Petry traded to Red Wings by Canadiens for Lindstrom, draft pick

Jeff Petry was traded to the Detroit Red Wings by the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday for Gustav Lindstrom and a conditional fourth-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft.

The fourth-round pick in 2025 will be the later pick of either the Red Wings or Boston Bruins. The Canadiens will retain 50 percent of remaining obligations pertaining to Petry's four-year contract (average annual value of $6.25 million) he signed with Montreal on Sept. 25, 2020, and the Red Wings will pay 37.5 percent of the remaining contract .

Petry, a 35-year-old defenseman, played last season for the Pittsburgh Penguins after playing the previous eight for Montreal. He was traded by the Penguins to the Canadiens on Aug. 6 as part of the three-team deal that saw defenseman Erik Karlsson go from the San Jose Sharks to the Penguins.

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Petry has 353 points (92 goals, 261 assists) in 864 regular-season games for the Canadiens, Penguins and Edmonton Oilers. He had 31 points (five goals, 26 assists) in 61 games for Pittsburgh last season.

"I'm a believer in general, whether it be players or people, that you try to do the right thing," Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes said. "Certainly, in this case, I called Jeff. I said, 'Listen, I know you didn't go to bed expecting to hear from me this morning. I was probably one of the last people you expected to [hear from].' They were, as a family uptight. They have four young boys, and they were about to start school in two weeks, so I I gave him my word. I said, 'Listen, we saw an opportunity here to facilitate the trade between Pittsburgh and San Jose and to help ourselves, but we're mindful that you've got a family and your own career and Montreal is probably not the place you're expecting to play.' I promised him that we'd work expeditiously to get him moved and that we wouldn't drag this out trying to maximize every last piece of value in the trade."

Petry is the latest veteran defenseman to join the Red Wings this offseason. Detroit signed Shayne Gostisbehere to a one-year contract July 1 and Justin Holl to a three-year contract the same day. The native of Ann Arbor, Michigan, was raised in nearby Farmington Hills and played three seasons for Michigan State University. His father, Dan Petry, pitched for 13 seasons in Major League Baseball, winning 125 games and helping the Detroit Tigers win the World Series in 1984.

Lindstrom, a 24-year-old defenseman, had eight points (one goal, seven assists) in 36 games last season. Detroit's second round pick (No. 38) in the 2017 NHL Draft, he has 25 points (two goals, 23 assists) in 128 games over four seasons, all with the Red Wings.

"Our pro guys like him," Hughes said. "They feel he's a really smart, puck-moving defenseman that still has a lot of room to grow in his game. I think the number they threw out was he's at about 70 percent of what they believe his potential is, and he's young. … He's a Swedish player and Detroit's had a lot of success in that country over the years drafting-wise. So we're hopeful Gustav can come and add an element to our team, and we'll see where it takes us."