The Montreal Canadiens have signed unrestricted free agent defenseman Mark Barberio to a one-year, two-way deal, the club announced.
According to TVA’s Renaud Lavoie, the deal is worth $600,000 at the NHL level and $325,000 in the American Hockey League.
Barberio became an unrestricted free agent earlier in the week after the Tampa Bay Lightning elected not to tender the 25-year-old a qualifying offer.
“I’m not going to say it was disappointing. It’s time to get a fresh start somewhere else,” Barberio’s agent Paul Hamel told PHT on Monday. “It could go either way so at this point, they decided not to make a qualifying offer so we just need to move on.”
Barberio appeared in 103 games with Tampa scoring six goals and 11 assists while averaging 15:42 in time on ice.
The Montreal native was originally a sixth-round pick (152nd overall) by Tampa at the 2008 NHL Draft.
“I’ve been a Canadiens fan forever so to join the organization is a dream come true."- Mark Barberio
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) July 1, 2015
The Habs have also signed free agent forward George Holloway to a one-year, two-way contract.
The 27-year-old played 42 games with Bern in Swiss National League A in 2014-15, scoring 13 goals and 37 points.
Holloway was originally a third-round pick of the L.A. Kings (86th overall) at the 2006 NHL Draft.
