Canadians would only trade Petry in a deal that ‘advances our interest,’ says Hughes

.

General manager Kent Hughes has maintained he won’t trade defenseman Jeff Petry unless it’s a deal that benefits the Canadiens.

.

Petry asked the Canadiens to trade him last season after his wife decided to leave Montreal with their three young children, unhappy with COVID-19 restrictions in Quebec and returning to the family home in Michigan. Julie Petry, who grew up in Houston and met her future husband when they were both attending Michigan State University, is now pregnant with a fourth child.

Last week, before the NHL Draft, Hughes didn’t rule out the possibility of Petry returning to the Canadiens next season.

“I’ve said from the beginning that we will try to accommodate him,” Hughes said. “But he is an important defender and he consumes a lot of minutes, and for us to move him will put us in a certain situation. We have to feel comfortable that by trading Jeff Petry we are furthering the interest of the Montreal Canadiens. If we can and can accommodate you, we will. But if we’re not promoting our interest, we won’t.”

.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Hughes hadn’t been able to make a Petry trade that would help the Canadiens move forward and free up some cap space. Petry has three more seasons left on his four-year deal, with an annual salary cap of $6.25 million. According to CapFriendly.comthe Canadiens only have $223,334 in current cap space.

As a result, the Canadiens canceled a news conference with Hughes that was scheduled for 4:00 pm at the Bell Sports Complex in Brossard, as there was not much to talk about on the first day of NHL free agency.

Hughes did sign Juraj Slafkovsky, the first overall pick in the NHL Draft, on Wednesday to a three-year, entry-level contract that will have an annual salary cap of $950,000.

.

Hughes also agreed to terms of one-year, two-way contracts with three free agents: defenseman Madison Bowey and forwards Anthony Richard and Mitchell Stephens.

Bowey, 27, has 158 games of NHL experience, including two with the Vancouver Canucks last season. He has also played for the Washington Capitals, Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks. In 58 games last season with the AHL’s Abbotsford Canucks, the 6-foot-2, 202-pound player went 8-20-28 overall and 80 penalty minutes.

Richard, a 25-year-old native of Trois-Rivières, has only played two NHL games with the Nashville Predators. In 71 AHL games last season split between the Milwaukee Admirals and the Syracuse Crunch, the 5-foot-10, 186-pounder went 17-21-38 overall.

.

Stephens, 25, has played 72 NHL games with the Tampa Bay Lightning and Detroit Red Wings. In 27 games with the Red Wings last season, the 5-foot-11, 190-pound player went 0-6-6.

Hughes also agreed to terms of one-year, two-way contracts with forwards Alex Belzile, Joel Teasdale and Nate Schnarr, who helped the Laval Rocket reach the AHL Eastern Conference finals last season.

Defenseman Xavier Ouellet, who captained the Rocket, left the Canadiens organization and signed a two-year, two-way deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Forward Laurent Dauphin, who split last season between the Rocket and Canadiens, signed a one-year, two-way deal with the Arizona Coyotes.

Defenseman Kale Clague, who played 25 games with the Canadiens last season after being claimed off waivers by the Los Angeles Kings, signed a one-year, two-way deal with the Buffalo Sabers.

The Canadiens said Hughes would speak to the media in a video conference Wednesday night if there was anything else to report, or hold a news conference Thursday at Brossard.

[email protected]

twitter.com/StuCowan1