Imagine you’re working a terrible job, you have a terrible boss, you don’t like your co-workers and you never get recognition in your field. Then, one day, you wake up and find out your boss has offered you a new position at a better company, with a more friendly staff and you will get recognized in your field. Wouldn’t that be great?
For Jeff Petry, Brian Flynn and Torrey Mitchell, that dream became a reality when the trio was traded to the Montreal Canadiens in separate trades on Monday, the NHL’s trade deadline day. The Habs gave Edmonton second and fifth round picks for Petry, sent Buffalo a 2016 fifth round pick for Flynn and Jack Nevins along with a 2016 7th round pick, were sent to the Sabres for Mitchell. After playing on the league’s two worst teams, the newest Habs additions are ready to gear up for a long playoff run.
What can they contribute to the team?
Petry was regarded as the best fish in the pond still available heading into the deadline day after stars like Evander Kane, Andrej Sekera. Keith Yandle, Antoine Vermette and Jaromir Jagr were all dealt prior to March 3rd. He got picked up extremely fast by Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin, for a fraction of the cost of other top defencemen in the league. Yandle, traded to the Rangers, went for an extremely high price of an elite prospect in Anthony Duclair, an NHL-ready defenceman in John Moore plus a first and second picks. The L.A. Kings were also charged a first round pick and a prospect for Sekera.
Nonetheless of the bargain pulled on by Bergevin, who lowered the price of defencemen for the rest of the day, Petry will be highly valuable for the remaining 19 games plus a potentially long playoff run. The Ann Arbor, Michigan native brings a puck-moving skill to the blue-line but also is a right-handed shot, now the third righty on the regular defensive corps, with P.K. Subban and Tom Gilbert. This will even out the pairings in the back end and allow for a stronger second powerplay unit that may include Gonchar on the right side and Petry on the left- the same set-up and concept as the Andrei Markov-Subban powerplay unit.
A career +/- of -65 for Petry can be over-looked and ignored as he has played all five of his NHL seasons with the Oilers, a team who never made the playoffs and finished last-placed in their division three out of the four previous seasons. Playing in front of the league’s number one goalie and for the number one defence will drastically change his rating. Coach Michel Therrien can rely on him more for an offensive upside and add scoring from the blue line, a quality that the Habs have lacked this season, only producing 26 goals.
Standing at 6’3″, 196 lbs, Petry brings the size the Habs have desperately needed but with the play of Markov, Subban and Nathan Beaulieu on the defensive part of the game lately, his physicality might be an after-thought- but still is important to his new club. He can play both sides of the puck well- producing 181 hits last season and already 102 this season along with 15 points thus far- it’s up to Therrien to decide where Petry’s talents are needed.
The happiest player to get traded on the day was the Quebecois, Mitchell. Growing up in Greenfield Park, Quebec, located just across the St. Lawrence River from downtown Montreal, the 30-year-old is coming home and living a dream come true.
“You go from the last-placed team to having a chance to win the Cup” Mitchell told TSN following his trade. That seems to be his mantra in recent interviews, constantly mentioning the team’s chances at their 25th Cup. Growing up a Habs fan, Mitchell is emotionally and not just contractually attached to a commitment to play his hardest for his new team, but also for his city and for his province.
A modest 5’11”, Mitchell is brought in for depth down the middle, despite the fact that the team has six centers on their roster. Bergevin is a big believer in “you can never have too much depth”, a quote originally about his blue line, but the GM is taking that mantra into the forwards group now.
Mitchell will bring energy to the bottom two lines and might be able to score some key goals come playoff time. That would be a real headline grabber, no?
The most minor of the three trades on the day was for Flynn, a 6’1″ winger that doesn’t really have a physical upside but can bring speed. This is another depth move by the Habs in case of player injuries or slumps (e.g. Lars Eller). The Boston-area native knows too well what the Bruins-Canadiens rivalry is like and his energy and passion might come in handy should Montreal meet Boston in a playoff series. As of now, they are slated to play each other in the first round.
Bergevin may have learned from his big-ticket rental acquisition last year in Thomas Vanek and saw how little effort he put in come playoff time and backed off top-six forward rentals this season. All three players are UFAs come the summer but at least Flynn and Mitchell will have to earn their money when July rolls around, don’t expect any laziness from them. What Petry can bring to the table in terms of commitment remains a question. But for now, the Habs additions have to gear up for a long spring.
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