The chances of a return to the game for Paul Byron were already slim, but now they are no longer at all.
During a video press briefing on Tuesday afternoon, Kent Hughes, general manager of the Canadiens, confirmed that the small forward will be retiring.
“His contract is over, and it’s not in his plans to leave Montreal,” said the GM. So we are going to discuss with him, we are going to sit down with Paul during the month of September. ยป
This discussion will serve to find out what happens next in the case of Byron, who has already indicated that he would like to remain with the Montreal organization, in a role that remains to be defined.
Byron, 34, is probably one of the Canadiens’ best acquisitions on waivers. Left aside by the Calgary Flames, the forward came to the Bell Center at the dawn of the 2015-2016 season, and he quickly won over Canadiens fans with his quick skating and his passion.
In the tricolor jersey, he offered himself two seasons of 20 or more goals, and he peaked in the 2016-2017 season, with 22 goals and 21 assists for a total of 43 points in 81 games.
His career, however, took another trajectory following a fight with defenseman MacKenzie Weegar in March 2019 at the Bell Centre. Then, health problems continued to follow him, and among other things, he had hip surgery in the summer of 2021, playing only 27 games in the following season, in 2021-2022. He was unable to take part in a single game last season.
Byron, a sixth-round pick of the Buffalo Sabers in 2007, will leave with 208 points in 521 NHL games.
