It’s been an ongoing effort to chip away at the restricted free agents on the books for the Montreal Canadiens. Rinat Valiev was one of the first receiving a one-year $650,000 deal well-ahead of any of the deadlines.
When required, management chose to hand qualifying offers to only Phillip Danault, Joel Armia, Jacob de La Rose, Michael McCarron, and Kerby Rychel. The Habs signed de La Rose to a two-year contract giving him a $175,000 pay raise after his ‘prove it’ deal from the year before.