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Montreal Canadiens: What Has to Happen For Habs to Make Playoffs Next Season?

By Ken MacMillan

NEWARK, NJ - MARCH 27: Cole Caufield #22 of the Montreal Canadiens and Nick Suzuki. (Photo by Rich Graessle/Getty Images)
NEWARK, NJ - MARCH 27: Cole Caufield #22 of the Montreal Canadiens and Nick Suzuki. (Photo by Rich Graessle/Getty Images) /
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Mar 13, 2022; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Montreal Canadiens right wing Joel Armia. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 13, 2022; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Montreal Canadiens right wing Joel Armia. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports /

Clear Cap Space

Before the Canadiens can go about upgrading the roster in the offseason, they will need to make room under the salary cap.

For next season, the Canadiens have already committed over $82.4 million in salary. The cap for next season is set at $82.5 million so, according to capfriendly.com the Canadiens have about $80,000 to spend in the offseason.

Now, that includes Shea Weber’s contract which will either be traded or added to LTIR, which means the Habs really have about $8 million in cap space. That is a decent number, but the Canadiens are going to need a big splash if they are going to contend next season.

To get some real flexibility in the offseason, the Canadiens need to clear out another big contract or two. Jeff Petry may be on the way out, but it remains to be seen how much cap space that will actually clear up. Yes, he makes $6.25 million, but it sounds like it has been difficult to get someone to take that full hit.

Do the Canadiens need to eat some of that cap hit? Do they have to take back a bad contract in a trade? Probably. So moving that $6.25 million contract might not save as much cap space as it appears.

Where the Habs need to save some money is up front. More specifically, on the wing. Right now, they have Rem Pitlick playing on the top line with Cole Caufield. If everyone were healthy, Jonathan Drouin would probably be on the second line with Josh Anderson.

That leaves Brendan Gallagher, Joel Armia, Mike Hoffman and Paul Byron as the team’s bottom six wingers. Those four players earn a combined $17.8 million against the cap next season. That’s just way too much to pay your bottom six wingers.

If the Habs can find takers for Armia and Hoffman, they would clear out almost another $8 million in cap space and really have some freedom to improve the roster.

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