In the end, Dale Weise chose the better deal over the opportunity to return to the Montreal Canadiens.
Hopeful of making a return to the bleu, blanc, et rouge as an unrestricted free agent on July 1, the 28-year-old ended up signing a four-year, $9.4-million contract with the Philadelphia Flyers after not liking what he saw in Montreal's offer.
"When the negotiation period opened up, we put a call into (Montreal) because we figured they’d have some interest," Weise told Stu Cowan of Hockey Inside/Out. "We didn’t talk all week long until the morning of July 1, and then they made an offer. But it wasn’t really a substantial one and that was kind of the only one they made and we said: 'OK, that’s not going to work.' And that was kind of the extent of it.
"It was a three-year deal, but it was nowhere near what I was getting paid in Philly," added Weise. "So I said: 'You guys are going to have to come up a lot more.' I’m not going to take less money to play there."
A Canadiens fan growing up, Weise played 152 games over parts of three seasons with Montreal before being traded to Chicago prior to the 2016 trade deadline.