In the last few days, the Canadiens have made a few decisions. They chose to trade pick #26 (along with two other free agency rights) in return for the Kings’ pick #21. It was to draft Michael Hage, in the end.
Kent Hughes also drafted Ivan Demidov (a huge win for the club), Aatos Koivu and seven other prospects.
The GM traded Johnathan Kovacevic to the Devils. And on July 1, he signed Alex Barré-Boulet… in addition to Juraj Slafkovsky on terms of an eight-year contract (2025-2033) valued at $60.8 million.
Obviously, the CH was not going to put spokes in its wheels by signing big contracts that the club would regret in a few years. The goal right now is to let the nasty veteran contracts run, not add to them. #Gallagher #Anderson #Price #Dvorak #Armia
But that said, Slaf’s contract, while one of the biggest on July 1, 2024 in the NHL, remains tied to the Canadiens’ rebuild. And if all goes well, the more time passes, the more advantageous it will be.
Signing a Jonathan Marchessault, for example, would have had the opposite effect.
When you look at it, the big contracts up front with the Canadiens (Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky) are all deals that are under 10% of the club’s total assets.
In 2021, Nick Suzuki took 9.66% of the Canadiens’ cap hit – and in 2022, when his contract started, it was 9.55%. In 2023, Cole Caufield took 9.52% of the cap hit.
And Slaf? If his contract started today, he would take 8.64% of the pool. And since his contract starts next year, when the pool should be $92 million, he should be at 8.26% of the pool when that happens.
It’s all well and good to come up with figures, but let’s start with a comparison, just to put it all into perspective.
If we look at the Maple Leafs, we see that at the moment, four forwards take between 12 and 16% of the weight. each. We’re talking about core-4 here, as you might expect.
- Auston Matthews: $13.25 million, 15.1% of total assets
- William Nylander: $11.5 million, 13.1% of the assets
- John Tavares : $11 million, 12.5% of the mass
- Mitch Marner: $10.903 million, 12.4% of the total
Morgan Reilly (8.5% of the mass with a cap hit of $7.5 million) and there we have a big reason which explains the lack of depth of the organization of the Queen City.
I know the Maple Leafs guys are more productive than the Canadiens guys. But not to that extent.
Obviously, you already knew that these guys were making a lot of money, but putting things in perspective always helps. And right now, Suzuki, the highest (active) salary in the CH, is under 9% of the pool.
And with the ceiling going up, it will only get better. #ThanksMarcBergevin
Kent Hughes has therefore managed to respect his salary scale by having his first trio signed long term for less than $24 million. And this will allow the GM, one day, to add the right pieces to his team… especially on defense. And the Maple Leafs can’t afford that.
That’s why the club made short term decisions that will affect the club in the long term. Chris Tanev for SIX YEARS at $4.5M? Oliver Ekman-Larsson for four years at $3.5M? #Ark
The problem is, Toronto is so strapped that GM Brad Treliving has no choice but to overpay for run-of-the-mill defensemen instead of going after a true defenseman.
Look at Utah HC. The club has tons of room and has managed to fill its defensive needs with good short- and long-term defensemen. John Marino and Mikhail Sergachev will really help the club, which also signed Sean Durzi to a four-year deal.
Don’t tell me that instead of trying to extend Mitch “Mr. Series” Marner’s contract, the club couldn’t have tried to construct a transaction to get a top defensive reinforcement?
The Canadiens are putting themselves in a position to avoid having to do like the Maple Leafs in a few years, when they are at the stage of winning. And if all goes well, getting past the first round won’t really be a challenge.
A lot of
– To be continued in Toronto.
– Vladimir Tarasenko has an offer from the Penguins on the table. He is said to be interested in staying in Sunrise.
– A name to watch at the CH development camp.
– Tyler Toffoli’s wife is proud to come home.
