Montreal Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin, left, and president Geoff Molson leave press conference in Brossard on Monday, April 9, 2018.
The Canadiens started last season $8 million below the NHL’s salary cap of US$75 million and ended up finishing 28th in the overall standings.
It now looks like they could leave even more money on the table next season when the league salary cap increases to US$79.5 million.
After signing centre Phillip Danault to a three-year, US$9.25-million contract on Sunday, the Canadiens now have 25 players under NHL contracts and, according to CapFriendly.com, still have $7.812 million in cap space. The Canadiens need to get down to 23 players before the 2018-19 NHL season starts.
The Canadiens have already used some of their extra salary-cap space to buy out the contract of goaltender Steve Mason, who was acquired from the Winnipeg Jets in a trade last month that brought right-winger Joel Armia to Montreal. Mason had one season remaining on his two-year, US$8.2-million contract. Mason’s buyout will cost the Canadiens $1.366 million in salary-cap space in each of the next two seasons.
“I’m not going to spend money just to spend money,” Bergevin said the day after making the trade. “Last year was different because we had money saved for some players (Andrei Markov and Alexander Radulov, who both left as free agents). This year it’s totally different. That’s why we were able to do the Winnipeg transaction.”
If Bergevin now end up trading Max Pacioretty — who has one season remaining on his contract with a $4.5-million salary-cap hit and has been the focus of trade rumours — the Canadiens could end up being more than $10 million below the cap next season depending on what they get in return for the captain. The Canadiens could also use some of their extra cap room to take on a bad contract as part of a Pacioretty trade, like they did with Mason.
The minimum each NHL team must pay in salaries next season is US$58.8 million. When the NHL first brought in the salary cap for the 2005-06 season, the maximum teams could spend was US$39 million.
“For me to talk to my fans, they have my commitment that I’m going to spend every dollar possible to win,” Canadiens owner/president Geoff Molson said at the end of last season. “That’s the way we operate in this business. We’re a great hockey franchise and we’re respected across the league. No stone is left unturned and no dollar is left unspent if it’s going to make us a better hockey team.
“As you know, we weren’t successful in signing some players (last summer) that we tried very hard to sign in Radulov and Markov,” Molson added. “The money was there. Once you don’t get those players, you don’t just go and spend it for the sake of spending it. You have to look for an opportunity to spend it.”
This summer, the Canadiens were interested in signing free-agent centres John Tavares and Paul Stastny, but neither of them had any interest in coming to Montreal. Tavares signed a seven-year, US$77-million contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs, while Stastny signed for three years and US$19.5 million with the Vegas Golden Knights.
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