Timing has become a weapon for the Canadiens, and Kent Hughes has used it as well as anyone in the NHL. Montreal’s general manager moved early on his young core, and with the league’s salary picture now blown wide open, those decisions look even sharper.
The market has changed fast. Macklin Celebrini’s $18.8 million annual salary and Leo Carlsson’s $18 million deal have reset expectations for elite young players, and that naturally raises the question of what Montreal’s top names would cost if they were negotiating extensions right now. The answer: a whole lot more.
Nick Suzuki is the clearest example. His eight-year, $63 million contract once felt like a major commitment for a young center still trying to prove he belonged with the NHL’s best.
That conversation has flipped completely. Suzuki is now a Selke Trophy winner, the Canadiens’ captain and the team’s unquestioned first-line center, while also continuing to grow offensively and showing impressive durability.
If he were signing an eight-year extension this summer, $10 million or $12 million annually would no longer be the bar. With the market where it is, Suzuki could realistically land in the $16 million to $17 million range.
Montreal is paying less than half that.
Cole Caufield would not reach Suzuki territory, but his value would still be far above his current $7.85 million cap hit. Caufield has established himself as Montreal’s top shooting threat, and his connection with Suzuki has become one of the biggest drivers of the Canadiens’ offense. If he were up for a new deal this summer, a contract north of $12 million a year would make sense.
Juraj Slafkovsky is another case where Montreal got in early. His eight-year, $60.8 million extension came with risk because the Canadiens were paying for what they believed he would become.
That bet looks much better now. Slafkovsky has grown into a key piece of the top line, bringing size, skill and physicality in a package that’s hard to replace.
He’s still young enough that more offensive growth may be coming. If he were negotiating today, his $7.6 million cap hit would be tough to match, and an eight-year deal around $12 million annually would be a more realistic number.
The real sticker shock comes with Lane Hutson and Ivan Demidov. Hutson has quickly become one of the faces of the franchise and one of the NHL’s premier offensive defensemen, controlling play with the puck and creating offense from the blue line while handling huge minutes.
Franchise defensemen don’t hit the market often, and they get paid when they do. If Hutson needed a long-term deal this summer, Montreal would probably be staring at something around $16 million annually.
Demidov would push the number high as well. The Canadiens knew they had a special offensive talent when they drafted him, and his development has only accelerated that belief.
His creativity, puck skills and ceiling give Montreal a player who could eventually become one of the league’s most productive forwards. If he were negotiating now, he could easily be looking at about $15 million annually.
Put all five together, and the difference is striking. At today’s prices, those players could cost more than $70 million per year combined.
Instead, they’re set to make a bit over $41 million annually. That gap is the payoff for Hughes getting ahead of the market.
There was risk in every one of those long-term deals. Young players do not always follow the script, and betting on potential can burn a team.
But Montreal identified its core early, trusted its development path and acted before the salary structure around the league exploded. For a team moving into a window where it should be competing for championships, that kind of savings can be a massive advantage.
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Canadiens Are Taking A Real Risk With Samuel Montembeault
Samuel Montembeault is still on the Canadiens roster in mid-August, and for now the front office seems content to let the situation play out. Kent Hughes does not appear interested in moving the goaltender when the return would be light, which leaves Montreal in a familiar holding pattern: waiting to see whether a patient approach can turn a limited market into a better one later on.
For the Canadiens, the gamble is obvious. Keeping Montembeault gives them a chance to see if his value rises over the course of the season, but it also means carrying a goalie whose performance has already raised questions about whether he can take a meaningful step forward. If he does not, Montreal could end up spending another year searching for answers while the trade value Hughes is protecting never really materializes. [Read more 🡒]
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What stands out now is how completely Gomez has stepped away from anything tied to that chapter. He has reportedly kept his distance from Montreal-related conversations and has avoided interviews connected to the team, a sign that the experience left a deeper mark than many old hockey stories do. For Canadiens fans, it is another reminder of how quickly a promising start can turn into a painful legacy. [Read more 🡒]
Canadiens Linked To Another Winger Ottawa May Not Want To Lose
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Bathersons situation has the potential to shape more than one front offices plans, because Ottawa would prefer not to let a player of that caliber drift into the market. If the Senators cannot bridge the gap, Montreal could be positioned to jump in, but the real intrigue is what kind of contract talks are going on behind the scenes and whether Ottawa can keep the door from opening at all. [Read more 🡒]