Montreal Canadiens qualifying offers on the verge of expiring
By Omar L
The Montreal Canadiens qualified and signed the majority of their RFAs, but the deals handed to Charles Hudon, and Michael McCarron are close to expiring.
The offseason of 2019 has reached another milestone. The Montreal Canadiens sent out a number of qualifying offers to their pending restricted free agents while letting three of them walk. Since then, four of them have been signed to new contracts while Charles Hudon and Michael McCarron are still sitting on their initial offers from the Habs.
Issues came out from Hudon’s camp as the player rejected his offer from the team. Apparently, the fact that the contract was a two-way deal vs. a one-way deterred the 25-year-old from signing it. But with the Montreal Canadiens sending the QO out, the team still retains his rights whether he accepts it or not.
Today will be another advancement in that process as qualifying offers are set to expire at 5:00 PM EST.
This would be a “problem” if the Habs never sent out a qualifying offer to begin with. Granted, if that were the case, Hudon and McCarron would be able to leave the organization as UFAs.
McCarron has been at this point before as both he and Kerby Rychel remained unsigned deep into the summer. Given his situation, doing what he did last year in signing his qualifying as his contract for the 2019-20 season would make the most sense.
Hudon is a completely different story, and at this point, it could go either way. It’s understandable why Marc Bergevin wouldn’t want to give up on him as a player, but at the same time, there isn’t much room for him. That likely explains why he’s so against a two-way deal.
Hudon would likely be pushed to the AHL at some point next season and making an NHL salary while doing it would lessen the sting.
The Montreal Canadiens are nearly two weeks away from Hudon’s arbitration meeting on August 2nd. Armia and Lehkonen were signed before theirs took place, and the same thing could happen here. Bergevin does excel in signing these kinds of deals, but the chances of Hudon remaining with the team seem slim.
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