Montreal Canadiens: What to know ahead of Free Agent Frenzy

The Free Agent window is close to opening, and the Montreal Canadiens will be one of the more interesting teams taking part in the madness.

We’re hours away from the NHL getting their hands on a number of free agents. The Montreal Canadiens can be a really big player once the clock strikes noon given how much cap space Marc Bergevin opened with his dealings Sunday.

The Habs started with trading Andrew Shaw to the Chicago Blackhawks. Draft picks were the only thing that came the other way meaning the team completely removed the $3.9 million cap hit from the books. Next was Nicolas Deslauriers freeing the Canadiens from another $900,000 for another draft pick.

With those two trades done, the Montreal Canadiens have a little over $13.5 million free to spend. Bergevin did say he didn’t want to make moves over the offseason that would handcuff the team later on when they need to resign their big players, but there are names out there. Unfortunately, courtesy of several NHL insiders, the pickings aren’t as varied as they were earlier in the week.

Duchene Goes to the Preds

It started with the pseudo-confirmation of Matt Duchene going to the Nashville Predators. The battle for Duchene was always going to be between the Habs and the Preds. Besides the differences in teams and playing style, the financial aspect of a possible deal played a role as well.

It’s similar to what happened with Alexander Radulov. Because of taxes, the Montreal Canadiens would’ve needed to give Duchene a more expensive contract with a higher cap hit. Bergevin likely made those deals to free some space to give Duchene a little more money, but he instead signed in Nashville $8 million a season.