Canadiens Analysis
Montreal Canadiens Salary Cap Projections For Two Seasons
With the help of the good people over at Cap Wages, we’re going to use their visualization to give Montreal Canadiens fans a better idea of how much money Kent Hughes and Co. have to work with in the upcoming season and beyond.
As it stands, the Habs are actually about $4 million over the salary cap in this particular projection. It’s important to remember teams can exceed the salary cap by up to 10 percent during the summer, and that the projection embedded below includes a $1.79 million extension for Jayden Struble.
It also includes Carey Price’s $10.5 million contract, which can be placed on LTIR at any time. Ideally, the Habs will trade the contract, that way they can maximizer their financial manoeuvrability, and not be tied into LTIR funds that do not accrue throughout the season.
If we immediately place Price’s contract on LTIR, the Canadiens have a little over $6.2 million in available cap space for the 2025-26 season. The projection only includes 12 forwards and seven defencemen, therefore we should also reserve a portion of the available funds for some depth options. If the Habs are to acquire a second-line centre prior to the start of the season, they’ll have to get a little creative with their current contracts.
Montreal Canadiens Cap Hits Via capwages.com
Montreal Canadiens Salary Cap Projection For 2026-27
The following season is even more interesting. I invite you to visit Cap Wages and take advantage of their fantastic GM Mode, which is still in beta, but manages to be incredibly user-friendly. To jump directly to the Canadiens’ GM Mode site, click here.
One of the advantages of using Cap Wages is their affiliation with AFP Analytics, which gives us access to projected salaries.
This ties directly into our article, as we want to include the expensive contract extension for Lane Hutson. They predict Hutson will sign a contract with an annual average value of roughly $10.3 million, which may come as a shock to some, but aligns perfectly with the significant increases to the salary cap for the upcoming seasons.
Given that Hughes tends to convince players to sign fairly reasonable contracts, I used Hutson’s $10.3 million projection as a starting point. In the end, I decided he’d sign the same contract as Noah Dobson, which carries a $9.5 million AAV. I also used the projections as starting points for a few other contracts, including Zach Bolduc and Kirby Dach. It should be noted that Jayden Struble is not in the lineup, probably because he elected to go through arbitration, which means he wasn’t available in the GM Mode.
Here’s how things panned out for our 2026-27 Montreal Canadiens salary cap projection (click to enlarge lineups).
Montreal Canadiens Brass Tacks
With the current projected lineup, which includes 21 players and a raise for several skaters, the Canadiens should have a little more than $14.5 million in projected salary cap space for 2026-27.
We have to account for overage expenditures via bonuses, but overall, it seems like Hughes’ decision to sign most of his top players to long-term deals will benefit the organization moving forward. It should also be noted that former general manager Marc Bergevin did a pretty good job when he signed captain Nick Suzuki to an eight-year extension in 2021.
Things can (and will) change, however, as it stands, the Montreal Canadiens have a healthy amount of cap space moving forward, including the mega extension for phenom Lane Hutson.
All Montreal Canadiens salary cap information via Cap Wages, and AFP Analytics.
Excellent analysis. According to this web site 2025-26 Montreal Canadiens Cap Table
The cap allocation of over 99 million includes 4 goalies, Price, Dobes, Montembeault and Kahkonen, Also includes 6 defenseman, but doesn’t include unsigned Strubble. It also includes 14 forwards. These forwards include Blais and Roy.
I have a question. If Dobes is expected to be the number two goalie, then why is Kahkonen being paid more than Dobes?
RFA vs UFA
If both parties agree (team and player) can contracts be renegotiated while players contract is valid? In other words could the Habs give someone like Caufield or Suzuki a raise during their existing contract.
No, you cannot renegotiate a contract once signed. I think only league that does that is the NFL. Players can sign an extension one yr before deal is up but that’s it.
Thanks for info.
It seems like good cap management and not like some of the financial purgatory that some other teams have got themselves into. Well done!
In an empty slot, click the “Sign RFA” button. Struble will be at the top of the list of available RFAs to sign.
Yeah, but he’s not there for 2026-27, unless they fixed it last night. I did include him in the 2025-26 projection.
I’m hoping Hutson signs a 3 or 4 year contract extension for around 6-7 million. Why does he want the added pressure I’ve been paid more only one year into his NHL career? Then he can sign a max contract next time as he’s only 21 years old.
Personally, I don’t think the Habs would be wise to go down that route. Hutson is already producing elite numbers, and logically, he’s just getting started, so there’s a good chance the price tag will rise significantly if they offer a bridge deal.
In four years, the salary cap will have gone to about $120 million, which means Hutson would cost a LOT more by then.
To me, it’s risky to give over 9-10 millon (to a small defencemen who has not proven the defensive side of his game) with only 1 year of experience. I’d take the cautious route for a small bridge contract and have more cap space in the meantime.
I agree with you that a short term contract would be more sensible, but since Hughes gave Caufield, Suzuki and Slafkovsky long term contracts all future star players will now expect similar long term contracts.
By trying to avoid risk, you’d be taking the riskiest decision available, not recognizing elite talent.
Don’t worry about his height, what matters are his results, and they’re excellent. Plus, if we remove his time alongside Savard, Hutson’s defensive numbers are fine.
Sorry Marc, you’re correct. Although GM mode allows me to sign Struble to a multi-year contract, he disappears from my roster after 1 year. I should have looked.
The issue is not related to Struble selecting arbiration. It appears to be a bug in the GM mode that loses the multi-year details of any transaction made this year are not reflected beyond this year. I can sign McTavish to an offer sheet and trade for Crosby and they both disappear after 1 year. Still pretty good for free beta software.
The alternative is to use the cap space visualization on the main page and select 2026-27 with their projection which includes a $5.5M extension for Laine.