Montreal Canadiens sign Jayden Struble to two-year entry-level contract

The Montreal Canadiens have signed defenseman Jayden Struble out of college to a two-year entry-level contract.
The Canadiens have agreed to terms on a two-year, entry-level contract (2023-24 to 2024-25) with defenseman Jayden Struble.#GoHabsGo https://t.co/Qts2VGJzLA
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) March 15, 2023Struble’s contract will come into effect in the 2023-24 season, so he will not be eligible to play for the Canadiens this season. He will make $775,000 a season at the NHL level, with signing bonuses of up to $92,500. With the contract being a two-way deal, that means that he will just get paid $70,000 per year at the AHL level.
Struble is coming off of his fourth and final season of hockey with Northeastern University, where he had a goal, 11 assists, and 12 points in 31 games. He finishes his collegiate career with 9 goals, 39 assists, and 48 points in 104 games, with no appearances in the postseason.
Struble was a second round pick for the Canadiens in 2019 before he started his collegiate career, going 46th overall in the draft. In his draft year, he had played 28 games for St. Sebastian’s School as part of the United States High School Preparatory, where he had 10 goals, 30 assists, and 40 points, as well as 11 games for the Boston Jr. Eagles U18 AAA team with the Eastern Hockey Federation Elite league, where he had one goal, six assists, and seven points.
Struble is the Canadiens’ first college free agent signing this year, although they did recently sign 2021 sixth round pick Xavier Simoneau to an entry-level contract as well. They have just one other college free agent left in their own reserves, with Jack Gorniak from the University of Wisconsin rights set to expire this summer after four years in college.
It’s unlikely that Struble makes the Canadiens right out of camp next season, as their blueline is quite packed with all eight defenders on the roster having contracts for 2023-24. That group was one of the big stories earlier in the season, as they had some early success despite the inexperience of a lot of their players. It did catch up to them though, as the Canadiens are now 27-35-6, the sixth worst record in the league.