Canadiens re-sign Pacioretty and Desharnais, shaping their 2011-12 roster

Montreal Canadiens’ GM Pierre Gauthier announced earlier this week, the re-signing of left winger Max Pacioretty to a two-year deal worth $3.25 million. Pacioretty will make $1,500,000 in 2011-12 and $1,750,000 in 2012-13. Max Pax made $875,000 last season on the last year of his three-year entry-level contract.

After starting the campaign with the Hamilton Bulldogs of the AHL, where he had registered 32 points (17 goals, 15 assists) in 27 games, he was recalled on December 12. Then, Pacioretty, 22, registered 24 points (14 goals, 10 assists) in 37 games with the Habs, including seven power-play goals. He also served 39 penalty minutes and fired 112 shots on goal, while averaging 15:53 of ice time per game.

However, the unfortunate story of the season for Pacioretty is the season-ending neck injury and concussion he suffered on March 8 against Boston. He left the ice on a stretcher, following a blindside hit from the Bruins’ Zdeno Chara. The latter was not suspended for his act by the NHL and Colin Campbell (and Mike Murphy). Thankfully, Pacioretty suffered only a mild concussion and is now symptom-free and has resumed his summer training, but he had to miss the remainder of the season because of a fractured vertebrae in his neck. As a result, Pacioretty wasn’t able to dress in the seven-game series between the Bruins and the Canadiens, a series won in seven tightly contested games by Boston on an overtime goal scored by Nathan Horton in game 7.

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Then Gauthier proceeded to re-sign diminutive center David Derharnais to a one-way two-year contract worth $1.70 million. Desharnais will make $750,000 next season and $950,000 in 2012-13. Desharnais, 24, recorded 22 points (8 goals, 14 assists) in 43 games. He scored four goals on the power play and tallied 55 shots on goals, while averaging 12:52 seconds of ice time per game. Desharnais had registered 45 points (10 goals, 35 assists) in 35 games with the Hamilton Bulldogs of the AHL when he was recalled on December 31. Desharnais and Pacioretty had great success playing together in the AHL, but they didn’t play much together with the big club.

The smallish pivot is expected to act as the team’s third-line center behind Tomas Plekanec and high-priced veteran Scott Gomez. Desharnais was signed as a free agent by the Canadiens, as he was never drafted because of his size, despite having tremendous talent.

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With news of the salary going up to around $64 million, many fans and experts hope Pierre Gauthier will make a big splash on the free agency market, but first he has to re-sign some key unrestricted and restricted free agents. First on the list is all-star rearguard defenseman Andrei Markov, who missed all but seven games in 2010-11 after injuring his right knee on November 16.

Well, according to Tony Marinaro of Team 990 in Montreal, the Habs will eventually re-sign Markov to a 2-year, $11.5 million deal — maintaining his $5.75 million cap hit, despite suffering injuries to almost every part of his body in the last eight years (feet, ankles, knees, back and hip). If indeed this report is true, I firmly believe that Gauthier is paying way too much for a now certified Band-Aid boy, who’s watched more games from his living room in the past two seasons than he actually played (he only 52 games over the last two campaigns). While Markov is a stud defenseman when healthy, his fragility has become a torn on the side of the organization which had to bolster its blue line (Wizniewski, Sopel, Mara) during the season to compensate his long-term loss.

With the above two signings, the Canadiens now have ten forwards, four rearguards and one goaltender under contract for next, with several RFAs that will most likely be re-signed: Benoit Pouliot, Tom Pyatt, Ryan White, Yannick Weber and Josh Gorges.

Stay tuned, as the Canadiens are often very busy around the NHL Entry Draft trading elite goalie Jaroslav Halak to the St. Louis Blues on June 17 2010 in exchange for Lars Eller and Ian Schultz. Gauthier could use RFAs like Pouliot and Weber and the team’s first round pick to land a quality player to bolster the roster in anticipation of the next season.

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