Moves to finish the season

Good scenario ! Byron should play

Definitely, just not sure where yet. He'll be needed regardless with all the scratches. I'd probably have him with Lehkonen and Evans so we can move Ylonen around and give him some looks.

Yeah something along these lines is what I expect will happen.

-Definitely trade the pending UFA's.
-Use retention to get some free draft picks.

But one thing I would like though is to move out some MORE players at the draft at a minimum. This roster above is good enough to just miss the playoffs next year. That is simply just not an option IMHO. This teams needs a rebuild in the worst way. It can start at the TDL with Chiarot but it needs to continue into the off season with some big names too. Back to back solid drafts in the top 5 could give this team a true core to build around along with Suzuki, Caulfield and Guhle.

If that's the direction, of course. I'm okay with either, but I'm also concerned that this team will not be able to bottom out again if we do not (or can not) go far enough towards a rebuild.

Price would have to be moved first. No single player is more capable of ruining a tanking effort, and it's hard to sell a rebuild if he's staying.

The rest can be slow played. Petry and Gallagher would be easier to move in the off season, or when teams miss out on free agents, but everyone else can be moved at any time.

Step 2 of this plan is trading Price, but without that, step 3 is probably changing the coaching staff and aiming for better results.

I think we Habs fans overestimate Price's ability to save the Habs in season. The team has time after time tried to put good players in front of him and our results have not been good outside the actual playoff success the team has had. if you take some good players off this team and with Price's age and deterioration, I have little doubt the Habs will be bottom dwellers. Habs haven't been a 0.600%+ team since 16-17..... That was 6 years ago.

IMHO the single biggest threat to the Habs rebuild efforts is having as much depth as they do. Their wingers are far too stacked. I think 3-4 forwards and atleast 1dman of 2M+ all need to be moved out this offseason. The rest can wait. Moving Petry alone would be hard, moving Price will be virtually impossible. We're better off just keeping them and simply moving out the rest of the team that is easier to move out. Petry and Price cannot stop the team from tanking. Gallagher, Toffolli, Hoffman, Petry, Armia and Price as a unit can though.

If you plan on rebuilding, you have to be aggressive about it or else you are just prolonging how long it will end up being and rebuilds cannot last too long or GMS get antsy to cut it short prematurely. Do it properly and you'll be able to compete well within the 5 year time frame but you have to be aggressive about it. The length of a rebuild generally has less to do with how well the youth develops and more about getting the players of value out and getting the top end picks and prospects in.