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Montreal Canadiens Acquire Joel Armia and Steve Mason

Joel Armia

The Montreal Canadiens have acquired right wing Joel Armia, goaltender Steve Mason, a 2020 fourth round pick, and a 2019 seventh round pick, from the Winnipeg Jets for defensive prospect Simon Bourque. The team announced the move on their twitter account.

Habs acquire Joel Armia and Steve Mason

Armia, 25, is a restricted free agent in need of a new contract.

Over his four-year NHL career, Armia has played for the Winnipeg Jets and Buffalo Sabres. He has scored 26 goals and 32 assists for 58 career points in 180 career NHL games. Armia has added two goals in 13 career Stanley Cup Playoff Games. He was originally drafted in the first round, 16th overall in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft by the Buffalo Sabres.

Last season, he scored 12 goals and 17 assists for 29 points in 79 games. He also added 22 minutes in penalties. His possession numbers were 51.8 percent Corsi-For with a relative Corsi of +0.6. He also had two goals in the Stanley Cup Playoffs as the Jets went to the Western Conference Final. Armia is coming off a two year, $1.85 million dollar contract with an AAV of $925,000. He signed this deal with Winnipeg in July 2016.

Armia is in his fourth year was starting to find himself self a solid spot in the Jets line-up. Last year, he mainly played on the fourth line alongside Adam Lowry and Brandon Tanev. Moving forward expect to see Armia continue to be a bottom-six forward. In his last two seasons, Armia has scored at least 10 goals. Armia is 6-foot-3 and 205 pounds which present a physical presence on the ice but he isn’t known for throwing his weight around all the time.

Mason

Mason, 30, signed a two-year deal with the Jets last summer. He carries a $4.1 million AAV or cap hit. The Canadiens have a full goalie stable and could look to retain salary and move Mason in a subsequent trade.

Last season he went 5-6-1 with a .906 save percentage and 3.24 goals against average. Mason has spent time with the Columbus Blue Jackets, Philadelphia Flyers, and Jets in his career. He has a career .911 save percentage and 2.70 goals against average.

Update: The Canadiens will buyout Mason’s contract.

The Habs will take a $1,366,667 cap hit on Mason’s buyout in each of the next two years.

Bourque

Bourque, 21, was the Canadiens sixth-round pick, 177th overall in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft. He put up three assists in 46 games with the Canadiens AHL Affiliate, the Laval Rocket, last season.

What This Means

The Canadiens had cap space to spare, and use it to acquire Armia and a pair of draft picks. Meanwhile the Winnipeg Jets clear cap space for the July 1st free agent frenzy. Rumours indicate that they are interested in re-signing centre Paul Stastny.

Ben Kerr

Ben Kerr

Ben is a credentialed sports writer from just outside Toronto, Canada. A lawyer, he has a highly analytical approach to writing. Ben is the COO of Last Word On Sports INC. Most of his writing can be found in the hockey department, though he follows and writes on other sports as well.

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