Here’s why the Canadiens have no choice but to trade Carey Price

Let’s take a moment to explain. For the past few seasons, Kent Hughes has tried to wait until the official start of the season before placing Carey Price’s name on the injured list. This is to avoid incurring greater penalties by placing him on the long-term injured list in the off-season. Teams avoid at all costs using the long-term injured list during the summer, which wreaks more havoc than the in-season one. To that end, Kent Hughes could use paper trades (sending a guy to Laval just to free up his salary, while calling him back right afterwards) to be able to lower his payroll on the first day of the season and have the space to accommodate Price’s season-opening contract.

[Under the old rules, Hughes could have sent guys like Lane Hutson, Zachary Bolduc, Jakub Dobes, Oliver Kapanen and/or Ivan Demidov (who are exempt from the waivers) to Laval on paper on the first day of the season to make room for Price’s contract, before placing him on the long-term injured list. But here’s the problem. Under the new rules of the collective agreement, a player sent to the American League must play at least one game before being recalled. Paper moves aren’t allowed like they used to be,and Kent Hughes certainly doesn’t want to start the season without Demidov, Hutson and Bolduc. Without this, the Habs general manager is practically forced to trade Price’s contract to avoid penalties on the long-term injured list. His hands are tied more tightly than before. Montreal is currently over the salary cap by almost $5 million, and now that the Canadiens are more competitive, they can’t afford to be penalized on their payroll. Hughes needs space to bring in new players to solidify the Habs lineup (like a second center). Overtime] – The players like it.

– A unicorn!

– The Flames have a new assistant coach: