The ceiling for the salary cap isn’t going to go up by much over the next few years, and ironically, the Montreal Canadiens can make use of it.
When the Chicago Blackhawks decided to sign both Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews to contracts with $10.5 million cap-hits, they were banking on an increase in the salary cap. The Toronto Maple Leafs likely had the same thoughts after signing Auston Matthews, John Tavares and Mitch Marner to double-digit cap hits. Unfortunately for them, a flat cap can really be detrimental to their financial room and with the current state of the NHL, teams are going to be affected by it differently. The Montreal Canadiens, however, can benefit from it.
That may sound odd to say considering how impactful the salary cap is. Drafting has become as important as ever, while bad decisions can really sink your team.
The Blackhawks won three Stanley Cups and are now in the depths of the NHL standings. Winning the third overall pick to draft Kirby Dach helps, but they are far from being the same dangerous team. That, and they made a poor decision in trading Artemi Panarin for Brandon Saad, but I digress.
The Los Angeles Kings won a championship in 2012 and 2014 and are bottom five teams. The only exception to this seems to be the Pittsburgh Penguins. Not only do they have superstars in Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, but they also hit on a lot of their draft picks, and Jim Rutherford has made some great decisions.
Nevertheless, that’s not going to be the case for the majority of the NHL. They’re going to be hit hard by the flat cap as it’s going to inhibit what they can and can’t do. Teams who thought they were going to cash in during free agency and sign some big names can’t or perhaps a trade was on the horizon.
The Montreal Canadiens aren’t invincible to this, but there are three ways they can benefit from a flat cap.