After news broke that the Calgary Flames will be signing Nazem Kadri, the obvious move to clear cap space was trading away Sean Monahan’s contract. That will be the case as Monahan is headed to the Montreal Canadiens.
Given Kadri’s reported $7MM cap hit, the swap represents just a $625K cap increase for the Flames, who were on the hook for the final season of Monahan’s seven-year, $44.625MM contract. Moving from Monahan to Kadri will cost them more than that though, as Calgary is sending a conditional 2025 first-round pick to the Canadiens in order for them to take the whole contract. Montreal will send future considerations (nothing) back.
The reason the trade took so long to work out is the set of conditions, which are some of the most complicated the league has ever seen.
- If Calgary’s 2024 first is pick 20-32, Montreal has the option to take that pick (must decide before draft starts).
- If Florida’s 2025 first transfers to Calgary (from the Matthew Tkachuk trade) then:
- If Calgary and Florida’s 2025 firsts are both outside the top-10, Montreal will receive the earlier one OR
- If Calgary’s 2025 first is inside the top-10 and Florida’s is not, Montreal will receive Florida’s
- If Florida’s 2025 first does not transfer to Calgary then:
- If Calgary’s 2025 first is not in the top-10, Montreal will receive it AND
- If Florida’s 2025 first is not in the top-10, it has been transferred to another team, and is better than Calgary’s 2025 pick, Montreal will receive Calgary’s 2025 fourth-round pick
- If Calgary’s 2025 first is in the top-10, Montreal will receive it UNLESS
- If it is the first-overall selection, Calgary will retain the 2025 first, and Montreal will receive Calgary’s 2025 third-round pick, and the better of Calgary and Florida’s 2026 firsts.
- If Calgary’s 2025 first is not in the top-10, Montreal will receive it AND
For the Canadiens, who are trying to orchestrate a full rebuild under new general manager Kent Hughes, going after Monahan is a no-brainer. Adding a premium future asset for nothing more than a year of wasted cap space is exactly how you move things along, even though they will have to make some adjustments if Monahan is healthy enough to play after hip surgery earlier this year.
“Healthy enough to play” seems to be the operative phrase in Montreal right now, as their cap situation could vary wildly depending on the status of Carey Price. If the veteran goaltender is placed on long-term injured reserve again, the team would have some added flexibility. If he does play, it will be interesting to see how the Canadiens fit Monahan in.
Regardless, this is likely not a competitive year for the Canadiens, even though they’ve added some young talent, meaning they can take on salary without any real risk. In fact, should Monahan prove healthy enough, he might even be a nice deadline chip for the team to re-sell. While he is cost-prohibitive at his full cap hit, a retained Monahan for the last part of the season could be an attractive target for contenders looking to add some depth.
BRING OUT YOUR DEAD
@kingcong95 – I’M NOT DEAD YET! (It’s only a flesh wound!)
This puts Habs about $6million over cap…A corresponding move is on the works or they already know Price will be going LTIR
Nice classic move of a rebuild team. Monahan is probably gonna rebuild his value by being the top-6 in mtl and get traded at the deadline for assets, speeding up the rebuild process. And hey, if it doesn’t work out, he’s gone anyway( 1 year left). I’m indeed curious to see what moves are coming to put the team under the salary cap
Gallagher ? Hoffman ? Petry ? What teams have the cap space . ,maybe Lou on the Island is on the phone and will announce soon, maybe !
Petry was traded to the Penguins on July 16th.
thanks rdiddy5 , wasn’t thinking when wrote Petry , Dah!
@G – Kind of like me and that ill-advised reference to Johnny Boychuk in the article about Zach Boychuk, eh? Good news, though, as the mud will eventually fall off the old mug, I can tell you first-hand. Took much longer for me, than most, though… :) (Hope all is well for you!)
Paul Byron with 1 year left at half Monahan’s price would make sense, if not, mtl 6M$ over the cap hit
Heard rumblings of hoffman being moved and dvorak
Monahan starting season on IR
is there anyone that can dumb down the conditions of this trade? literally have no idea.
Same lol
Basically, they can take the 2024 first if they want, otherwise it is the 2025/2026 first depending on what happens to Florida’s pick, and might snag an extra 3rd or 4th if a very specific situation happens.
And if no clear winner emerges from all of this, the two-man sack race will be held on consecutive Sundays until a champion can be crowned.
Also, thanks a lot for the detailled follow up article on the conditions
Damn, Seattle really is “weaponizing that cap space”!
if Monahan is healthy and expected to play I could see isles being interested in Dvorak now that they’ve lost out on Kadri, wouldn’t that be a hell of a trickle down effect from the Kadri deal for us if it happened, beauvillier and a second would be nice, isles seem to have soured on him and need a center
I see Monahan on the 3rd line right around the middle of November.
Calgary paid a first rounder to not just buy the guy out?? ($4 MM cap savings this year, $2 MM hit next year)
They want to contend. Don’t want dead cap space.
Can’t buy out an injured player
Which is actually really dumb
The NHLPA could negotiate that their injury insurance value is guaranteed via the buyout team.
Can’t disagree