Canadiens sign Jake Evans to four-year extension

Talks on the deal came to a head after a few weeks of silence, Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic adds. The 28-year-old “made the call he didn’t want to leave” and will remain in Montreal as the upstart club looks to challenge for its first playoff berth since reaching the 2021 Stanley Cup Final.

Evans, a seventh-round pick by the Habs in 2014, was on that club. Now in his sixth NHL season, he’s been a bottom-six fixture for Montreal almost instantaneously upon getting his first taste of NHL hockey. Now a reliable producer in the 20-to-30-point range, he’s seen his ice time climb to the 16-minute range per game with increased even-strength minutes and heavy penalty kill deployment, especially since the 2022-23 campaign.

Trade interest in Evans, who was set to be a UFA this summer, spiked after a scorching start to the campaign. He punched far above his weight offensively in the first half of the campaign, notching 10-13–23 in 37 appearances before New Year’s. He’s been far quieter as of late, limited to five points in his last 24 outings, but he's winning draws at a career-best 52.8 percent clip and is still on pace for a career-high 38 points. He likely could have fetched a higher return than the second-rounder, fourth-rounder and C-tier prospect the Bruins received for depth forward Trent Frederic Tuesday. He’ll instead opt to continue his career in Montreal on a deal that earns him less per season than his $3.4M projection from AFP Analytics.

Evans hasn’t been a possession monster for the Habs, posting negative relative Corsi shares at even strength in every year since 2022-23. Those splits come amid heavy defensive zone usage, though, making his career 46.7 CF% and 46.6 xGF% defensible. In fact, his shutdown unit this season with Joel Armia and rookie Emil Heineman has graded out quite well defensively. They’re allowing just 1.79 expected goals against per 60 minutes, seventh-best in the league among lines with more than 150 minutes together, according to MoneyPuck.

The Toronto native thus elects to stick around with the Canadiens as they exit their rebuild. His play is a significant reason why they’re just one point out of a playoff spot during deadline week and have a 12 percent chance of leapfrogging at least the Red Wings, Rangers and Senators for the final wild-card spot, per MoneyPuck. He’ll be a UFA at age 33.

The Canadiens now have $11.4M in projected cap space for next season with six open roster spots, although they’ll have significant flexibility with retired goaltender Carey Price’s $10.5M cap hit eligible for LTIR.