- Pending Canadiens RFA forward Filip Cederqvist has signed a three-year deal with SHL Frolunda, per a team announcement. Montreal acquired the 23-year-old back in January from Buffalo for future considerations. Cederqvist split the season between AHL Rochester and Laval, combining for five goals and six assists in 53 games. A strong non-tender candidate before this announcement, Cederqvist signing this early actually increases the chance of a qualifying offer. He’s four years away from UFA eligibility so the Canadiens could actually now issue his qualifier to retain his rights in case he has a breakout showing over the next three years in Sweden.
Canadiens Rumors
Canadiens, Adam Engström Agree To Entry-Level Deal
10:51 a.m.: Engström’s ELC does not contain a European assignment clause, Radio-Canada’s Marc Antoine Godin reports. He also does not have a valid contract with an SHL club for next season. If he doesn’t make the Canadiens’ roster out of camp, he’ll spend the season with AHL Laval.
8:28 a.m.: The Canadiens have agreed to terms on a three-year entry-level contract with 2022 third-round pick Adam Engström, per a team announcement. The Swedish defenseman could now see his first North American action next season.
Engström, 20, spent the 2023-24 season with Rögle BK of the Swedish Hockey League, where he posted four assists in 15 playoff games in their run to the league championship series as the ninth seed. In the regular season, he took a step forward from last year’s solid rookie showing, posting four goals, 18 assists, 22 points and a -10 rating in 51 games.
The 6’2″ left-shot defender is part of a surplus of young defenders in Montreal. He becomes the tenth U-23 defender under contract with the Canadiens. Of that group, only he, 2023 fifth-overall pick David Reinbacher and 2021 late-round choice William Trudeau didn’t see NHL games this season.
He projects as a more offensively-minded blue liner, lighting up the Swedish junior circuit in his limited action in 2022-23 with 13 points in seven games. Most of that campaign was spent getting his first lengthy stint in the pros, recording 16 points and a -7 rating in 43 games for a strong rookie showing. Engström was also named to Sweden’s roster for the 2024 World Juniors, where he posted a goal and two assists with a +6 rating in seven games.
Engström’s ELC will cover him through the 2026-27 season, after which he’ll be a restricted free agent. With two professional seasons under his belt overseas, he could challenge for an opening-night roster spot next year, but an assignment to AHL Laval is more likely, with many other young defenders on the cusp challenging for roles. A loan back to the SHL is unlikely but not ruled out.
11 Teams Face Cap Overage Penalties Next Season
With the salary cap largely being flat the last few years, more teams have had to dip into LTIR when injuries have come up. Accordingly, the number of teams facing bonus overage penalties has also risen. This year is no exception as Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reports in collaboration with CapFriendly that 11 teams are currently facing cap overage penalties for 2024-25 as a result of bonuses achieved this season.
When a team finishes up the season using LTIR to stay cap-compliant, they don’t have any regular cap space to which bonuses can be applied against. Accordingly, that results in LTIR teams that have incentives that are met finishing over the cap, yielding overage penalties. Whatever amount they finished 2023-24 over by is then deducted off the Upper Limit for next season.
The teams that are confirmed to have bonus overage penalties are as follows:
Edmonton Oilers: $3.45MM*
Dallas Stars: $2,595,407
Washington Capitals: $2.2525MM
Los Angeles Kings: $1.85MM
New Jersey Devils: $1,538,897
Montreal Canadiens: $1.0225MM
Ottawa Senators: $850K
New York Rangers: $512.5K*
Minnesota Wild: $425K*
Philadelphia Flyers: $245K
Boston Bruins $50K*
Teams denoted with an asterisk could see their bonus overage increase if the following happens:
Edmonton: Corey Perry’s contract calls for $50K if the Oilers make the Western Conference Final and another $50K if they reach the Stanley Cup Final.
New York: Theirs would increase by $25K if they win the Stanley Cup, a bonus in Jonathan Quick’s deal.
Minnesota: Marco Rossi can make $212.5K if he makes the All-Rookie Team which would then be added to the Wild’s carryover penalty.
