Speculation: More Moves Coming?

[HabsWhiteKnightLOL]

That was his response to Arpon's questions about trying to get Carey Price on in-season LTIR.

The word on the street when we hired Hughes is that he's a workaholic.

His hamster wheel never stops spinning.

If only we could get 2 of those hamsters running this forum , perhaps after a Leaf trade the website wouldnt be down for 3hours

 

[Belial]

If only we could get 2 of those hamsters running this forum , perhaps after a Leaf trade the website wouldnt be down for 3hours

Donate to help the servers!

 

[BLONG7]

Just finished watching the presser and was curious about what other moves Hughes has up his sleeve. To be compliant he needs like 3.8M cleared, which is Allen's contract. Now he could also end up moving DeSmith and someone else, maybe Armia or Dvorak?

Thoughts?

I think we are showing 26-27 guys on the cap right now.............so even just letting guys go to waivers, and then Laval gets us close.

 

[Steve Shutt]

True....They have 4 excess contracts currently with all the IR folks coming back on when Camp opens and folks like Harvey-Pinard, Ylonen, and Harris with waiver eligibility. And then just waving a goalie.

Ylonen is no longer waiver exempt. We risk losing him if sent down.

Barron, Xhekaj, Harris, Slafkovsky, Harvey-Pinard, Guhle are our 6 exempt guys. We have a bunch more but they're all destined for Laval

 

[Wats]

Armia is difficult but still possible to get rid of.

It is 100% impossible to get rid of the Gallagher contract, unless he goes on LTIR or we take back just as bad of a contract on just as unsalvageable of a player.

Only way we can move Gallagher is if he manages to drop 30+goals next season pretending like he's playing with Pacioretty again.

 

[Whalers Fan]

Does "maybe change a few things" mean either trade Allen or make moves to go 3 goalies in MTL?

I can't think of anything else.

It seems to me that DeSmith's contract would be easier to move than Allen's.

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

Probably just removing poutine as an option at the concession stands, but didn't want to cause a riot on live stream and have someone swat his house.

 

[Gustave]

Only way we can move Gallagher is if he manages to drop 30+goals next season pretending like he's playing with Pacioretty again.

Considering the value Karlsson brought back after winning a Norris, I don't think Gally scoring 30 brings himself back into a movable part...

That contract is ugly.

 

[Belial]

Considering the value Karlsonn brought back after winning a Norris, I don't think Gally scoring 30 brings himself back into a movable part...

That contract is ugly.

If he scores 30 might just keep him!

 

[Habs13]

Hopefully Allen and Armia are next... or Gallagher but that would take a miracle.

 

[WinterLion]

It seems to me that DeSmith's contract would be easier to move than Allen's.

Probably but I think they are quite different deals. I could see Allen being more sought after... but the cap hit is a bigger deterrent.

 

[WeThreeKings]

William Nylander

 

[salbutera]

Next season, the players below will be battling for spots and would need to go through waivers if re-assigned. Keep in mind, many of them re-signed as RFAs with the Habs this off-season. The Habs chose to retain them by extending QOs and a few are good enough to be claimed as depth. The list is as follows:

1) Nicolas Beaudin
2) Cayden Primeau
3) Jesse Ylönen
4) Michael Pezzetta
5) Johnathan Kovacevic
6) Mitchell Stephens
7) Lucas Condotta

The following newcomers who will be fighting for spots will also need to go through waivers if sent down but will likely have few takers:

1) Casey DeSmith
2) Gustav Lindström
3) Philippe Maillet
4) Brady Keeper
5) Lias Anderson

List of players taking up roster spots who are not meeting expectations or that no longer fill any needs:

1) Jake Allen
2) Joël Armia
3) Chris Wideman

Average players with slightly high caphits, vets on the decline or lengthy terms who might still hold some value if traded:

1) Christian Dvorak
2) David Savard
3) Josh Anderson
4) Jake Evans

LTIR candidates or bad contracts with excessive caphits, impossible to move:

1) Carey Price
2) Brendan Gallagher

As we can see, Kent has decisions to make ahead of training camp and is determined to clean up the mess left behind by his predecessor. Likely, Molson tasked him to make majour cuts on the payroll. HuGo definetaly doesn't want to lose any youngster on waivers and is looking to make room for them.

