- Alex Newhook signs a four-year extension with the Canadiens worth $22.2 million
- Arber Xhekaj re-signs for one year at $1.5 million on the eve of training camp
- Read below for the full terms and where Montreal’s cap picture sits now
The Canadiens locked up another piece of their forward group Tuesday.
Alex Newhook signed a four-year extension worth $22.2 million, an average of $5.55 million per season. The deal runs from 2027-28 through 2030-31, so he still has this coming season to play out on his current contract first.
Newhook, 25, is finishing off the four-year, $11.6 million deal he signed in July 2023. The raise nearly doubles the $2.9 million cap hit he has been carrying.
He only played 42 games last regular season and still put up 25 points (13 goals, 12 assists). Then came the best playoff run of his career, seven goals and 10 points in 19 games while Montreal pushed to the Eastern Conference Final.
Colorado drafted him 16th overall in 2019 and he won a Cup there in 2022, then the Avalanche shipped him to Montreal at the 2023 draft for a first-round pick, a second-round pick and Gianni Fairbrother. He has 43 goals and 85 points in 179 games as a Canadien.
Tuesday’s other signing went to Arber Xhekaj, the club’s last unsigned restricted free agent. He took a one-year, $1.5 million contract with camp opening this week.
The Sheriff’s scoring line has never been the selling point. Four points in 65 games last season, 33 points in 230 career games. What he gives Montreal is the meanest shift on the blue line, and he led the team with 178 hits last year on top of 642 since his debut in 2022-23.
Trade chatter followed Xhekaj most of the summer, with Calgary floated as a landing spot. Kent Hughes kept him around instead, the same way he kept Zachary Bolduc earlier this month.
Montreal now has Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Juraj Slafkovsky, Ivan Demidov, Lane Hutson, Noah Dobson and Newhook under contract through the end of the decade. Not one of them makes more than $10 million.
