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JiC wants to keep Savard: “I would offer him a new deal for 2 or 3 years.”
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David Savard’s contract will end in a few months.

If he has not signed a new agreement with the Canadiens by July 1st, the veteran will be able to test the free agent market.

There is also a chance to see him traded by Kent Hughes before the trade deadline on March 7th.

The idea of keeping him in Montreal is probably on Hughes’s table because we know that Savard can help the Canadiens.

We know the qualities of the defenseman.

At the same time, Savard is 34 years old… And he is no longer the defenseman he was five or seven years ago.

But that doesn’t stop Jean-Charles Lavoie from wanting to offer him a two or three-year contract. JiC wants the Quebecer to be at the heart of the rebuilding:

I would keep Savard with the team and offer him a new deal for 2 or 3 years at a lower salary, entrusting him with the mandate to carry out the organization’s revival project. – Jean-Charles Lajoie

JiC also believes that the CH could receive a 2nd round pick in return for the defenseman if he is traded:

Because Savard is 34 years old and is slowing down on the ice, offering him a three-year contract would be illogical in my view.

And it would be even more illogical to ask him to “carry out the organization’s revival project” because we know he can no longer give as much.

If I were Kent Hughes, I would go this way: do you want to stay in Montreal? I offer you a one-season contract… But I can’t guarantee you will play every game.

And if it works out, we will think about offering you a new agreement (for one season) in the summer of 2026.

Still: we know Savard has what it takes to help the Canadiens when needed.

But in the context where he has already started to slow down, what will it look like in two or three years?

I feel like the CH would be shooting itself in the foot because that contract – even if it’s not lucrative – could become negative on the Canadiens’ books. And you can’t have a bad contract on the salary cap when the goal is to compete for (at least) making the playoffs…

David Savard’s voice is important in the locker room, and it’s true that NHL teams need a guy like him within the organization.

But to think of offering him a three-year contract for what he is providing right now is, in my eyes, a bit far-fetched.


In Brief

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