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Montreal Canadiens

Montreal Canadiens Re-Sign Sean Monahan To Value Deal

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6 months ago

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Montreal Canadiens

The Montreal Canadiens announced a contract extension for Sean Monahan on Tuesday morning. The contract will run for one year and comes with a $1.985 AAV (annual average value).

Monahan, 28, scored six goals and 11 assists in 25 games last season, playing an important role on the team prior to his season-ending injury.

The former Flames forward is one of the few players on the roster that has the ability to drive the offence. His skill in transition opens up passing lanes for his teammates, leading to an uptick in scoring chances whenever he’s on the ice.

Monahan led the entire team in shots for (CF%), and was the only player who managed to stay above 50% throughout the season (53.17%)

The contract is much more team-friendly than his previous deal, which accounted for $6.375 million of the salary cap. At just $1.985 million the deal allows Kent Hughes and Co. to continue to add to the roster without having to worry about carrying an expensive veteran player in the lineup.

Monahan was originally traded to the Canadiens along with a first-round pick in exchange for future considerations. The Calgary Flames were forced to make the trade to alleviate some salary cap space, though you’d be hard-pressed to argue the Canadiens did not come out of the trade like bandits.

Not only did they acquire another first-round pick, but they also secured the services of Monahan, who saw a resurgence in his play while in Montreal, for an extra year.

As it stands, the Canadiens are a little over $1.25 million over the allotted salary cap space next season, but that doesn’t account for Carey Price’s eventual placement on the LTIR, which should provide the team with more than $10 million in liberated salary cap space.

NHL teams are also allowed to exceed the salary cap by 10 percent during the summer.

With the new deal, Monahan will have an opportunity to play a prominent role, which should lead to an uptick in scoring and hopefully, a large, long-term deal next summer.

Whereas the Montreal Canadiens will have an opportunity to trade him for a healthy return at the deadline, something they were prevented from doing due to Monahan’s injury last season.

All statistics via NaturalStatTrick.

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mikeysl

tidy piece of business by Hughes. very digestible cap hit for a versatile leader like Sean. This puts Dvorak’s job as 3C in jeopardy… depending on what ever else Hughes has up his sleeve. Maybe our centers are Suze/PLD/Monag with KD playing rover

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Marc Dumont

I was just thinking about Dvorak. Not sure where he fits in the lineup. Truth is, he doesn’t. There might be some trade value left, though. Wouldn’t be surprised if he’s moved soon (if there’s any interest).

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john harmsworth

I agree. I think we should trade him a sap to make some CAP and roster room. He’s just not in our future. If Beck was likely to be earning a spot this year this would be a serious need, and he almost made the roster last year. It might be better for him to go to Laval for a year, but we still don’t have a need for Dvorak now or even once Monahan is traded.

I wonder what we’ll do if we are nibbling at a playoff spot at the deadline and Monahan is playing well. We fell off pretty hard in the back half last year and Monahan being hurt was a big part of tha.

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Curtis Ault

I believe Beck has to go back to the OHL if he doesn’t start with the Canadiens next season. I may be wrong with that, though

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john harmsworth

It’s a test of the new training staff. He should have been pulled last year instead of going out with a broken foot and he needs to be treated with kid gloves this year. I would say one week at a time in the line up and then evaluated for the first month or two. It is very, very important that he makes it to the trade deadline healthy and productive. He has to realize that it is critical to his future also. If he hadn’t buggered around on a gimpy foot last year he’d be making twice as much money this up coming year and going forward.

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Tyrone

Unless Monahan’s signing is just the first of a series of moves that moves out multiple bodies like Armia, Hoffman and now possibly Dvorak, I’m not really a fan of this deal. Guys like Slafkovsky need top 6 minutes and RHP and Ylönen need steady ice time to progress. Adding a guy who has been injured like 5 years in a row on the hopes he’ll finally stay healthy enough to flip him for a haul at the deadline is too risky when he will need lots of quality ice time (that could be used to develop the aforementioned kids) in order to boost his value. We saw that was a waste last year with Dadonov and Hoffman. Don’t get me wrong, I like Monahan the player and what he brings to a team… when healthy. I just don’t think we should be holding our breath for that to happen. I think Suzuki was at his best last year when Monahan was around to deflect some of the defensive responsibilities, but I’ll be shocked if Monahan can be around for a full season (until the deadline) to continue those assignments. I’d rather see that ice time used for something we know with certainty, which is the kids need to play to develop into the players we want them to become. Our 5 rookie Dmen were as successful as they were last year because they got to play. The same should hold true for our forward prospects.

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