Rumor: Canadiens Actively Shopping Christian Dvorak

Rumors have been building up around the Montreal Canadiens as of late. We earlier reported as per Jimmy Murphy of Montreal Hockey Now that Mark Recchi is reportedly a candidate for an assistant coach position, mainly taking care of the power play. Now it seems that player rumors are starting to heat up and one involves Christian Dvorak. Jimmy Murphy is once again the one who reported the rumor.

"There’s been chatter in NHL trade rumours and amongst some NHL scouts to Montreal Hockey Now that the Canadiens are trying to move Dvorak, who has three years left on a contract that carries a $4.4 million cap hit. The urgency to move Dvorak now results from the fact that he has a modified no-trade clause in the final two seasons of that contract. – Jimmy Murphy, Montreal Hockey Now"

The rumor was sneakily put into the article as Murphy suggests the Canadiens should looking into acquiring pending restricted free agent Kirby Dach from the Chicago Blackhawks. Murphy argues that while the Canadiens don’t have an enticing package that would rival the Bruins player wise, the Canadiens do have an extra asset that the Blackhawks don’t possess and that’s a 1st round draft pick for the upcoming draft. Chicago’s pick was traded in the Seth Jones trade.

While it’s understandable that there’s an urgency to shed cap space due to the pending LTIR drama that Shea Weber and Carey Price will create this summer, Dvorak’s no trade clause doesn’t kick in before the 2023-24 season and requires him to submit an 8 team no trade list.

While Dvorak struggled in his first year in Montreal for the same reasons everyone struggled, Dominique Ducharme and then injuries, the London Knights alumni still kept his career averages, notably finishing with 33 points in 56 games. He finished with 31 points in the same number of games last season and has never finished with more than 38 points in his career.

Dvorak showed major signs of progress when he returned from injury, showing fans that he can be effective in his two-way game and can contribute offensively. Clearly however, he’s still, and probably will always be, a far cry from the player that registered 109 and 121 point seasons with London in the OHL.

Replacing Dvorak by Kirby Dach as Murphy suggested could be an intriguing idea should the Canadiens go that direction. Dach is a 21 year old right handed center who stands 6’4″ and weighs 200 pounds and would add some serious size down the middle along with Nick Suzuki, Jake Evans and potentially Shane Wright. While Dach is not afraid to use his size to his advantage and is a sleek passer, he’s been plagued with injuries most notably a broken wrist, something Canadiens fans are all too familiar with in Jonathan Drouin.

While i’m sure many would want to give Dvorak a proper chance to prove himself, shedding his annual $4.45 million cap hit makes sense. The Canadiens will also attempt to trade Shea Weber’s contract which comes in at an annual $7,857,143 cap hit for the next 4 seasons, however Weber will command an actual salary of $3 million next season and $1 million for the final three seasons, which will make it easier for teams like the Arizona Coyotes to digest.

Add to that the strong possibility that Jeff Petry gets traded which should free the Canadiens a portion of his $6.25 million cap hit depending on what the return is.

The urgency with creating cap space comes with Shea Weber as discussed but also Carey Price whose contract is virtually untradeable. The former Hart trophy winner holds an annual $10.5 million cap hit that runs until the end of the 2025-26 season. What makes his contract more complicated than Weber’s is that the soon to be 35 year old’s contract is heavy on annual bonuses.

This past season Price received an $11 million bonus on July 1st. He is scheduled to receive $6.75 million, $6.5 million and then $5.5 million for the last two years of his contract in bonus money. That’s not something most teams are willing to absorb.

Often forgotten in conversations is Nick Suzuki who will start his new contract extension next season. The possible future captain of the Montreal Canadiens will be costing the team an annual cap hit of $7.875 million for the next eight seasons.

On top of that, Alexander Romanov needs a new contract and will command a hefty raise from his $894,167 contract.

So before we consider which free agent to sign and what bad contract to take in return for more draft picks, the Canadiens need to resolve some serious cap issues heading into the offseason.

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