Canadiens: Bad Contracts to Acquire in Order to Add a 1st Round Pick

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The Montreal Canadiens head into the offseason with a lot of work to do on a roster that just finished last in the NHL standings. An attempt to make them into a playoff contender next season would likely require some shortsighted moves and more long-term pain.

So, the franchise has to grapple with the reality that the 2022-23 season should be better than this year, but not nearly good enough to get the Canadiens back to the postseason.

This will of course depend on a couple of key questions surrounding the team as they head into the summer. Will Carey Price play at all next season? And will Jeff Petry play another game with the Canadiens in his career?

If the answer to either of those questions is no, the Canadiens need to work through the offseason with the understanding a 2023 playoff berth is extremely unlikely. That isn’t to say they should actively try to lose games in October, but they shouldn’t try to sign Kris Letang and Patrice Bergeron.

Instead, they should use their additional cap space to add a dependable veteran that is on a bad contract. This would give the Canadiens another experienced voice in the room that can help guide Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki and Shane Wright along. They could also potentially play a lot of minutes on a team that is more likely to compete for the right to draft Connor Bedard than the right to play playoff hockey, and thus not exposing a young player to the NHL before they are ready.

The real reason for taking on a bad contract isn’t to help out another team that is in a bad way with the salary cap. It is to take advantage of that team that is in cap trouble and leverage another first round pick from them.

The Toronto Maple Leafs had to give up a first round pick to get the Carolina Hurricanes to take on the final year of Patrick Marleau’s contract a few years ago. They immediately bought out Marleau, but that draft pick turned into Seth Jarvis who just turned 20 and scored 40 points in 68 games this season.

Marleau’s cap hit was $6.25 million back then, which sets the bar for this type of trade. If the Canadiens can take on about $6 million in cap space from another team, they should expect a first round pick in return.

Who is desperate enough to give the Canadiens a first round pick to take on a contract? Well, with the salary cap not moving in recent years, quite a few teams actually.

Patric Hornqvist

The Florida Panthers have looked like one of the best teams in hockey for the past two regular seasons. However, they lost in the first round a year ago to the Tampa Bay Lightning and are on the verge on losing to their state rivals once again this season.

In order to get over the hump, they may need to add more reinforcements, especially on the back end. Their offence is fantastic, though the Lightning have slowed it down. But their defensive game has been questioned all season.

If they want to go out and add a big name defender, or even just keep Ben Chiarot for next season, they are going to need to add some cap space first. They have no chance of moving on from the Sergei Bobrovsky contract that has five more years left on it at $10 million. But there is one big contract up front that could be moved.

Patric Hornqvist has had a great NHL career, but he is heading into the final year of a contract that pays him $5.3 million per year. While he was definitely worth that one day, the 35 year old hasn’t lived up to that kind of money recently.

This season, the Swedish right winger scored 11 goals and 28 points in 65 games. That isn’t awful, but when you compare it to his cap hit, you want more. He has been playing a fourth line role in the postseason and has two points in nine playoff games.

To get out from under the final year of his contract, the Panthers would have to give up something big. The Canadiens already have the Panthers first round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, so perhaps the Panthers would offer up their second round pick in the same year to get out from under Hornqvist’s last season.

A big, veteran, overpaid right winger isn’t something that the Canadiens are lacking right now. Finding room for Hornqvist for the season wouldn’t be easy as Brendan Gallagher, Joel Armia and Mike Hoffman are already battling for ice time in a similar role. Still, if it comes with a high pick, it would be worth it but the Habs should aim a little higher for such a trade.

Jason Zucker

The Pittsburgh Penguins are in for a wild offseason. They had three huge parts of their roster heading for free agency, but have been able to lock up one already.

Bryan Rust signed a six year extension yesterday at a $5.125 million cap hit. That probably came in a little under what was expected so maybe it opens up a little more of a chance to also re-sign Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin.

The Penguins still show about $24 million in cap space for next season, but also need to find a second goaltender, re-sign Kasper Kapanen and possibly Rickard Rakell and keep enough money open to re-sign starting goaltender Tristan Jarry a year from now.

It would be a lot easier, and they could look to further improve their roster, if they cleared out the final year of Jason Zucker’s contract. The 30 year old versatile winger has one year left with a $5.5 million cap hit. With very few prospects looking ready to step into the NHL next season, the Penguins will need to spend in free agency or trade to improve their lineup.

They will be in a much better place to do that with Zucker gone. The veteran was acquired just over two years ago, but hasn’t fit in well in Pittsburgh. Over the past two seasons he has played just 79 games, scoring 17 goals and 35 points in that time. For someone who was brought in to play in the top six with either Sidney Crosby or Malkin, more was expected.

The question is, how desperate are they to get rid of him? Well, if moving him is the difference between affording Malkin and Letang, then they will be quite motivated to move Zucker. If the Canadiens are willing to take on his whole cap hit, they could get the Penguins first round pick in 2022 as well, which should be around 24th overall.

