The Canadians’ salary crisis means he’s unlikely to dip into the free-agent pool

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Canadians are likely to be sitting on the sidelines when the NHL’s annual free agency frenzy kicks off next Wednesday.

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Canadians simply don’t have salary-cap room to shop. In fact, the team doesn’t have enough cash on hand to sign the restricted free agents on its roster. The reason players like winger Josh Anderson and center Christian Dvorak are showing up in trade rumors is that Montreal desperately needs to free up salary-cap space.

The latest bad news for the Canadiens came after the NHL finished adding up the numbers from last season and determined that the Canadiens’ performance bonuses raised them $1,132,500 over the salary cap. That money must be counted toward next season’s cap, and that means Montreal has less than $2 million left in cap space.

That probably won’t be enough to cover Alexander Romanov’s new contract, and general manager Kent Hughes also has forwards Rem Pitlick and Michael Pezzetta to deal with. They’re restricted free agents with arbitration rights and Pitlick, in particular, has a case for a hit on his entry-level contract after racking up 15 goals and 22 assists between Minnesota and Montreal last season.

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While potential deals for Anderson and Dvorak fall into the rumor category, Hughes has entertained the idea of ​​moving defenseman Jeff Petry, who requested a trade midway through last season. While Petry has since expressed a willingness to stay, moving him could free up $6.25 million. For any deal to be successful, Petry’s return would have to be a draft pick or a useful player with a much lower salary cap.

When the topic of moving Petry late in the season came up, Hughes said he was leaning toward replacing Petry with another veteran defenseman, but it would backfire if, say, the Canadiens pursued a free agent like Kris Letang, who would be I send. a higher salary.

It should be noted that the Canadiens are a better team with Petry on the ice, especially since the team lacks right-handed defense. But this is a team that is several years away from being a contender and it would make economic sense to give some of the youngsters on the roster a baptism of fire.

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Moving Anderson doesn’t make much sense because he has an enviable combination of size and speed.

Dvorak is another matter. While he can win neutral matchups and his offensive performance is decent, he’s not very good defensively. With the Canadiens expected to select Shane Wright with the first overall pick in the NHL Draft on Thursday, Dvorak could be expendable.

Of course, that depends on whether the Canadians feel Wright can make the immediate jump from junior to the NHL. When he addressed the media Monday, Hughes said there is an expectation that the No. 1 pick will play in the NHL right away, but he also warned that the Canadiens were playing the long game.

“Ultimately, we don’t need the best 18-year-old,” Hughes said. “We need someone who can become the best of 22, 24, 25 years, and we will try to take those steps.”

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