Not a chance!

Every GM gets a budget and a task on expected profits they’re supposed to deliver - how they divide up that budget in terms of player salaries vs other aspects of Hockey Ops spending is up to them.

 

[salbutera]

Considering the value Karlsson brought back after winning a Norris, I don't think Gally scoring 30 brings himself back into a movable part...

That contract is ugly.

Player acquisition tends to generally be very dynamic based on desperation of need of a certain type of asset.

Gallagher’s game as a 30G player would be quite attractive (re: very) to a handful of teams/GMs that need to get their team to the next level and are missing that type of player on their current roster.

Leafs, Edm and NYR come to mind off the top of my head…. IF Gallagher can get back to that 2017-2019 window of his game

 

[CrAzYNiNe]

The Habs must spend $6,722,084 on the cap before they place Price on LTIR or they will not be able to spend it.

 

[Natey]

Next season, the players below will be battling for spots and would need to go through waivers if re-assigned. Keep in mind, many of them re-signed as RFAs with the Habs this off-season. The Habs chose to retain them by extending QOs and a few are good enough to be claimed as depth. The list is as follows:

1) Nicolas Beaudin
2) Cayden Primeau
3) Jesse Ylönen
4) Michael Pezzetta
5) Johnathan Kovacevic
6) Mitchell Stephens
7) Lucas Condotta

The following newcomers who will be fighting for spots will also need to go through waivers if sent down but will likely have few takers:

1) Casey DeSmith
2) Gustav Lindström
3) Philippe Maillet
4) Brady Keeper
5) Lias Anderson

List of players taking up roster spots who are not meeting expectations or that no longer fill any needs:

1) Jake Allen
2) Joël Armia
3) Chris Wideman

Average players with slightly high caphits, vets on the decline or lengthy terms who might still hold some value if traded:

1) Christian Dvorak
2) David Savard
3) Josh Anderson
4) Jake Evans

LTIR candidates or bad contracts with excessive caphits, impossible to move:

1) Carey Price
2) Brendan Gallagher

As we can see, Kent has decisions to make ahead of training camp and is determined to clean up the mess left behind by his predecessor. Likely, Molson tasked him to make majour cuts on the payroll. HuGo definetaly doesn't want to lose any youngster on waivers and is looking to make room for them.

Kovacevic isn't battling for a roster spot.

He had fantastic numbers for a 3rd pairing defenseman, still relatively young, and played basically the whole season for Montreal. On top of that, his ice time increased substantially down the stretch.

And Jake Evans isn't on a decline nor does he make too much money or have a lengthy term.

 

[The Real Timo]

If only we could get 2 of those hamsters running this forum , perhaps after a Leaf trade the website wouldnt be down for 3hours

 

[CHfan1]

The Habs must spend $6,722,084 on the cap before they place Price on LTIR or they will not be able to spend it.

They’ll most likely get below the Cap before putting Price on LTIR to start the season, which can be done.

As a note the cap hit shown on capfriendly is for a roster size of 26 (not including Price). If they put Dvorak on IR they still have to get rid of (waive/demote/trade) 2 players at a minimum.

 

[DAChampion]

Gallagher’s game as a 30G player

Is gone.

 

[Sorinth]

I think we are showing 26-27 guys on the cap right now.............so even just letting guys go to waivers, and then Laval gets us close.

Yeah just getting down to 23 including Price will get us below the cap if we do it properly, ie send RHP down since we save the full 1.1m instead of say Ylonen who only saves us 0.775m. Then on day 1 call back up the guys like RHP or Harris.

Kovacevic isn't battling for a roster spot.

He had fantastic numbers for a 3rd pairing defenseman, still relatively young, and played basically the whole season for Montreal. On top of that, his ice time increased substantially down the stretch.

And Jake Evans isn't on a decline nor does he make too much money or have a lengthy term.

I agree that the coaching staff really liked Kovacevik last year, but the fact is every 3rd pairing D is battling for a roster spot every single year they are in the league.