Erik Johnson

The Colorado Avalanche are in a similar position as the Penguins. They don’t have the same star power about to walk out the door, but they have several key contributors who could hit the free agent market this July.

While their top line of Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Gabriel Landeskog are locked up through next season, basically their whole second line needs new contracts. Nazem Kadri had a fantastic season, Andre Burakowsky scored 61 points and Valeri Nichuskin had 25 goals and 52 points in 62 games this season.

All three of them are unrestricted free agents in July. So is staring goaltender Darcy Kuemper. They really need to open up some cap space if they want to keep this terrific team together next season.

One way to do that is to move out Erik Johnson. He is a respected veteran and a fine defensive player. But he earns $6 million against the cap and will be behind Cale Makar, Devon Toews, Bowen Byran and Samuel Girard on the depth chart next season. They can find a decent defensive player for much cheaper than $6 million to play on the third pairing.

But getting rid of Johnson’s contract won’t be easy. The Avs already traded away their 2022 1st round pick for Kuemper, so they are going to have to pair their 2023 1st round pick with Johnson to entice anyone to take him off their hands. It could get complicated with his partial no-trade clause where he picks 19 teams he can be traded to.

It would make a lot of sense for the Canadiens to add a veteran right defender if Jeff Petry is dealt somewhere this offseason. Putting Johnson in the top four would allow the young defenders like Justin Barron to develop at their own pace and not rush them into big NHL minutes if they are not ready.

Plus, Johnson was a first overall pick many years ago and would be able to help whoever the Habs pick first overall (Shane Wright) with some guidance from someone who has been in those shoes.

Sean Monahan

The Calgary Flames, like the Avalanche, had a tremendous season this year, but are going to have to spend some big money to keep the squad together. In fact, their two best players need new contract.

Johnny Gaudreau exploded offensively this season for 40 goals and 115 points. He could be an unrestricted free agent this summer if the Flames can’t work out a deal with their star winger.

Matthew Tkachuk also needs a new contract this offseason as he is a restricted free agent. He scored 42 goals and 104 points and needs a $9 million qualifying offer to stick around. They also need to re-sign Andrew Mangiapane after a 35 goal breakout campaign.

There are going to need a lot of cap space to keep everyone. They don’t have it, so they will need to clear out a bad contract to create the space.

Sean Monahan has seen his production slip the past couple of seasons. It seems every year he needs to have hip surgery or knee surgery or ankle surgery when the season ends. It has just slowed him down too much and the one-time automatic 30 goal scorer isn’t himself on the ice anymore.

He is just 27, so there is still a chance he bounces back somewhat, but he had just eight goals and 23 points in 65 games this season before being shutdown to undergo surgery. That’s after scoring ten goals and 28 points in 50 games last season.

The Flames have already traded their 2022 1st round pick (to the Canadiens) but if the Habs are willing to take on every dollar of Monahan’s $6.375 million contract next season, there will be heavy bonus prize attached. That could be the Flames 2023 1st round pick, or possibly top prospect Jakob Pelletier who scored 62 points in 66 AHL games this season as a 20 year old rookie.

James van Riemsdyk

The Philadelphia Flyers have long been an aggressive team in the offseason. That hasn’t changed recently, as they made a couple of big trades last year to bring in Rasmus Ristolainen and Ryan Ellis to help on the blue line.

It didn’t work out this season with Ristolainen not playing great and Ellis being hurt for much of the year. But, instead of trading Ristolainen at the trade deadline, they extended him for the next five years. That should signal they aren’t planning a rebuild, but want to will try once again to compete next season.

One player they have been rumoured to be interested in for years in Johnny Gaudreau. He just had a career year and will hit the open market if the Flames can’t find a way to re-sign him. If they do, the Habs could take on a Flames contract like Monahan, but if the Flames can’t keep Gaudreau, the Canadiens could help the Flyers land him by taking on a bad contract from the Flyers.

That contract would belong to James van Riemsdyk. He has one year left on his deal with a cap hit of $7 million. Though he was once a great goal scoring left winger, the 33 year old has become something of a power play specialist. He did score 24 goals this season, but had just 14 assists, and nine of his goals came on the man advantage.

He doesn’t bring much defensively, but still has great hands around the net. If the Flyers have a chance to sign Gaudreau, and bring him much closer to home, they would love to move out JVR’s final year to clear space.

The Flyers clearly aren’t trading this year’s 1st round pick since it is 5th overall. But the Canadiens could convince the Flyers to offer up their 2023 1st round pick if it meant they had space for Gaudreau.

It will be interesting to see what happens with Gaudreau this offseason. But whether he stays in Calgary or not, the Canadiens could help someone land the star left winger by taking on a bad contract and a first round pick or a top prospect to go with it.

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