Montreal Canadiens Swing Huge Trade: Petry, Poehling to Pens, Michael Matheson to Montreal

The Montreal Canadiens have been quiet since the opening of free agency on Wednesday night. But we can’t say that any longer.

The team was long rumoured to be looking to trade Jeff Petry, and they finally found their partner and pulled off the deal. Petry had wanted out of Montreal, and he was finally granted his wish.

Petry was traded, with Ryan Poehling to the Penguins for defence man Michael Matheson and a fourth round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft. The trade was a bit surprising as the Pens were rumoured to be a possibly destination for Petry if they lost Kris Letang to free agency.

However, Letang re-signed with the Pens on a six year contract, but the Penguins also acquired Petry to give them a terrific pair of right shot defenders. They did trade John Marino earlier today, opening a spot on the depth chart, and the correct amount of cap space, for Petry to land in Pittsburgh.

Petry had a rough start to last season, but finished strong, scoring 21 points in his final 28 games. He was great for the Canadiens since being acquired at the trade deadline in 2014, increasing his points per game each season until 2021-22.

Poehling was a surprise inclusion in this deal, but with the acquisition of Kirby Dach, there isn’t a lot of room for Poehling to play down the middle of the ice. He was a first round pick in 2017, but had only 17 points in 57 games last season. He is a big centre with some two-way potential, but he hasn’t broken out offensively at all at the NHL level and is 23.

Matheson is in the middle of an eight year contract he signed with the Florida Panthers ahead of the 2018-19 season. He had a down year or two after signing but is a fantastic skater who put up 11 goals and 31 points in 74 games last season.

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