Canadiens Had Talks With Flyers About Cap-Dump This Summer

The Montreal Canadiens waited out and finally got a 1st-round pick for taking on Sean Monahan this summer, but there was another option available to them.

Earlier this summer, the Philadelphia Flyers really wanted to move some salary in order to sign Johnny Gaudreau, but unfortunately could not move enough salary to get it done.

The player they were trying to move was James van Riemsdyk, who had one year left on his contract worth $7M per season.

On a recent segment of the 32 Thoughts podcast, NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman confirmed that “JVR” was shopped across the league, with the goal od dumping his entire salary, but the asking price was quite high.

The asking price to take on all of JVR’s contract from teams with available cap space, like the Montreal Canadiens, Arizona Coyotes and Anaheim Ducks, was Philly’s 2023 1st-round pick. Granted, the Canadiens didn’t have any cap space, but they did have an idea that Carey Price was not going to return and wanted to weaponize their newfound cap space (through use of LTIR).

But Why?

At a time when the Montreal Canadiens wanted to add size and a key veteran presence in their lineup, the acquisition of a player like James Van Riemsdyk would have made a ton of sense.

Montreal Hockey Now has had sources confirm to them that the Canadiens had conversations with the Flyers about JVR, and were likely to be one of the teams asking for a 1st-round pick to take him on.

Kent Hughes has spoken at length about his desire to secure a 1st-round pick, and the inclusion of Gaudreau likely would not have put the Flyers over the edge, making it likely they could tumble down the standings yet again, and getting a valuable pick in a very strong 2023 NHL Draft.

However, the Flyers refused to pay out that kind of a price, just to get rid of van Riemsdyk, and the Canadiens moved on.

Having had initial conversations with the Calgary Flames around the draft, they circled back with the Albertan club when the signing of Nazem Kadri was finalized and the Flames were forced to move Monahan.

Playing that waiting game paid off for Hughes, as he not only received a future 1st-round pick to take on Monahan, he’s likely going to be able to flip him for some interesting futures down the line.

Sometimes the best deals are the ones you don’t make.

https://montreal.nationalhockeynow.com/2022/11/27/montreal-canadiens-kent-hughes-doubles-down-on-2023-nhl-draft-goal/