Officially speaking, Montreal Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes has struck again. Technically though, his second Jeff Petry trade in a matter of just a few weeks doesn’t exactly measure up to his own personal standards.
Hughes has made his bones as a GM up to now through impressive trades, with possible exception to his first big one, when he dealt Tyler Toffoli for a slew of futures. For example, when he acquired Petry in the first place, it was hailed as a huge victory. The Canadiens not only shed Mike Hoffman’s unwanted contract, opening up roster space for their younger players, but they did it without retaining salary.
Related: Ranking Canadiens GM Hughes’ Best Trades Ahead of 2023 Deadline
On top of it all, the Pittsburgh Penguins retained 25% of Petry’s salary to make the initial trade all the more appetizing. That’s not so much the case in this second Petry trade, in which the Canadiens retained 50% of his salary instead, getting defenseman Gustav Lindstrom and a conditional fourth-round pick in 2025 back in exchange from the Detroit Red Wings.
Petry’s Underwhelming Return
The return isn’t bad per se, just underwhelming, considering some had opined Petry could fetch a first-round pick just a few short days ago. Of course, there was also the possibility Petry could end up suiting up for the Canadiens again, as unlikely as that would have been considering how acrimoniously things ended the first time leading up to the trade to the Penguins last summer.
So, maybe a lot of people got carried away in terms of what the Petry reacquisition meant, to what degree Hughes intended to leverage the defenseman. It was easy to lose sight of his bigger plans, the swoon in offseason activity taking hold of the imaginations of fans and analysts alike. However, logically Petry could have earned the Canadiens a lot more on the trade market… and, if not, it’s hard to justify Hughes not at least waiting to see if he could have gotten a better deal from another team, with it only being August.
Looking at it from another angle, this was more a matter of accommodating Petry. Consider his Michigan roots, which is also where his family lives. Remember, Petry had requested a trade out of Montreal after his family moved back to Michigan out of frustration with the province of Quebec’s pandemic restrictions. While those have since softened, it’s hard to say whether or not Habs fan sentiment has. So, this latest move is very much to Petry’s benefit, regardless of whether or not he had a hand in his ultimate destination.
As Hughes confirmed to the media after this latest Petry trade: “I gave him my word. I said, ‘Listen, we saw an opportunity here to facilitate the trade between Pittsburgh and [the] San Jose [Sharks] and to help ourselves, but we’re mindful… Montreal is probably not the place you’re expecting to play.’ So, I promised him that we would work expeditiously to get him moved and that we wouldn’t drag this out trying to maximize every last piece of value in the trade.”
Canadiens Still Make Out Well in Hoffman-Petry Deal(s)
Ultimately, the Canadiens make out all right themselves. A 2017 second-round draft pick, Lindstrom may not be the first-round pick some may have hoped for, but he is an NHL-caliber player, one with top-four upside. He’s also a right-handed shot, so the Canadiens don’t lose any depth on the precarious right side on defense, while getting significantly younger in the process (25).
All that to say, it’s not the loss some critics may see it as at first glance. It’s best to see it as an extension of the first trade, making it a four-team deal instead of three-team one. That way, the Canadiens give up Hoffman and Rem Pitlick. They get back Lindstrom and the conditional 2025 fourth from the Wings and Casey DeSmith, a 2025 second-round pick and Nathan Legare from the Penguins (and Mike Matheson and a fourth-round pick with Ryan Poehling included as well if you go back a year).
Now, Pitlick was likely destined for waivers en route to the American Hockey League. Meanwhile, Hoffman is arguably addition by subtraction. That’s still a clear-cut win. Sure, there’s the matter of the retained salary, but, because of the 25% of Petry’s salary the Pens were retaining, it effectively works out to what the Habs would have had to retain to get Hoffman off the books under normal circumstances (albeit for an additional season, as Petry’s deal has two years left to Hoffman’s one).
So, in spite of the few weeks in between the Petry deals, this makes for one big trade for all intents and purposes, especially if you open yourself up to how Hughes was always going to trade Petry anyway. That’s been confirmed. In a roundabout way, that makes these normal circumstances… effectively business as usual for Hughes. He didn’t as much disappoint now as overdeliver initially. Taken as a whole, this still makes sense. More importantly, it still works out beautifully for the Canadiens (and, yes, Petry too).
