Granting good contracts and contract extensions to players in the National Hockey League is by no means a simple matter; on the contrary, it’s more of an art.

Indeed, teams often end up regretting the contracts offered to some of their players.

That’s why it’s vital for a general manager and his team to set up an excellent salary structure with the contracts of these players, in order to position themselves well in relation to the salary cap.

This is exactly what Kent Hughes is doing for the Montreal Canadiens.

In fact, the Habs general manager is building his salary structure around a hierarchy.

Hughes based this hierarchy on the contract of captain Nick Suzuki, signed by the former GM, Marc Bergevin.

Suzuki is currently pocketing $7.875 million a year, and will continue to do so for another six seasons.

With this contract in his arsenal, Hughes has used Suzuki as an argument with his other forwards not to earn more than the team captain, which is a very strong argument.

The captain is at the top of the salary hierarchy, and nobody earns more, whether it’s Cole Caufield ($7.85 M per year for seven more seasons) or Juraj Slafkovsky ($7.6 M per year for eight seasons from 2025-2026).

In short, the Habs have put together an excellent roster.

However, there will come a day when, by force of circumstance, a forward will end up pocketing more money than captain Nick Suzuki.

And that forward, well, according to Stu Cowan, will be a forward signed via the free agent market.

Is There Any Truth To The Patrik Laine Rumors? | The Sick Podcast with Tony Marinaro August 2 2024 https://t.co/8WVj17gymz

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Indeed, on a recent episode of the Sick Podcast, Cowan explains that the first forward to earn more than Suzuki is very likely to be a free agent, and therefore a player not yet with the organization.

This is totally logical and realistic, given that among the forwards, the three big names are on long-term contracts, and barring some crazy offensive explosion, Kirby Dach won’t be signing for more money than Suzuki in two years’ time.

And anyway, by then, the Habs will probably have already signed that famous free agent.

Because yes, this free agent who could pocket more than Suzuki annually could be signed as early as the summer of 2025, i.e. next summer when the free-agent market opens.

There will be a number of interesting names available, and if Kent Hughes and his team’s plan is anything to go by, the Habs will clearly be aggressive in adding top players to their roster.

In short, we could very well see a top-notch newcomer pocketing more than Suzuki in the next few years.

Then, if all goes according to plan, and his development goes well, Ivan Demidov could almost certainly earn more than Suzuki at the end of his NHL entry-level contract.

Except that’s four years from now.

And for those of you dreaming of Patrik Laine (who’s pocketing $8.7 million a year for another two years), well, if the Habs acquire him, I’m pretty sure Kent Hughes will try to get him with a salary retention from Columbus so that Laine is below Suzuki on the salary scale.