Now that the season is over for the Montreal Canadiens, Kent Hughes can get into the business of reshaping a roster in which Marc Bergevin tried to fix some holes to stay competitive in a more in line with the current plan to build around the current and emerging. , and the young talent that will be presented soon.
Hughes had been working only to get some bodies to sign for the NHL team, inking Chris Wideman in overtime and bringing Otto Leskinen back to the fold after passing as a restricted free agent without signing on the roster. booking throughout the 2021-22 season. .
On Thursday, the GM made a more substantial move, sending the contract of an unofficially retired Shea Weber to a Vegas Golden Knights team desperate for nearly $ 8 million in long-term reserve funds for long-term injuries, and managed in return NHL striker Evgenii Dadonov, a The player signed for one more season that could be an asset of the 2023 trade deadline for Montreal.
Several reports state that the CEO is still working to try to make other moves. This is the situation of the salary cap he faces in these conversations.
Justin Blades / EOTP
An important factor to consider is a penalty for excess bonuses that Canadians are introducing in the 2022-23 season. It is the result of performance bonuses that have been hit on multi-player starting level contracts. Having some of the talent you’re trying to build around 20-year-old milestones is far from a bad thing, especially considering the reality of the team’s competitive position. But it’s shaving a little over $ 1 million of the space Hughes has to work with, and I’m sure there will be many more bonuses of this kind next year.
As it stands, the chart includes two goalkeepers, seven defenders and 13 forwards, one player below the maximum roster of 23 players and not enough space to add even a minimum league contract. There are other players in the system in certain places, but in terms of dollars, this is the best the Habs can muster from their current options.
They can get some relief by putting Carey Price in LTIR to start the season if you’re not ready to go, but like last year, they can’t commit to spending that money elsewhere (other than in a temporary substitute goalkeeper) if there is an opportunity. Price will be able to play at some point.
One thing that stands out from the lists of previous years of Bergevin’s tenure is how much of the cover is currently assigned to strikers; the previous GM normally only had around 50% assigned to these positions, although it was he who signed Nick Suzuki for the eight-year extension that will start in a few weeks. Whether the proportions remain the same depends on Hughes’ movements during the summer.
A couple of the 13 strikers shown have been mentioned most frequently in commercial rumors, as they had good performances at the recent IIHF World Hockey Championship. Joel Armia didn’t have much campaigning in the NHL, but his international performance helped restore his reputation as a big game player, which will attract the interest of teams hoping to compete next year. Hughes’ comments about Josh Anderson, a player who says he cares a lot and doesn’t want to change, are beginning to look very similar to his praise of Artturi Lehkonen before the last change deadline as GM dug in. his heels until he got the package he wanted.
Then there’s the issue of Jeff Petry, another player Hughes doesn’t want to change, but is listening to offers, which could be dealt with before the deadline to get a meaningful return. These would be the two biggest contracts between the negotiated advocates in a matter of weeks, leaving Joel Edmundson and David Savard as the highest earners with their $ 3.5 million deals, except for another acquisition.
This is likely to be a low season with more leftovers than sums, discovering what some of the young players the team has amassed over the past few years can bring to the top level. The goal will be to make a squad strong enough to at least keep the team in next season’s games to let that talent shine while ensuring that it is the future core of the team that receives the main assignments and three transactions with which Hughes has made fit. that philosophy. We should expect similar strategies with the moves you have to make over the next month.