Finally, a contract buyout announced by the Montreal Canadiens? A player has just been targeted, and it's forward Joel Armia

One can recall the tremor in the voice of the former GM when he announced the signing of Brendan Gallagher in the fall of 2020. But Gallagher's hefty contract isn't the only one burdening the current Canadiens' management, as reported in this TVA Sports article.

That said, because of these five contracts, Kent Hughes has no wiggle room regarding the team's salary cap, before being able to place Carey Price on the long-term injury list and save his annual salary of 10.5 million dollars.

However, as reported by Charles-Alexis Brisebois of the website Danslescoulisses.com, Hughes might finally consider a contract buyout after the upcoming season.

It should be mentioned that the Canadiens' GM will have more money under the cap in the summer of 2024, and at that time, a player might see his contract bought out by the organization.

I am talking here about the enigmatic Joel Armia, who will be in his last year of contract in 2024-2025.

Since he put his signature on a generous contract offered by a certain Marc Bergevin, the Finnish forward has scored only 13 goals in 103 games, making it a high price per goal, with his annual salary of 3.4 million dollars.

But where a contract buyout might become interesting for Kent Hughes is that it wouldn't cost the organization too much and could potentially free up money to attract a top-tier free agent to Montreal next summer.

Unless Armia explodes with a season of 20 or more goals, which would be extremely surprising, the Canadiens might reconsider their buyout strategy, but for now, he is undoubtedly in my mind the number one candidate for a potential contract buyout.