Montreal Canadiens sign Michael Pezzetta to two-year contract extension with $812,500 AAV

The Montreal Canadiens have signed winger Michael Pezzetta to a two-year contract extension with a cap hit of $812,500, as made official by the team.

Pezzetta spent the 2022-23 season on a one-year deal with a $750,000 cap hit, and was a restricted free agent with arbitration rights this season. He had a qualifying offer of $787,500, so his new deal comes in slightly above that number.

It will be the highest average annual value in Pezzetta’s career, with Florida Panthers center Patrick Giles being the only other player coming in at that cap hit next season at the moment.

Pezzetta spent a majority of the season in a bottom six role, and put up a career high in goals and points with 7 goals, 8 assists, and 15 points in 63 games. It’s the first time in his career that Pezzetta spent the entirety of his season at the NHL level.

With the limited ice time, and 14 of those points coming at even strength, he actually ranked 10th on the Canadiens in 5v5 goals per 60 with 0.76 and 12th in 5v5 points per 60 with 1.52, ahead of the likes of Christian Dvorak, Kirby Dach, and Evgenii Dadonov. He also ranked third on the team in 5v5 expected goals against per 60 with 2.73.

Pezzetta was a sixth round pick of the Canadiens in 2016, and has spent the entirety of his five-year professional career with the club.

It’s the first extension of the offseason for the Canadiens, one of several they’ll have to make. Both Cole Caufield and Denis Gurianov require extensions as RFAs, while Jonathan Drouin, Sean Monahan, Paul Byron, Chris Tierney, and Alex Belzile are all unrestricted free agents.

The Canadiens finished the season with a record of 31-45-6, which was the fifth worst in the league in 2022-23, and is the second consecutive season that they’ve finished in the bottom five after a surprise run to the 2021 Stanley Cup Final. They’ll be selecting fifth overall at the 2023 NHL Draft.