The Montreal Canadiens signed Matthew Peca to a two-year deal on July 1, 2018. It was a bit of a surprising signing, as the Habs entered the free agent frenzy with lots of cap space and a desperate need at centre. Habs fans expected something big and Marc Bergevin‘s solution turned out to be Michael Chaput, Tomas Plekanec and Peca.
It left the team with a huge hole at centre behind Phillip Danault heading into their 2018 training camp. Plekanec was clearly over the hill but looked like the only option to play second line centre at this time a year ago, even though he had just 26 points in 77 games in 2017-18.