Dougie

if the kk offersheet was lower, the habs would have matched though

Yeah, I had that thought too. Maybe they would have, maybe after scratching him in the playoffs they would've let him go? I think a 5.5 offer still gets them a 1st and a 3rd. It's all a fantasy world, I know

the compensation is different for 5.5, its just a second round pick.

It would still be the 1st and the 3rd but MTL was more worried about the next season after cause they would have to qualify him at 6.1 again if they didn't have him signed yet.

Likely if its a 5-5.5 deal MTL matches just based off the fact that they were willing to go and get someone that was being paid 4.5 to replace him.

1) This team in itself is a MAJOR step backward from what it is right now

2) Dougie was offered 8 million. Carolina didn't want to go 8 years on him at a high AAV. That's why he was moved on. The defense is better now than it was with Dougie. I'd rather have Antti than Forsberg, call me crazy, but Raanta's won the cup. What he can do behind the scenes would have been nice. Also, Forsberg didn't want to come back. He was a Hurricane and wasn't ever going to get a chance. Kotkaniemi would have been matched if it wasn't north of 6 mil. There's a lot of issues with this. Bean just wasn't good either, I'd rather have Cole.