The Penguins signed right guard earlier today when they sent John Marino to New Jersey. He appears likely to be replaced by Jeff Petry, as Pittsburgh acquired the veteran along with center Ryan Poling from Montreal in exchange for blueliner Mike Mathison and a fourth-round pick in 2023. The two teams have confirmed the trade.
The 34-year-old is coming off a tough season with Montreal that saw him struggle as their top defenseman in the absence of Shea Weber. He struggled mightily offensively to start the year, as he had just two assists in 27 games through the first three months of the year. However, Petrie’s performance improved after the coaching change that saw Martin St. Louis take over behind the bench, and he was much better down the stretch, collecting 21 points over the final three months of the season. Overall, Petrie finished the year with six goals and 21 assists in 68 games, his lowest point total since the 2015-16 campaign, his first full season with the Canadiens.
Around the middle of the year, he also requested a deal for family reasons. While he was expected to move at the trade deadline and again in the draft, it took some time for the move to materialize.
Petrie has three years remaining on his $6.25MM AAV contract, and Montreal GM Kent Hughes said earlier this week that he wasn’t interested in retaining salary to facilitate a trade. While Marino’s move freed up roughly $3.5 million in cap flexibility, it wasn’t enough to absorb Petrie’s full deal, prompting Matheson to be included in the trade. Petry has been speculated as a possible replacement for Kris Letang if the veteran leaves in free agency. Instead, Letang signed a six-year contract, and Petry will now help form a quality one-two punch on the right side of their backend, with Petry’s AAV registering just above Letang’s to make him the highest-paid blueliner in the team.
Matheson was a top-four defenseman early in his career at Florida, but his stock started to drop a few years ago, leading to him being traded to Patrik Hornqvist. The move worked out well for the 28-year-old, as he had a career offensive year in 2021-22, scoring 11 goals and 20 assists in 74 games while logging just under 19 minutes a night. He was also quite productive for the Penguins in the playoffs, notching a goal and five helpers in seven games to lead all Pittsburgh players in scoring while averaging over 25 minutes per contest.
Matheson has four years remaining on his contract at $4.875MM AAV on a deal that is somewhat heavily loaded with a payout set to jump to $6.5MM per season in each of the last three seasons. He instantly becomes the longest-contracted blueliner for the Canadiens, while also being their highest-paid. He will likely fill Aleksandr Romanov’s spot on Montreal’s roster, as the youngster was traded to the Islanders for the 13th overall pick, who was then traded to Chicago to get center Kirby Dach.
As for Pohling, the 23-year-old was Montreal’s first-round pick in 2017 (25th overall) and spent most of last season with the Canadiens, scoring nine goals and eight assists in 57 games while averaging just over 12 minutes per game. He will likely have a similar role in Pittsburgh’s bottom six in 2022-23. Pohling is signed for the league minimum next season and will be a restricted free agent next summer.
With the move, Pittsburgh now has just under $2 million in cap space with yet-to-sign RFA winger Kasperi Kapanen. That’s not enough for the 25-year-old, so it looks like GM Ron Hextall should try to make another move. Montreal, meanwhile, frees up just over $2MM with this trade, giving them just over $2.3MM in cap space with Dach as their most notable RFA in need of a new deal.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Contract and cap information courtesy of CapFriendly.
Sportsnet’s Elliot Friedman was the first to report that Petrie was headed to Pittsburgh. Frank Serravalli of the Daily Faceoff was the first to report the details of the trade.
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