Darche a Keeper

Ugly, but efficient play perfect for the price
Managing the NHL salary cap comes down to filling the bottom-3 forward spots with players who can score 5 to 10 goals, while playing solid defensive-hockey. These players should also make in the neighbourhood of $650,000 to $1,000,000 per-season. A penalty-killing or powerplay specialist with the ability to play multiple positions can also come in handy.
Even at 35 years-old, Mathieu Darche still fits this role perfectly. Moving forward,  with next year's roster obviously in mind, the Montreal Canadiens need to retain Darche. He has a better risk/reward and ratio than Travis Moen in every zone. Besides this, the only thing separating him from Travis Moen is $800,000 in cap-hit, 5 more minutes of ice-time per-game for Moen, and a shooting-percentage from Moen that can only be described as a statistical anomaly.
Despite little offensive-production Darche has the third-best overall grade among Canadiens forwards. He also has the fifth-best overall risk/reward, and his even-strength ratio of 2.39 successful plays for every 1 mistake or lots puck-battle is third-best among forwards.
Darche has the ninth-best offensive-zone risk/reward among Canadiens forwards. He completes 62% of his offensive-zone passes, and is one of only 4 forwards with an o-zone passing success-rate above 60%. Only Max Pacioretty wins a higher percentage of o-zone puck-battles than Darche.
He has the sixth-best defensive-zone risk/reward among forwards, is one of only four forwards with a d-zone passing success-rate above 73%, and wins 53% of his d-zone puck-battles. Darche blocks more shots per-minute played than any Montreal forward, and completes more successful dump-outs per-minute of ice-time than any Montreal player.
Darche's play on the penalty-kill is a huge part of Montreal's solid PK rating. Only Tomas Plekanec has a better short-handed risk/reward, or ratio than Darche. Similar to his even-strength numbers, Darche blocks more shots, and has more successful short-handed dump-outs per-minute played than any other forward.
The Canadiens play this season has raised many questions about the team's future. Big raises are coming for core players PK Subban and Carey Price. Part of any success moving forward is going to come through improving the team's depth.  The plan must include affordable players who contribute above their pay-scale. Darche remains a solid player at a perfect price.