Canadiens thoughts before NHL Draft: Claude Giroux, John Tavares, salary cap implications

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MONTREAL — The NHL offseason is in full swing and should heat up ahead of the first round of the NHL Draft on Friday.

The Canadiens are attempting to navigate the waters of a buyer-heavy market to try and make some tangible improvements, but it’s been a challenge. As previously mentioned, the Canadiens are looking to flip areas of surplus – draft picks, prospects and young defencemen – to address areas of need: a top-six forward, preferably a centre, and a right-shot defenceman.

The Philadelphia Flyers just acquired Trevor Zegras from the Anaheim Ducks at a very low cost: Ryan Poehling, a serviceable fourth-line centre, along with a second-round pick this year and a fourth-round pick next year. Though Zegras has played primarily on the wing the past two seasons, the Flyers hope to convert him back into a centre for their top six.

Feels like a good time to refresh those wallpapers. 👀 pic.twitter.com/BnBLDTHl88

— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) June 25, 2025

Opportunity lost for the Canadiens? Perhaps. I’ve seen some people say the Canadiens could have made a similar offer trading Owen Beck or Oliver Kapanen along with some better picks, but that’s not the true equivalency. No, that would be trading Jake Evans, who is a bit older than Poehling but is an established bottom-six centre with real penalty-killing value. This is not to say the Canadiens should not have made an offer like that, but that would have created another hole in their lineup.

I don’t know if the Canadiens were in on the Zegras talks, but if they were, I would imagine that would give them some pause because Evans is someone they know can fill a specific role and not only fits in their culture, but is a driver of that culture. Zegras would be coming with no assurance of what role he could fill and no idea how he would fit in that culture. That matters.

And with Zegras having one year left on his contract, the Canadiens would want to have those assurances before diving into a trade like this one. Because trading someone like Evans a few months after signing him to an extension, only to realize that Zegras does not fit in either a role or cultural sense, would be a big net loss, especially for a young team concerned about maintaining a healthy ratio of veterans in the lineup.

I believe this was a similar concern when Martin Necas was available on the trade market last summer before ultimately signing a bridge contract with the Carolina Hurricanes and being traded in-season to the Colorado Avalanche. There was the talent of the player versus the combination of the impending financial commitment necessary and the unknown element of bringing a new person into your culture who was unhappy in the culture he was leaving.

This is not to say the Canadiens should or should not have gone after Zegras. There are solid arguments to be made on both sides. It is simply to demonstrate there are other matters under consideration when looking to make improvements this offseason, and the risk/reward calculation incorporates far more information than simply goals and assists.

Roles, fit and culture are all a big part of it.

A few other thoughts and observations on the offseason:

Rangers-Penguins implications

The New York Rangers deciding to send the No. 12 pick in this year’s draft to the Pittsburgh Penguins to complete the J.T. Miller trade impacts the Canadiens in two ways.

First, the Penguins now have far more ammunition to move into the top 10 of the draft or aggressively package the 11th and 12th picks to get immediate NHL help. It makes the Canadiens keeping the 16th and 17th pick Friday far more likely, even if it was already the most likely scenario given the state of the trade market.

Second, it signals the Rangers’ belief they will be a playoff team next season, which comes as no surprise. Still, with the Rangers, New York Islanders, Columbus Blue Jackets, Detroit Red Wings, Boston Bruins and Buffalo Sabres all looking to push their way into the playoffs, with no clear candidates for a dropoff from the existing playoff teams in the east, it should serve as a reminder of just how difficult it will be for the Canadiens to get back there next season.

Lane Hutson and the salary cap

Smart piece here from colleague Thomas Drance in Vancouver on the changing face of the NHL under a rising cap and what it means for UFA and RFA contracts going forward. What’s most relevant to the Canadiens is Drance’s note on the cost of bridging star RFA talent, which applies to Lane Hutson in a big way. The drastic rise in the salary cap could lead Hutson to push for a shorter bridge or a medium-term deal to get him to UFA status quicker. He would hardly be the first high-profile offensive defenceman to choose this route.

But the other aspect of the new financial landscape that changes how contracts should be viewed long-term is how unlikely it is that every team will be spending to the new cap every year. We know the cap should be at around $113.5 million by 2027-28, and that may already be too rich for several teams, especially those that are not in a contention window. There is a very real possibility that we will see a world where the traditional high-revenue clubs spend to the cap every year, and the only other clubs in that spending range are true contenders.

In that kind of environment, using percentage of the cap as a basis for contract comparisons could become a thing of the past, because while the cap might very well be at $113.5 million, there could only be a handful of teams willing to spend that amount. When just about every team was spending close to the cap every year, percentage of the cap was a practical apples-to-apples comparison. If only, say, a third of the league is spending to the cap, it becomes more of an apples-to-oranges comparison.

And finally, if the Canadiens are to become one of the few teams that regularly spend to the cap, waiting for that dynamic to shift might be more to their advantage as free agents seek out those teams and avoid those working under an internal budget.

The new value of cap space

With Evander Kane moving from the Edmonton Oilers to the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday morning, we’ve now seen two examples of potential high-impact forwards being moved in a salary dump, along with Mason Marchment going from the Dallas Stars to the Seattle Kraken. In both cases, the return was mid-round draft picks. In both cases, the teams trading away the players were desperate for cap space. And what’s most notable is that in both cases, the teams trading away the players actually received something in return and did not have to add a sweetener to the receiving team for taking on the entirety of the contract.

This is a big change because the Canadiens are about to use the No. 16 pick in the draft, a pick they received from the Calgary Flames for taking on the entirety of Sean Monahan’s contract, and next year they have a Blue Jackets second-round pick they received for taking on the entirety of Patrik Laine’s contract. Essentially, the value of cap space is going down as more of it becomes available, which is basic supply-and-demand economics. The Canadiens took advantage of having cap space while it was most valuable to add draft picks. But that advantage is now seemingly gone.

Watching Giroux and Tavares

Our Pierre LeBrun has reported that both John Tavares and Claude Giroux are far apart in talks with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators, respectively, with July 1 just around the corner.

Senators and Giroux’s rep Pat Brisson of CAA were slated to chat again today. Still a gap in positions there to be sure. https://t.co/7mh5rB0WZk

— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) June 25, 2025

Both players would be a good short-term fit for the Canadiens, and there is little doubt they are monitoring both situations closely.

Tavares being a lefty centre who is strong in the faceoff circle makes him a more natural fit for what the Canadiens need, but when looking at both players, Giroux seems to be a more realistic target and would work quite well despite being a right-shot who generally plays on the wing. That’s because he took 976 faceoffs with the Senators last year and won 61.5 percent of them. No one in the NHL who took at least 100 faceoffs had a higher win percentage than Giroux.

For a team that has a player in Kirby Dach whose skill set is well suited to play centre but whose inability to win faceoffs is a major hindrance to that, having a winger who can win a faceoff, then slide back to the wing seems like an ideal match.

It sounds as though the bonus structure on a potential Giroux contract with the Senators is a sticking point, so if he gets to July 1, we’ll see what the Canadiens are willing to do in that department if indeed they attempt to sign him. We do know the Canadiens offered a higher average annual value with less term – believed to be no longer than three years – to Jonathan Marchessault on the opening day of free agency a year ago. Might they be willing to overpay to land Giroux on a short-term deal? We’ll see how talks evolve with the Senators, but it would appear to be at least a strong possibility if he hits the open market.

(Photo of Claude Giroux: Carmen Mandato / Getty Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

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