Arber Xhekaj #72 of the Montreal Canadiens (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
The Montreal Canadiens will face a bit of a complicated situation with their long-term injury reserve (LTIR) and cap structure to start the season.
After acquiring Patrik Laine’s $8.7M contract, the club went $2M over the $88M salary cap and will have to make some roster moves to make it all work.
But couldn’t the Canadiens just put Laine or Carey Prices $10.5M contract on LTIR to start the year? Yes, they could, but they don’t want to.
The Canadiens have been adamant about not using LTIR until the season begins, which would be after the roster deadline on October 7 at 5pm EST.
So how do the Canadiens do that? Well, it’s complicated. RG explains why.
How The Montreal Canadiens Could Use LTIR
The Montreal Canadiens currently sit at $2.02M over the salary cap with a 22-man roster at the moment, according to Puckpedia.
However, as stipulated in the NHL’s collective bargaining agreement (CBA), an NHL team can have no more than 23 players on their roster, and, more importantly, no fewer than 20 players on their roster.
That gives the Canadiens a little bit of a buffer to make some roster tweaking, as the club could potentially send down some waiver-exempt players to Laval momentarily on Monday evening, just to make the cut.
Think of it like an MMA weigh-in, but you cut out water for three days prior just to make weight.
The same can be said about being cap-compliant in the NHL, as you need to be under the cap on Day 1, only to place your injured players on LTIR and get the full benefit of their relief space.
As of right now, the Canadiens could start the injured Rafaël Harvey Pinard and his $1.1M cap hit on LTIR, but the Canadiens would need to send another player down, who makes more than $950,000 in order to be under the cap on Day 1.
So, who to choose?
Figuring Out Canadiens Cap Puzzle
The Canadiens have a few options if they want to send down a player who matches the description above.
Lane Hutson ($950K), Juraj Slafkovsky ($950K) and Arber Xhekaj ($1.3M) are all players that are waiver exempt and have a salary of $950,000 or more.
But there’s another snag.
With the Canadiens likely using Harvey-Pinard on LTIR to open the season (allowing them to hold off using Price or Laine on LTIR and saving the full benefit of their LTIR relief space) the Canadiens have another issue to contend with.
Performance bonuses. When using LTIR, you not only get a relief pool for salary, but the cumulative sum of all the performance bonuses on the club as of Day 1 will impact your salary cap calculation.
Teams establish a performance bonus pool at the start of the season, tied to the players on the opening roster. Last season, with players like Slafkovsky ($3.5M), Guhle ($420K), Jordan Harris ($507K), and Cole Caufield (850K) all on the starting lineup, the Canadiens’ performance bonus pool was over $5.2M.
For the 2024-25 season, the Canadiens will have to worry about Slafkovsky, Guhle, Jayden Struble ($57K), and Lane Hutson ($750K), whose total performance bonuses will add a pool of around $4.73M. However, the Canadiens’ flexibility is limited when they need to recall players from the AHL or other leagues.
Take Sean Farrell as an example.
His salary is $897,500, but his $500,000 performance bonuses bring his cap hit to $1.2M without the appropriate amount of performance bonus space. Without adequate performance bonus room, recalling a player like Farrell would push his cap hit up, making it harder to fit him under the cap.
A similar issue occurred in April 2021 when Cole Caufield joined the Canadiens late in the season. Due to the lack of a performance bonus cushion, his cap hit rose from $880K to $1.3M, preventing the Canadiens from inserting him into the lineup sooner.
So the goal, especially with so many youngsters with the Laval Rocket, is to maximize both LTIR relief space and the performance bonus pool in one move.
Momentarily Sacrificing Xhekaj
Like last season, the Canadiens will likely have to send Arber Xhekaj to Laval to start the season.
The reason is twofold.
The Canadiens get maximum salary relief from sending him to Laval, as $1.15M of his $1.3M cap hit will be buried while he is in Laval, bringing the Canadiens within $900K of the salary cap before putting Harvey-Pinard on LTIR.
The other reason is that Xhekaj also doesn’t have any performance bonuses to calculate, meaning the Canadiens can just as quickly recall the youngster once Price or Laine is put on LTIR the next day October 8.
This doesn’t mean the Canadiens think any less of Xhekaj or his performances during the preseason; rather, they view it as a strategic paper transaction that allows them to maximize their cap and roster makeup.
Xhekaj will likely be recalled as soon as possible and part of the starting lineup against the Toronto Maple Leafs on October 9.
Marco D'Amico is a beat reporter covering the Montreal Canadiens and the NHL Draft, while also being a recurring guest on TSN690 and BPM Sports. His work primarily on NHL CBA breakdowns and prospect analysis, all while covering the Montreal Canadiens on a day-to-day basis.
