The Montreal Canadiens announced on Monday morning that they have re-signed forward Max Pacioretty to a new 2-year deal, reported to be worth $3.25 million, which works out to be a $1.625 million cap hit per year. Pacioretty was scheduled to become a restricted free agent on July 1st.
Pacioretty had a very turbulent 2011 season, starting the season in the minors, being recalled in December only to have his season cut short by a violent injury against the Bruins in March. Pacioretty only played in 35 games in the year, but had an impressive scoring rate with 24 points (14 goals and 10 assists) in that stretch.
The Canadiens are in reasonable shape with 13 players signed on and one buyout for $41.9 million, which gives the club $22 million in approximate cap space for the last eight to 10 players they will need to have on their roster before opening night. That works out to a pretty good per player average they can spend in this off-season. The Canadiens have a pretty good core to work from and will likely be spending more of their remaining cap space on improving the defense going forward.
It's good to see that there was no hesitation in re-signing Pacioretty to a new deal, as his health certainly doesn't seem to be an issue after that horrific ordeal with Zdeno Chara. It sounds like he'll be back to 100% for the opening of the season and with the scoring rate that he had in 2011, he could make himself into a very good sleeper pick in this Fall's pool draft.
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