The Montreal Canadiens signed Jake Evans to a four-year contract, likely removing him from the NHL trade market.
Evans’ new contract, which kicks in next season and lasts through 2028-29, carries a $2.85-million average annual value and no no-trade or no-move clause.
This extension likely removes Evans from the trade market with Friday’s NHL trade deadline just days away.
Evans was a pending UFA, and Canadiens GM Kent Hughes had teams waiting in line to potentially acquire the 28-year-old from the Canadiens. However, according to TSN’s Pierre LeBrun, the player “really wanted to stay.”
After being selected in the seventh round of the 2014 NHL draft by Montreal, Evans is now in his sixth season playing for the Canadiens. With that, he’s about to break career bests.
In 61 games this season, the center has 12 goals and 16 assists for 28 points. With 21 games remaining on the schedule, he is just one goal and one point away from matching his career highs. He’s also five assists from matching his best of 21 from last season.
Evans is tied for fifth in team points and goals. His five game-winning goals tie him with center Nick Suzuki and right winger Cole Caufield for first in that category.
Evans is known for his 200-foot game and penalty-killing specialty. The Toronto native is second in the NHL among forwards in shorthanded time on ice, averaging 2:52 per game.
Thanks to his help, the Canadiens are fifth in the NHL in penalty-kill percentage at 82.3 percent.
Montreal’s penalty kill has played a crucial role in its race to make the playoffs this season. They sit one point outside of the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. Between the Habs and the Detroit Red Wings, who holds that last playoff-spot in the East, there are two more teams in their way.
Evans will be a huge help for Montreal in this race, now that there’s the security of him staying.
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