Montreal Canadiens, Jeff Petry sign four-year contract extension

The Montreal Canadiens have locked up defenceman Jeff Petry, signing him to a four year contract extension.

Petry had one year remaining (2020-21) on his current contract and his new contract will carry a cap hit of $6.25 million. The defenceman has been a huge contributor since being acquired from the Edmonton Oilers. This deal will last until after the 2024-25 season.

The cap hit is less than $1 million more than the $5.5 million Petry is currently making. He was set to become an unrestricted free agent after the 2020-21 season.

The 32-year-old has 69 goals and 184 assists in 680 career NHL games, with Montreal he has 52 goals and 127 assists in 385 regular season games. He added five goals and two assists in 28 playoff games.

This signing has no effect on the Canadiens cap status for the 2020-21 season. They currently have around $48.7 million committed to the cap for 11 players for the 2021-22 season. They have an additional seven contracts signed for that year.

According to Chris Johnston, the contract includes a no-movement clause and a 15-team no trade list. This means he will need to be protected in the upcoming expansion draft, which he would have been anyway.