NHL/CBA Rule Changes Impact Canadiens, Price Trade, & More

The NHL has approved a set of rules changes in the upcoming CBA, impacting a few different fluid situations for the Montreal Canadiens.

Considering we’re about a month away from the start of the season, the timing is interesting. The information is still being parsed, but it seems like 2025-26 is setting up to be a very exciting season from an asset management standpoint.

LTIR Changes

For players who are expected to return to play in the playoffs, long-term injured reserve (LTIR) relief funds are tied to the previous season’s average league salary. The average salary in 2024-25 was $3.82 million.

As far as I can tell, this does not impact Carey Price, as he’s essentially retired and is not expected to return, but it will limit the trades some teams will be able to pull off at the deadline, as the LTIR relief funds will be reduced significantly for any player set to return to action, leaving them with less financial manoeuvrability.

More details, via PuckPedia:

Double Retained Contracts In A Trade

Teams will no longer be allowed to retain salary in a third-party deal, unless there’s a 75 regular-season game gap between the salary retentions.

In other words, contracts that involved retained salary at the trade deadline will not be eligible for another salary retention until the next NHL season is in full swing, which will surely lead to fewer trades.

This would have been a considerable drawback in previous years, but as it stands, the Habs are no longer basking in an overabundance of cap space.

No Papering Players

Teams cannot send players the AHL in a bid to reduce cap hits, without having the player in question take part in at least one AHL game. The Canadiens, along with most of the NHL, relied on this technique to temporarily solve cap issues, particularly to start the season, as they did when they papered Arber Xhekaj.

Xhekaj is now eligible for waivers, but the Canadiens could have used this strategy with players who do not require waivers this season, such as David Reinbacher, Joshua Roy, or even Lane Hutson.

If we’re being honest, this is the right way forward, as it ensures the player in question actually ends up playing hockey, rather than it strictly being a financial move.

However, seeing as the Canadiens can’t temporarily hide some of their cap hits in the AHL, not to mention the fact that they’re presently over the cap, it will add extra pressure to accomplish a trade involving Price, to avoid placing him on offseason LTIR, and losing the flexibility that they would gain in a trade.

ON TOPIC: The Key Factors In The Carey Price Trade Situation

Contract Term Limits

Rather than restricting the contract length to seven years for an unrestricted free agent, and eight years for a player re-signing with a team, the league will now enforce a six-year-limit on unrestricted free agents, and seven years for players set to sign with their team.

This will have a direct impact on the Lane Hutson contract extension negotiations. Editor’s Note: The term limit only kicks in next season, on September 16, 2026. We originally wrote that it would take place immediately.

ON TOPIC: Projecting The Lane Hutson Mega Contract Extension

The league also put together a new set of rules regarding emergency backup goalies, signing bonuses, and qualifying offers. Not all the new rules will be effective immediately. To learn more, please visit PuckPedia.