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Canadiens re-sign defenseman Josh Gorges for one year, $2.5 million

Montreal Canadiens v Dallas Stars

DALLAS, TX - DECEMBER 21: Defenseman Josh Gorges #26 of the Montreal Canadiens at American Airlines Center on December 21, 2010 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

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You can cross off another potential arbitration case from the schedule as Montreal has settled things with defenseman Josh Gorges. Gorges signed a one-year deal with the Habs to avoid heading to court. TSN’s Darren Dreger reports the deal is worth $2.5 million for the 2011-2012 season.

While avoiding arbitration is the main reason for signing off on this deal, it is more than a bit curious that the Canadiens only signed Gorges for one season. Since joining Montreal from San Jose back in 2006-2007, Gorges has developed into one of the better defensive defensemen around the league and one of the most under appreciated as well. In 36 games last year before going down with a season-ending knee injury he had one goal and six assists in 36 games.

Over the last three seasons, Gorges has been a 20 minute per game defenseman for the Habs but after such a tough knee injury, it’s clear the Canadiens want him to prove he can come back from it and do so strongly. Before he went down with the injury in December, Gorges was setting himself up to be locked in for a longer deal. Now he’ll have to prove himself all over again this season to earn it.

Montreal’s defense now shapes up to be even stronger should Gorges come back and play the way he was previously. With Andrei Markov coming back from his own knee troubles along with P.K. Subban, Hal Gill, Jaroslav Spacek, Yannick Weber, and new guy Alexei Yemelin the Habs defense looks potentially strong but fragile and untested. They’ll need Gorges to bounce back nicely to keep things steady. Should he do that, he’ll get the long term deal he’s hoping for.