Boston: Milan Lucic will receive $200K if the Bruins win the Stanley Cup as part of his contract.
In addition to the above, Carolina and Florida also have the potential for an overage contingent on the playoffs. The Hurricanes would have a $50.45K penalty if Jackson Blake plays in 20 games between the regular season and playoffs. Meanwhile, the Panthers would take a $500K hit if they win the Stanley Cup to cover that bonus in Kyle Okposo’s contract.
Team-by-team details with specifics on how each one got to the point of an overage were covered separately by PuckPedia.
It’s the first time that multiple teams will carry overage penalties of more than $2MM into the following season. With the cap expected to go up by closer to $4MM this summer, that could in theory take some pressure off from the bonus overage perspective but only if teams leave themselves a bit more wiggle room to work with. There’s a good chance that won’t happen so we’re quite likely to see these penalties again next season though with perhaps fewer teams getting the hit next time around.
Emmett Croteau Transfers To Dartmouth
- Canadiens goalie prospect Emmett Croteau announced (Twitter link) that he has transferred to Dartmouth. A sixth-rounder two years ago, the 20-year-old had a very quiet first season in college, getting into just six games with Clarkson. There, he struggled, putting up a 3.53 GAA and a .835 SV%. Dartmouth lost their starter to the pros when Cooper Black signed with Florida, so Croteau may have an easier path to playing time next season.
Canadiens Notes: Reassignments, Offseason Plans, Slafkovsky, Caufield, Gorton
The Canadiens trimmed their roster significantly today, assigning four players to AHL Laval. Defensemen Justin Barron, Logan Mailloux and Jayden Struble, as well as forward Joshua Roy, are headed down to the minors to finish the 2023-24 season. Laval, with two games remaining, is attempting to clinch a playoff berth in the North Division.
Roy’s reassignment confirms he’s been cleared to return from an upper-body injury that kept him out of the lineup since mid-March. The 2021 fifth-round pick has quickly risen up the professional ranks, posting four goals and nine points in 23 games during his first couple of NHL stints this year. The 20-year-old was among Laval’s most effective per-game producers before being called up to the Habs, impressing in his rookie season with 13 goals and 32 points in 40 games.
Mailloux, selected in the late first round in 2021, made his NHL debut last night against the Red Wings, posting an assist and a +1 rating in 21:14 of ice time. He leads Laval defenders and is third on the team in scoring with 47 points (14 goals, 33 assists) in 70 games, his first in the professional ranks.
Barron and Struble both spent significant time on the NHL roster this season but weren’t exactly full-timers, seeing extended stints in the minors as well. The 22-year-old Barron’s season was a more even split, skating in a career-high 48 NHL games but failing to eclipse last year’s career-high of 15 points. He knocked on the door of playing top-four minutes, averaging 18:38 per game, and posted strong relative possession numbers. While he hasn’t impressed much in Laval with 11 points and a -5 rating in 30 games, his major-league showing was strong enough to keep him in consideration for an opening-night job on next season’s roster.
Like Mailloux and Roy, Struble is in his first full professional season. The 22-year-old has been on the NHL roster exclusively since November, aside from a brief reassignment to Laval on March 8 to make him eligible for minor-league playoff action. He became a bottom-pairing mainstay on the Habs’ blue line, notching 10 points in 56 games with a -3 rating while averaging 16:07 per game. He was similarly strong in limited action with Laval early this season, posting six points and a +4 rating with 29 PIMs in 12 games before heading up to Montreal.
Other updates coming from the Habs’ front office in today’s end-of-season availability:
- GM Kent Hughes made apparent to reporters today that adding on offense will be his off-season priority. The Fourth Period reports he may leverage the organization’s surplus of young defensemen to get it done rather than gunning for a top-six scoring forward on the free agent market. Eight defensemen on the NHL roster for last night’s game are already under contract for next season, not including Barron and Arber Xhekaj, who are pending RFAs. Hughes also confirmed that he doesn’t intend on taking advantage of the two buyout windows this summer to open up some cap space or part ways with a veteran (via Sportsnet’s Eric Engels). The club will have no buyouts on the books next season, with Karl Alzner’s expiring this summer. A likely candidate would have been center Christian Dvorak, who was limited to nine points in 30 games this season with a pectoral injury and has one season left at a $4.45MM cap hit with an eight-team no-trade list.
