How the Canadiens made the Phillip Danault trade work under the salary cap

The Montreal Canadiens' cap managers had to get creative late Friday night when general manager Kent Hughes acquired Phillip Danault one hour before the NHL's holiday roster freeze took effect.

First, it is important to understand that a team cannot complete a trade that would put it over the salary cap with the intention of becoming compliant afterward. Everything had to be in order at the moment the Habs acquired Danault, 32, and his $5.5 million cap hit.

When the Canadiens offloaded Carey Price's contract in a trade with the Sharks over the summer, they celebrated a major victory: the end of using the long-term injured reserve. No longer having to use it allowed them to accrue daily cap space. Early-season projections indicated Hughes could accumulate a cushion reaching around $20 million by next March 6.

However, the Danault trade forced the Canadiens to use the long-term injured reserve list again, which, of course, was not the initial plan. By doing so, the space the Canadiens had accumulated since the start of the season was no longer on the books.

The cap-compliance playbook behind the Canadiens' Phillip Danault trade

To comply with the cap, the Canadiens made these decisions in order before securing Danault: place Kaiden Guhle and Kirby Dach on long-term injured reserve (retroactive to the last game they played), and then demote Jared Davidson to Laval. This was confirmed by PuckPedia.