Blues Sign Matthew Peca

On Tuesday evening, the St. Louis Blues signed forward Matthew Peca to a new two-year two-way contract starting in the 2022-23 season. Here is the breakdown of the contract from CapFriendly:

The 28-year-old native of Petawawa, Ontario, was drafted in the seventh round (201st overall) by the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2011, but spent four seasons with Quinnipiac University before signing an amateur tryout agreement with the Lightning’s American Hockey League affiliate following his college graduation.

Then on April 1, 2015, Peca signed a two-year, entry-level contract with the Lightning, Peca was recalled from the AHL for the first time on December 27, 2016 and made his NHL debut the next day.

Four days later, on New Year’s Eve 2016, Peca recorded his first NHL point, an assist on an Alex Killorn goal. Then on January 3, 2017, he scored his first NHL goal on Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck and in doing so, he became the first Quinnipiac Bobcat to score a goal in the NHL.

On July 5, 2017, Peca signed a one-year, two-way contract extension to stay with the Lightning.

Peca was chosen to represent Syracuse at the 2018 AHL All-Star Game.

After just three seasons with the Lightning, Peca signed a two-year, $2.6 million contract with the Montreal Canadiens as a free agent on July 1, 2018.

Peca scored his first goal as a Canadien on November 8, 2018, in a 6-5 overtime loss against the Buffalo Sabres.

However, in the second year of Peca’s deal with the Canadiens, he lost his spot on the roster during training camp and was placed on waivers before being assigned to Montreal’s AHL affiliate, the Laval Rocket.

Peca appeared in four games for the Canadiens in the 2019-20 season before he was sent to the Ottawa Senators in exchange for Aaron Luchuk and a seventh-round draft pick in 2020.

Then on July 29, 2021, Peca signed a one-year, two-way contract with the Blues. In five games with the Blues this season, Peca has one assist.

Over his seven-season career, Peca has 61 goals and 148 assists for 209 points in 312 games in the AHL and six goals and 15 assists for 21 points in 83 career NHL games.