Retaining salary in a three-team transaction: a good option for the Canadian

Jake Evans is officially in Montreal to stay. He chose, as you know, to leave money on the table in order to continue his career with the Canadiens.

Not everyone would have done that.

Naturally, this makes it even more unlikely that Joel Armia, Christian Dvorak, and/or David Savard will be traded by Friday.

I don’t think the Canadiens’ GM is only influenced by the team’s last five wins (recency bias), since the other three players mentioned above have less value… and the plan to sign Evans was not related to the standings.

But it’s still the case that right now, signing a fourth-line player is making a lot of noise. Welcome to Montreal!

The biggest issue for Kent Hughes is now resolved. The rest of the events are uncertain, as a big move could happen (such as acquiring a top center, for example) this week. But otherwise, it could be pretty quiet.

But as I mentioned yesterday and as Marc-Olivier Beaudoin mentioned on X, it’s still the case that an extremely important aspect to watch is how Kent Hughes will handle the third salary retention issue.

Not-so-bold predictions regarding the #CH by Friday:

1- They will act as a “third party broker” to retain salary and facilitate a transaction OR acquire a player with little term to help another team while receiving a sweetener (example Jeff…

— Marc-Olivier Beaudoin (@MOBeaudoin1) March 4, 2025

Right now, the Canadiens are retaining salary on the contracts of Jake Allen and Jeff Petry. So, there is one salary retention left until July 1st, and we can think that Kent Hughes will want to use it.

In the past, Kent Hughes has already played in these waters by being the third team in a transaction, in order to retain salary to “buy” a draft pick in the process. Nick Bonino is a good example.

BONINO! BONINO! BONINO IS BACK!

The Penguins have acquired forward @NickBonino in a three-team trade involving the San Jose Sharks and Montreal Canadiens.

Full details: https://t.co/eP2LTGiG3x pic.twitter.com/EYCyITEg1w

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) March 3, 2023

Salary retention is an asset with value, and using it allows the organization to maximize its assets. In my opinion, if possible, Kent Hughes will take advantage of it.

After all, there’s a nuance between going after a fourth-round pick for David Savard (while retaining salary) or keeping the Quebecer to get roughly the same type of pick by retaining salary in another transaction.

The first option hurts the Canadiens, but not the second. A pick obtained without giving up a player is not the same as a pick obtained by trading a veteran player.

So, we’ll see.

extension

Note that by Friday, we won’t just be watching the Canadiens’ playoff run, but also that of the Rocket.

Kent Hughes should send reinforcements to Laval through trades, but also by “paper transactions” for players like Owen Beck and Jakub Dobes to make them eligible for the playoffs.

The players will visibly stay with the Canadiens in the short term, but they will become eligible for the playoffs in the process.

Since the Rocket is in a good position to go far in the playoffs, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Canadiens’ management work on this on the market.