Montreal Canadiens

With Kirby Dach Still Unsigned, Canadiens Not Done Dealing

Published

2 years ago

July 22, 2022

With Kirby Dach left to sign and less than $2M in cap space, the Montreal Canadiens are not done dealing this summer.

As of this junction, the Montreal Canadiens have two restricted free agents left to sign: Kirby Dach and Cayden Primeau. According to our friends at Puckpedia, the Montreal Canadiens only have $1.2 in cap space at this junction, with 22 players signed out of a maximum of 23. It’s also worth noting that Primeau’s contract is a formality at this junction, as he will assuredly be sent to Laval to continue his conditioning, and his contract will consequently have no bearing on the Canadiens’ cap situation. That leaves Kirby Dach’s new contract to settle and very little cap space to do so.

It would be surprising to see the Canadiens sign Dach long-term at this junction, likely pushing for a one or two-year bridge deal in the $2M to $3M range. That means the club will need to shed between $900,000 and $1.8M to just make room for Dach, let alone any space to try and pick up players with their priority on the waiver wire.

General manager Kent Hughes has already indicated that the Canadiens will be looking to make some more moves this summer, and this was echoed by executive vice president Jeff Gorton during his recent visit to the Bob McCown Podcast.

“Yes, you can always do more. We’d like to add a few things before the start of next season,” said Gorton when asked if the Canadiens were done moving players this offseason. “Whether that happens, I don’t know. We have 15-16 forwards up front already and we have some young players we want to take a look at on defence and at forward. We could do something in the next little while too.”

With the market being what it is right now, it will be interesting to see if something shakes loose before NHL training camps. The Canadiens will also be waiting to see where the health of Paul Byron and Carey Price will be at that time; as it will give them more flexibility, at least at the start of the season, to sign all their guys.