Montreal Canadiens Primed and Ready To Make a Move
Dave Pagnotta of the Fourth Period joined Gord Stellick and Scott Laughlin on Sirius XM NHL Network Radio and was asked about the Montreal Canadiens and how they set themselves up so well, cap-wise, to make a move either before or at the trade deadline.
NHLRumors.com Transcriptions
Gord Stellick: “And in Montreal, the only contract really a little bit out of whack, Patrik Laine, a little over, what, $8.7 million his final year. Boy. He’s really had some tough luck now, three months with core muscle surgery, but that will be one that comes off the books. I know they want to sign Mike Matheson, but they’re, they’re really, really situated for an exciting team on the right side, cap-wise, probably, that’s why Jeff Gorton, Kent Hughes got extended as well, that they’re the gold standard.”
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Dave Pagnotta: “Yeah, they’ve done a tremendous job in kind of mapping out and forecasting their financial plan and their cap plan with what they’ve got moving forward. And at the same time again, just re-emphasizing how much they’ve sold their younger guys on buying in, taking a little bit less to kind of help the overall.
They haven’t been asking the (Lane) Hutson’s, (Noah) Dobson’s, (Nick) Suzuki’s, (Cole) Caufield’s —all those guys. We’ve taken a million bucks less a season, or $2 million bucks less a season, few 100,000, but certainly it’s going to add up. It’s going to give them that flexibility if they want to add another significant piece or two to the lineup over the next year, two years, whatever it is.
I know they had discussions with Laine, a just casual conversations in the offseason, again at camp, just to see where everybody’s at. And they said, ‘Okay, let’s just see how the season goes. See how you perform.’ They like him. He likes it there. But let’s just see how the season goes, and then we’ll get to it when we get to it. If it’s after the season, so be it. And now, unfortunately, he has surgery. He’s out, as you said, three months, three to four months. It’s been a tough situation for Laine, just overall, with respect to his health.
And if they do re-up, whether it’s a short-term deal or what have you, I think that’s certainly not going to be at the same number that he’s got right now, which gives the Canadiens that much more flexibility. Even if they keep him to roll out some different options moving forward next season and beyond. And where they are positioned now, and part of the reason why they moved Carey Price‘s contract was to give them more cap flexibility.
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They are sitting around $4.9-$5 million in that range for the time being, of cap space. So even if they want to make some type of move, this season, for the first time in a while, they’ve got that cap flexibility to do it as they continue to accrue space moving forward.
So, full credit to Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton, the full management team there, John Sedgwick and everyone, for really doing a hell of a job in terms of not just orchestrating the roster and piecing it together, but also just making sure that the finances and the dollars not only make sense now, but moving forward as well.
And there are teams, without question, that have taken notice and are trying to replicate that in their own way.”
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