Canadiens sign Juraj Slafkovsky to eight-year, US$60.8-million deal

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It looks like Juraj Slafkovsky is going to be with the Canadiens for a long time.

General manager Kent Hughes announced Monday afternoon that the Canadiens have agreed to terms on an eight-year, US$60.8-million contract extension with the 20-year-old forward who was the No. 1 overall pick at the 2022 NHL Draft.

The Slovakian has one season remaining on his three-year, NHL entry-level contract with a salary-cap hit of US$950,000. The contract extension, which has an annual salary-cap hit of US$7.6 million, will run through the 2032-33 season when Slafkovsky will be 29.

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The 6-foot-3, 230-pound winger got off to a slow start last season with 2-5-7 totals after 30 games. But Slafkovsky showed exceptional improvement after that and finished his second NHL season with 20-30-50 totals while playing in all 82 games. He had 7-12-19 totals in the last 19 games while playing on the No. 1 line with Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield.

Slafkovsky’s new contract will pay him slightly less than Suzuki and Caufield. Suzuki, the team captain, has an annual salary-cap hit of US$7.875 million, while Caufield’s annual cap hit is US$7.85 million. Suzuki is under contract through the 2029-30 season, while Caufield is signed through 2030-31.

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Slafkovsky — who turned 20 on March 30 — became the first player in Canadiens history to record 40 points in a season before age 20. Only three players in Canadiens history age 20 or younger have scored more goals than Slafkovsky in a season: Guy Lafleur (29 in 1971-72), Mario Tremblay (21 in 1974-75) and Stéphane Richer (21 in 1985-86).

In a news conference Monday afternoon at the CN Sports Complex in Brossard, Hughes said that contract talks with Slafkovsky’s agent, Gerry Johannson, started about a month ago. Hughes added that the objective was to get a contract extension signed this summer, but if they couldn’t the GM was willing to wait until the end of the season. That’s what happened with Caufield, who signed his eight-year deal last June.

“Juraj, on his side, loves Montreal,” said Hughes, adding that the former No. 1 overall pick is very important to the future success of the Canadiens. “He loves the city, he loves playing here. So our objective was always to see if we could sign him to a long-term contract, whether it was eight years or seven years — even six years. We did a lot of back and forth.”

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They settled on eight years for slightly less than Suzuki and Caufield.

Hughes said he would have been willing to go higher if Slafkovsky wanted to play the final season of his entry-level deal — like Caufield did — and continue to show improvement. The GM pointed out to Slafkovsky and his agent that Caufield scored 48 goals in his last 83 games before signing his new contract after being sidelined because of shoulder surgery.

“At the end of the day, I think every player when they do a contract, they assess the body of work, the timeline of that body of work speaks to the consistency of it,” Hughes said. “And the team does, too. We were two years into his contract. We had another year left to continue to assess and he did, too. At the end of the day, we felt like this was the right time to do the deal under the parameters that we did the deal and I think they, obviously, felt the same way.”

Slafkovsky will speak with the Montreal media on a Zoom conference Tuesday morning.

scowan@postmedia.com

twitter.com/StuCowan1

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