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![\"Montreal](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/675345.webp\" "\\"Montreal")
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Photo credit: David Kirouac-Imagn Images<\/p>\n
The Montreal Canadiens could help the Vegas Golden Knights while strengthening their own roster.<\/p>\n
William Karlsson<\/a>‘s name is gaining more and more traction as a candidate for the Canadiens’ second-line center position, and it could turn into a major opportunity for Montreal.<\/p>\n Let’s start with the salary cap picture.<\/p>\n According to Puck Pedia, the Canadiens rank among the top 10 teams in the league for available cap space, with just over $13 million.<\/p>\n Brett Berard<\/a>‘s contract, which was made official on Thursday, reduced that figure slightly, but obviously not enough to create any concern about the club’s financial flexibility.<\/p>\n At the other end of the spectrum, Vegas is dealing with a real salary cap headache.<\/p>\n The Golden Knights are currently $8.61 million over the salary cap.<\/p>\n The rules allow teams to exceed the cap by 10% during the offseason, which buys their general manager some time.<\/p>\n Alex Pietrangelo<\/a> is expected to be placed on LTIR to help Vegas become cap compliant, but LTIR is no longer a magic solution.Montreal knows that all too well with the Carey Price<\/a> and Shea Weber<\/a> situations, where the maneuver complicated the team’s cap management.<\/p>\n To avoid placing Pietrangelo on LTIR, Kelly McCrimmon could instead trade a player.<\/p>\n And one name stands out: William Karlsson.<\/p>\n William Karlsson emerges as an ideal short-term second-line center option for the Canadiens<\/p>\n The idea did not come out of nowhere. Nick Larivi\u00e8re brought it up on The Sick Podcast:<\/p>\n Karlsson checks several boxes for the Canadiens.<\/p>\n The 33-year-old veteran is a reliable two-way center who was injured last season but still has the potential to be a strong second-line center.<\/p>\n Simon Boisvert of Trust the Process recently shared the same opinion:<\/p>\n In 15 playoff games, he recorded nine points with a +10 rating, a very encouraging sign.<\/p>\n The financial aspect is not intimidating either.<\/p>\n He carries a $5.9 million cap hit for just one more season before becoming an unrestricted free agent.<\/p>\n