Understanding Carey Price's Contract: The Differences from Shea Weber's and the Challenges Ahead

2023-07-13 23:57:02

A year ago, Kent Hughes had a good deal there by getting rid of the contract of Shea Weber, who had become a drag on the club. After all, the guy will never play an NHL game again and he was just taking up space on the LTIR of the team.

In return, he acquired Evgenii Dadonov, who was later traded for Denis Gurianov. The latter is no longer in Montreal, but at least the CH got rid of Weber’s contract, which literally had no value.

A year later, the CH finds itself in a somewhat similar situation with Carey Price’s contract. But this time, don’t hold your breath: Kent Hughes won’t be able to get rid of this one.

Marc Dumont rightly claims it would be a good thing for the club, but the situation is different.

The #GoHabsGo have nearly $9 million in cap space heading into 2023-24.

But part of that involves Carey Price’s LTIR relief funds, & they do not accrue.

The Canadiens could trade him, but the structure of his contract makes it complicated.

Here’s why:

— Dirt McGirt (@MarcPDumont) July 13, 2023

In fact, at first glance, the two cases seem quite similar. Both are still under contract for three seasons and they have a cap hit quite large ($7.857 M for Weber, $10.5 M for Price). Yet Weber’s contract is a lot more interesting for a “bin with contracts” (read here “Coyotes of Arizona”) than that of Price.

The reason? It’s all about the bonuses and the actual salary due to the two guys.

As for Weber, there are no more signing bonuses to pay (which must be paid in one installment on July 1), and for each of the last three years, he will only receive $ 1 million in salary. real. For a club looking to hit the salary floor, paying $1M a year for a guy with a hit cap of $7.857M is very interesting.

But the case of Price is completely different. In addition to receiving $2 million in real salary each year, he is entitled to impressive signing bonuses each year until the end of his contract. That for 2023-24 ($6.5 million) has already been paid, but those for 2024-25 and 2025-26 ($5.5 million each year) have not yet been paid.

(Credit: Screenshot/CapFriendly) So for a team that’s constantly on the hunt for money (again, read ‘Arizona Coyotes’ here), paying $1M a year in actual salary is a lot more advantageous than paying $2 million per year in real salary while paying $5.5 million every July 1 for two years.

So no, this time, the CH will not be able to get rid of its most important contract ball.

At least it doesn’t affect the club’s daily wage bill too much, but the club needs to make sure it has as much money as possible on its wage bill at the start of the next season to make the most of the fact that the Price’s pact is on the LTIR (recall that with a player on the LTIR, the club’s wage bill on day 1 of the season is the club’s cap for the year). Thus, the Canadian must try as much as possible to approach $ 94 million on his payroll for the start of the season.

And since the club still has $6.99 million to spend before reaching $94 million (not counting Jesse Ylönen’s next contract), the idea of going for an insignificant contract from an active player (in addition draft pick) makes sense. That’s why you have to watch a name like Anthony Mantha ($5.7 million for one year) in Montreal.

In short, for all these reasons, we can forget the idea of seeing Price’s contract being exchanged. That said, the CH must take advantage of the situation to make the most of it by going for bad contracts in turn.

A lot of

– Sacred PK

“I take my job very seriously.”

— TVA Sports (@TVASports) July 13, 2023

– To listen.

Newly-signed @CanadiensMTLMitchell Stephens joined @seanrcampbell and @MitchyGallo to discuss his new contract and his time with the Laval Rocket and more:

— TSN 690 Radio (@TSN690) July 13, 2023

– Nothing less.