Canadiens sign Bergeron
The Montreal Canadiens added some depth to their injured blue line Tuesday, signing unrestricted free-agent defenseman Marc-Andre Bergeron.
The contract was a one-year deal worth $750,000, a source told ESPN.com.
The 28-year-old had 14 goals and 18 assists in 72 games with the Minnesota Wild last season but remained unsigned throughout the offseason. He will report to Hamilton (AHL) on Wednesday for a conditioning stint.
The Canadiens lost star defenseman Andrei Markov for at least four months with a ruptured Achilles tendon injury as well as blue-liner Ryan O'Byrne, out a few weeks with a foot injury. Markov is the team's best player and a huge loss in all facets of the game. But at least on the power play, Bergeron will be able to help.
"It was a difficult summer but I'm real excited now," Bergeron told ESPN.com from his home in Trois-Rivieres, Quebec. "This is something I'm really, really looking forward to. Obviously it's terrible what happened with Andrei Markov; I think he's one of the top five or six defenseman in the entire NHL. But I'm just hoping to help out the best I could."
Pierre LeBrun covers the NHL for ESPN.com. Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
