Juraj Slafkovsky put it plainly, and that’s what made the line hit so hard.
“It’s not really about the money for anyone in Montreal,” Slafkovsky said. “We’d rather just focus on collecting those rings.”
That kind of thinking has become the Canadiens’ calling card. Montreal has built its core around contracts that leave room for the rest of the roster, with Nick Suzuki at $7.875 million per season, Cole Caufield at $7.85 million, Slafkovsky at $7.6 million, Lane Hutson at $8.85 million, Noah Dobson at $9.5 million and Ivan Demidov on an eight-year extension worth $9.15 million per season.
Dobson is Montreal’s highest-paid player, even though he didn’t originally sign there. He was traded to the Canadiens from the New York Islanders.
The result is a group that can stay together for years. Montreal has its core locked in until the first extension expires in 2030, and every one of those players could still be there for the rest of the decade if the Canadiens keep extending them at this pace.
The timing matters, too. Suzuki signed his eight-year deal in 2021.
Caufield followed in 2023. Slafkovsky agreed to his extension in 2024.
Hutson came next, and Demidov joined the group this summer.
Demidov posted 62 points as a rookie and signed as soon as he became eligible. Hutson signed after winning the Calder Trophy.
Slafkovsky agreed to his deal at 20, with plenty of runway still ahead of him. None of them pushed things to the edge of unrestricted free agency.
They wanted the contracts done, they wanted to stay in Montreal, and they wanted the organization to keep money available to build.
That kind of structure adds up fast. One extra million dollars on six contracts becomes $6 million that can be used somewhere else.
It can mean another forward, another defenceman or a goaltender. It can give Kent Hughes room at the trade deadline without having to move someone out first.
And it can help a roster stay intact when younger players are due for new deals.
The Oilers have had some team-friendly contracts of their own. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins signed an eight-year deal worth $5.125 million in 2021.
Zach Hyman signed for $5.5 million and gave Edmonton one of the best contracts in NHL history. Connor McDavid’s current $12.5 million deal was a show-me contract to the Oilers, but it was still a cheap one by star standards.
Still, Edmonton has never really operated with the kind of shared salary structure Montreal seems to be building. The Oilers have handled each negotiation on its own terms and lived with the cap fallout that followed.
That’s hardly unusual around the league. Players spend their careers chasing unrestricted free agency and the biggest payday they can get.
Agents are paid to maximize earnings. And teams are constantly dealing with trades, waivers and buyouts when contracts stop working.
Even so, Montreal’s approach stands out because the players appear to be buying into it together. Slafkovsky’s comment sounds like more than a soundbite. It points to a room that sees contracts as part of the same goal: keeping the group together long enough to win a Stanley Cup.
Edmonton has spent years trying to find value around McDavid and Leon Draisaitl because every dollar matters once the top of the roster is paid. Stan Bowman looks for players willing to sign short deals, veterans whose markets have dried up and young players who can produce cheaply. One bad contract can wipe out a big chunk of the flexibility that’s left.
That challenge isn’t unique to the Oilers. Toronto paid the core four and had little left over.
Colorado just signed Cale Makar to a $20.4 million contract. Florida could run into cap trouble this year.
Tampa Bay had to let players go after winning its recent Stanley Cups.
Every contender eventually has to pay somebody.
Montreal seems determined to keep that problem from blowing up in its face before it arrives. The Canadiens have made that mindset part of the culture, and each new extension gives the next player another reason to take a little less so the team can keep more.
That’s the part Edmonton would love to copy. McDavid and Draisaitl have both said they want to win a Stanley Cup, and the Oilers have made decisions around giving them that chance. But creating an internal expectation around contracts could be another way to keep a winning group together.
So the question hangs there: why can’t more teams get their stars to see value in leaving money on the table if it helps keep the roster strong? Why can’t a room decide on a number and stick to it? Why can’t a core buy in the way Montreal’s has?
The Canadiens have done it. Now they have years to find out what it can build.
Why can’t Edmonton do the same?
In Other News...
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The catch is that Marchenko does not sound like a simple rental situation, which is why this one bears watching rather than assuming. Columbus has plenty of reason to proceed carefully with a young winger like that, especially if other front-office business around the league keeps changing the market. Between Connor Hellebuycks confirmed trade request and the speculation swirling around Winnipeg, the wider NHL landscape is shifting fast, and Edmonton will have to decide how aggressively it wants to stay in the mix if Marchenko ever becomes available. [Read more 🡒]
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The intrigue is not whether Samanski is going to score at a flashy rate. It is whether his game translates into something more practical for the Oilers, the kind of forward who can handle trusted minutes, help on the penalty kill and hold his own at five-on-five when the margins tighten. For a team always searching for cost-effective depth that can be trusted in real NHL roles, that is a development worth watching closely. [Read more 🡒]
Oilers Face A Familiar McDavid Draisaitl Decision With Real Consequences
Stan Bowmans latest comments around Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl only reinforced how familiar this question has become in Edmonton: whether the Oilers are better served spreading out their two stars or leaning into the obvious temptation to stack them. Bowman did not present it as a closed case, but he did make clear there are arguments for putting the duo together, especially with the way the roster has struggled to provide enough scoring depth behind them.
The issue is not just about maximizing star power, but about how the rest of the lineup gets used when McDavid and Draisaitl are separated. Playing apart has made both of them heavy even-strength minute drivers, which can squeeze the opportunities available to everyone else and leave Edmonton trying to solve one lineup balance problem by creating another. [Read more 🡒]