The Montreal Canadiens have shown interest in acquiring defenceman Mark Streit, according to a report from Marc de Foy of Le Journal de Montreal.
Per de Foy, discussions between the player and team have included talk of a one-year, $1.5-million contract.
If a deal does get done between the Canadiens and Streit, it wouldn’t be his first time sporting the bleu, blanc et rouge. Streit began his NHL career in Montreal, spending three seasons with the club before moving on to the New York Islanders.
There are still plenty of question marks on the Canadiens blue line. While they landed former Capital Karl Alzner in free agency and acquired David Schlemko via trade, the club traded away Nathan Beaulieu (Sabres), defence prospect Mikhail Sergachev (Lightning) this off-season and lost Alexei Emelin to Vegas in June’s expansion draft (he has since been flipped to the Predators). Veteran rearguard Andrei Markov became an unrestricted free agent on July 1 and is rumoured to have set a high asking price for his services on the open market.
Streit spent the past four seasons with the Philadelphia Flyers before being flipped to the Penguins via Tampa Bay at this year’s deadline.
De Foy also reports that Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin had hoped to trade for Streit at the deadline.
Streit played just three games during the Stanley Cup champions’ long post-season run, registering two assists during the Eastern Conference Final against the Senators.
The 39-year-old has registered 96 goals and 338 assists in 784 career regular-season NHL games.
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