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Juraj Slafkovsky #20 of the Montreal Canadiens
The Montreal Canadiens and forward Juraj Slafkovský have finalized an eight-year, $60.8 million contract, as general manager Kent Hughes announced on Monday, July 1.
In an interview with Slovakian media outlet Markiza TV shared by X user @HabsOnReddit on July 2, Slafkovsky expressed his relief that his parents will no longer need to work, thanks to his lucrative new contract.
“It’s great for my whole family and the people who helped me to make this happen. I’m glad that our people don’t have to do anything anymore,” Slafkovsky told the outlet, as translated via Google.
After signing his extension, and for the upcoming season, the Canadiens forward earned $950,000 per season. Once his new contract kicks in, however, Slafkovsky will get an annual salary of $7.6 million through the 2032-33 season.
The reason for the one-year delay is that the youngster still has to complete his entry-level contract, something he’ll do at the end of the 2024-25 campaign.
Slafkovsky’s Contract & Impact Within Canadiens
Slafkovsky, still 20 years old, will stay with the Canadiens for nearly one more decade following the announcement of his eight-year contract extension.
The $60.8 million deal is the second most lucrative in NHL history for a Slovak player, only behind Marian Hossa‘s 12-year, $64 million contract signed with the Chicago Blackhawks in July 2009.
Slafkovsky’s average annual value of $7.6 million, however, is the highest for a Slovak player in NHL history. It surpasses Hossa’s AAV ($5.28 million) by more than $2.3 million per year.
Slafkovsky is coming off scoring 20 goals and 30 assists for 50 total points in 82 games during the 2023-24 season. Despite posting a minus-19 rating, more related to the mediocrity of the team as a whole rather than his own underperformance, Slafkovsky is seen as one of the key members of the franchise for the future.
The Canadiens drafted Slafkovsky with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 NHL Draft and so far he leads his draft class in games played (121), goals (24), assists (36), and points (60).
Canadiens Offseason Geared Toward Organic Development
Instead of chasing top-dollar, veteran free agents, the Canadiens decided to walk the youth route during the first days of the offseason.
Montreal secured Slafkovsky for the next eight years (nine if including the final season of his entry-level contract), aligning his future with those of fellow prospects Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield.
Former Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin and current GM Hughes have signed the trio of Slafkovsky ($7.6 million), Suzuki ($7.875), and Caufield ($7.85) to eerily close deals in AAV, creating a smooth salary structure within the organization and building a flexible cap management.
Hughes explained the decision-making process under the franchise approach to skew younger instead of chasing veterans in the open market on July 1.
“We didn’t go into today thinking we had to accomplish things; we wanted to,” Hughes said, via NHL.com. “Sometimes what happens in free agency, if you go in overly committed to coming out with something, you end up with something you wish you didn’t. We wanted to enter the day with discipline.”
According to Arpon Basu of The Athletic, the Habs tried to approach and sign free-agent forward Jonathan Marchessault, but he ended up choosing the Nashville Predators instead as he considered the Preds a better fit.
“The unsuccessful task was trying to sign free-agent forward Jonathan Marchessault,” Basu wrote on July 1. “Marchessault said the Canadiens were in the running right until the end, but ultimately, he felt the fit was better with the Nashville Predators, becoming a piece of their big splash to try to compete in the extremely top-heavy Central Division.”
Marchessault signed a five-year, $5.5 million AAV contract with the Predators worth $27.5 million and joined Steven Stamkos in Nashville.
Antonio Losada covers the NHL for Heavy.com. A veteran sports writer based in Spain, Antonio has covered the NBA, NFL and soccer for over 10 years, with bylines at SB Nation, FanSided, Yahoo Sports, FanGraphs, RotoBaller and more. He has also been nominated for multiple FSWA awards, including Fantasy Football Writer of the Year and DFS Writer of the Year. More about Antonio Losada
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