Montreal Canadiens: How Do Habs Become Cap Compliant?

Montreal Canadiens need to shave off a few dollars to be cap compliant.

Montreal Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin has a terrific offseason.

He acted quickly to bring in Jake Allen to be Carey Price’s backup. He traded for pending free agent Joel Edmundson and signed him long before he could reach the open market. He traded Max Domi for Josh Anderson to fill a bigger need on the wing with size, skill and scoring ability.

Once free agency opened, Bergevin was patient and waited for the right opportunity. He found it in Tyler Toffoli, a smart, skilled two-way winger who joined the Habs on a four-year contract with a $4.25 million cap hit.

It looked like he was done, and everything went quiet for months as the offseason dragged along. Finally, the NHL and NHLPA agreed to terms on the 2020-21 season and Bergevin once again dipped into free agency to improve his team. He signed Michael Frolik and Corey Perry to one-year contracts that add even more depth to the roster.

While more depth is obviously great for the team, it makes things a little more confusing for the accountants and capologists. Suddenly, a team that didn’t come close to the cap for three consecutive seasons is a little over the limit.

That limit is $81.5 million this season. Teams can carry at most 23 players on its roster, but are allowed to have a 4-6 man taxi squad as well. These players would need to pass through waivers like they were being sent down to the AHL, but wouldn’t count against the team’s cap hit.

The problem for the Habs to figure out is, who has to be waived so the team can be cap compliant? I guess the first question is, who is going to be on the roster if everyone is healthy? Let’s ignore the cap for a second and pick their roster.

Well, the forwards would be: Tomas Tatar, Nick Suzuki, Brendan Gallagher, Jonathan Drouin, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Josh Anderson, Phillip Danault, Tyler Toffoli, Joel Armia, Corey Perry, Artturi Lehkonen, Paul Byron and Michael Frolik.

That’s 13 forwards right there, which would be perfect, except there isn’t a 4th line centre among them. So Jake Evans is likely to be on the roster as well.

On defence, we would have Shea Weber, Jeff Petry, Ben Chiarot, Joel Edmundson, Victor Mete, Brett Kulak and Alexander Romanov.

In goal there are Carey Price and Jake Allen.

This lineup would require Jordan Weal, Noah Juulsen and Charlie Lindgren to be placed on waivers and sent to the minors. The problem there is, Juulsen is a promising young defenceman who might be claimed if put on waivers and lost for nothing. He also has a cap hit of just $700,000, literally minimum wage in the NHL, so it would be nice to keep him around somehow.

Another problem is, this lineup is over the salary cap by a few dollars less than $800,000. Finding a way to save that extra $800,000 is difficult. They can’t just waive a newcomer like Frolik or Perry, because their cap hits wouldn’t cover it. They can’t just send down Jake Evans because they need a 4th centre and his cap hit is only $750,000 anyway.

They could send down Romanov, but with the way management raves about the prospect defenceman, I think he is already a lock to make the roster. So I can’t see Romanov being sent down and there is no chance Suzuki or Kotkaniemi get demoted (or stuck on the taxi squad) to begin the season.

That means the Habs have to put someone on waivers who makes more than $800,000. The odd thing about their current roster is no one makes around $1 million. There are entry level players like Romanov, Kotkaniemi and Suzuki who make less, there are the new veterans like Perry and Frolik who make $750,000 and then there is a big jump.

The next cheapest player on the roster is Brett Kulak who pulls in $1.85 million for the next two seasons. After that it is Lehkonen at $2.4 million, Armia at $2.6 million and Byron at $3.4 million.

I just can’t see Bergevin putting Kulak on waivers and risk losing him. The Habs GM loves his depth on defence and Kulak played solid top four minutes in the postseason. He looks to be pushed down the lineup by Edmundson and Romanov arriving, but even as a 6th or 7th blue liner, Kulak’s contract isn’t a problem and he brings relatable depth.

That means one of the three aforementioned forwards could find themselves on the waiver wire. It won’t be Lehkonen who brings too much value as a defensive winger who can kill penalties. He is in the final year of his contract and would surely be plucked from the waiver wire.

Armia is a tantalizing package of size, smarts, terrific penalty killing and decent goal scoring abilities. His cap hit is okay, but with one year left before free agency, he would likely be claimed by a weak team who would try to flip him at the trade deadline for a pick.

That brings us to Byron. He is among the fastest players in the league and showed the ability to score 20 goals in the past. However, he had just ten points in 29 games before being injured last season. The speedy 31 year old winger has three years left on his contract and is by far the least likely of the forwards to be claimed on waivers. That’s why I could see him hitting the waiver wire next week.

When a player on a one-way contract clears waivers and is sent down, or put on a taxi squad, it reduces the NHL team’s cap hit by just $1.075 million. That means the Habs wouldn’t be relieved of Byron’s entire contract, but they would be made compliant.

The Habs could then do some unique paperwork transactions on non game-days, sending down players like Suzuki, Romanov and Kotkaniemi just to save a few dollars.

Meanwhile, Byron would sit on the taxi squad until someone either gets put on injured reserve or the team saves enough cap money to afford Byron’s cap hit again.

So, yes the Canadiens are technically over the salary cap a bit right now. However, putting Jordan Weal and Paul Byron on waivers and then putting them both on the taxi squad until injuries occur would be enough to make the team cap compliant.