Montreal’s Cap Wizardry Has Them Poised for a Blockbuster

Salary cap efficiency is the most important thing to building a championship team in the NHL. More than any other sport, having players locked up to team-friendly cap numbers and competing with young players on entry-level contracts leads to success. With the firm cap in the NHL and every contract being guaranteed, a GM can’t just cut a player or restructure a contract to make it work for the future.

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Dom Luszczyszyn recently released his NHL Contract Efficiency rankings. In the top spot is the Carolina Hurricanes, the most recent Stanley Cup winners. Hurricanes GM Eric Tulsky has done a masterful job of locking up young players to long-term deals that are now becoming steals in the current rising cap environment. This mastery paid off this past season with a Cup win, showing that this efficiency played a big role. One bad contract, or a few overpaid players, can really diminish what a team can do, especially when it comes to making moves at the Trade Deadline or chasing a big free agent in the Summer.

Kent Hughes Masterclass?

Second on Luszczyszyn’s list was the Montreal Canadiens. The Canadiens have some tremendous contracts locked up including Lane Hutson making $8.85 million AAV until 2030-31, captain Nick Suzuki making $7.875 million AAV until 2029-30, 50-goal-scorer last season Cole Caufield making $7.850 million AAV until 2030-31, and former first overall pick Juraj Slafkovsky making $7.6 million AAV until 2030-31 coming off a 73 point season. They have no contracts over $10 million AAV as of yet, as young phenom Ivan Demidov recently signed for $9.150 million AAV until 2030-31, at a time when $18 million AAV contracts were being thrown around for young players with Leo Carlsson’s offer sheet.

The Canadiens have almost all of their core locked up, with stars and depth alike, giving strong flexibility moving forward. They still have $9.874 million in cap space and can go searching for a big piece. Montreal has been rumored to be hunting for another top-six forward. They have been in Kirill Marchenko talks and also had a near-completed trade at last year’s trade deadline for Matthew Knies. Montreal is looking to make a big splash, and they have all the firepower required to do so.

Former NHL Exec Praises Canadiens

Speaking on The Sick Podcast with Tony Marinaro, former Senior Vice-President of Player Development for the Ottawa Senators and long-time sports commentator Pierre McGuire praised the Canadiens management, especially Kent Hughes, for his work managing the cap and getting these young players locked up:

“I think the entire management team deserves an A, and I think Kent Hughes probably deserves an A+”

McGuire went on to praise the Lane Hutson deal, saying that Lane Hutson’s contract has to be very high on Kent Hughes’ list of accomplishments. This is high praise from a long-respected member around NHL circles.

Cap Management

Managing the cap in today’s NHL is not an easy thing to do. There are a lot of factors that come into play, and timing can be key. Locking up a young player before they breakout can save millions in cap space, and if you do that with multiple players as the Canadiens have, the cap picture becomes quite clear.

There can also be some luck involved. Many big contracts get handed out, and a player just doesn’t live up to expectations. This happens regularly, but it is minimizing these “mistakes” that really helps a team push forward; the better a team’s cap situation, the more ability to maximize their chances to win the Stanley Cup.

The Canadiens are looking like the gold standard right now, and other teams should look to follow their strategy. Sign your young players early, get team-friendly deals, and set the team up to make a big move when needed. It worked well for the Hurricanes this past season. Being the youngest team in the league, can the Canadiens buck the trend of older teams succeeding and compete for a Cup? Time will tell, but they are certainly on the right path.

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