MONTREAL, QC - NOVEMBER 29: Ottawa Senators Defenceman Erik Karlsson (65) pushes the puck away from Montreal Canadiens Right Wing Brendan Gallagher (11) during the Ottawa Senators versus the Montreal Canadiens game on November 29, 2017, at Bell Centre in Montreal, QC (Photo by David Kirouac/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

The Montreal Canadiens have used their cap space to help teams before, and maybe they can do it again with an Erik Karlsson trade.

Erik Karlsson is the most talked about name in the NHL at the moment. The likelihood of him choosing to remain with the Ottawa Senators continued to decrease after the team’s performance, off-ice issues, and that poor contract offer (eight years at $10 million per). Trading Karlsson is now a matter of if, not when and if Ottawa needs help getting the salaries in order, the Montreal Canadiens could help out.

Marc Bergevin played a similar role indirectly with the Winnipeg Jets. Kevin Chevaldayoff wanted to clear some more cap space in order to re-sign Paul Stastny, and the Habs answered the call. They took on Steve Mason‘s $4.1 million cap hit to buy it out and were rewarded with Joel Armia, a 2019 seventh-round pick and a 2020 fourth-round pick.

The Habs have the cap space to do the same thing for Ottawa in trading Karlsson. Apparently, the franchise defenceman will be on his way to Tampa Bay, but both teams need a third-party to help with the salaries.

Per source, teams around the league have been engaged as a third party to help facilitate a potential Erik Karlsson/Tampa Bay trade. Have to make salaries work. — Travis Yost (@travisyost) July 5, 2018

Money Makes the World Go Round

The New York Rangers are being included in a lot of these discussions as a possible candidate to lend a friendly hand.

The Rangers are up to their necks in cap space with an available $23,725,556 left to spend. Granted, they also have some restricted free agents to extend in Jimmy Vesey, Brady Skjei, and Kevin Hayes to name a few who have elected for salary arbitration. But the Rangers are still a good option.

Montreal doesn’t have as much space as them at $12,095,358 which will take a hit after Danault and Armia receive their next deals. However, they’ll still be able to take on a less than ideal contract. It’ll depend on who the moving piece is going to be.

Ryan Callahan is the guy many believe to be the ‘salary dump’ who is set to make $5.8 million for another two seasons. Vegas was the third team in on the last big trade ahead of the playoffs retaining 40% of Derrick Brassard’s and getting Ryan Reaves and a 2018 fourth-round pick.

Picks and perhaps a B or C level prospect would be waiting for the Montreal Canadiens if they were able to put their signature on this. The problem here is that Callahan has a 16-team no-trade list. Whether the Habs are on it is one thing, but it would be interesting to see if he would waive it.

That’s another reason why the Rangers are the appeared front-runners for this. Callahan started his career there getting traded in exchange for Martin St. Louis ahead of the 2014 Trade Deadline.

Brayden Coburn (one year at $3.7 million) and Dan Girardi (one year at $3 million) could be moving pieces for Steve Yzerman as well, but the same problem arises in a no-trade clause.

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It seems like Karlsson to Tampa is close to becoming official. Word was out that it was happening Thursday night, but Elliotte Friedman shut it down. However, with all the buzz around the trade, it looks to be a foregone conclusion that Karlsson will be a Lightning. Whether the Habs can get something out of the deal or not is something fans should look out for.