Montreal Canadiens ready to make a move
Fourth Period’s Dave Pagnotta joined Gord Stellick and Scott Laughlin on Sirius XM NHL Network Radio and was asked about the Montreal Canadians and how they positioned themselves well in terms of capital to make a move before or at the trade deadline.
NHLRumors.com Transcripts
Gord Stellick: “And in Montreal, the only contract that’s really getting a little out of hand is Patrik Laine, a little over like $8.7 million in his last year. Boy. He’s been really unlucky now, three months with core muscle surgery, but that’ll be one that comes off the books. I know they want to sign Mike Matheson, but they’re, they’re really, really well situated for an exciting team on the right side, probably in terms of cap, that’s why Jeff Gorton and Kent Hughes have also been expanded to say that they are the gold standard.’
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Dave Pagnotta: “Yeah, they’ve done a great job of mapping out their financial plan and their cap plan and projecting what they’ve accomplished going forward, and at the same time re-emphasizing how much they’ve sold their younger guys on buying in, taking a little less to help the whole thing a little bit.
They didn’t ask the (Lane) Hutson’s, (Noah) Dobson’s, (Nick) Suzuki’s, (Cole) Caufield’s – all those guys. We took a million dollars less per season, or $2 million less per season, a few hundred thousand, but it will definitely add up. It will give them that flexibility if they want to add one or two more key pieces to the lineup over the next year, two years, whatever it is.
I know they had conversations with Laine, just casual conversations in the offseason, back at camp, just to see where everyone came out. 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 into it when we’re ready. If it’s after the season, so be it. And now unfortunately he is having surgery. He’s out, like you said, three months, three to four months. It was a difficult situation for Laine, overall, in terms of his health.
And if they do it again, whether it’s a short-term deal or whatever, I think it certainly won’t be at the same number as he has now, which gives the Canadiens so much more flexibility. Even if they push him to roll out some different options next season and beyond. And where they are positioned now, and part of the reason they moved Carey Price’s contract was to give them more cap flexibility.
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They are around $4.9-$5 million in cap space in that range for now. So even if they want to make some kind of move, this season for the first time in a while they have the maximum flexibility to do so, while continuing to build space as they progress.
So kudos to Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton, the entire management team there, John Sedgwick and everyone, for doing a great job not only orchestrating and putting together the roster, but also making sure that the finances and the dollars make sense not only now, but in the future.
And there are teams that have noticed this without a doubt and are trying to replicate that in their own way.”
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