Habs re-sign Jesse Ylonen

Montreal’s lone remaining restricted free agent has put pen to paper on a new contract as the Habs announced on Monday that they’ve re-signed winger Jesse Ylonen to a one-year, two-way contract.

TVA Sports’ Renaud Lavoie reports that the deal will pay Ylonen $775,000 in the NHL (the league minimum), $200,000 in the AHL, and has a guaranteed payout of $275,000.  This means that Ylonen took less than his $874,125 qualifying offer in exchange for more guaranteed money.

The 23-year-old played in 37 games with the Habs last season, picking up six goals and ten assists while averaging over 13 minutes per game.  In his career at the NHL level, he has eight goals and 13 helpers in 52 contests.  Meanwhile, with Laval, Ylonen had 11 goals and 21 assists in 2022-23 and has a total of 34 tallies with 51 helpers in 120 career appearances.

Ylonen is now waiver-eligible meaning that he will need to pass through waivers unclaimed to make it back to the Rocket next season.  That’s an outcome that’s far from assured, both in terms of the Canadiens taking the chance of waiving him and no one else taking a flyer on the former second-round pick.  It’s possible that Ylonen breaks camp with Montreal out of training camp in a depth or reserve role in an effort to avoid the risk of losing him for nothing.

Ylonen will be a restricted free agent once again next summer but this time, he will have salary arbitration eligibility.

Ylonen’s Stats: