The Montreal Canadiens have addressed their poor faceoff numbers over the last few years by signing fourth line center and faceoff ace Manny Malhotra, who was a tough minutes machine in Columbus, San Jose, and Vancouver before suffering a major eye injury that threatened to end his career.
While the Canucks felt that his career was over, or at least that it was unsafe for him to continue it, Malhotra once again played a tough role for the Carolina Hurricanes last season, with just 20.7 offensive zone starts, and managing a shot attempt differential of 41.4%.
Malhotra agreed to a one-year deal worth $850K to join the Canadiens, and at 34 years old should fill the spot that Ryan White and Daniel Briere shared last season. Malhotra plays a similar style to former Canadien Jeff Halpern, and will allow Michel Therrien to recreate a sacrificial tough minutes line to ease the defensive stress on Tomas Plekanec and Lars Eller. This is a solid signing.
