Two days after he was acquired from the Columbus Blue Jackets, Josh Anderson has signed a contract with the Montreal Canadiens.
The Canadiens have agreed to terms on a 7-year deal with forward Josh Anderson. (AAV $5.5M).
More details to come.#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/W4jMWwe6hF
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) October 8, 2020
The seven-year contract carries and average annual value of $5.5 million, and takes Anderson to age 33. It is the most expensive deal of his career after his previous deal was worth $1.85 million per season.
With this contract, Anderson ties Jonathan Drouin at the top Montreal’s forward corps in cap hit, above some team-friendly deals and several players on entry-level contracts. Such cost certainty in later years was important to general manager Marc Bergevin, who faces extensions for those players in the near future, and was one reason why he felt the need to trade Max Domi (who has since signed a two-year deal with Columbus valued at $5.3 million per season).
Anderson, and Bergevin, will be hoping the shoulder and collarbone injuries that cut the big forward’s 2019-20 season short have been fully repaired and healed, and that he can get back to the type of game he was playing up to the start of the last campaign. He approached the 30-goal plateau the season before, and that’s something the Canadiens are hoping he’ll replicate in Montreal.
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