Joined: Jan. 2020
Posts: 279
Likes: 169
The problem with signing Armia, Lehkonen, to long term contracts, plus in this case signing RNH to a long term contract (or in other posts here on capfriendly resigning Danault and Tatar) is that Suzuki will need to be resigned the following year and he will probably ask for and deserve Aho type money $8.5M.
We are probably only going to resign Lehkonen and based on the fact he is playing on the 4th line this year and the cap should stay flat, Bergevin will most likely try to low ball him to a $2M bridge deal. Which means that Tatar, Danault, and Armia will be lost to free agency so that Suzuki and Romanov can be paid. The only way the Habs sign Danault or Tatar is if it is only for 1 season so that we have the 8 million in cap available when Suzuki needs to resign in 2 years.
It sucks but that is the reality of being a team on the rise, with young talented players they will eventually want to be paid.