A “flex cap” would work well for the Montreal Canadiens down the line

The Montreal Canadiens are heading to a point where cap space is going to be key, but the proposed “flex cap” model would be beneficial to it.

Cap space hasn’t been something the Montreal Canadiens have had to worry about. Even with the salary cap heading to the more flat end of things, the Habs are still in a fairly good spot, especially if compliance buyouts are a thing again. But not all good things last forever, and Marc Bergevin will need to start maneuvering to ensure the team isn’t locked in financially.

Max Domi and Victor Mete are the beginning of it all, but 2021 is the big year. Brendan Gallagher, Phillip Danault, Tomas Tatar, Joel Armia, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Ryan Poehling, and Cale Fleury are will all be free agents at the end of the 2020-21 season. That summer is going to force Bergeron to either shell out money or make moves to retain value from those assets. And that could be the point where the salary cap starts to sting more.

The NHL is taking into account that several teams are going to face the same problems and may have a plan to help.

This comes from Elliotte Friedman’s latest 31 Thoughts post on Sportsnet (point number eight to be exact):

"When NHL teams were suggesting ideas for CBA negotiations, one of them recommended a “flex cap.” The idea was that clubs would be permitted to roll over any extra cap room from year to year, allowing them to long-term plan for their own individual circumstances over periods of time."

The rationale of this is that you can either save cap space for down the line if you have big contracts or just to have it for when your team improves.

There’s been no confirmation of this taking place, but it makes you think. Say, for example, the Montreal Canadiens were able to keep the extra space they didn’t use all season and roll it over. They’d have plenty of funds to sign their main players in 2021.

The Habs currently have approximately $4.5 million left in cap space. If they were to do absolutely nothing and have cap space left next season, in theory, they could bank it and go over the cap ceiling by how much was saved. Unfortunately, this “flex cap” wouldn’t help Montreal right at this moment as they’ll likely sign both Domi and Mete.

That said, after that 2021 season, when more prospects start to demand money, it could be very beneficial.

Bergevin may not be thinking long-term financially as he was in the past. Before, he was relatively new on the scene, but it’s been a number of years, and his seat is fairly hot. If his final efforts still don’t make the team better while financially inhibiting the team, a model like this could help.