Tomas Plekanec will continue to be a member of the Montreal Canadiens for the foreseeable future. The Montreal Gazette reports that the Czech center signed a hefty 6 year, $30 million contract to remain with the NHL’s most storied franchise.
The Habs have a staggering amount of money committed to forwards Plekanec, Scott Gomez, Michael Cammalleri and Brian Gionta. Their combined cap hit is a little under $23.4 million, a significant amount even if the salary cap should shoot up nicely for the 2010-11 season.
It’s been an up-and-down three years for the crafty center. In the 2007-08 season, he looked like he had a breakthrough year with 69 points only to experience a dramatic fall from grace the next season. He went from 69 to 39 points in the 08-09 campaign but bounced back this year to record a career-best 70. (Just in time for his contract year.)
I’m not sure I really like this deal for the Canadiens. If he steadily produces in the 65-70 point range it’s not an awful value, but that 39-point campaign troubles me. Besides, the club still needs to re-sign goalie Carey Price, who will find himself in a pressure-packed situation going forward. Price and Plekanec are essentially the players Montreal chose to keep instead of retaining playoff hero Jaroslav Halak; if both falter, I imagine the passionate Canadiens fan base will clue them in to that fact.
Montreal made a big commitment in both dollars and years to Plekanec. Do you think they’ll end up regretting this contract?