The Capitals have signed center Mathieu Perreault to a one-year, two-way contract, the club announced on Wednesday afternoon.
The 23-year-old – who had been a restricted free agent – played 35 games with Washington in 2010-11, scoring seven goals and seven assists. He set NHL career-highs in games played, goals, assists, points (14) and penalty minutes (20).The year before Perreault appeared in 21 NHL games with four goals and five assists. He has spent the majority of his first three full pro seasons with AHL Hershey.
Bruce Boudreau listed Perreault as one of several strong candidates to make the final 23-man roster out of training camp during an interview with reporters at Kettler Iceplex earlier this week. But the 5-foot-10, 175-pounder still seems a long shot. The Caps signed free-agent center Jeff Halpern to a contract on July 1 and he makes sense as the fourth-line center. There is also Swedish center Mattias Sjogren, a 23-year-old who signed with the organization in May. Top prospect Cody Eakin, 20, is another option at center as he enters his first full pro season. Both of those players are at the team’s rookie development camp at Kettler this week.
“I think it’s a good sign,” Caps coach Bruce Boudreau said. “Mathieu did a lot of great things for us last year. We always have a tendency to forget when there’s a new flavor in town, but he’s right in that mix with [Sjogren, Eakin] and Christan Hanson. So it’s going to be an interesting position to try for the one or two final spots on the team.”
Perreault was the team’s sixth-round draft pick in 2006. He has spent the majority of his time at AHL Hershey the last three seasons. In 34 games at that level last year he had 11 goals and 24 assists.
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