and posting career highs in virtually every category.

His efforts and services were rewarded last season when then GM Marc Bergevin handed Petry a 4 year extension worth $25 million. This would cost the team an annual cap hit of $6.25 million accompanied by a 15 team no-trade list. $8 million of the $25 million are offset by signing bonuses which makes his actual salary approximately $4.5 million per year.

Losing someone like Petry to free agency was not in Marc Bergevin’s best interest at the time. However, many have forgotten how protected he was by playing behind Shea Weber for all these years. It made for a magnificent 1-2 punch on the right side which meant Petry wasn’t exposed as much. Now with Weber suddenly gone, all the pressure fell on Petry. Again though, this isn’t the first time this happened as he was putting on Norris Trophy considerations when Weber was injured for most of last season.

So what has lead to this current situation? Many things. The more important is what transpired during Dominique Ducharme’s tenure as Head Coach of the Canadiens. We’ve seen players, most notably Cole Caufield and Josh Anderson just to name a couple, thrive under Martin St. Louis when the supposed leash was taken off of them. Everyone simply adapted and moved on.

Petry however aired his dirty laundry publicly and it hurt his image. Praising his new coach is one thing, but constantly throwing darts at your former coach in the same sentence is something you just don’t do in any professional setting. Furthermore, we all saw his lackluster efforts during games, some in which could’ve potentially cost serious injuries.

https://twitter.com/HabsHappy/status/1487819147090309120?s=20&t=IYR0dGAFQnhAqaIKTAZCsQ

Granted, everyone was guilty on that play. Ryan Poehling kind of skated away while Petry pretended as if he didn’t see anything. It took Michael Pezzetta to charge all the way towards Kassian to pick a fight with him. The team couldn’t be at a lower point at the time. Imagine if someone like Pat Burns or Scotty Bowman or John Tortorella were the Habs’ coach and something like this happened. The maintenance crew would still be fixing the dents in the dressing room from all the equipment being thrown around.

To his credit, Jeff Petry has elevated his game once St. Louis got behind the bench and the same can be said for virtually everyone. Some players struggle more than others but the overall energy and effort is definitely there. Heck, Petry is even smiling again!

Now the $6.25 million question is, do you still attempt to trade Petry? With most teams stuck against the cap and half the league on his no trade list, there’s not a lot of offers for a 34 year old with 3 years left on his contract at this price. I’m convinced some team will make offers but the question remains if those offers are even worth considering.

We’ve all heard the stories of his personal life as well. His wife took the kids and bailed to Michigan giving the middle finger to Canada for the way it’s handling COVID-19. The rumors started to intensify claiming the Detroit Red Wings inquired about the Michigan native and Steve Yzerman has apparently shown willingness to offer Filip Zadina, while the more persistent rumors link Petry to the Dallas Stars. His wife Julie is native of Houston.

The Philadelphia Flyers have also been heavily rumored but the Flyers are linked with everyone these days due to the uncertainty concerning captain Claude Giroux and his status with the team.

With the recent news that the Canadiens are aiming at a big time free agent, as well as the persistent hints that Kristopher Letang is considering a move to Montreal this summer, again, what do you do with Petry? Do you try and dump him, cost be damned? Or do you keep him around during the rebuild. We all know there was a time he wanted out but now it seems he’s had a change of heart now that he’s playing for Martin St. Louis.

We’ve already mentioned how Petry is more likely to be traded in the offseason, if trade there is. Higher salaries are just easier to manager in the offseason when there’s no cap limit.

Bottom line is, Petry has only known two franchises in his career: the Edmonton Oilers and the Montreal Canadiens. During that time he’s been coached by Tom Renney, Ralph Krueger, Dallas Eakins, Todd Nelson, Michel Therrien, Claude Julien, Dominique Ducharme and now Martin St. Louis. Out of those eight coaches, he’s only sulked publicly over one of them.

Maybe there was indeed something terribly wrong with the way Dominique Ducharme coached his team. Maybe Petry does deserve the benefit of the doubt. But has the damage already been done? Was losing the “A” on his jersey the proverbial kiss of death? Only those within the franchise truly know.

I agree with a lot of the comments i’ve seen regarding a rebuild. Either go for it or don’t and if you don’t, some veterans need to stick around and maybe Petry can be an important piece of the puzzle going forward. Remember, a Jeff Gorton rebuild doesn’t necessarily mean multiple losing seasons. When he was with the Rangers, the first thing he did was get Artemi Panarin who granted, wanted to go to New York to begin with. So it’ll be interesting to see what exactly will the approach be now that we’re only three weeks away from the trade deadline.

What do you think? Will Jeff Petry be traded or will he stay in Montreal? Comment below!