Three important announcements coming from the Montreal Canadiens, including one surprise?
Despite all the money that the Canadiens have freed up in the past few days, there's still work to be done for Kent Hughes to comply with the salary cap.
As of writing, the Canadiens were $1.4 million over the salary cap, and as reported by Habsolumentfan.com, Kent Hughes seems to have a plan to ensure compliance with the NHL rules.
If the Habs don't make any further personnel moves before the start of the season, the organization will proceed in three steps to comply with the salary cap, which has been set at $83.5 million for the 2023-2024 season.
Firstly, the Canadiens will need to assign two of their players to the Laval Rocket just before the start of the upcoming season. Among the players who could be assigned to the AHL affiliate without having to clear waivers are Justin Barron, Kaiden Guhle, Jordan Harris, Arber Xhekaj, Rafaël Harvey-Pinard, and Juraj Slafkovsky.
So, don't be surprised if you hear the name of one of them being sent to the Rocket, as this step will allow the Canadiens to temporarily drop below the salary cap.
Secondly, the name of goaltender Carey Price will be placed on the long-term injured reserve list, providing Kent Hughes with $10.5 million of cap space for the remainder of the season.
Moreover, during his press conference following the trade that sent Jeff Petry to Detroit, Hughes mentioned that it wasn't a consideration to place Price on long-term injured reserve during the offseason, as it wouldn't be advantageous in the medium term.
Finally, the two players who were sent to Laval will be recalled by the Canadiens the following day to start the season with the team.
It's important to mention, however, that all of this will be possible if there are no further personnel moves by the Canadiens before the start of the season, which is not guaranteed.
Even though these details might seem administrative, it's quite a task to find ways to work around certain clauses in the NHL's collective bargaining agreement and still comply with the salary cap without tampering with the core roster.
That being said, with just over a month until training camp, anticipation is growing to see our winter heroes back in action.
| POLL | ||
Who will begin the season with the Rocket, according to you? | ||
| Xhekaj | 31 | 8.5 % |
| Barron | 137 | 37.5 % |
| Lindstrom | 120 | 32.9 % |
| None of them | 77 | 21.1 % |
| List of polls | ||
