We may still have a month to go before the Montreal Canadiens get their 2023-24 campaign going, but it’s never too early to start wondering about the team’s contract situation.
Goalie Carey Price remains the highest-paid player in franchise history with an annual salary-cap hit of $10.5 million. But with three years left on his deal and a strong chance that the injured netminder never plays again, it’s very likely that general manager Kent Hughes will place the 36-year-old under LTIR status before the season starts.
The move would free up a good chunk of space on the Canadiens’ cap front.
Meanwhile, star players like Cole Caufield and captain Nick Suzuki will be stepping into the first years of their new deals, which level out to nearly identical cap hits of $7.85 million and $7.875 million, respectively.
Coming off a season that saw them finish at the bottom of the NHL standings for the second year in a row, the young Habs will be looking to make major strides this time around with additions like forward Alex Newhook and defenceman Gustav Lindstrom.
The roster is likely to see more change in the coming weeks and months, though, especially between the pipes. As of now, the Habs have four NHL-ready goalies in Jake Allen, Sam Monetmebault, Cayden Primeau, and Casey DeSmith, which means a trade to resolve the logjam could be imminent.
With that said, here’s what each Montreal player is set to have as their cap hit for the coming season, as per CapFriendly:
| Forwards | Cap hit |
| Nick Suzuki | $7,875,000 |
| Cole Caufield | $7,850,000 |
| Brendan Gallagher | $6,500,000 |
| Josh Anderson | $5,500,000 |
| Christian Dvorak | $4,450,000 |
| Joel Armia | $3,400,000 |
| Kirby Dach | $3,362,500 |
| Alex Newhook | $2,900,000 |
| Sean Monahan | $1,985,000 |
| Jake Evans | $1,700,000 |
| Rafaël Harvey-Pinard | $1,100,000 |
| Juraj Slafkovsky | $950,000 |
| Michael Pezzetta | $812,500 |
| Jesse Ylönen | $775,000 |
| Defencemen | |
| Michael Matheson | $4,875,000 |
| David Savard | $3,500,000 |
| Jordan Harris | $1,400,000 |
| David Reinbacher | $950,000 |
| Gustav Lindström | $950,000 |
| Justin Barron | $925,000 |
| Kaiden Guhle | $863,333 |
| Arber Xhekaj | $828,333 |
| Johnathan Kovacevic | $766,667 |
| Chris Wideman | $762,500 |
| Goalies | |
| Jake Allen | $3,850,000 |
| Casey DeSmith | $1,800,000 |
| Samuel Montembeault | $1,000,000 |