The Montreal Canadiens found themselves in a bit of a salary cap mess two years ago.
After a playoff run that concluded with a loss in the Stanley Cup Final, a couple of players were rewarded for their efforts in the postseason.
Joel Armia got a new four year contract extension with a cap hit of $3.4 million. Jake Evans was signed for three additional years with a cap hit of $1.7 million. David Savard was signed at a cap hit of $3.5 million for four years.
Add those to the hefty contract extension to Brendan Gallagher that kicked in at the same time for $6.5 million, as well as Carey Price and Shea Weber earning huge contracts, and the team had a difficult cap situation on their hands.
The fact Price and Weber were injured and placed on long-term injured reserve helped the Habs stay cap compliant, but it did not free up the entire situation. Trading away Jeff Petry, Joel Edmundson, Ben Chiarot and Weber’s contract in the meantime has given the Canadiens some much needed cap flexibility.
They still have a few overpaid players on the roster, but they have also added some bargain contracts recently. Any successful team is going to have a few players playing well above their cap hits. We saw that with the Vegas Golden Knights when Adin Hill helped lead them to a Stanley Cup championship with stellar play in goal while earning just over $2 million against the cap.
The Canadiens are not likely to be in the running for a Stanley Cup this season, but they do have a few bargain contracts that will help them on the ice in 2023-24. These players may continue to perform at a bargain rate for a couple of years, or could prove to be perfect trade bait because other teams can easily acquire them.
For the purpose of this exercise, we chose to ignore entry-level contracts as they could prove to be bargains, but they are also making the most money they are possibly eligible to receive at their current age, so it isn’t really a bargain.
Just for fun, let’s take a look at the three biggest bargains on the Canadiens roster in the 2023-24 season.