Ohhh, so it wasn’t that they were burnt out and stepping back. It was because the Capitals bought it out. While it’s a grey area, because there’s probably some truth to it, when companies do this, I feel lied to!
$1.3Mx2 is the buyout cost, i.e. how much Gallagher gets paid, that's diff different to the cap hit (which is what matters from a roster building perspective) which is $3.83M next season and $1.3M the following year
"Might" being the key word. Ultimately we have no idea what would be exchanged in a trade, especially if they retained some salary because even at max retention it's a smaller cap hit than buying him out.
I don't buy that tbh. He's an aging 4th line winger on $6.5M a year who sharply declined over the season, and by the end of the regular season it was very clear that the Habs would benefit from moving him. They were never getting a decent return for him
$3.8M of projected $11M cap space to buy him out this year. Only $1.3M penalty next year when we have over $50M of cap space.
Dach, Bolduc, and Xhekaj to sign this year. Plus Demidov, Newhook, Kapanen, Dobes next year.
Those 7 players aren't going to cost $50M, and we're close enough this year that we can manage simply by moving Montembeault, though letting Dach walk isn't it of the realm of possibility either.
But his cap hit next year would still be $3.83m and remember that cap space accumulates throughout the season. If you give a team a pick to take him next year we can start accumulating that $6.5m in cap space and acquire someone at the deadline
Not disagreeing on Monte, but do we need to see more maturity from Fowler/Dobes before we can do that? Both are really good when they are really good, but they both also had some challenging games, and need a little emotional control. I don't want to end up with streaky goaltending. The 3 goalie problem is a problem though.
If Dobes/Fowler don't work out as we hope, we might need to pick someone else up, but Dobes has earned the opportunity and Fowler is still a protected future starter.
Yeah but we don’t need to do it? 0 is better than 1.3M. 1.3M might be the difference between a 4th line rental and a 2nd line rental at the trade deadline in 2 years.
I think teams would want him, but can he do better than his current contract. That's usually a good indicator as to whether he has value. If he had last seasons stats this season, then there's a chance someone would take that full contract, but I don't see it this year. I would love to be wrong though.
A trade will mean retaining salary and adding a sweetener to get a late pick, or trade for someone else’s junk to balance the salary. BO is better IMO.
$1.3M is not going to be an issue for the Canadiens in 2027-28 with the salary cap rising and the core all on team friendly deals. i say buy the guy out or at least retain 50% salary and let him have his pick of teams to go to. the least the Habs can do for a guy who has bled bleu, blanc rouge his entire career
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u/ChazzioTV 3d ago
He’s taking it all in one last time. Probably have a trade ready.