The Montreal Canadiens have agreed to terms on an eight-year contract extension for star winger Cole Caufield through the 2030-31 campaign, the team announced Monday morning. The deal will carry a $7.85MM cap hit.
Per CapFriendly, Caufield has a modified no-trade list in the final three seasons of his contract, which is all he’s eligible for, given his unrestricted free-agent eligibility. The full breakdown of the contract is as follows:
2023-24: $4.975MM base, $5MM signing bonus
2024-25: $4.975MM base, $5.5MM signing bonus
2025-26: $9.975MM base
2026-27: $8.705MM base
2027-28: $6.215MM base
2028-29: $5.985MM base, 15-team no-trade list
2029-30: $5.985MM base, 10-team no-trade list
2030-31: $5.985MM base, five-team no-trade list
Not only does this wrap up Montreal’s highest offseason priority, but it also marks a generation-defining signing for this Canadiens core. Caufield, arguably on a discount deal, immediately becomes the second-highest-paid healthy Canadien behind captain Nick Suzuki, who earns $7.875MM per season through 2030.
While he has just over 120 NHL games of experience under his belt, the 22-year-old has been among the better goal-scorers in the league in limited samples. His 53 goals are second among 2019 NHL Draft picks, trailing only New Jersey Devils star Jack Hughes.
A season-ending shoulder injury in 2022-23 may have cost him a few thousand dollars on this deal. However, reports suggested the Canadiens are committed to keeping a strict salary hierarchy with Suzuki at the top. He tied for the team lead in goals despite playing in just 46 games, and his 26 goals in that time put him on pace for 46 in an entire 82-game season. That would have tied him for seventh in the league (and second among US-born players) with Dallas Stars phenom Jason Robertson.
The Wisconsinite may be one of the slightest wingers in the league at just 5-foot-7, but that hasn’t stopped his all-world release from translating to the NHL level, even with little help around him. While Suzuki provides a formidable linemate, Montreal’s offense ranked in the league’s bottom 10 this year and boasted just seven double-digit goal-scorers.
In terms of the percentage of the salary cap ceiling at signing, Caufield’s max-term extension is nearly identical to the eight-year deal signed by Carolina Hurricanes winger Andrei Svechnikov before the 2021-22 campaign. Svechnikov, however, had already eclipsed 200 NHL appearances before signing his extension.
Neither the Canadiens nor Caufield released a statement upon the initial announcement of the signing.
For other NHL teams, Caufield’s extension takes 2023’s top offer sheet candidate off the market. The last two offer sheet transactions in NHL history, Sebastian Aho (2019) and Jesperi Kotkaniemi (2021), involved the Canadiens.
For Montreal, the value of Caufield’s cap hit gets them more than just a star goal-scorer for eight more seasons. It also gets them extremely valuable cost certainty as the cap ceiling is bound to rise in the coming seasons, allowing them to more comfortably afford any RFA or UFA signings as the team aims to return to championship contention over the next five years or so.
Behind Caufield and Suzuki, the two Habs under contract the longest are veterans Brendan Gallagher and Josh Anderson, both signed through 2027.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
If the kid can stay healthy and keep up his goal scoring pace , I think this is a really good signing. Hard to not like Cole , I’d say it’s well deserved.
It’s a discount deal only for so long as his trajectory has him being a healthy, perennial 40+ goal scorer. If not … well, the guy’s whole value is in offense.
He can become a better defensive player with time. The Defensive part of the game takes longer to develop
in 3 years it could be a steal if the cap increases by 5+ million ans guys similar to him are asking for $10M
It does, but with his size, not only is he not going to be much good in corners and mixing it up, you don’t WANT a guy who’s already had more than his share of injuries at his age doing that.
Quite a gamble in this day and age, A smallish forward with a very small NHL resume and already a bit of an Injury history.
If the sens gave stutzle the contract he got with all the diving and being a suck the caufield contract is a steal
Seems like a good signing… but will the Canadiens be competitive in that time? Seems more like a gamble for him!
Great for the Habs, and they can trade him in the 1st 5 yrs of the contract if they wish!
when Wisconsin gets a team and he wants to go home
Damn having Gallagher locked up through 2027 is a horrid contract. I didn’t realize he had such a long guarantee.
Yea he’s a big contract for sure. I’d like them to trade him for John Gibson from the ducks. Same term, 100k less frees the Habs up to trade Allen and then gives them 4+ years to develop a goalie. Sounds like there will be a good 1 available last 1st early 2nd round this year