Stanley Cup: no, the Canadiens don’t have “just two years” to win it

Dose
Crédit: Cole Caufield scores a goal, congratulated by teammates

The Canadiens have been rebuilding for several years now. The club has picked up a ton of talented youngsters… and the future is looking brighter and brighter in Montreal.At least, it hasn’t for a long time.Because, after all, the club’s core is clearly established. Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Juraj Slafkovský, Ivan Demidov, Lane Hutson, Noah Dobson and Kaiden Guhle form an extremely solid young base… so, in many people’s eyes, the Habs are likely to be competitive for a long time to come… but today, on BPM Sports, MC Gilles (who was on Richard Labbé’s show) had this to say:

The Stanley Cup for the Habs is two years away or nothing.

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MC Gilles

[content-ads]Basically, his argument rests on one point: the fact that in two years, Lane Hutson and Ivan Demidov will no longer be on their entry-level contracts. Both will get huge salary increases, and that will handcuff the Habs a bit.Except… that’s not really the case.In a year’s time, for example, Carey Price ($10.5M) and Patrik Laine ($8.7M) will no longer be on the Habs payroll. There’s a world in which Laine signs a new contract with the Canadiens, but the chances of him earning the same salary are pretty slim. Then, in two years’ time (when Demidov’s second contract begins), Brendan Gallagher ($6.5M) and Josh Anderson ($5.5M) will be off the club’s books. Andwhen you add in the fact that the cap will skyrocket over the next few years, that means that Hutson and Demidov’s contracts… won’t really be a problem. Because, after all, in a few years, the Canadiens’ core players (excluding Hutson and Demidov) will have on average the same impact on the Habs’ payroll as Josh Anderson did this year.

Obviously, in a world where the Habs are capable of being competitive within two years, having Hutson and/or Demidov on an entry-level contract gives the club more flexibility, no one’s questioning that. But to think that the Canadiens won’t be able to compete once Hutson and Demidov sign their second contracts simply doesn’t hold water.In fact, there’s an even greater chance that the club’s window will really open at that point, when the core will have matured quite a bit.[spacer title=’Overtime’]- Joel Kiviranta signs new contract with the Avalanche.

– Great idea.

– Not to be missed,