Montreal Canadiens: Three Contracts Habs Need To Move ASAP
Paul Byron
Paul Byron went from one of the most underpaid players in the league to one with a contract that was a bit too rich when Marc Bergevin gave him the extension he is currently playing under.
When he was making less than $2 million and scoring 20 goals, he was a bargain and a great player to have on the team’s third line and penalty kill. Then came the new contract, and the production dried up at the same time.
Injuries certainly have not helped, as Byron has played just 102 games in the past three years combined. That’s all while making $3.4 million per season against the cap. He scored at a 20 goal pace in each of the three previous seasons, but has just 13 goals in those 102 games since he became a far richer man.
Byron is a great leader to have in the room and a quality teammate. But he just isn’t worth his cap hit anymore. At 33 years of age, he is heading into the final year of his contract. If anyone else is willing to take it on to add a veteran to their bottom six, the Canadiens should be happy to hand him over just to clear the cap space off the books.
Mike Hoffman
Mike Hoffman was an interesting signing right from the day he joined the Canadiens organization. Interesting in the fact he could maybe help out on the power play, but also interesting in the fact there really wasn’t a spot for him at even strength.
When he joined the Canadiens, fresh off their run to the Stanley Cup Final, they were returning seven of their eight regular wingers from the playoffs, plus Jonathan Drouin was coming back from his time off. There really wasn’t a great fit for Hoffman.
A year later, and there still kind of isn’t. Who is he best suited to play with? He’s not good enough to play on a top line with Cole Caufield. He’s not defensive enough to play with Brendan Gallagher or Joel Armia. There just isn’t really a perfect spot for him in the lineup.
He finished off the first year of his three year contract in third on the team’s scoring list. That sounds pretty good, but when you realize it only took him scoring 15 goals and 35 points in 67 games to get there, it isn’t really worth the $4.5 million he is being paid.
There are two more years left on that contract and Hoffman is now 32 years old. Can he return to his 30 goal days? Unlikely, and if not, his cap hit is way too high. If another team wants to pick him up for next to nothing in a trade, the Canadiens should be all ears.
Joel Armia
Marc Bergevin really liked his depth, defensive wingers didn’t he? Paul Byron got a ton of money, and so did Joel Armia. It appeared that the big Finnish winger was heading to free agency at the end of last season, but he got a contract extension he couldn’t refuse from Bergevin.
A four year deal with a cap hit of $3.4 million. That was after scoring seven goals and 14 points in 41 regular season games. He had 30 points in 58 games the season prior and the year before that he scored 23 points in 57 games.
So, a reasonable person would expect him to score about 30-35 points over a full season. Bergevin figured that was wroth a hefty contract extension. In year one of that contract, Armia scored 14 points in 60 games for the Canadiens.
Now, he is 29 years old and has three years left on a contract that pays him about double what he was worth last season. He does play solid defensive hockey and can kill penalties, but you can find players to do that for much less than $3.4 million on a four year contract.
If any team in the entire league has the slightest interest in taking on the rest of Armia’s contracts, the Canadiens need to hand him over and just stop asking questions immediately. A 7th round pick in 2036? Sure! Done deal!
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