Kirill Marchenko traded to the Canadiens and signs monster contract in latest proposal

A widely shared fan proposal pitched Kent Hughes on six years at $11.3 million, framing it as cap-percentage parity with Noah Dobson.

The comparison is close, though both figures land nearer ten percent of the cap than the 9.5 percent cited, using the confirmed $113.5 million ceiling for 2027-28.

The bigger problem is the term. Six years is two short of what Montreal can still access.

The current collective bargaining agreement expires September 15.

From September 16, the maximum extension a team can hand its own player drops from eight years to seven.

Hughes has already used that window twice. Dobson signed his eight-year, $76 million deal with the New York Islanders moments before the trade to Montreal, because an offer sheet would have capped him at seven.

Ivan Demidov then signed eight years and $73.2 million on July 1, the first day he was eligible, with that deadline plainly in view.

Marchenko, 26, is entering the final season of a three-year deal carrying a $3.85 million cap hit, and becomes a restricted free agent with arbitration rights next summer.

Don Waddell has publicly insisted his winger opens the season in Columbus. Every week that holds, the eighth year quietly slides off the table.

This is not only a Montreal problem. Every team holding an extension-eligible player is working against the same mid-September wall.

Term is the only currency in these negotiations that never touches the cap. Take a year away and agent Dan Milstein simply asks for the difference in dollars.

So the fan math is not too rich. It may end up too cheap, and the reason is a date, not a player.

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