There’s a little more depth and experience down the middle for the Montreal Canadiens.
General Manager Pierre Gauthier announced Tuesday afternoon that the team had inked veteran centre Jeff Halpern to a one-year deal for the 2010-11 season.
The Canadiens sweater will be the fifth the 34-year-old has sported in his 10-year career thus far. Halpern broke into the league with the Washington Capitals as an undrafted free agent in the 1999-2000 campaign. He spent six years with the club before moving became a regular habit. After signing on with the Dallas Stars in 2006-07, Halpern was traded to the Lightning in 2007-08. He stayed there until this season, when he was shipped to Los Angeles.
The trade to the Kings meant a new number on his back for the first time in his career. After years of sporting No. 11, Halpern doubled the digits upon arriving out west, opting for No. 22 with his more familiar number well-represented by Anze Kopitar.
He could stick with that number in Montreal, as Scott Gomez revealed several months ago that he'd be returning to his roots with a switch from 91 to 11. As for 22, that number is now vacant after being tied to current free agent defenceman Paul Mara in 2009-10.
The Potomac, Maryland native has appeared in 720 career NHL games, amassing 131 goals and 316 points.
Listed at 6-feet, 203 pounds, Halpern, who can play centre or the wing, will serve in a similar capacity as Dominic Moore and Glen Metropolit did a year ago, albeit at a lesser cost. While financial details had yet to be disclosed (by media sources; the Canadiens don’t release such information), RDS’ Renaud Lavoie and La Presse’s Richard Labbe both reported (via sources) the deal to be worth $600,000.
It remains to be seen if Gauthier has any other moves up his sleeve. While further additions are always possible, the Canadiens will need to shed some salary should more new faces be added to the fold. Factoring in Halpern’s deal, Montreal now has just $778,273 in cap space.
The extra body and minimal wiggle room don’t bode well for hopeful Habs prospects David Desharnais and Ben Maxwell. While Maxwell has yet to serve any sort of notice at the NHL level, Desharnais did impress in preseason and limited regular season action last year.
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