Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Washington re-ups with Perreault: two years, $2 million

Mathieu Perreault

The Washington Capitals have rewarded RFA forward Mathieu Perreault for a career year in 2011-12, giving the 24-year-old a two-year deal worth (approximately) $2 million.

The club did not release the financial terms, but RDS’ Renaud Lavoie reports the average annual value will be “a little more than $1 million per season.”

(Nice raise for Perreault, who was making $525,000 last year.)

“This is where I wanted to be,” Perreault told the Washington Times. “This is the team that gave me my first chance, and I really wanted to get a deal done with the Caps and I’m happy to get it done today.”

Perreault, Washington’s sixth-round pick in 2006, posted career highs in almost every significant category last year. He played in 64 games while recording 16G-14A-30PTS, averaging over 12 minutes per night.

A former scoring sensation with Acadie-Bathurst of the QMJHL -- he scored 233 points over his final two seasons in junior -- Perreault fell out of the rotation in last year’s playoffs, appearing in just four of Washington’s 14 postseason games.

It’ll be curious to see how he fits under new Caps head coach Adam Oates.

Oates is on record saying he doesn’t “see any reason to change” the style Dale Hunter implemented last season, and that works well for Perreault considering last year was his breakout campaign.

If Oates does open things up offensively and employs a more uptempo style, Perreault could benefit as well. He gifted offensively and a talented passer, two qualities that defined Oates during his playing days.