Canadiens have no intention of adding salary between now and October

Kent Hughes did what he had to do this summer.

He got the offensive player he wanted, he drafted Ivan Demidov (and Michael Hage) and he settled the contractual situations of four young players.

Arber Xhekaj (2 years at $1.3m per season), Justin Barron (2 years at $1.15m per season), Juraj Slafkovsky (8 years at $7.6m per season) and Kaiden Guhle (6 years at $5.5m per season) have all signed new contracts in recent weeks.

That said, now that all that’s been done, it’s worth noting that the Habs have no intention of adding salary between now and October.

At his press conference yesterday, Kent Hughes said he’d like to start the season without having to put Carey Price on the LTIR until then.

This is good from a salary point of view, as Marco D’Amico reported in a recent text.

Because putting a player on the LTIR during the summer has a negative impact :

The #GoHabsGo are now over the cap after acquiring Patrik Laine, and putting Price on LTIR right now is not an option.

Will they make a trade?

The latest from @RGSafePlay on how the Habs expect to remain cap compliant to start the season.https://t.co/LLk0G3AaLa

– Marco D’Amico (@mndamico) August 20, 2024

The plan can always change between now and then, we agree.

There’s no such thing as a surprise in the National League, as we saw yesterday with the Patrik Laine deal.

On the other hand, the Kent Hughes idea is already pretty well established.

The line-up is relatively complete at the moment and we could build a line-up today if the season started tomorrow.

There are no more holes to fill in the line-up and there’s depth at every position.

All of which is to say that Kent Hughes’ job – barring a turn of events or a salary-cutting deal – looks to be over for the summer.

And when you see what he’s been able to accomplish in the space of just a few weeks, you realize that the Canadiens’ GM has done more than just a good job.

Overtime

– What do you think?

By the end of the season, we may see:

Hutson Guhle
Struble Reinbacher
Xhekaj Mailloux
Barron

At that point, we may see Reinbacher, Mailloux and Barron slot in and out of the lineup. It’s kind of fascinating and won’t happen like that because hockey is never that simple.

– Rick Springhetti (@Rick1042) August 20, 2024

– Oh!

According to Darren Ferris, Brobergs agent, there were multiple other teams prepared to move on offer sheets, and 2 x 1.1m was the Oilers offer in to Broberg.

– Ryan Rishaug (@TSNRyanRishaug) August 20, 2024