The Montreal Canadiens have signed defenceman Victor Mete to a new contract. The deal is for one season and will count $735,000 towards the salary cap. Free agency starts Friday but the team is wasting no time in locking down assets. The team announced the move Friday morning.
The Canadiens have agreed to terms on a one-year deal with defenseman Victor Mete.#GoHabsGohttps://t.co/W62ZxHivO9
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) October 9, 2020
Canadiens Sign Victor Mete
Mete was a solid contributor in 2019-20. He scored a four goals and 11 points in 71 games. The goals represent the first of his young career. His 20 hits and 60 blocks aren’t particularly notable but they are fine considering Mete only averaged 16:00 minutes of ice time per game. Perhaps the most encouraging numbers are the advanced stats. That is where the young defender improved the most. His Corsi For jumped from 51.4 percent in 2018-19 to 52.7. His relative score also went from -3.3 to -2.4, meaning the team took almost a full shot more per game with him on the ice. He is still not the most offensively skilled defender but he just 22-years-old.
The Canadiens originally selected Mete in the fourth round of the 2016 Draft. He debuted in 2017-18 with no goals and seven points in 49 contests. His role has steadily evolved but in an odd way. His percentage of defensive zone starts was just 43.4 percent in his first season which makes sense for a rookie defender. That increased to 51.4 in 2018-19 and 54.2 in the last season. The fact that scoring has not been negatively impacted with the increased defensive usage is very interesting. It indicates that Mete seems like a quality two-way blueliner who just needs more time in general to find his scoring punch.
What This Means for the Future
This is a great signing for both parties. Mete is listed at just 5′-9″ but already looks like a good second-pairing defender capable of playing in multiple situations. He also doesn’t cost the team much money so he could easily outperform his salary for 2020-21. This contract also helps reinforce Montreal’s defensive depth without sacrificing much cap space. The team still has $4.6 million left to re-sign internal options or look for someone on the open market when it officially opens.
Main Photo:
