Canadiens sign defenseman Henry

The Montreal Canadiens, parent club of the AHL’s Hamilton Bulldogs, announced today the signing of free agent defenseman Alex Henry to a one-year, two-way contract.

Henry, 28, spent three seasons in Hamilton from 1999-2002. In 185 regular season games with the Bulldogs, the Elliot Lake, Ont., native produced 18 points (7-11-18) and 299 penalty minutes.

Since leaving Hamilton, the 6-5, 220-pound defenseman has played in 175 NHL games with the Edmonton Oilers (2002-2003), Washington Capitals (2002-2003) and Minnesota Wild (2003-2004, 2005-2006) and in 147 AHL games with the Portland Pirates (2002-2003) and Milwaukee Admirals (2006-2008).

Henry, who served as Milwaukee’s team captain in 2007-08, competed in all of the Admirals’ 80 regular season contests and registered a career-high 16 points (3-13-16) in addition to accumulating 142 penalty minutes and a plus-7 rating.

Originally drafted by Edmonton in 1998, Henry has compiled 11 points (2-9-11) and 259 penalty minutes in 175 career regular season NHL games and 42 points (11-31-42) and 507 penalty minutes in 332 career regular season AHL games.

The Canadiens also announced the signing of goaltender Cedrick Desjardins to a two-year, two-way contract.

Desjardins, 22, has split his first two seasons as a professional between the AHL’s Hamilton Bulldogs and the ECHL’s Cincinnati Cyclones. He posted a 4-4-1 record with a 3.04 GAA and .909 save percentage in 12 AHL games for the Bulldogs.