Montreal Canadiens Sign Brett Berard

The Montreal Canadiens have agreed to terms with one of their newly acquired forwards. According to a team announcement, the Canadiens have signed Brett Berard to a one-year, two-way deal for the 2026-27 season. PuckPedia reported that Berard will earn a league minimum of $850K in the NHL and $175K in the AHL.

Montreal acquired Berard on June 26th from the New York Rangers. The Canadiens parted with defensive prospect William Trudeau for Berard, whom the Rangers signed to a one-year deal a few days ago.

Although he’s earning a lower salary than what he had on his entry-level contract with the Rangers, Berard’s salary in the AHL will more than double. Given how the Canadiens’ lineup is currently lining up, it’s likely that Berard will begin the 2026-27 season with the AHL’s Laval Rocket, though he could certainly challenge for a fourth-line role out of training camp.

Coming out of the Providence College hockey program, the former fifth-round pick got off to a good start in his professional career, registering 25 goals and 48 points in 71 games for the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack in the 2023-24 season. After getting off to another good start in 2024-25, the Rangers called Berard up for his NHL debut.

He performed relatively well with New York, scoring four goals and 10 points in 35 games, primarily playing in a bottom-six role, while averaging 10:43 of ice time per game. Additionally, Berard delivered 53 hits, but ultimately failed to make a significant impact.

This season, it was effectively a step back for Berard. In 13 games with the Rangers, again in a bottom-six role, he failed to register any points. He understandably had more production in the AHL, but not as much as he had shown earlier in his career. In 41 games with Hartford, Berard scored six goals and 22 points with a -16 rating.