General manager (GM) Kent Hughes might not have captured the big game he wanted as the free agency market opened yesterday, but he did extend the Montreal Canadiens’ first-overall pick at the 2022 Draft with an eight-year deal. With captain Nick Suzuki signed through the end of the 2029-30 season, sniper Cole Caufield signed through the end of the 2030-31 campaign and now hulking winger Juraj Slafkovsky signed through the end of 2032-33, the general manager has now put the real foundation of his team down. Here are my thoughts on the deal and Hughes’ comments about it.
A Fantastic Contract
It’s already been almost three years since former GM Marc Bergevin inked Suzuki to an eight-year deal with an average annual value of just under $8 million. Since Hughes took over, the captain has been the best player on his team, and the GM has made it a point to keep him at the top of his forwards’ salary structure. While it wasn’t all that hard to do with a flat cap, the difficulty level went up with the $4 million bump announced by the league.
Still, Hughes was able to make it work and get the youngest member of his first-line to sign a long-term contract with an AAV of $7.6 million. That’s $250,000 less than Caufield who signed his contract after playing through the entire length of his entry-level deal which Slafkovsky hasn’t. Based on how the three players performed though, it seems perfectly fair for Suzuki to be the highest earner, followed by Caufield and then, Slafkovsky. Some will say it’s a gamble to give that much money to a player who hasn’t got a 60-point season under his belt, but considering how well his development is going I don’t consider it a massive risk. He was great in his sophomore season, reaching the 50-point mark and scoring his first career hat-trick; he’s definitely trending up.
This is an exciting time to be a Canadiens’ fan. If Bergevin had built his version of the Canadiens from the net out with Carey Price and Shea Weber being the main building blocks, Hughes has decided to build his from the attack down. Of course, he inherited Suzuki and Caufield from the previous regime, but the fact he hired the right coach to help them grow and drafted Slafkovsky are big pieces of the bright future that is profiling on the horizon.
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Hughes’ ability to get his coach and his players to buy into his vision is also serving him very well and it has allowed him to lock up the three most important players on his team so far long term, without even coming close to breaking the bank. Of course, the time will come when he’ll add new players and they’ll eventually be paid more than Suzuki, but that’s just the way the business goes. It’s very similar to Sidney Crosby signing a 12-year deal (yes, those deals were allowed back when he signed it), and ending up making less than some of his teammates. Both Hughes and Suzuki are aware of that, but Hughes will keep him at the top for as long as he can and for good reasons.
Hughes’ Comments on the Extension
The media availability was meant to be about free agency, but unsurprisingly it ended up being in large part about the eight-year pact worth $60.8 million the GM had inked Slafkovsky to.
Although Hughes looked very tired, he was proud of the agreement he reached with his first pick at the helm of the Canadiens. Inking the deal was not an easy process though, negotiations had been ongoing for at least a month with the player’s agent. While the GM believes it’s important to lock up the young players who are important to your organization long-term, a few options were explored. Six-year and seven-year contracts were discussed, but in the end, the parties landed on eight years, to the GM’s delight.
While Hughes didn’t want to go into too much detail regarding the negotiations, he did mention he had told Slafkovsky (in a diplomatic manner fear not) that if he wanted a bigger cap hit, he could always play out the last year of his ELC like Caufield had done and the contract could perhaps go up if he proved his worth the way the Canadiens’ sniper did. In the end, the big winger ended up signing on the dotted line.
Hughes explained he’s aware that one day, he will have to cross the self-imposed ceiling he put on his forwards but that for now, the players are aware of the importance of Suzuki, the captain of the team, and they respect that.
Now that this matter has come to a satisfactory resolution, Hughes can start designing the salary structure of the blue line, starting with signing Kayden Guhle to an extension. He’s not yet a restricted free agent, but like Slafkovsky, he’s now eligible to sign an extension. Once the defenceman is inked, it might be easier to sign the team’s two RFAs, Arber Xhekaj and Justin Barron.
After how Hughes has handled the contract negotiations of Caufield and Slafkovsky, I’m now convinced that his past as a player agent has prepared him very well for his job on the other side of the table. Having been an agent himself, he knows what to say and how to approach them to get things done. Truly a wonderful hire by Jeff Gorton.
