The 2026 off season has been one of the most notable in recent history featuring huge trades such as Brady Tkachuk going to the Panthers, Dylan Larkin demanding a trade, the insane Leo Carlsson offer sheet, the rumoured Cutter Gauthier contract demands and Connor Bedard maximising his value.
With all this going on, the Montreal Canadiens appear to be immune to this as Kent Hughes has established a team first cap culture among the players which began with the signing of captain Nick Suzuki back in 2022 to an 8 year deal worth 7.875 per year.
Screw you guys, I’m going home
During the contract negotiations between Leo Carlsson and the Anaheim Ducks, he was offered a whopping 5 year deal at 18 million per year offer sheet from the Flyers. He went ahead and signed it, forcing Pat Verbeek to match the offer and essentially screwing their cap for the next 5 years. The Ducks are an up and coming team, much like the Habs, but now have about 17 percent of their salary cap going to one player for the next five years.
Furthermore, Carlsson’s best season was last year where he scored 29 goals, 38 assists for 67 points in 70 games. Had he played all 82 games, that would have added up to about 73-78 points. So 18 million dollars per season is an insane amount to pay up for such stats. Carlsson is a tremendous player and will only get better but he’s not the highest paid player in the league.
Now, Carlsson is well within his rights to seek out maximum value, and he’s done nothing wrong. However, he has now put the entire organisation in a tough spot if ever they want to make a deadline deal for a star or sign a major free agent. Again, he’s looking out for himself, and that’s fine, but it may very well cost the team a playoff berth.
I’m getting one!
Now, unfortunately for the Ducks, this seems to have had a trickle down effect to another notable restricted free agent, Cutter Gauthier. He saw what Carlsson got and he wants the exact same thing.
Now all this is rumour, but apparently, according to Keith Yandle, Gauthier has stated that he will not take one dollar less than Carlsson.
This is a player who had his best year last season where he scored 41 goals, 28 assists for 69 points (why not?) in 76 games. Now, all this is rumour, but again 18 million per is an insane price to pay. Should this be true, the Ducks will have 36 million dollars committed to two players who have yet to crack the 70 point barrier. Also, it will essentially handicap the Ducks long term from making any moves without having to do some mathematical gymnastics. Again, he’s well within his rights, but this in no way benefits the organisation or his teammates. We shall see how this rumour plays out.
Oh Captain! My Captain!
Another interesting development this summer was two team captains demanding trades from their respective teams, and using their NMC and NTC in order to control where they go. Despite vowing loyalty to Ottawa, Brady Thakuck informed Staios he would not extend with the Sens when his contract expired and wanted to go to Florida. To his credit, this was done behind the scenes and gave Staios the chance to maximize his value.
Contrarily, Dylan Larkin made his demands public, and informed the Wings that he will only waive his NTC in order to go to Florida, Dallas, Minnesota or Vegas. This is still lingering as some of those teams to not have the salary cap room to acquire him or the Wings simply are not getting the deal theft want
Now, what makes all this interesting is that both players are captains on their teams. Despite this, they have turned their backs on their organisations and teammates to look out for themselves. No, much like Carlsson and Gauthier, they are not doing anything wrong and are within their rights to do this. However, the growing trend this off season is loyalty is a thing of the past.
Not in my House!
Now, the Montreal Canadiens have so far been immune to this phenomena thanks to Kent Hughes establishing a cap culture. This all began in 2022 when he signed Nick Suzuki to his 8 year deal at 7.875 per year. At that point, he could have signed him to a prove your bridge deal, but showed Suzuki the respect he had earned and committed to a longer deal, giving Suzuki job security.
Afterwards, Hughes used the same philosophy with Slafkovsky (8 years at 7.6), Caufield (8 years at 7.850) and Guhle ( 6 years at 5.5). He gave them all respect and job security so the players responded in kind. This established a cap culture within the team where they got paid, but not to the detriment of the team, giving Hughes further flexibility, and not forcing him to make cost cutting deals.
When the contracts for Hutson and Demidov came around, they both followed whag the leaders of the team did, with Hutson signing a bargain deal for 8 years at 8.850 per and Demidov this summer for 8 years at 9.150 per. Demidov was coming off a 19 goal, 43 assist, 62 point season, which is not far off the Carlsson or Gauthier seasons, but at half the cost. (again this is rumoured for Gauthier)
Due to Hughes established cap culture, ithas turned into a team culture where everyone is happy for each other on the ice as they all have job security and feel respecrted my the GM and the organisation. This is how you win, and the players and the organizatin know it.
What the Habs have are players who are more concenrecd with team succes tha their own personal fancies, and it had created a team who are a joy to watch and root for.