Max Pacioretty has signed a six-year contract extension with the Montreal Canadiens, the team announced Monday. TSN’s Bob McKenzie reported the deal has an average annual value of $4.5 million.

Pacioretty, 23, completed his fourth season in the NHL in 2011-12, leading the Canadiens with a career-high 65 points (33 goals, 32 assists). He has one more season left on his current deal, so the extension begins with the start of the 2013-14 season.

“So happy to be part of this organization long-term,” Pacioretty wrote on his Twitter account.

He was the 2011-12 recipient of the Bill Masterton Trophy, given for perseverance, determination and dedication to the game. He returned last season after missing the Canadiens’ last 15 regular-season games and the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2010-11 with a fractured neck and a concussion after a hit by Zdeno Chara of the Boston Bruins on March 8, 2011.

Pacioretty has 114 points (53 goals, 61 assists) in 202 NHL regular-season games. A native of New Canaan, Conn., he was chosen in the first round (No. 22) of the 2007 NHL Draft.

He is the first American-born player in Canadiens history to score at least 30 goals in a season.


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