David Perron: hard to understand why the Habs didn’t want him

The Habs have made it clear: they’re not going all out to add a player to their top 6 this summer, but they’re going to try.

On the free agent market, the Habs notably passed on Jonathan Marchessault because he wasn’t ready to go four or five years like the Predators.

That’s fair enough.

But when I see the two-year contract, valued at $4 million a year, that David Perron signed with the Senators, I wonder why he’s in Ottawa.

Is there a world in which the Habs made him the same offer and he chose Ottawa? Maybe… but I don’t think so.

Perron, a Quebecer who wants to play for the Habs, might have agreed to come to Montreal instead of the Canadian capital.

He’s said it himself in recent months: the Habs are a dream for him.

Seeing him agree to go to Ottawa, which isn’t really further ahead than the Habs in its rebuild in my eyes, instead of Montreal makes me believe that the Habs didn’t table an offer of that magnitude to his agent.

Perron isn’t small, he’s not unproductive (only the Habs’ first line guys and Mike Matheson can boast more points in Montreal than Perron’s 47 in Michigan in 2023-2024) and he’s a veteran who signed at a good price. And most importantly, for only two years.

Is he too old at 36? Perhaps the Habs feel that he won’t be a top-6 player for another two years, and that giving him $8 million over two years was too risky.

It could be that the Habs feel that giving him what Ottawa gave him would not have been a good decision… and one wonders, if that’s the case, what the reason behind it is.

Overtime

– Enjoy your reading.

My column on Canadiens’ first-round draft pick Michael Hage, whose father, Alain, was huge #Habs fan and died tragically in a swimming pool accident last summer. “Him and my grandpa were the biggest two Habs fans I’ve ever seen,” Hage says #Habs #HabsIO: https://t.co/GFZlPKokCa

– Stu Cowan (@StuCowan1) July 4, 2024

– Well done.

#NHLBruins prospects participated in a leadership obstacle course on Wednesday afternoon at SIG SAUER Academy in Epping, NH pic.twitter.com/cfa9izKbgf

– Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) July 4, 2024

– Transaction in the NBA.

The Warriors are acquiring Buddy Hield in a sign-and-trade with the 76ers, per @ShamsCharania. pic.twitter.com/H8N7RRgnv7

– Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) July 4, 2024