Montreal Canadiens: Three Players Who Could Be Traded To Get Habs Under The Salary Cap

The Montreal Canadiens made a few big splashes this offseason. They need to move out a few dollars to get cap compliant.

The Montreal Canadiens have shaken up their roster this offseason. The team that barely got in to the expanded postseason, looked pretty good against the Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers in that postseason, and clearly decided to go for it with this roster.

They started off by trading for Jake Allen to give Carey Price a rest throughout the season. Price has been overworked the past few years and showed in the postseason that he can be an elite goaltender if he doesn’t have to head into the stretch run and playoffs running on fumes.

In ten games against two of the best teams in the Eastern Conference, Price shut the door with a 1.78 goals against average and a .936 save percentage.

Having Allen shoulder nearly half the starts in the regular season next year should allow Price to be at the top of his game in the postseason. Having Joel Edmundson in front of him, clearing traffic from the front of the net and blocking shots won’t hurt Price’s GAA either. He was acquired in a trade and signed to a four-year contract with a $3.5 million cap hit.

Then, general manager Marc Bergevin turned his attention to the forwards. He traded Max Domi and a third round pick for Josh Anderson. Anderson was quickly signed to a seven-year contract with a $5.5 million cap hit. Just yesterday, Bergevin added Tyler Toffoli to the roster with a four-year contract that has a $4.25 million cap hit.

It makes the team look a lot different heading into next season. They are definitely deeper and better on the wing, on defence and in goal.

They are also not cap compliant. For the first time in many years, the Habs are right up against the cap. In fact, they are currently over the cap slightly.

Assuming the following roster:

Forwards (13): Tomas Tatar, Nick Suzuki, Brendan Gallagher, Paul Byron, Phillip Danault, Josh Anderson, Jonathan Drouin, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Tyler Toffoli, Artturi Lehkonen, Jake Evans, Joel Armia, Ryan Poehling, Jordan Weal

Defence (7): Ben Chiarot, Shea Weber, Joel Edmundson, Jeff Petry, Brett Kulak, Victor Mete, Noah Juulsen

Goaltenders (2): Carey Price, Jake Allen

This roster would put the Habs over the cap by $1.1 million. It is easy to say “just send down Jordan Weal” but then the team is right at the cap and only has a 22 man roster. This would leave them absolutely no flexibility all year long.

So, what can they do? Well, they are going to have to trade one of these three players: