The Habs made a small depth swap on Friday, announcing that they’ve traded winger Jacob Perreault to Edmonton in exchange for defenceman Noel Hoefenmayer. Hoefenmayer was subsequently assigned to Laval.
Hoefenmayer is in his fifth professional season, one that has exclusively been spent in the minors. The 25-year-old started out splitting time between the ECHL and AHL’s Toronto Marlies but had a breakout year in 2022-23, notching 38 points and 114 penalty minutes in 65 games while making the All-Star Game.
Hoefenmayer then joined Edmonton in 2023 but has had trouble staying healthy since then. He was limited to just 47 games last season (where he had 18 points) and has suited up in only 11 of 18 outings this year but has been productive when he plays, picking up a goal and six assists.
The blueliner is playing on a one-year, two-way contract this season that sees him making $775,000 in the NHL and $100,000 in the minors. He’ll be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights in the summer.
As for Perreault, he was acquired around the trade deadline last season in a swap of underperforming prospects with Jan Mysak going to Anaheim to complete the swap. But things didn’t go well for the 22-year-old as he suffered a season-ending shoulder injury soon after, only getting into 13 games with the Rocket where he had a goal and an assist. He landed 30th in our Prospect Rankings for this season.
That injury carried over to this season where he missed the better part of the first month (and had two assignments from Montreal rejected due to the injury). Perreault got into five games with Trois-Rivieres while working his way into playing shape where he had a goal and four assists but he failed to record a point in six games with Laval.
A first-round pick back in 2020, Perreault is quickly heading toward bust territory and was quite likely to be non-tendered when his contract expires in June. Hoefenmayer could very well have the same fate but it appears Montreal feels the blueliner will be more useful to Laval than Perreault, who has been a healthy scratch a few times since returning.
