For years people have been intrigued by the potential of Nikolaj Ehlers. Ever since he was flying around the ice with the Halifax Mooseheads, Ehlers has been a potential star in the NHL. However, Ehlers has never been able to fully reach those heights, as his best output has been 64 points in his sophomore season.
Ehlers has never been able to reach those heights, as the closest he came was in 2023-24 when he recorded 61 points in 82 games. The issue has been that Ehlers doesn't always stay in the lineup due to injury, which will be concerning for any teams looking to give him a large contract this offseason.
Ehlers will turn 30 next season, and he could be looking for alot of term and salary on this upcoming contract. It's easy to assume that he is past his statistical prime, which would raise the question of why he deserves a big contract. He had a great postseason with five goals and two assists in eight games, but it was another case of him not always being available to his team, as he missed five of seven games against the St. Louis Blues.
Brian Wilde claiming that Ehlers is worth $9.5 million annually is an interesting take. Contracts will be difficult to predict this upcoming offseason, as all the teams know that the salary cap is on a rapid incline. Ehlers at $9.5 million isn't as bad as it might seem if the salary cap increases that much, but it's still a bit high for a player that has never been at a point-per-game.
The problem the Canadiens will run into is that they don't necessarily need a winger. Cole Caufield, Juraj Slafkovsky, Ivan Demidov, and Patrik Laine are the current top six. There's a possibility that Kirby Dach will eventually move to the wing, and they also have some potential call-ups from the Laval Rocket.
The need for the Canadiens is at center. One of the reasons people believe Ehlers has more potential is that the Jets have never put him in a position to succeed. It's okay to sign Ehlers with the belief that he'll play second-line wing and increase his offensive output. However, what happens if he ends up falling down the lineup and suffers the same fate as Winnipeg.
Ehlers could make some team very happy this offseason, but if Kent Hughes is smart, it won't be the Canadiens.