The Montreal Canadiens are not yet satisfied with their roster and are still trying to make a few moves before the start of the season. The sights are set on the future and there are young players that don’t have room to contribute at the NHL level if certain players are still around. Eric Engels reported that the Canadiens are looking to move a couple of players that they don’t necessarily see as long-term solutions. These two players being Mike Hoffman and Joel Armia. But since they aren’t big names and the contracts are bad, there’s no interest in them right now, even if Kent Hughes were to add a sweetener and retain.
Will Either Canadiens Forward Be Moved?
There are still some interesting names on the free agent market, but not many who can match the offense and shot Hoffman provides. Engels said, “Seeing as how we’re not talking about premium players on the market here, I think the idea now is to wait until the dust fully settles on free agency, see who misses out and then try to strike a deal from there.”
While it is ideal for the team if they can move one or both of Hoffman and Armia, Engels also stated, “I don’t think Hughes views it as particularly urgent to move either of them. At least not so much so that he wants to give assets on top of potentially retaining money on the Canadiens’ salary cap, which he’d likely have to do with half the teams in the league already either over — due to LTIR spending — or within $2 million of the cap.”
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While Hoffman has one year left on his deal at $4.5 million AAV, Armia is eating up cap space and a roster spot for longer with two years remaining at $3.4 million AAV. The likely scenario for Hoffman is eating half of the cap and not using an asset to move him while Armia will probably have to be bought out next year. The team would like to create space for players like Rafael Harvey-Pinard, Jesse Ylonen, and Rem Pitlick, but that might not be workable this season without injuries.
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