Draft picks will be even more important for the Montreal Canadiens

The salary cap is going to be a pain to deal with in the near future, and with deals ending for the Montreal Canadiens, draft picks are as important as ever.

The salary cap era of the NHL has changed the meaning of staying afloat for the Montreal Canadiens and the rest of the league. Teams who have windows of success quickly find themselves in the depths of the league as paying players catches up to them. The Chicago Blackhawks and Los Angeles Kings surely have no regrets after going back and forth for Stanley Cup Championships, but paying their stars has left them to where they are now, at the bottom.

Patterns such as these that make drafting and developing so crucial in a time where the salary cap dominates so many decisions. The Montreal Canadiens have benefited from some of these things, and the Joel Armia contract is a prime example. The Winnipeg Jets needed to shed cap space and gave the Habs a now valuable player in Armia as well as draft picks in 2019 and 2020 to take on and buy out Steve Mason‘s deal.

That said, salary cap issues come for all teams, eventually whether they win a Stanley Cup or not. The Canadiens have been in the honeymoon phase cap-wise for some time now, but it’s coming for them as well. Forget the fact that players such as Max Domi and Victor Mete are due now while Brendan Gallagher, Jeff Petry and Philip Danault, to name a few are up the following season.

The pause on the NHL will lead to a severe loss of revenue, which will either lower the salary cap, spike escrow (a percentage of money taken from a player’s salary each year which, for the most part, they never see again), or both.

Players on cheap deals will be the answer for many teams moving forward, including the Montreal Canadiens. Though it’s more than the bargain player who you hope will outperform their contract. It’ll come down to prospects on affordable entry-level deals who are playing like stars.

There is a double-standard to this. If an ELC player is a star on their team, it’ll only mean further cap implications down the road. However, that’s exactly what it is, a problem for down the road. An effective ELC player provides teams with at the most, three years of usage at an affordable rate before the organization has to shell out the big bucks.

Take Nick Suzuki, for example. The 2017 first-round pick had a great debut season with the Montreal Canadiens. Starting in the bottom six, Suzuki worked his way not only to a spot in the top six but also moving to centre. With that, he was able to put up 13 goals and 28 assists in 71 games. The Habs have two more years out of Suzuki at $863,333 to see those point totals soar.

Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Ryan Poehling had setbacks this season but can still return to the NHL and display their improvement in the NHL while only making $925,000.

Perhaps newly signed prospect Jesse Ylonen impresses the Habs at training camp and makes the team out of camp. Additionally, there’s still hope that Alexander Romanov joins the team as his contract with the KHL expires.

All this skill at Montreal’s fingertips for less than a million dollars per season.

It’s not only about using the prospects you have in the organization. Ensuring the cupboards are always full is essential now. The Montreal Canadiens struggled with that in the past, but the scouting staff has been doing a good job adding each year.

2018 third-round pick Cam Hillis looks to be a top candidate to get an entry-level contract while Cole Caufield is a prospect Habs fans can’t wait to see in the NHL.

The cherry on top of all this is the fact that the Montreal Canadiens have 14 draft picks at this year’s event, including three in the second round. Combine that with a first-round pick, which may be in the top ten unless the NHL changes how it’s doing the lottery this year, and the Habs will continue to have young cheap talent on the way for some time.

Whether Marc Bergevin likes it or not, the cap crunch is coming. He does, however, have certain pillars in place to help bridge the gap and have the team stay afloat. Decisions must be made as to who stays and who goes as the next one may be just around the corner.