A quiet offseason

Habs decline both

care to explain?

Kaliyev is a 3rd line winger at best and not someone Montreal needs to be adding with RHP, Ylonen, Gallagher, Heineman, Farrell, Armia, Pezzetta and Roy already fighting for 3rd line roles. Also Roy is miles better than Kaliyev so if anyone is getting 2 RW it's him.

Barron has way more value than a 3rd round pick, a 22 yo NHL ready RHD that has top 4 ceiling, that easily returns anywhere from a late 1st, to a 2nd + 3rd min.

As I explained in the post, I think Kaliyev could improve under MSL. The lines are flexible though. Roy could very well take the 2RW spot, but he's only played 23 NHL games in his career, so I wouldn't want to bank on it even though I think he could do a reasonably good job of it.

Barron hasn't spent a full season in the NHL, and despite his decent scoring numbers hasn't forced Habs management to keep him in the lineup yet. Don't forget that he was only called up towards the end of the season on an emergency recall because Guhle and Xhekaj got injured. Sure he still has some potential, but if he's going to realize it, it won't be here. As of right now, he isn't an NHLer, and nobody is paying a 1st or a 2nd and 3rd for a tweener.

The reason Barron hasn't found a spot is because he's a guy with greater than 50% of his starts in the Ozone but still manages to have an under 50% corsi.
Be hard pressed to get a 3rd for a player like that, especially from the penguins. They don't need guys that have to be hidden in the Ozone. They need a 3rd pairing that can handle their own zone and PK.
That ain't Barron right now, and hence not a fit.
Maybe one day he develops into that. But PIT doesn't have the time to wait on that.





No one is paying you that for Barron.