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Jeff Petry's new deal with Habs, $33 million over six years ($5.5 M AAV)
— Pierre LeBrun (@Real_ESPNLeBrun) June 2, 2015The Montreal Canadiens and pending unrestricted free agent Jeff Petry came to terms on a six-year deal valued at $33 million ($5.5 million per season). He also negotiated a partial no-trade clause, which I'm just going to assume has one city listed permanently.
Craig MacTavish and the Edmonton Oilers treated this player incredibly poorly during his time with the Oilers by all accounts. He was doubted openly and the then-GM challenged him to a one-year contract even as it would take him to unrestricted free agency and even though he had been their best defender the year before.
They did not negotiate with him in January when they again regained the chance to do so. They did not negotiate with him in February when it was clear he was easily their best defenseman.
They did not offer him any deal of any kind that he could have turned down.
The Oilers simply did not think that Petry was worth very much and they traded him for assets that reflect that, receiving just a second-round pick and a conditional pick that became a fourth. It was easily the best deadline deal of the year and the winner was Montreal.
That GM is no longer in control. He now acts in an advisory of sorts, counting down the days until his contract runs out.
I am interested to see how much more than 5.5M the Oilers will pay to replace the void left behind by the right-handed d-man they had developed for almost a decade on behalf of the Canadiens.
I'm glad for Petry that he went to somewhere that could appreciate him. In a sense I'm glad that him moving on was undoubtedly part of the reason MacTavish was replaced by someone else. Still, the way this unfolded will always sting for me because it was so unavoidable.
Congratulations to Petry. He earned every penny of this deal.
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