This summer, with a salary cap that jumped significantly, players saw much bigger contracts. Over the past three years, there were 12 players who were starting a contract with an AAV over $10 million.
This season alone that number is set to be 13, and there are 20 teams with at least one player who has an AAV over $10 million. However, the Canadiens are not one of those teams, but came close with the new contract for Ivan Demidov, which ended up being an eight-year deal with an AAV of $9.15 million.
The Canadiens, in their franchise history, have had only one player who has signed a contract with an AAV over $10 million, and that was Carey Price when he signed an eight-year contract worth $84 million that he signed back in 2017.
Who will be the next player on the Montreal Canadiens to receive a contract with an AAV over $10 million?
The question now for the Montreal Canadiens is, who is the next player that might reach that contract level? The answer may not be that obvious, given how many of their core players they have signed long-term.
Among their top players, Nick Suzuki is the closest to free agency and is under contract through the next four seasons. Meanwhile, Cole Caufield is under contract for five more seasons, Juraj Slafkovsky and Noah Dobson are under contract for seven, Lane Hutson is under contract for eight, and Ivan Demidov won't be able to be a free agent for nine more seasons.
One potential option might be a player who just signed a new contract this summer in Jakub Dobes. He is under contract for four more seasons, but if he develops into a Vezina Trophy candidate on a yearly basis, then he could get a huge contract over $10 million.
Another player who might get that first $10 million contract is a player who isn't even on the roster but within the organization. If Michael Hage emerges as that top-tier center that some believe he could be, he could be in line for a long-term deal towards the end of his entry-level contract.
Realistically, though, the player who will get that next contract over $10 million is going to be an outside free agent. The Canadiens weren't in a position this summer to go after a big-name player, and there really weren't many out there, but moving forward, the salary cap is much easier to manage and gives the team the chance to spend up if they feel there is a player who can help them.
This trend of contracts with AAV over $10 million is only going to continue as the salary cap rises. It wouldn't be all that surprising if the Canadiens were one of the last teams to not have a player over that when considering how proactive they were in signing their younger players early.
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