 

[BLONG7]

Yeah just getting down to 23 including Price will get us below the cap if we do it properly, ie send RHP down since we save the full 1.1m instead of say Ylonen who only saves us 0.775m. Then on day 1 call back up the guys like RHP or Harris.


I agree that the coaching staff really liked Kovacevik last year, but the fact is every 3rd pairing D is battling for a roster spot every single year they are in the league.

Kovacevik and Harris had some good numbers, and are on cheap deals.............they don't get PP time, so they don't amass big numbers on offense, but they are solid players.
Matheson and Guhlie should be the PP guys.....and The Sherriff may get some time there also.....
I really like our D.......................as we move forward.

 

[Sorinth]

Kovacevik and Harris had some good numbers, and are on cheap deals.............they don't get PP time, so they don't amass big numbers on offense, but they are solid players.
Matheson and Guhlie should be the PP guys.....and The Sherriff may get some time there also.....
I really like our D.......................as we move forward.

Never said they weren't solid players. But they will have to come to camp fighting for a roster spot because it won't be just handed to them. And Harris/RHP will probably end up with a paper transaction since they are waiver exempt but they will also still need to re-earn their spots because I can guarantee that others are going to come to camp looking to steal a spot.

 

[JoelWarlord]

The Habs must spend $6,722,084 on the cap before they place Price on LTIR or they will not be able to spend it.

I think they're actually planning to do the opposite. They want to put a bunch of the young guys in the AHL for the official start of the season with paper transactions so we can be under 83.5 with Price's contract on the active roster. Then Price will go on LTIR the second the season begins and we'll have his full 10.5M (minus whatever small dollar amount we're under the cap at season opening) to spend in the LTIR pool for the season.

 

[CrAzYNiNe]

I think they're actually planning to do the opposite. They want to put a bunch of the young guys in the AHL for the official start of the season with paper transactions so we can be under 83.5 with Price's contract on the active roster. Then Price will go on LTIR the second the season begins and we'll have his full 10.5M (minus whatever small dollar amount we're under the cap at season opening) to spend in the LTIR pool for the season.

That’s not how that works. It’s cap relief, not cap space. If you don’t use it, you lose it

 

[WeThreeKings]

That’s not how that works. It’s cap relief, not cap space. If you don’t use it, you lose it

The trade will allow the Canadiens to begin the season with Price on the books, and then put him on long-term injured reserve as soon as the roster deadline passes to begin the season.

“LTI isn’t a perfect situation for any team,” Hughes said during a virtual press conference Tuesday. “I know some people think it’s simple and you just use the money that player’s salary occupied, but it’s a little more complicated. Having said that, if we find opportunities again, like we did last time with Sean Monahan, where we think it’s worthwhile, we’ll do it and put ourselves in offseason LTI.

“But we think, as of right now, we’re safe to go in-season with Carey.”

Why is this important? It’s complicated, as Hughes mentioned. I have spent far too much of my time and energy trying to understand it properly ever since the 2021 season ended, and I still don’t think I’m entirely there. But the essential difference between offseason and in-season LTIR can be simplified to one basic concept, and that is flexibility.


With offseason LTIR, the Canadiens get locked into a cap number, and that number essentially means zero cap space. It’s almost like Price’s cap number just disappears, with all that’s left behind is the Canadiens having little to no cap space. With in-season LTIR, the Canadiens would make it so they are as close to the cap as possible when they designate Price, and then they would have Price’s $10.5 million in salary minus how much cap space they had when he was placed on LTIR as cap space to use during the season.

Simple enough? Didn’t think so.

Again, if you want the simplified version, think of it in terms of taking the path with more flexibility built in and avoiding the path that is more rigid and restrictive.

Except as of right now, the Canadiens are over the $83.5 million salary cap with Price on the roster. But what’s important to remember is they have six players who are exempt from waivers: Juraj Slafkovský, Rafaël Harvey-Pinard, Arber Xhekaj, Kaiden Guhle, Justin Barron and Jordan Harris. That means the Canadiens can send some of those players down to the AHL on paper in order to file their roster to the league and make it cap-compliant, and then bring them back up once Price has been placed on LTIR.