- Sophomore winger Juraj Slafkovsky scored his 20th goal of the season last night, awarding him a $250K performance bonus. That will be applied to next season’s books as a dead cap charge, PuckPedia reports, as Montreal had already exhausted the performance bonus pool awarded to them by Carey Price’s LTIR placement. Slafkovsky also informed reporters today he intends to represent Slovakia at the 2024 World Championship next month.
- Joining Slafkovsky at the Worlds will be star goal-scorer Cole Caufield, who’s accepted an invitation from Team USA GM Bill Guerin to play at the tournament. Caufield largely fell short of expectations this season, limited to 28 goals in 82 games after sniping 26 in only 46 contests last year. The 2019 first-round pick still finished second on the team in scoring behind Nick Suzuki, however, and has a long runway to rebound with seven years remaining on his contract with a $7.85MM cap hit.
- Habs executive VP of hockey operations Jeff Gorton was expected to draw some interest for any current or future GM vacancies that may arise this offseason, but he told reporters today, including TVA’s Renaud Lavoie, that he plans on sticking in Montreal. He was hired in November 2021 after the team relieved former GM Marc Bergevin of his duties, serving as interim GM for a few months before appointing Hughes in the role. Before joining the Habs, Gorton was the GM of the Rangers for six seasons and oversaw most of their late-2010s retool.
Canadiens Exercise Club Option, Extend Martin St. Louis
The Canadiens have exercised the club option on head coach Martin St. Louis’ contract, extending their bench boss through the 2026-27 season. St. Louis’ deal was slated to expire in the summer of 2025 without the two-year option.
At 48 years old, St. Louis is one of the youngest coaches in the league. Since taking over the rebuilding Canadiens from Dominique Ducharme midway through the 2021-22 season, St. Louis has managed a 75-100-26 record. That includes guiding the Habs to a 14-19-4 finish in 2021-22 after they went 8-30-7 under Ducharme and overseeing a marginal increase from 68 points last season to 76 points this year after ending their season with back-to-back overtime/shootout losses to the Red Wings.
Speaking with reporters today, GM Kent Hughes indicated more extensions could be coming after meeting with St. Louis’ staff tomorrow. Assistant coaches Alexandre Burrows and Trevor Letowski, as well as goaltending coach Éric Raymond, are not signed for 2024-25, per Sportsnet’s Eric Engels. Hughes said he doesn’t feel the need to add a more experienced name to St. Louis’ bench and will likely keep 2023-24’s crew intact moving forward, via TVA’s Renaud Lavoie.
The Laval, Quebec, native didn’t get a chance to suit up for his hometown team during his illustrious 1,134-game NHL career, but he’s been able to make his professional coaching debut in front of one of the largest markets in the league to largely positive results. Before being named Ducharme’s interim replacement in February 2022 and being given the permanent head coach title the following offseason, St. Louis’ only NHL staff experience came as a special teams consultant with the Blue Jackets for the back half of the 2018-19 season.
He hasn’t yet been given the chance to manage a playoff-contending roster, but with a top-10 prospect pool set to continue graduating over the remainder of his extension, he should get the chance before his option expires in three years. Perhaps his biggest accomplishment this season was guiding 2022 first-overall pick Juraj Slafkovsky to a breakout sophomore campaign, ending his season with 20 goals and 50 points while playing in all 82 games. He also presided over a legitimate improvement in the team’s defense and possession play. Their overall 5-on-5 CF% jumped from 45.4 in 2022-23 to 46.3 this year, and their expected goals against per game at 5-on-5 improved from 2.37 to 2.13 while also generating more offense.
