Montreal Canadiens confront RFA deadline and roster crunch

Teams have until 5 p.m. on 29 June to file qualifying offers for restricted free agents. The Montreal Canadiens must decide on four RFAs—forward Joe Veleno, Kirby Dach, Zackary Bolduc and defenseman Arber Xhekaj. Bolduc cannot arbitrate; the other three may seek arbitration if they reject an offer. A number of Laval Rocket prospects are also approaching qualifying‑offer decisions, and many players will become unrestricted free agents on 1 July if no new contracts are signed.

Montreal’s forward roster is already deep, which hinders any immediate signing of A.J. Greer. The Canadiens list includes Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Juraj Slafkovsky, Josh Anderson, Phillip Danault, Alex Newhook, Jake Evans, Alexandre Texier, Kasperi Kapanen, Ivan Demidov, Brendan Gallagher and the four pending RFAs. To add Greer, management would need to free up salary‑cap space or trade existing forwards, making his acquisition uncertain.