Canadian: A penalty of nearly two million dollars on payroll

Charles-Alexis Brisebois
Canadian: A penalty of nearly two million dollars on payroll
Credit: Joe Sargent/NHLI via Getty Images

For years, the Canadiens have consistently carried over performance bonuses to the following year's payroll.

Why? Because they have productive young players (the bonuses are mainly for entry-level contracts) on the roster and because they have been making heavy use of the long-term injured reserve list since 2021.

Basically, using the LTIR for long-term injuries makes it impossible to fit the young players' bonuses under the cap, forcing the team to carry them over to the following year.

In the past, with Carey Price and Shea Weber on the LTIR, the Habs often carried over the young players' bonuses to their salary cap. And this year, the Patrik Laine situation (who wasn't traded, which complicated matters) had the same effect.

And now, thanks to the work of Nicolas Cloutier (TVA Sports), we know the amount that will be carried over to next year's salary cap.

In fact, the Canadiens have four young players who require the club to pay bonuses on entry-level contracts. In total, we're talking about $1.98 million in bonuses.

Here's how it breaks down:

  • Ivan Demidov: $1,000,000
  • Oliver Kapanen: $500,000
  • Lane Hutson: $400,000
  • Jacob Fowler: $80,000

Since the Habs are $45,588 over the cap for the season, their penalty next year will be $1,934,412. That amount will be deducted from the 2026-2027 cap, and Kent Hughes will have to work around that.

That's slightly more than the $1,752,500 figure that affected the 2025-2026 season. And with the cap increase, it will be easier for Kent Hughes to navigate around that next year.

If the Habs manage to avoid overusing the LTIR next year, they could eventually break their cycle of deferred bonuses.

But at the same time, it's better to give bonuses to Ivan Demidov than to have him on a multi-million-dollar contract, as will be the case in 2027–2028…


In a nutshell

– Note.

– Hmm…

– Playoffs: restaurants will do a roaring business. [LP]

– Interesting.

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