This coming season will be the last season of Carey Price’s monster eight-year, $10.5 M cap hit deal. That represents 11% of the current $95.5 million salary cap, and currently, the Montreal Canadiens are $5,419,167 over that limit. It’s not a problem. Currently, teams are allowed to be 10% over the cap in the offseason, but they must become cap compliant by the end of the season.

If Kent Hughes doesn’t make any other moves, there’s no rush to address the issue right now, but if the rumours about the GM still being active are correct and some of those moves come to fruition, the Canadiens may find themselves in a bit of a jam. If that were to be the case, could the Canadiens be forced to move Price and his contract to a team in need of dead agreements to reach the cap floor or to a team looking for LTIR relief?

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We’ve seen Hughes do it in the past. In June 2022, he traded former captain Shea Weber to the Vegas Golden Knights in return for Evgenii Dadonov. Weber had spent five seasons in Montreal before calling it quits on his career when his body gave out on him. During his five years in town, he only managed to play 275 games out of a possible 384 games. Throughout those five years, he accumulated 146 points and demonstrated fantastic leadership, which ultimately helped lead the Canadiens to the 2021 Stanley Cup Final.

There was no reason for Hughes to think twice about trading Weber, though, as good a warrior as he was for the Sainte-Flanelle, he had spent the first 11 years of his career sporting the Nashville Predators’ yellow jersey. The same cannot be said about Price, however.

The goaltender spent his entire career in Montreal, playing 712 games with the Canadiens, becoming the winningest netminder in franchise history, and essentially being the face of the franchise for many years. In my opinion, if there is an alternative way to achieve cap compliance, Hughes will likely prefer to use that avenue.

As Marco D’Amico reported on Monday, with Jayden Struble electing to go through the arbitration route, the Canadiens would gain a second buyout window after signing him, since he is their last RFA. But who could they use that window on?

Patrik Laine’s name will come to a lot of people’s minds, but his $8.7 million contract will expire at the end of the current season, and cutting ties with the sniper would set them back $2,366,667 for the next two seasons. Would that be worth it? I don’t see it, and I still believe he could be a valuable asset to the team. Even with his defensive shortcomings, he can still make valuable contributions offensively, and he has a knack for scoring goals. Besides, if he remains on the second power-play and Noah Dobson joins him, he could get very productive.

Others will likely suggest the name of alternate captain Brendan Gallagher, the 33-year-old veteran, has two years left on his six-year $6.5 million cap hit pact. Buying him out would mean $1,750,000 on the salary cap for the next four seasons. Granted, the cap is set to rise quite a bit over the next two years, but even taking that into account, it makes sense to aim to have the least dead money on the salary cap.

Furthermore, while it was an easier idea to entertain when he was struggling, his last season was a good one. The veteran put up 38 points in 82 games, including 21 goals. The last time he had scored over 20 goals was during the 2019-20 season. With Josh Anderson and Christian Dvorak, he had a great season, and as always, his dedication was inspiring. Even if his offensive output is not what it once was, his leadership still is. He has spent his whole career in Montreal and bleeds bleu, blanc, rouge.

Could Josh Anderson be considered? Just like Gallagher, there are two years left on his contract, but with a $5.5 million cap hit. It means that, should they decide to buy him out, it would result in a $1,416,667 reduction on their salary cap for the next four years.

Much like Gallagher, though, he rebounded admirably last season and embodied the forecheck Martin St-Louis wants to see his players execute. He was third on the team in hits with 176 and played a significant part in the season, but was injured. What kind of message does it send if you buy out a player who just had a bounce-back year in a new role and he's well-liked in the room?

I don’t see a buyout candidate that makes sense for the Canadiens, and to be fair, trading Price’s contract would be weird as well. Could trading someone make more sense? Mike Matheson is about to embark on the last year of a deal with a $4.875 million cap hit. Dobson’s arrival has made Matheson a good candidate for a trade, especially if a lesser role doesn’t interest him that much; perhaps moving him could be at least part of the solution.

Photo credit: David Kirouac-Imagn Images

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