Announcement of the day: Kent Hughes has just given himself a huge chance to acquire quite the star player

An announcement made today:

After this signing, only three players in the organization are still without a contract. These are restricted free agents Jesse Ylönen, Lucas Condotta, and Nicolas Beaudin.

As reported by Capfriendly, the Habs are currently over the salary cap by approximately $3.5M, based on 21 players on the active roster (12F-7D-2G) and 5 players on IR/LTIR. Don't forget that Price's contract ($10.5M) will go on LTIR, leaving room for the GM.

What's interesting here is that Kent Hughes is trying to comply with the salary cap without using Price's LTIR. This allows for a lot more flexibility, especially for the future.

Indeed, if Kent Hughes has quite a bit of wiggle room now, he will have even more next summer. To date, the Habs have over $15M in cap space for the summer of 2024, with only three restricted free agents to sign in Samuel Montembeault, Arber Xhekaj, and Justin Barron. Add to that Price's contract, which could still go on LTIR, and the Habs would have over $25M. Minus some performance bonuses (approx. $4M), the Habs could have nearly $11M (without Price) in cap space.

Also, don't forget the fact that the cap will significantly increase next summer, if the rumors are to be believed! Solid!

This room under the cap could very well help Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton to move to a new phase of the rebuild, as early as next summer. With another season of experience, the team would be ready to welcome a veteran that would automatically elevate them to a higher level. In this regard, the list of free agents for next year, offered by Capfriendly, is very attractive:

Notably, we see Auston Matthews and William Nylander of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Nylander is a realistic target, as he is far from re-signing with them.

Kent Hughes is apparently positioning himself to have all the tools necessary to be competitive on July 1, 2024. It would only take a good season of progression from the club in 2023-2024 for the GM to want to switch to buyer mode!

He is putting himself in a position to hit a real home run next summer.