NHL free agency: Canadiens sign Alex Barré-Boulet

The 27-year-old forward from Montmagny, Que., had 6-3-9 totals in 36 games last season with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The Canadiens didn’t make much of a splash as the NHL free-agent market opened at noon on Monday.

Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes made a minor move around 2 p.m., signing forward Alex Barré-Boulet to a one-year, one-way contract worth US$775,000.

Barré-Boulet, 27, had 6-3-9 totals in 36 games last season with the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Montmagny native also had 4-15-19 totals in 23 games with the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch. The one-way contract means Barré-Boulet will earn US$775,000 whether he plays for the Canadiens or the AHL’s Laval Rocket next season.

During a Zoom conference shortly after the signing was announced, Barré-Boulet said he won’t be taking anything for granted with the Canadiens.

“Last year I started the season (in the NHL) until February and in a heartbeat I was back down (in the AHL),” Barré-Boulet said. “So you never know when it’s going to happen so you got to go out there every day and give everything you got to hopefuly stay. Getting called up and playing a game (in the NHL) is something, but staying is even harder. So I think that’s what I learned the most the last couple of years.”

The 5-foot-10, 178-pounder was never selected at the NHL Draft. He posted 53-63-116 totals in 65 games during his final junior season with the QMJHL’s Blainville-Boisbriand Armada in 2017-18.

Barré-Boulet has played 68 games in the NHL, posting 12-6-18 totals.

“I’m not the biggest guy,” he said. “But I bring work ethic, skills. I think I’m going to try to bring some secondary offence, help them score goals. I think I can do that. Usually on the power play I can make some plays. Just trying to work on both offensively and defensively as hard as I can. Even though I’m not the biggest player I can win one-on-one battles.”