As of next season, the Montreal Canadiens will have the third largest payroll in the NHL at $81.358 million. The Golden Knights will be first with $83,866M and the Lightning second with $83,725M.
The similarity between the Golden Knights and the Lightning is that both teams are very competitive.
The Habs, at 31st overall, will definitely have some cleaning up to do this summer.
Jeff Petry, Shea Weber, Jonathan Drouin and Mike Hoffman come to mind.
Note that the Canadiens will have to extend Alexander Romanov, Samuel Montembeault and Rem Pitlick this summer.