David Savard admits that Jeff Petry’s return really surprised him

Yesterday morning, Kent Hughes and the Habs surprised just about every field hockey fan in Montreal by announcing that the club had acquired Jeff Petry in connection with the Erik Karlsson deal in Pittsburgh.

His (second) stay in town is likely to be much shorter than the first, but in the meantime, he’s back in Montreal.

The surprise with the announcement comes mainly from the fact that just over a year ago, Petry had asked the Habs to trade him. With the COVID-19 measures in place, it made things rather complicated for his family, and he was envious of returning close to home in the United States.

That’s why a lot of people fell off their chairs yesterday when they heard the news, and obviously it wasn’t just the fans who were surprised: David Savard also admitted that he hadn’t expected Petry to come to town.

He told TVA Sports in an interview.

Although Savard knew that Kent Hughes was considering the idea of trading Mike Hoffman, he clearly didn’t expect to be reunited with his former teammate, whom he played alongside in Montreal in 2021-22.

Still, he’s happy to see a veteran like Petry back. He doesn’t know if his GM has finished moving (though, let’s just say we suspect he hasn’t), but if Petry were to start the season in town, Savard would be happy to see him back and mentoring the youngsters, especially considering that Joel Edmundson is no longer in town.

Again, I don’t think we’ll see Petry in a CH uniform this year, but as long as he’s in town, it’s a possibility.

Pierre-Olivier Joseph was on BPM Sports today, and took the opportunity to talk about his experience with Petry in Pittsburgh. He admits he loved working with the Tricolore’s former/new defenseman, and had nothing but good things to say about him.

In an interview with @datgregtho, Pierre-Olivier Joseph had nothing but good things to say about Jeff Petry, his former teammate with the Penguins.👇https://t.co/jG6O4QDyiZ pic.twitter.com/Wv38woHkwS

– BPM Sports (@BPMSportsRadio) August 7, 2023

Even so, I remain convinced that it’s only a matter of time before Petry is traded. To me, the idea of sending him to the Red Wings makes the most sense: Petry is a Michigan guy, the Wings have money to spend, they seem ready to be competitive considering the club’s big acquisitions this summer (like Alex DeBrincat) and Petry would be a nice insurance policy behind Moritz Seider.

Justin Holl is there too, but Petry is even better than he is. With Petry on a second pair and Holl on a third, the Red Wings would have a nice hierarchy on the right side.

In short, we’ll be keeping an eye on everything over the coming days and weeks. I doubt Savard will get the chance to reunite with his old teammate, but we’ll see what happens next.

In gusts

– Nice to see.

HOCKEY | Former CH #14 enjoys the Quebec metropolis!🥰https://t.co/HzaK1nVcyz

– TVA Sports (@TVASports) August 7, 2023

– Indeed.

– Impressive.

– The battle between Jose Ramirez and Tim Anderson continues to be the talk of the town, and it’s borderline tasteless. My text on the subject.

– I kind of doubt it, personally.