It does not appear as if Jeff Petry will be suiting up in a Montreal Canadiens uniform for the second time in his career. After acquiring him from Pittsburgh as part of the Erik Karlsson trade, rumours were that the Habs would then flip him to a team better suited for his family. He was indeed moved on Tuesday afternoon with Detroit becoming his newest landing spot:

Petry has averaged at least 0.5 points per game in five of his last six seasons and turns 36 years old in December. Gustav Lindström will be 25 in October and has 25 points in 128 career NHL games.

Let's break this down with the help of Frozen Tools, Cap Friendly, and Natural Stat Trick.

What Detroit Gets

The Red Wings are adding another defenceman to the fold after signing both Justin Holl and Shayne Gostisbehere in the offseason. Moritz Seider is entering the final year of his entry-level deal, Olli Määttä has two years left at $3M a season, Jake Walman was extended last season for three years, and Ben Chiarot also has three years left. There are younger options like Jared McIsaac, Simon Edvinsson, and William Wallinder to consider. That makes seven NHL defencemen and three prospects for six roster spots (perhaps we see Detroit run some 11-7 lineups). If Gostisbehere was brought in to run the top power play unit, he won't be leaving the lineup, so this might eat into the secondary power play time for guys like Walman and Seider.

Assuming Detroit runs the trio of Seider-Petry-Holl on the right side, Gostisbehere stays in for the PP role, and Walman stays because he's probably their best defenceman, Chiarot and Määttä will produce one of the guys going to the press box. It won't be Chiarot, at least not to start, but Chiarot might lose some even strength time, too.

Exactly what Petry is capable of at this stage of his career is most pertinent. His play-driving numbers fell last season, as did his relative goal differential, and nearly 30% of his production was on the power play. If he battles with Seider and Walman for that ice time, or doesn't get it at all, his point production will suffer. He is still a solid player, and getting half his salary retained is a big deal for Detroit, but time is undefeated and decline comes for everyone. If he can maintain this level of play, it could work out very well for Detroit at his price. The peripherals he brings in the fantasy game will keep him valuable in all formats.

Even if it's good for the team, this is bad news in the fantasy realm for their blue line. Lindström wasn't a real threat for quality offensive time, but Petry is. It gives them four defencemen who can run a power play (to various levels of success), and the team used a lot of 4F/1D power-play setups in 2022-23. It is very unlikely all four get meaningful PP time, and it may not even be three. This isn't to say Petry isn’t on the outside looking in either, but if Ghost is running the first power play, there will be times when only one of Petry, Seider, and Walman will run the second power play, even if they do use 3F/2D a fair bit. At the least, one of them will not get PPTOI. My guess is that it's Walman but it's just a guess.

What Montreal Gets

Lindström doesn't turn 25 for a couple months so, until then, Montreal has five defencemen under the age of 25 signed to an NHL contract. Including Arber Xhekaj, who is technically on the injured reserve, they have nine total defencemen signed. There will be injuries so everyone will get some games, but only Jordan Harris, Kaiden Guhle, and Justin Barron are exempt from waivers. They could bury Chris Wideman's deal, but it still leaves them with a couple blue liners too many. Bringing in Lindström won't affect the status of Mike Matheson or David Savard in any way, but it's more competition for the younger guys. Lindström will have to earn his way to the roster, but he's not waiver-exempt, so there's a chance Montreal loses the return for Petry two months from now.

That last point is most important here. Detroit traded Lindström because he hasn't been able to earn a role on that team. The Red Wings are a roster that might have a great blue line in five years, but if Lindström had proven himself, they wouldn't have traded him for a 35-year-old after signing two free agents all in the same offseason. He has shown some good defensive ability but is a black hole offensively. It is far from a guarantee that Lindström even makes the roster opening night, but the fact he has to go through waivers works in his favour. He still has no fantasy value outside very, very deep formats.

To be honest, this looks like a trade that hurts players on both teams fantasy-wise. It gives Montreal another young defenceman that hasn't proven himself yet, but he's not exempt from waivers so it could push one returning young rearguard to the AHL. It would have happened had Petry stayed, so maybe that's a push. It does give Barron an easier route to secondary PPTOI if they don’t send him to the AHL.

It certainly hurts a few guys in Detroit, and maybe all of them at some point or other. Petry will stay in the lineup ahead of the younger guys, he can play both sides, so they don't need to dress three left shots and three on the right, and he's a threat for power-play time. Things went from bad to worse for Seider and Walman, the latter more than the former, but their peripheral value will help steady their value in multi-cat formats.  

Who this helps

Justin Barron

Ville Husso

Who this hurts

The entire current Detroit blue line, but likely Walman most

Simon Edvinsson