Montreal Canadiens: Stagnant Salary Cap Could Make Nick Leddy Available For Habs
The Montreal Canadiens will have plenty of cap space this offseason, even with the salary cap staying put. Could Nick Leddy become available?
The Montreal Canadiens biggest need in the past few offseasons has been on left defence. Last year, they decided to invest in the position by signing Ben Chiarot to a three-year contract worth $3.5 million per season. Before that is was Jordie Benn, and Karl Alzner that were supposed to fill the void.
Three years after losing Andrei Markov to free agency, trading Nathan Beaulieu and Mikhail Sergachev and losing Alexei Emelin in the expansion draft, the Habs still have some work to do on the left side of their blue line.
Help is certainly on the way, it just may take a while. The Canadiens have focused their attention at the past few drafts on the position, and the 2022-23 version of the team should be very deep on the blue line. But what about the 2020-21 team?
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Alexander Romanov will be in town next season and should take some pressure off incumbents Chiarot, Victor Mete and Brett Kulak. Well, he might put some pressure on those individuals to perform better and earn their ice time, but from a management perspective, those left shooting blue liners won’t be asked to play as many minutes with Romanov in town.
Eventually, Mattias Norlinder, Jordan Harris and Jayden Struble will make a push for NHL roster spots, but it won’t be in 2020-21.
A depth chart that includes Chiarot, Romanov, Mete and Kulak isn’t exactly the strongest in the league. While the Habs previous biggest need at centre continues to improve with youngsters like Nick Suzuki, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Ryan Poehling joining Max Domi and Phillip Danault as potential top nine middle men, left defence could still use an experienced top four option.
Mete, is a solid option on the third pairing and Chiarot can play second pairing minutes comfortably. We aren’t sure what to expect from 20 year old Romanov just yet as he is yet to play an NHL shift after playing two seasons in the KHL. It would be a bit much to pencil him in as a top pairing defender, or even on the second pairing right away. He might even find himself in Laval for a while next season, who knows?
Ideally, with so many young options needing a year or two before they are ready to compete for NHL jobs, the Habs would parachute in a top four left defenceman with two years left on his contract. This would allow Mete time to develop in the NHL while playing less minutes, Romanov could be brought along slowly and wouldn’t play half the season while being ineffective like Poehling did this season and Chiarot wouldn’t be forced to be one of the busiest blue liners in the league anymore.
The Canadiens could look to free agents, but if they sign someone good enough to play top pairing minutes, like Torey Krug, he would want a long term deal. With the salary cap not likely to go up for a few years, the Habs need to be careful about taking on deals that last half a decade.
So, they would have to go the trade route. With the Habs sitting so far underneath the salary cap, they could be able to take advantage of another team that is in a tougher financial situation. Looking around the league, a couple of teams jump out as needing to offload some money before the 2020-21 season.
One of them that is in the most trouble is the Tampa Bay Lightning. It would be fantastic if the Habs can find a way to get Sergachev back after drafting him 9th overall in 2016. He is scheduled to be an RFA whenever the 2020 playoffs conclude. An offer sheet is possible, but it didn’t really work out for the Habs last summer with Sebastian Aho, and the Lightning likely won’t want to trade him within their division.
Another team that needs to dump some money is the New York Islanders. According to cap friendly.com, the Islanders have already committed over $71 million to players for next season, and need to re-sign Matthew Barzal, Ryan Pulock and Devon Toews. Those three players are restricted free agents, but they also all played huge roles on the Islanders this season. Fitting them in for less than $10 million is not possible.
So, they are going to have to find a way to shed some money. Ideally for them, they would find someone to take on Andrew Ladd‘s $5.5 million salary or Johnny Boychuk‘s $6 million. However, those players are in their mid-thirties, were not effective this season and will be earning those big paydays for multiple more years. Finding someone to take on one of those contracts is not going to happen.
So, the Islanders might have to move a player that has some value. Someone like Nick Leddy who, surprisingly, is only 29 though it seems like he’s been in the league forever. He won a Stanley Cup with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2013, and was a cap casualty of the Hawks the following year. He has played well for the Islanders ever since, but his offence dropped off over the past two seasons.
Still, he is a great skater and experienced defender who ate up more than 21 minutes per night for a playoff bound Islanders squad. He was used on their second power play and second penalty killing unit as well. His defensive game isn’t the best in the league, but he’s not Jake Gardiner either. Leddy is perfectly capable of playing top four, maybe even top pairing minutes, for the final two years of his contract.
With the Isles needing to shed money to stay under the cap next year, and Leddy scoring 21 points in 60 games, down from the 40 or more he scored in his first three years with the Isles, his value isn’t through the roof.
The Habs have three second round picks in the 2020 NHL Draft. Maybe one of those and a mid-level prospect like Rhett Pitlick is enough to get the Islanders attention. It’s not a lot for a guy who could play with Shea Weber for the next two years. On the other hand, the Islanders need to move money and won’t be getting offers of first round picks for Leddy coming off a 21 point season.
Adding Leddy to the Habs left defence might even start to make it look crowded. But with him then battling Chiarot, Mete and Romanov for ice time, you might get the best out of the former Blackhawk.
Habs general manager Marc Bergevin has acquired a few former Blackhawks already. Bergevin was the director of player personnel in Chicago when they acquired Leddy from the Minnesota Wild. Since arriving in Montreal, Bergevin has acquired Andrew Shaw from the Blackhawks, and then traded him back to Chicago. He also dealt for Phillip Danault and Andreas Martinsen from Chicago in separate deals.
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Leddy is no longer in Chicago, but Bergevin still has that connection with him from their time together. Could we see another former Blackhawk arrive in Montreal? Leddy would fill a huge gap on the Habs roster, and could be priced to sell in the offseason when the Islanders need to free up money. Trading a second round pick and a decent prospect for Leddy seems to make sense for both sides.