By Bob Trask – Predictions are floating around that the Montreal Canadiens will be making some big changes this summer. They include the trading Jeff Petry or Jonathan Drouin, the potential of moving Carey Price to LTIR, buying out Joel Armia or Paul Byron while drafting Shane Wright and handing him a regular spot in the lineup.

There are many, many more. Everyone has their own version of what will be done or what should be done. The salary cap and the Canadiens’ contract situation is often brought up as a reason why the team needs to make changes. But is that really the case?

Suppose the Canadiens surprised everyone and went with stand pat lineup, more or less. What if they simply re-signed players from within the organization to fill roles on a somewhat temporary basis?

What would the cap situation look like? Using some arbritrary figures on what it would cost to sign any UFAs or RFAs, the 23 man roster could look something like this.

1	Price	$10,500,000
2	Allen	$2,875,000
3	Romanov	$3,000,000
4	Edmundson	$3,500,000
5	Harris	$842,500
6	Barron	$925,000
7	Petry	$6,250,000
8	Savard	$3,500,000
9	Norlinder	$860,000
	Alzner	$833,500
10	Suzuki	$7,875,000
11	Dvorak	$4,450,000
12	Poehling	$750,000
13	Evans	$1,700,000
14	Caufield	$881,000
15	Gallagher	$6,500,000
16	Ylonen	$881,000
17	Armia	$3,400,000
18	Anderson	$5,500,000
19	Drouin	$5,500,000
20	R. Pitlick	$1,600,000
21	Byron	$3,400,000
22	Pezzetta	$850,000
23	T. Pitlick	$1,500,000
	Carryover bonuses	$1,132,000
	Total Cap Hit	$79,005,000
	Cap Limit	$82,500,000
	Cap Space Available	$3,495,000
	Shea Weber – LTIR	$7,857,143

The benefit of not using the buyout option on any players is that for every year that player remains under contract, it cuts two years off his buyout term. Take Joel Armia, for example. If the Canadiens were to buy him out this year, he would be on the books for six more years. But if the teams doesn’t urgently need the cap space for next year, why tie up the books for six years. Maybe it’s better to bite the bullet this year and create more cap flexibility down the road when the team is competitive and really needs it.

While this is an unlikely roster, without any cap pressures and no urgency to make the team into one of the Cup favourites for next year, GM Kent Hughes could afford to sit and wait for the right deal to come along.

More reading…

• NHL Entry Draft – Ranking the Centers by Bob Trask
• Life Without Price by Bob Trask
• Young Defense On The Rise by JD Lagrange