So the NHL’s rules for ELCs have come out, and it is the worst case for the Montreal Canadiens in regards to Alexander Romanov. So Romanov will be allowed to sign this year, meaning that he burns the 1st year of his ELC, but he won’t be able to play. He will have a slightly lower AAV at $850,000 because he can’t make any money before November 1st. Although $75,000 is nothing for the habs salary cap. So all this means that Romanov’s contract will expire in 2022, although he won’t be an RFA, since he has less than 3 years of NHL/AHL experience, meaning he’ll be a 10.2c like Boeser and McAvoy. (Which mostly just means that he can’t sign an offer sheet.) The bad part is that a year after our cap crunch, we’ll need to sign Romanov and Suzuki (and to a lesser extent Primeau, Teasdale, Khisamutdinov, Chiarot, Brook, and Kulak). Suzuki will be getting a massive raise, and if KK signs a 1 year bridge, then breaks out, it would be even worse. We can only hope that the NHL makes enough money in the next 2 seasons to warrant a raise in the cap for 22-23.

The only way this ends up better than if he signed next year is if Romanov breaks out in year 3, after we lock him up to a bridge deal. But as I’m sure all habs fans would agree, I’d rather Romanov shine sooner than later.

Has Teasdale even played pro yet?

No, since he was injured all of this year. I just listed all of our free agents in 2022.