No big career defining trades this offseason for Kent Hughes (no Zegras type deals). Sticks to the same steady plan. This thread is also going off the assumption that whoever the Habs select at the draft goes back to junior / NCAA, Europe, etc (Catton, Demidov, Helenius). Habs winning the draft lottery obviously changes the gameplan.
The Tyler Toffoli free agent signing only happens imo if one of Armia, Anderson, or Gallagher is traded (Armia being the easiest and most likely). An incentive for Toffoli returning to MTL is also giving him a full NMC, which is 100% reasonable in his case, I doubt he wants to get traded again lol
Lundell is the "Dach / Newhook" acquisition of this offseason. Barron being the "key" asset involved for MTL. It's realistic FLA would target a young cost-effective RD. Montour is due for a significant raise, and RD is already thin.
Harris for Cates is a trade I've done before. Cates has fallen down the depth chart in Philly, is great defensively, with a little offensive upside. Very costly for what he provides at $2.6mil aav, but cap isn't an issue for MTL. Harris is essentially a similar version of Cates but on defense. Has fallen down the depth chart, has great two-way D analytics, with a little offensive upside. Harris is a year younger and costs half as much. Feels like a low risk, win-win hockey trade to me.
Even after moving Barron, Harris, and Savard (none of them being waiver exempt) ...there's still a log jam on defense...... but at least in this case there's a lot of flexibility to move players back and forth from Laval (Struble, Hutson, Reinbacher, Mailloux all still being waiver exempt). In the lineup I have below, I'd send Struble to Laval. but you could easily send both Hutson and Reinbacher to Laval and insert Struble and Kovacevic in the lineup.
If Cates or Lundell aren't acquired, and if Dvorak can get the "Chris Wideman" treatment. I'd also look a bringing back Monahan.
Habs let walk RFAs Ylonen, Andersson, and Norlinder.
Other offseason priorities would be signing Guhle and Slafkovsky to contract extensions. 4-5 year deals minimum, hopefully below $6mil aav, 7-8 year deals obviously could have a higher aav...
Additional assets added depending on competitive market for Lundell. Could be as high as adding WINs 2024 1st rd pick, or adding more depth prospects like Farrell, Kidney, etc.
There's just no fit at all for Harris in Philly. Funny enough, if the Flyers wanted to make a big splash this summer I could see Lundell being a guy they really make an effort to acquire (and based on where Philly is at and how big their needs currently are, I could see them paying a lot more than Barron+ to get him)
There's just no fit at all for Harris in Philly. Funny enough, if the Flyers wanted to make a big splash this summer I could see Lundell being a guy they really make an effort to acquire (and based on where Philly is at and how big their needs currently are, I could see them paying a lot more than Barron+ to get him)
Curious... what would your offer be for Lundell from PHI's perspective? I did write that depending on the market, Habs could go as high as adding WIN's 2024 1st rd pick and maybe even more. In another thread, another Habs fans suggested Evans being thrown into the deal, which makes sense with FLA being in "win now" mode. and Evans and Lundell's production this season are similar.
PHI and MTL definitely have a crap ton of assets to spend that could bump up the cost in a bidding war, that's for sure.
if they planned on moving savard, he woumd have been gone at the deadline where the value is the highest. Montréal wont put 3 rookie on their regular d-corp next year.
I think Philly would be more inclined to acquire one of our RHD (Barron or Kovacevic) rather than Harris. Philly already has Sanheim, York, Seeler and Zamula as LHD. However, I personally would much rather hold on to Barron because I still think he has 2nd pairing upside. I'd much rather do a Cates/Kovacevic swap but not sure how the value works there. I'd also avoid Lundell, if we're trading for a forward, I'd much rather go all in and trade for a young, legit top-six forward that's a safer bet than someone like Lundell, who's very boom or bust. Solid AGM though.
Curious... what would your offer be for Lundell from PHI's perspective? I did write that depending on the market, Habs could go as high as adding WIN's 2024 1st rd pick and maybe even more. In another thread, another Habs fans suggested Evans being thrown into the deal, which makes sense with FLA being in "win now" mode. and Evans and Lundell's production this season are similar.
PHI and MTL definitely have a crap ton of assets to spend that could bump up the cost in a bidding war, that's for sure.
Made this largely thinking about this thread, obviously adding Knight muddies the waters a bit here but this is around what I'd be willing to do for him
McDavid, Connor
$250,000)
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