Montreal Canadiens: Five Bad Contracts To Acquire Alongside a 1st Round Draft Pick

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.