The Montreal Canadiens traded right wing Jacob Perreault to the Edmonton Oilers for defenseman, Noel Hoffenmayer. On the surface, it’s an AHL depth trade for both teams. But I’ll try and point out what each team may be looking for.
Perreault is the son of former Canadien Yanic, a different kind of player, and the brother of Gabe, his younger brother. It’s a great hockey family and he’s only 22 but his dreams of being a consistent scorer haven’t been realized.
Perreault is a mostly offensive player. InStat has him at just 20% of defensive zone starts. He clearly wasn’t shooting enough at Bakersfield averaging just 1.25 shots per game but he was only getting around 10 minutes of 5 of 5 play. That’s really sheltering him and trying to take advantage of his great shot. His speed is really good but he can be wild out there on the ice. His defense is below average so the Oilers will try and get his offense going for sure. He will need more ice time to do that. At his best, he is a scoring threat. I’m unsure if they will promote him this season.
Related: Jacob Perreault Gets a Fresh Start With the Canadiens
Noel Hoefenmayer is someone I’ve tracked for a while now. He’s been moving around organizations. I was hearing and seeing some good things in Toronto. In 2022-23, he had 38 points in 65 games. He is an offensive defenseman. Last year with Bakersfield that offense went away.
His defense is slightly better but not NHL average. He’s 25, so the Canadiens got him for his offense and what he can do on the power play. He has a good shot and is an excellent passer. I don’t think that Hoefenmayer is anything more than an NHL call-up at this point. They were probably helping Perreault as much as gaining depth on the blueline.
This is a tinkering kind of deal for the Canadiens.
