The Montreal Canadiens announced Monday afternoon that they have signed forward Nicolas Deslauriers to a two-year, one-way contract extension. Deslauriers, 26, was acquired by the Canadiens from the Buffalo Sabres. Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports indicates that the deal has an AAV or cap hit of $950,000 per season.
Nicolas Deslauriers contract: 2 years at $950 000 @CanadiensMTL #tvasports
— Renaud Lavoie (@renlavoietva) February 19, 2018
Nicolas Deslauriers Signs Two-Year Contract Extension with the Montreal Canadiens
The forward was acquired from the Buffalo Sabres for defender Zach Redmond on October 4th, 2017. He was called up by the Canadiens on November 15th. Deslauriers has spent most of his time this season as a depth player for the Montreal Canadiens. Prior to playing with the club, he’s seen some ice-time down in the minors too. Playing 14 games with the Laval Rocket.
While playing with the Canadiens, Deslauriers has scored seven goals and three assists for 10 points in 36 games played. He has also added a physical dimension to the Habs bottom line.
In addition to scoring relatively decent numbers with the Habs, he’s done so in the minors too. In 14 games he sits with three goals and two assists for 5 points on the year.
Deslauriers’ best season in the league was in 2014-15 when he scored 15 points in 82 games with Buffalo. Since then, his production numbers have declined but NHL teams know what kind of player Deslauriers is. With the signing, Deslauriers has security over where he will spend his next few seasons. The forward was set to be an unrestricted free agent come July 1st. Now with a new contract, he can focus on playing and not worrying about his future. Nicolas Deslauriers has shown the Montreal Canadiens that he can fill a depth spot on their roster, and the Canadiens are willing to see where this goes.
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