Like the leader he is, the Canadiens compensate their newest captain.
Who is the highest-paid player on the Montreal Canadiens?
The Canadiens pay their newest captain like the leader he is.
Naming the Montreal Canadiens highest-paid player depends on how you view their current roster. Theoretically, they are still paying Carey Price, who has been on long-term injured reserve since 2022. Price’s cap hit was $10.5 million annually, ending after the 2025-26 season. However, most people disregard this contract and recognize Nick Suzuki as the team’s highest-paid player.
Suzuki signed an eight-year, $63 million contract at the beginning of the 2021-22 season. He had just helped the Canadiens make a Cinderella run to the Stanley Cup Finals against the Tampa Bay Lightning and would be the leader of the team as Price and Shea Weber’s careers ended. He now enters the third year of the contract and has improved every season since the contract.
Suzuki made a big jump in the season after signing the contract, improving his career-high by tallying 61 points in 82 games. Suzuki’s career-high was 41 points in the previous season. He recorded 66 points the following season before increasing to 77 in 2023-24. The 77-point threshold is an acceptable range for Suzuki. He is the complementary offensive piece on a line with Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky, but his contributions as a two-way forward make him the most valuable forward on the team.
The Canadiens front office recognizes Suzuki as the team’s most valuable player. He has a $7.875 million cap hit, which they carefully ensured was $25,000 more than Caufield’s newest contract. They want Suzuki’s cap number to be the bar for their forwards, which they confirmed with Slafkovsky’s newest deal.
The Canadiens signed Slafkovsky to an eight-year extension on July 1st, which will pay him $7.6 million annually. There are no forwards due for contracts soon that will contend with Suzuki as the highest-paid designation, which puts the Canadiens in a great spot for their salary cap.
Will anyone dethrone Suzuki?
There is an obvious player who may break through the ceiling that the Canadiens created with the Suzuki contract. Ivan Demidov will likely sign his entry-level deal next season, which gives the Canadiens three years on a bargain.
However, if Demidov turns into the player that most people expect, he will demand more than $7.875 million annually. Consider that the salary cap will continue to rise in the coming years, and players will get a larger piece of the pie. If the Canadiens tried to give Demidov an extension of less than $7.875 million, it could be the equivalent of giving him $4-5 million at the time of this writing.
If Demidov gets a deal equivalent to $4-5 million, he will be a major letdown after the hype surrounding him this offseason.
