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2025-2026: the Canadiens are the only club currently above the salary cap
Charles-Alexis Brisebois
2025-2026: the Canadiens are the only club currently above the salary cap
Credit: It’s June 30. Tomorrow, the autonomy market opens. Tomorrow, the face of the NHL will change. And I’m not just talking about guys changing teams: I’m also talking about contract extensions coming into effect or guys retiring, for example. It’s like that for all teams. Recently, my colleague Maxime Truman painted a picture of the […]
It’s June 30. Tomorrow, the autonomy market opens.

Tomorrow, the face of the NHL will change. And I’m not just talking about guys changing teams: I’m also talking about contract extensions coming into effect or guys retiring, for example.

It’s like that for all teams.

Recently, my colleague Maxime Truman painted a picture of the players who could leave the Canadiens organization. This gives an idea of what to look out for this week.

What will change tomorrow, on the first day of the 2025-2026 season?

1. At the NHL level, four players will be unrestricted free agents: David Savard, Michael Pezzetta, Christian Dvorak and Joel Armia. Savard will retire, Pezz is likely to leave and I don’t necessarily see Dvo staying – although he might.

Armia could possibly stay, but we’ll see. In particular, it will depend on the price.

2. Also in the NHL, only two players will become restricted free agents: Jayden Struble and Jakub Dobes. These shouldn’t be the most difficult files to settle.

3. Several players will count more on the payroll tomorrow than they do today. Who are they?

  • Juraj Slafkovsky: $0.95M to $7.6M
  • Jake Evans: $1.7M to $2.85M
  • Noah Dobson: $4M to $9.5M
  • Kaiden Guhle: $0.863M to $5.55M
4. There will be less dead money on the books. While youth bonuses will likely have to be deferred as long as Carey Price’s contract is in town, Jake Allen’s and Jeff Petry’s deals will expire. The Canadiens were withholding salary on these contracts.

5. The salary cap will rise to $95.5 million and the salary floor to $70.6 million. This means that tomorrow, a club will be able to reach $105.5 million, since during the summer, teams can exceed the cap by 10%.

This is an important detail for the Canadiens, as all contracts count during the off-season. That includes Carey Price’s, valued at $10.5 million a year for another 366 days.

And with all the big contracts coming into effect tomorrow (Dobson, Slaf and Guhle: that’s three big chunks, after all), the Habs’ salary picture is really set to change.

How much? To the point where the Habs are no longer “middle of the pack” in terms of the salary cap, as has been the case in recent months. In fact, it has the largest projected payroll, as of today, for 2025-2026.

And no one other than the Habs, according to Puck Pedia, is above that lot right now. That should change tomorrow, though.

(Credit: Puck Pedia)

Given that the Canadiens won’t be giving Struble and Dobes a golden bridge, that youngsters from Laval can take spots and that Price’s contract will either be traded or placed on the long-term injured list during the season, this isn’t a dramatic situation.

It’s not like the Golden Knights, who were forced to trade Nicolas Hague and will have to place Alex Pietrangelo on the LTIR to make room for Mitch Marner’s projected $12M…

Still, we can see that the Canadiens have less leeway than before. That’s fine, since it was used to get Dobson and to secure the future of young core players… but it’s noticeable, nonetheless.

So can the Habs afford Jordan Kyrou, who earns $8.125 million a year? Not without moving some money first.

HAVE A NIGHT, KYROU 🚨

Jordan Kyrou nets his first hat trick of the season as the @StLouisBlues win big on Saturday night!

Hat Trick Challenge presented by @AstraZenecaUS

[image or embed]

– NHL (Bot)(@notnhl.bsky.social) March 15, 2025 at 11:02 PM

Obviously, if Kent Hughes ever trades for the Blues’ player’s services, the return given to the St. Louis club would no doubt result in salary going the other way, solving the problem.

But if Hughes wants to sign a top-tier free agent (I say that even though I doubt it’s a real possibility right now) starting tomorrow, that’s something to keep in mind.


overtime

– Unbelievable.

– Who are the Canadiens’ new prospects? [BPM Sports]

– Read on.

– Michael DiPietro signs with the Bruins.

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