Hughes reveals why he waited to put Carey Price on the LTIR and it would have been great if he could have waited longer

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Jeff Drouin
September 10, 2022 (12:59)

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We got our share of interesting information this week as Montreal Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes delivered a lengthy media availability and answered many questions.

One of the questions that many of you asked us was: "Why did we wait so long to announce the signing of Kirby Dach when it seems obvious that it has been settled for quite some time?

Kent Hughes, with his usual transparency, explained it all:

"We were limited on the salary cap. That's why, when we had an idea of where we wanted to go with Kirby Dach, we decided to put that on hold. [...] If we had another deal, we might not have been forced to use the long-term injured list in the offseason and it would have given us more flexibility during the season."

- Kent Hughes

That's it! Hughes wanted to avoid placing Carey Price on the long-term offseason injury list.

There are several complex technicalities, but basically, you have to understand that it would have been more beneficial for the CH, and for Hughes, to place Price on the LTIR during the season, not before the season started.

Clearly, the CH general manager was looking for a way to sign Dach, without having to place Carey on the long-term injured list immediately, but it didn't work out.

In the end, Kent Hughes chose to simply settle Dach's contract before the start of camp.

If Hughes had succeeded in his plan, the CH would have benefited from more money on its payroll ($4.125 million, according to Marco D'Amico). That's a lot of money!

For the details and all the explanations :

Credit: HABSolumentFan