Montreal Canadiens Re-Sign Rem Pitlick
The Montreal Canadiens made a big trade this evening, sending Jeff Petry to the Pittsburgh Penguins, and then immediately made another transaction.
Minutes after the Petry and Ryan Poehling trade for Michael Matheson and a 4th round pick was announced, the team also released a statement saying that Rem Pitlick would be returning to the team next season as well.
The skilled left winger was claimed off waivers from the Minnesota Wild in midseason and finished the year strong with the Habs. He scored nine goals and 26 points in 46 games with the Canadiens, and will have a chance to add to those number over the next two seasons.
Pitlick, a 25 year old from Ottawa, has agreed to terms on a two-year contract extension with the Canadiens. He will earn a cap hit of $1.1 million for each of those two seasons. That’s a bargain for a player who scored at a 46 point pace last season, his first NHL campaign.
The contract comes with almost no cap risk as Pitlick is making less than the amount that can be buried in the AHL. That means if he does ever get sent down, his entire cap hit would come off the Canadiens books. But this player isn’t planning on any more trips to the minors.
He is young enough, skilled enough, and showed enough potential in his rookie NHL season that he could be a regular contributor in the Canadiens top nine for the foreseeable future. At such a small cap hit, this could be quite a steal for the Canadiens for the next two seasons.
It does add to the Habs logjam of forwards already on the NHL roster. The Canadiens now have 14 forwards who were NHL regulars last season, as well as the first overall pick from the NHL Draft.
Adding Pitlick back into the fold after he was not given a qualifying offer and became an unrestricted free agent gives the Canadiens a little too much depth up front. Expect another trade in the coming days as another forward could be moved for help on the blue line, or just for prospects or picks.
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