One week ago, the Montreal Canadiens made waves that rippled across the entire league with the announcement of Cole Caufield’s monster extension, signing him to an eight-year, $62.8 million deal. The contract became just the second richest in Canadiens history, a pinch under captain Nick Suzuki’s deal, and solidified the team’s one-two punch for the next decade. It’s easy to forget that just two days before this behemoth announcement, the Canadiens re-signed another of their own; Michael Pezzetta.
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Pezzetta was coming off a one-year deal with the Habs, which paid him an honest $750,000, the same amount as his deal before. His play in the 2022-23 season impressed general manager Kent Hughes enough to convince him that not only was he worth a slight raise, at $812,500, but he also gets an additional year to boot. The deal is perfect for both the player and the team and helps solidify the Canadiens’ bottom six.
Pezzetta is the 2016 Draft’s Sole Survivor
Back in 2016, the Canadiens had a decent draft, selecting stud defensemen Mikhail Sergachev in the first round and supplementing their blue line with Victor Mete and Casey Staum. Up front, their second-round pick was dealt to the Chicago Blackhawks in the now-infamous Andrew Shaw deal that was used to take Alex Debrincat. They picked up Arvid Henrikson and Will Bitten, both of whom are now far and away from the organization.
Their sixth-round selection was used to take Pezzetta, a round that contains just three players who have played over 100 games in the NHL thus far, including Brandon Hagel and Jesper Bratt. The 6-foot-1 forward lacked the skillset to be a top-six forward but had the tenacious attitude to be a physical presence to hold down a bottom-six role. It took three seasons of seasoning, but the time dedicated to development paid off.
Unfortunately for him, Pezzetta came in at a time when the Canadiens began their dip from Stanley Cup Finalist to bottom of the barrel. Still, he maintained a positive attitude, put his head down, and went to work. He’s even contributed 12 goals and 26 points in his 114-game tenure thus far, a perfect complement to the team’s bottom six. You won’t depend on his scoring to win, and you shouldn’t, but what he brings to the table far exceeds any expectation of point production.
Canadiens Can Rely on Pezzetta’s Defensive Game
In the 2021-22 season, Pezzetta’s zone start time came close to an even split at 50.1 percent in the offensive zone and 49.1 percent in the defensive end. He also played with ten different linemates throughout that season, which didn’t help build the chemistry needed to gel as a collective unit. Despite this, his underlying metrics were favourable for positive Corsi For and Fenwick For percentages. He also averaged 7:50 per game, which is quite low even for a fourth-line player.
One year later, Pezzetta’s ice time increased to nearly ten minutes per game, and he was glued to the hip of Jake Evans for the first half of the year until an injury to Evans in January changed that up. His zone start percentage also tipped in favour of the defensive zone at 54.4%, which inevitably affected his statistics around puck possession. In doing so, he saw an increase in hits (239) and blocks (28), much to the delight of the Canadiens faithful. On the scoring side, he improved on his on-ice goals for per 60 from 2.4 to 2.8, while he reduced his goals against per 60 from 3.5 to 3.4.
In a season where the Canadiens dealt with an extreme amount of injuries to several players, Pezzetta remained consistent enough to not only improve his point totals from the season prior, but his defensive game demonstrated a player that head coach Martin St. Louis could count on, night in and night out.
Who Does Pezzetta Play With in 2023-24?
The easy answer is for St. Louis to pair up Evans and Pezzetta, but who is on the other wing? In an ideal world where the injury toggle doesn’t exist and everyone is healthy, Rem Pitlick would perfectly complement the duo. They had early chemistry in 2022-23 until players started to go down, leaving St. Louis with no choice but to shuffle things around.
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A bottom-six line you can depend on is as important as the top six scoring goals, as indicated by this year’s playoffs and who represents both conferences in the Final. This trio would also make a hair over $3.5 million combined, an acceptable rate compared to other teams in the league. This trio remaining together would also ensure that Juraj Slafkovsky remains away from a bottom-six role and receives ample time to showcase his offensive potential on the second line.
One thing is evident, the Canadiens’ development and patience with Pezzetta is a good sign for the organization’s future. It’s a nod to other hopefuls like Joshua Roy, Filip Mesar, and Emil Heineman that regardless of where they suit up in the lineup, there’s a spot on the team when the time is right.