Montreal Can’t Copy the Route Vegas Took with Robin Lehner On Carey Price Next Year

Carey Price has been on LTIR for the bulk of the last three seasons and will be there again this season.  But while Vegas found a workaround to their similar situation with Robin Lehner, it’s not a road map for the Canadiens to follow with Price next year.

For those who are unfamiliar with the situation, Lehner didn’t report to training camp with Vegas last month, leading GM Kelly McCrimmon to muse that they’d be exploring all options after what amounted to a breach of contract.  Lehner, on the other hand, put out a statement saying that the team was well aware in advance that he wouldn’t be reporting and that he was looking forward to a resolution.

That resolution was revealed on Thursday with Vegas being allowed to take Lehner off their books, bypassing LTIR and its restrictions altogether.  Meanwhile, for the NHLPA to sign off, the Golden Knights agreed to pay him in full.  All in all, a compromise that looks pretty good for Vegas.  But there’s a uniqueness to this situation that results in it not being a precedent-setter league-wide.

It relates to why Lehner didn’t report or, perhaps more aptly put, couldn’t report.  As ESPN’s Emily Kaplan relayed, there was a specific reason why Lehner was unable to attend, one of a sensitive nature.  Due to that, the NHL and NHLPA agreed that this is an “unprecedented and highly unique” case.  In other words, one that isn’t repeatable.

This is not a situation where Vegas and Lehner worked out a wink-wink-nudge-nudge deal with Lehner to say don’t report, we’ll threaten to terminate your contract, and then we’ll work out a ‘best of both worlds’ scenario where both sides get what they want.  It’s not a situation that can be copied for other teams like Montreal to follow even though, let’s face it, clearing Price off their books would really make things simpler for them cap-wise.

To be honest, I’m not even sure this will necessarily be a problem for the Canadiens to contend with next summer.  $5.5 million of his $7.5 million owed comes in the form of a July 1st signing bonus.  Once Montreal pays that, there’s a legitimate possibility that they can find a trade taker for Price at that time, especially since his contract is believed to be insured.  There will be a handful of cap floor teams next summer that shouldn’t require much incentive to take the deal on and if they find a swap to their liking, the problem that Price’s contract presents will be gone.

If you’re not sure what I mean by problem, while the Habs can spend over the cap while Price is on LTIR, it means they incur a bonus carryover penalty each season since they end the year with zero cap space.  For a young team with several players on entry-level deals, those penalties have surpassed a million dollars the last couple of years and it should be an even higher penalty for 2024-25 (charged in 2025-26) if they wind up being in there for the upcoming season.  Avoiding that would be ideal.

But the Lehner situation doesn’t create a magic bullet precedent for the Habs to follow next year.  This was a one-off situation.  If Montreal is going to get out of Price’s contract a year from now, they’ll have to do so the old-fashioned way, by finding a team that wants to take on the deal to reduce the salary they need to pay others to reach the cap floor.  Lots can change over the next year but I think they’ll find a way to do just that.