As such, Canadiens management believes St. Louis is the man to guide the franchise to their first playoff appearance in the post-Carey Price era. He’ll need an assist along the way from Hughes in constructing a capable roster, but early on in his coaching tenure, it’s clear he’s jelled with the team’s young core.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Michael Pezzetta Leaves Game With Upper-Body Injury
- In a similar fashion to Barron, the Montreal Canadiens will be without forward Michael Pezzetta for the remainder of their game and the season with an upper-body injury (X Link). As a depth forward for the team, Pezzetta was only able to register 25 seconds of ice time over one shift, and left the game after the end of the first period.
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Montreal Canadiens Recall Logan Mailloux
The Montreal Canadiens have recalled defensive prospect Logan Mailloux from the Laval Rocket of the AHL. The 21-year-old is playing in his first professional season in the AHL and has posted 14 goals and 33 assists in 70 games this year for the Canadiens AHL affiliate.
Mailloux was selected late in the first round of the 2021 NHL Entry Draft but had renounced himself from the draft after being charged and fined in Sweden for taking an intimate photo of a woman and distributing it without her consent. Mailloux was on loan to Sweden’s SK Lejon at the time because the COVID-19 pandemic had led to the Ontario Hockey League suspending their season. Mailloux was eventually suspended by the OHL in September 2021 but was reinstated early in 2022.
He went on to play parts of two seasons with the London Knights, posting 25 goals and 28 assists in 59 games during his final OHL season with the team. Despite multiple NHL teams placing Mailloux on their do not draft lists, the Canadiens elected to select him with a late first-round pick, a move that was met with heavy criticism.
It remains to be seen if Mailloux will play tonight for the Canadiens against the Detroit Red Wings in what will be the final game of Montreal’s season. If he does, he will make his NHL debut less than eight months after having his eligibility to play restored by the NHL. Arpon Basu of The Athletic tweeted a statement from the league with the NHL saying that they’ve met with Mailloux multiple times over the last year and he is cleared to play in the NHL.
Montreal Canadiens Expected To Sign Luke Tuch
April 16th: The Canadiens have officially signed Tuch to a two-year ELC and he will also sign an AHL contract with the Laval Rocket that will give him the ability to finish the current season in the AHL.
April 14th: After his season came to an end against the University of Denver earlier this week in the Frozen Four, now-former Boston University forward Luke Tuch is expected to make the transition to the National Hockey League. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman is reporting that although there is still work to be done, there is every expectation that the Montreal Canadiens will sign Tuch to an entry-level contract.
Tuch, who is the younger brother of Buffalo Sabres’ forward Alex Tuch, originally came to the Canadiens organization as the 47th overall pick of the 2020 NHL Draft. Having already committed to the Terriers program after a strong showing with the U.S. National U18 Team, Tuch would go on to spend the next four years playing in Massachusetts.
Experiencing somewhat of a learning curve, Tuch’s first two years in the Boston University program were largely unproductive, as he was only able to score 12 goals and 21 points through his first 42 games in the NCAA. However, during his junior season, thanks to increased opportunity at the top of the lineup, Tuch scored nine goals and 20 points in 40 games, nearly doubling his career totals.
With Jay Pandolfo behind the bench and on the heels of a Hockey East Championship as well as a Frozen Four finish, Tuch and the Terriers were poised for greatness yet again in the 2023-24 season. Tuch did his part, scoring 10 goals and 30 points in 39 games, but Boston University became unable to win the Hockey East title for a second straight year, and would once again lose in the National semifinal.
Emmett Croteau Enters Transfer Portal
Canadiens prospect Emmett Croteau has entered the transfer portal, relays Brad Elliott Schlossman of the Grand Forks Herald. The 20-year-old was a sixth-round pick by Montreal in 2022, going 162nd overall. Croteau recently finished his freshman year at Clarkson but only suited up six times and struggled, posting a save percentage of just .835. With Clarkson adding Ethan Langenegger – a fifth-year transfer – via the portal, playing time for Croteau wasn’t going to be coming next season so he’ll try his luck at landing a better opportunity elsewhere.