MONTREAL -- The Montreal Canadiens have signed free agent forward Eric Cole from the Carolina Hurricanes and goaltender Peter Budaj from the Colorado Avalanche.
Cole signed a US$18-million, four-year deal and 28-year-old Budaj inked a $2.3-million, two-year contract.
Cole earned $3 million last season with the Hurricanes.
The Canadiens back-up goalie last season, Alex Auld, signed as a free agent with Ottawa.
The 32-year-old Cole gives the Canadiens the big winger with a scoring touch they were seeking on the free agent market.
The six-foot-two, 205-pound winger had 26 goals and 26 assists in 82 games last season. He has 184 goals and 204 assists in 620 career games.
He was a teammate of Canadiens forwards Scott Gomez and Brian Gionta on the U.S. Olympic team at the 2006 Winter Games in Turin, Italy.
Later that season, he suffered a fractured vertebra in his neck from a hit by Pittsburgh's Brooks Orpik and returned in Game 6 of the final as the Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup.
Budaj posted weak numbers in 45 games for Colorado last season with a 15-21-4 record on a weak team, with a 3.20 goals-against average and .895 save percentage. In 242 games over six seasons, he is 101-91-27 with a 2.83 average and a .902 save percentage.
In four career playoff games, he has a whopping 6.67 goals-against and a .750 save percentage.
However, he got positive response from his new teamate Mathieu Darche, who wrote on Twitter that Budaj is a "great guy and a very good goalie."
His former Avs teammate John-Michael Liles tweeted: "MTL is getting a fantastic player and teammate."
Colorado made the deal after they obtained goalie Semyon Varlamov from Washington for a first and a second-round draft pick.
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