- Canadiens signed Sasha Pastujov to a one-year, two-way deal at the $850,000 league minimum
- The 23-year-old led the AHL’s San Diego Gulls in scoring last season with 57 points in 71 games
- Read below for the full contract breakdown and where Pastujov fits in Montreal
Sasha Pastujov signed for the smallest number the NHL allows.
The Canadiens announced Thursday that they agreed to terms with the 23-year-old forward on a one-year, two-way contract for the 2026-27 season.
His NHL salary is $850,000, which is exactly the league minimum for next season. Send him to Laval and the number drops to $105,000, with $135,000 guaranteed either way, per PuckPedia.
Pastujov came into the summer as a restricted free agent off a three-year entry-level deal worth $825,000. That contract only started counting in 2023-24 because it slid two years while he finished up in junior.
Montreal acquired him from Anaheim two and a half weeks ago in a swap of stalled AHL scorers, sending Sean Farrell the other way.
Anaheim drafted Pastujov 66th overall in 2021 out of the U.S. National Team Development Program. He went right back to the OHL after that and put up 76 points in 65 games with Guelph, then 98 points in 60 games split between Guelph and Sarnia.
Everything since has been AHL hockey. Last season was the best of it: 21 goals and 36 assists in 71 games, career highs across the board, and first on the San Diego Gulls in scoring.
He also got his first taste of the Calder Cup Playoffs, scoring once in two games.
Cracking the Montreal lineup is a different ask. A minimum two-way deal is not the contract a team hands a player it expects to see on opening night, and the top six is spoken for.
Arber Xhekaj and Zachary Bolduc are still unsigned in Montreal, with roughly $9.78 million in cap space left to cover both.
Pastujov’s opening shows up a year out. Phillip Danault, Kirby Dach and Josh Anderson all reach unrestricted free agency after this season. Another year in Laval like the one he just had in San Diego, and he is the forward standing there when those spots open.
