The Montreal Canadiens are among the NHL’s top clubs in terms of dead cap hits entering the 2024-25 season.
The Habs are one of just seven teams that will have more than $5 million in dead cap carryover. Dead cap hits include buyouts, bonus overages, and retained pay.
Montreal Canadiens bonus overages total $1,022,050.
Juraj Slafkovsky scored his 20th goal in the season’s final game, resulting in a $250,000 bonus overage. Slafkovsky received $500,000 in bonuses this season, including a payment for meeting a time-on-ice target.
Justin Barron and Kaiden Guhle won $225,000 in time-on-ice bonuses, while Jayden Struble received a $57,500 bonus for games played.
Finally, Sean Monahan received a $15,000 incentive for games played before being dealt to the Winnipeg Jets.
Lane Hutson gets points in back-to-back games and Juraj Slafkovsky scores his 20th goal of the year.
The #GoHabsGo are providing a glimpse into the future tonight. pic.twitter.com/2qwuOpckPF
— Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) April 17, 2024
Montreal Canadiens’ Retained Salary Total: $4,268,750
In the transaction that transferred Jeff Petry to the Detroit Red Wings, the Habs kept 50 percent of his salary cap hit, as did the New Jersey Devils for 50 percent of Jake Allen’s salary cost hit.
The Petry deal will cost the Canadiens $2,343,750, while Allen’s will take up $1,925,000 in dead salary cap space.
Neither move greatly helped the Canadiens, making the dead cap space impacts particularly unpleasant in terms of asset management.
Fortunately, Karl Alzner’s buyout ($833,333) and Joel Edmundson’s retained salary ($1,750,000) are off the books this summer, mitigating the financial impact of the Allen and Petry transactions.
Impact on the Salary Cap Situation. The upcoming season is crucial for the team’s rebuilding efforts, as they want to become a playoff contender.
When we first forecasted the Montreal Canadiens salary cap position for 2024-25, we estimated that the Habs would have little more than $17 million in salary cap space.
However, we should highlight that this did not cover dead cap hits because full information on performance bonuses was not accessible at the time.
This means Kent Hughes will have almost $12 million in salary cap room next season, which is more than enough to enhance the team through trades or free agency.
