Carey Price’s contract: the Penguins are another logical team to take him on

At the moment, only two teams in the entire NHL have a bigger payroll than the Habs for the 2025-26 season: the Vegas Golden Knights and the Florida Panthers.

We’re talking here about the team that signed Mitch Marner, as well as the team that just retained the services of Brad Marchand and Aaron Ekblad: so it’s not necessarily surprising to see them at the top of the list.

The Canadiens, that said, aren’t over the cap as of today. The club has just under $100,000 to spare, and in effect can still place Carey Price’s contract ($10.5 million) on the LTIR. So, he’s got a lot to play for, but…

We know that the club is in the hunt for Jordan Kyrou, who earns $8.125 million a year, and you’d think they’d like to add a few bits and pieces to their group. That said, Price’s contract complicates the matter for one simple reason: the club doesn’t want to place him on the off-season LTIR, since that doesn’t help maximize the in-season payroll.

And since you can’t exceed the cap by more than 10% during the summer, it’s understandable that this is a problem in Montreal right now. Not a huge problem, but a problem nonetheless.

So, for the Habs, trading Price’s contract would give them a lot of accounting clout. We know that the Sharks are a popular destination… but Marco D’Amico also mentioned another possibility: the Pittsburgh Penguins.

I’ve reported SJ or Pittsburgh being prime Price destinations.https://t.co/Erf277GM6I

– Marco D’Amico (@mndamico) June 30, 2025

The Penguins’ case isn’t as clear-cut as that of the Sharks, who literally need a ton of money to reach the salary floor. In fact, in the case of the Penguins, the club has already reached the floor… but we know that Pittsburgh would like to sell.

And while the club has reached the floor, it’s still a long way from comfortably exceeding it. Remember that the floor is set at $70.6 million, and right now, the Penguins’ payroll is $74.3 million.

If a guy like Erik Karlsson ($10M) or Bryan Rust ($5.125M) is traded, then the club will be under the floor. And that’s where Price’s contract could help.

Remember that Price’s contract would cost a team very little, given that even signing bonuses are guaranteed. If a team really wants to pay as little as possible, it could wait until September to go after him (the bonus will have been paid in full by then), but then again, the Habs could try to create a war between the Penguins and the Sharks over this contract.

Because the sooner this contract leaves the Habs’ books, the sooner the club will finally have a little more room to manoeuvre. And while we’re looking to turn the corner, waiting another year for Price’s $10.5 million (and even Laine’s $8.7 million) to leave the club’s books isn’t ideal.

Overtime

– Signing Evan Bouchard for eight years would have cost the Oilers too much.

Friedman on NHL Network says Oilers offered Bouchard a 4-yr deal and an 8-yr deal, imagine what an 8-yr deal would have been? 11.5-11.6? Oilers just couldn’t do that.

– NHL Watcher (@NHL_Watcher) July 1, 2025

– The problem is, there aren’t many… and the Habs won’t be alone in this race.

I could see the Canadiens trying to find a veteran G to split the task with Fowler in Laval. Delia? Hellberg? Petersen?
Good enough to be recalled in case of injury (so as not to rush Fowler), but at a point where he can accept a 50-50 in the AHL. No easy task!

– Marc Antoine Godin (@MAGodin) July 1, 2025

– News from Nikolaj Ehlers.

Friedman on NHL Network says Ehlers could get 9-9.5 on the open market, but he could see Ehlers take a little less to sign with a winning organization, believes Carolina is the frontrunner for him.

– NHL Watcher (@NHL_Watcher) July 1, 2025