Montreal Canadiens forward Jake Evans had a strong year in 2024-25. In 82 games with the Original Six club, he scored 13 goals and set new career highs with 23 assists, 36 points, and 124 hits. With numbers like these, he provided the Canadiens with solid depth offensive production to go along with a nice amount of grit.
Due to Evans being a pending unrestricted free agent (UFA) and having such a strong season, he was a very popular trade target around the NHL leading up to this year's deadline. However, the Canadiens officially made him a long-term part of their future when they signed him to a four-year contract extension with an average annual value of $2.85 million on March 4.
When noting that Evans has been such a nice part of the Canadiens' forward group for so long, it is clear that they made the right call signing him to a contract extension. This is especially so with this year's UFA center market being worse than in past years. Thus, if the Canadiens ended up not keeping Evans around, it would not have been an easy task for them to find a proper replacement for him.
Furthermore, had the Canadiens waited until the summer to re-sign him, it very well could have cost them more per season to keep him due to the center market being weaker this year. Thus, in the end, the Canadiens were wise to get him locked up back in March.
Now, with the Canadiens signing Evans to this four-year extension, he will continue to be a very important part of the Canadiens' bottom six and penalty kill. This is very good news for a Canadiens team that is continuing to improve, and it will be fascinating to see how Evans builds off his career year from here.
Interesting Canadiens Forward Is Clear Bounce-Back CandidateThe 2024-25 season was a bit of a rough one for Montreal Canadiens forward Alex Newhook. His pace of production was noticeably lower, as he posted 15 goals, 11 assists, 26 points, and a minus-21 rating in 82 games.
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