The Montreal Canadiens have climbed all the way to second in The Athletic’s annual contract-efficiency rankings, and the numbers point straight to the work Kent Hughes has done on the roster’s financial structure.
Dom Luszczyszyn released his latest team-by-team ranking on Wednesday, and Montreal landed just behind the Carolina Hurricanes. That result lines up with another piece of Luszczyszyn’s work from a week earlier, when he ranked the NHL’s 10 best contracts and put Canadiens defenseman Lane Hutson at No.
- Between that and a pile of team-friendly deals across the roster, Montreal’s rise from 14th last season to second this year makes sense.
The Hurricanes finished first because Luszczyszyn gave them an A grade on seven of their 20 contracts. The Canadiens weren’t far off, with six A-grade contracts of their own, and five of those were A-plus deals. The model also suggests Montreal could keep moving up next offseason, when some of its weaker contracts - Phillip Danault and Josh Anderson - come off the books.
Those two deals, both graded C-minus, were not signed by Hughes. The current front office has instead built a structure that has worked in Montreal’s favor, especially with key players agreeing to deals below what they might have commanded elsewhere. Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky both signed for less than captain Nick Suzuki, while Hughes also locked up Lane Hutson and Ivan Demidov.
Demidov’s eight-year deal carries a $9.2 million cap hit, and it looks sharper by the day. Hours after Luszczyszyn’s rankings came out, Macklin Celebrini signed a five-year extension with the San Jose Sharks worth an $18.8 million cap hit, which means Demidov will make less than half of what the Sharks’ prodigy will earn.
But Hughes didn’t do this alone. The player side mattered just as much, because a general manager can want a deal done and still not get it if the player isn’t ready to commit.
That point came up recently on the 32 Thoughts podcast, where Elliotte Friedman spoke with Matt and Ryan Keator, the agents for Leo Carlsson. They said Anaheim was eager to get a new contract done before Carlsson’s entry-level deal expired, but the agents pushed the player not to sign. Their reasoning was simple: they didn’t want him to regret locking in before he had a full picture of the market and could make an informed decision.
That’s the kind of choice Montreal’s core players made in the other direction. They were willing to sign without knowing exactly what the market would look like a year later, because they wanted the chance to win in Montreal and give the team time to do it.
There’s also a major difference in how much long-term control each side gave up. Celebrini, Connor Bedard and Carlsson all signed five-year deals, which leaves them free to hit the market after that stretch.
If they don’t want to commit before those deals expire, they could be allowed to walk for nothing. For teams like San Jose and Chicago, that creates real pressure to win quickly.
Montreal took the opposite route. Most of the core is on eight-year contracts, starting with Suzuki under Marc Bergevin and continuing with Caufield, Slafkovsky, Noah Dobson, Hutson and Demidov.
Hughes deserves plenty of credit for that, but he wasn’t the only reason it happened. Players talked among themselves, and Demidov was open about the fact that he and Hutson had spent a long time discussing how important it was to be in Montreal.
That culture showed up in Hutson’s own negotiations, too. When the talks dragged on, he stepped in himself and ended the deadlock.
So the Canadiens’ No. 2 ranking is about more than one smart front office or one great contract. It’s the product of a roster full of players who bought into the same idea: team first, winning first, money second. That’s what got Montreal here.
In Other News...
Patrik Laine Rumors Just Got More Uncomfortable For Canadiens Fans
Patrik Laines first season in Montreal gave Canadiens fans plenty to chew on, starting with a 20-goal output in 52 games that reminded everyone why his shot still changes the look of a power play. The rest of the package was less tidy, though, with uneven even-strength play and the familiar injury concerns still attached to his name, which is part of why his future keeps drawing fresh attention around the league.
Now there is another wrinkle for Montreal to sort through. Ottawa is reportedly exploring the idea of bringing Laine in on a low-cost deal, and the Senators interest comes with a very specific purpose: they want a pure finisher who can help their power play. For Canadiens fans, it is the kind of rumor that does not just reopen the debate about Laines fit in Montreal, it raises the uncomfortable possibility that a division rival could be the one to take the next swing. [Read more 🡒]
Sabres Stay In The Middle Of A Goalie Debate Fans Feel Strongly About
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For Montreal, that matters because this is the kind of situation where every possible move gets examined through the lens of fit and flexibility. The Canadiens have been tied to Kirill Marchenko as a possible target, but any real pursuit would have to line up with the clubs cap picture and its current roster crunch, which makes the path forward more complicated than simply identifying a name they like. [Read more 🡒]
Canadiens Risk Chasing The Wrong Upgrade With Kirill Marchenko
Kirill Marchenkos name is starting to surface in trade chatter again, and for clubs like Montreal the appeal is obvious. He is young, productive and still has room to grow, which is exactly the kind of profile that can tempt a team looking to add offense without waiting through a full rebuild. But the conversation around him is not just about talent, it is about fit, and that is where the Canadiens have to be careful about what kind of upgrade they are actually chasing.
The bigger question is whether Marchenko addresses the right need for Montreal at all. He brings a scorers touch and the kind of game that can help a lineup, but some of the analysis around him points to a broader roster issue for the Canadiens, one that goes beyond adding another skilled winger. If Columbus and Don Waddell decide to move him, the market could get interesting fast, yet Montreals challenge will be resisting the urge to solve one problem while leaving the more important one untouched. [Read more 🡒]