Montreal Canadiens Wisely Sign Xavier Simoneau to Minor League Deal

The Montreal Canadiens, well technically the Laval Rocket, announced earlier today that they have signed prospect Xavier Simoneau to a contract.

The contract is a minor league only contract, meaning he is not signed, nor eligible to play in the National Hockey League next season under this agreement. He is property of the Laval Rocket only and will have to stay in the AHL for the duration of the 2022-23 season.

This is a smart move by the organization on a couple of fronts. First of all, teams are only allowed to have a maximum of 50 players under NHL contracts at any time. This allows the Habs to retain Simoneau’s rights in their organization, but make him the 51st player under contract by the team.

Since he was drafted in the 2021 NHL Draft, the Canadiens keep his rights until 2023 anyway, but this allows them a bonus season with the prospect before committing a three-year entry-level contract to him.

The 21 year old winger was destined to play in the AHL next season anyway, so this really pushes his entry-level contract a year down the road and will make his entry-level contract expire after four pro seasons instead of the usual three. This gives the team a longer look at the player before deciding on whether to commit to him beyond his entry-level deal.

Simoneau was a 6th round pick last season, after being passed over in the 2020 NHL Draft. He scored 24 goals and 86 points in 48 games for the Charlottetown Islanders, and helped them reach the QMJHL Finals with 21 points in 14 playoff games.

He is a smart, skilled, playmaking forward who played centre and the wing in Junior but likely projects to be a winger at the pro level. The Canadiens can now take their time and evaluate him next season before deciding what the next steps will be with their late round pick.

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