The Arizona / Utah trade solves multiple issues for MTL. It clears up LD for Guhle and Hutson, while still having PLENTY of depth with Struble, Xhekaj, and recently added Engstrom in the mix. It adds highly sought after Crouse for middle 6 scoring (I personally like the idea of a Crouse - Dach - Slafkovsky line. All are giants that can skate, hit, and score), it upgrades Barron with a waiver exempt Lamoureux, so there is no sacrifice to the Habs RD depth, and adds and early 2nd that can be flipped for another Dach/Newhook type deal.
For my fellow Habs fans that say MTL still needs vets on their blue line, fear not! Habs sign free agent Brett Pesce to a 5 year $32.5mil ($6.5mil aav) deal. Having Pesce continues to insulate the young D core and ensures MTL doesn't need to rush Reinbacher, Mailloux, Lamoureux, etc. It also allows MTL more leeway to move Savard (if needed) if Reinbacher is ready to make the jump. I also like using the Slavin comparison for Guhle, so why not get him Slavin's former partner. A match made in heaven!
I also brought back Toffoli for that veteran presence in MTLs top 6, but another alternative could be Marchessault.
I'm keeping the 3C spot vacant for this thread, but there a plenty of options for what can be done for that vacancy:
#1 Habs draft a center who proves at camp they are NHL ready... *cough* Lindstrom *cough*
#2 Hughes makes another Dach/Newhook trade (candidate for a 3C could be Rossi from MIN)
#3 Beck or Kapanen claims the spot with a strong training camp.
#4 Newhook stays at Center and frees up a spot on the wing (options could be Mesar, Heineman, or a rejuvenated Anderson)
#5 Habs re-sign Monahan
#6 Habs keep both Evans and Dvorak as their bottom 6 Cs (Boring...)
Cap space still isn't a concern with Armia, Dvorak, and Savard all coming off the books, $11.35mil aav, at the end of the season. Add the $7.6 in cap space MTL currently has in this ACGM, MTL will have about $19mil in cap space to re-sign Slafkovsky and Guhle to contract extensions for the following season.
i dont think bill armstrong is in any rush to trade lamoureux
True, I'm just going off the assumption that the owner in Utah will want to speed up the process to be competitive. Barron and Lamoureux are actually fairly similar prospects (both former 1sts, both played for Canada at the WJ), but Barron is older and more NHL ready. The big difference is Lamoureux is waiver exempt, Barron isn't. But the difference in value between Crouse and Matheson more than makes up for it imo.
Quoting: Lancebmx
Matheson isn't worth that.
The only reach is the early 2nd rd pick. Matheson is way more valuable than Crouse. Tried to make up the difference with swapping Barron with Lamoureux and adding a pick. If anything, the pick should be downgraded or removed.
True, I'm just going off the assumption that the owner in Utah will want to speed up the process to be competitive. Barron and Lamoureux are actually fairly similar prospects (both former 1sts, both played for Canada at the WJ), but Barron is older and more NHL ready. The big difference is Lamoureux is waiver exempt, Barron isn't. But the difference in value between Crouse and Matheson more than makes up for it imo.
The only reach is the early 2nd rd pick. Matheson is way more valuable than Crouse. Tried to make up the difference with swapping Barron with Lamoureux and adding a pick. If anything, the pick should be downgraded or removed.
Yeah like Barron is not unvaluable, and there is a gap between matheson and crouse, i just dont think they would be looking to speed up their rebuild in that way. Maybe they buy a couple guys in exchange for some of their second round picks or sign some FAs with their capspace though
McDavid, Connor
$250,000)
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