Habs fan somehow
Joined: Feb. 2017
Posts: 311
Likes: 80
If that's indeed the cap situation come 2022 I think the cup window will close prematurely on this team. There's not enough flexibility under that cap, while Suzuki and Brook will have to be paid and you have no players coming off the books. IMO Gally, Lehkonen, Juulsen and Mete 's are exactly the kind of contract you don't want to commit to non-core players. Gallagher is a force now, but all signs point toward a steep decline past 30. Lehkonen is a good 3rd liner, but he can be replaced internally by a cheaper option (where's Ikonen in your plan?). Given the perceived lack of depth on the left D flank as of now, Mete's contract is justifiable, but if Juulsen is indeed a 3rd pair D-man comes 2022 by all means trade him before then or let him walk. That'd be 4+ millions over 4 years for a depth piece, seems like a bad allocation of that precious cap space. Also, Domi's contract seems a little high. Perennial contenders don't commit that much money to 2nd tier forwards. Did you notice that no one in the SCF this year was earning more than 7.5 millions a year? MTL is already crippled with 2 championship-mitigating contracts (Price and Weber), they should refrain from adding another one.