*Photo from the Hockey Writers*
This defenseman is on the move yet again. The Detroit Red Wings have acquired D Jeff Petry from the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for D Gustav Lindstrom and a conditional 2025 4th round draft pick, according to both teams.
Petry was traded from the Canadiens to the Penguins before last season only to wind up back in Montreal on August 6 as part of the Erik Karlsson trade. Now, he's heading back to his home state of Michigan to suit up for the Red Wings.
Montreal GM Kent Hughes said "Certainly, in this case, I called Jeff. I said, 'Listen, I know you didn't go to bed expecting to hear from me this morning. I was probably one of the last people you expected to hear from.' They were, as a family uptight. They have four young boys, and they were about to start school in two weeks, so I I gave him my word. I said, 'Listen, we saw an opportunity here to facilitate the trade between Pittsburgh and San Jose and to help ourselves, but we're mindful that you've got a family and your own career and Montreal is probably not the place you're expecting to play.' I promised him that we'd work expeditiously to get him moved and that we wouldn't drag this out trying to maximize every last piece of value in the trade."
The 4th round pick going to Montreal will be either the Red Wings original pick or the one they acquired from the Boston Bruins at last year's trade deadline. Petry has two years and $6.25 million annually left on his contract, with the Canadiens retaining half of the cap hit.
Last season ultimately ended up being Petry's only year with the Penguins. He put up 5 goals and 26 assists for 31 points, posting a +2 rating while averaging 22:21 of ice time per game across 61 games for the Penguins, who missed the playoffs.
Coming back to the Canadiens is Lindstrom, a right shot defenseman who will turn 25 early in the 2023-2024 season. He was an RFA this offseason and was signed to a one year, $950,000 contract in July. He'll be an RFA with arbitration rights next offseason.
Hughes said of landing Lindstrom that "Our pro guys like him. They feel he's a really smart, puck-moving defenseman that still has a lot of room to grow in his game. I think the number they threw out was he's at about 70 percent of what they believe his potential is, and he's young. He's a Swedish player and Detroit's had a lot of success in that country over the years drafting-wise. So we're hopeful Gustav can come and add an element to our team and we'll see where it takes us."
Last season was Lindstrom's 4th in the NHL, all with the Red Wings. He has amassed two goals and 23 assists for 25 points, averaging 15:37 of ice time while posting a -33 rating in 128 regular season games for the Red Wings.
In Detroit, Petry will join Shayne Gostisbehere and Justin Holl as new additions on the blue line, while the Red Wings also brought in Alex DeBrincat, JT Compher, and Daniel Sprong to aid their forward group.
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