*deep breath* ok first of all Montreal could sign Tavares and be a contender, which is more likely than him singing with the islanders considering he doesn’t want to talk about a contract despite the Belmont arena deal... he’s going to the market. Second how would Montreal ever trade price and not get a) a top line player b) a top two D c) an actual prospect and d) a boatload of picks. They would probably have to trade barzal, a prospect and a couple 1st rounders

The idea that Tavares is more likely to sign with Montreal than the Islanders is nothing but fan hope. He probably doesn't want to talk about the contract because he wants to get as much as he can and he can use the market (Montreal) to get it. The Islanders would be stupid not to offer him as much as anyone else, losing him would set the franchise back for years.
As for Price, he has a NMC and a cap hit of $10.5M, so...
A) he can decide the teams he can be traded to and he's gonna rule out any team that is not a contender (with the exception of Vancouver maybe as it is close to home)
B) the only teams who would want him, especially at such a high cap hit, are the ones who are looking at contending and need a goalie at the same time. The only teams that fit these two categories are the Islanders, Carolina and Calgary if they aren't satisfied with Smith (maybe even Nashville, but they seem to like Saaros).
So if the demand is so scarce, how can you expect to come out of a possible trade with the kind of haul you described?
If the Habs go for a rebuild and trade the other old guys (Petry, Weber, Pacioretty, hopefully Alzner), they would want picks, prospects and young established NHLers, but again, how can you expect to get those if only a few teams would want Price?

30 year old goalies with a 10.4 million dollar cap hit for 8 years aren't great trade chips.

what an awful contract. between weber and price, montreal is screwed for a while.

With a NMC...

Montreal has to take back money in a deal, otherwise no team can do the deal And this post had the Habs taking back money.....But the only reason Montreal would do the deal, is to shred cap, so it looks like almost any deal for just picks or prospects is impossible to do.

Well, the Habs would shed SOME money, but more importantly they would shed TERM. Plus this give them back picks, a prospect and worse players so that they could tank for a season or two without having Price generate "bad", "unwanted" wins.

It is SO funny how Habs fans use this thing to constantly sign Tavares to 7yr deals worth 7mil a season and make ridiculous trades because they’re “the Habs so everyone acts to play for us.” The minute that any other team acquires a member of the Habs for anything but eight first round picks and the entire farm system, their fans lose it. It’s so funny

I haven't seen any Habs fan suggest that, especially here. Most fans I know are aware that the chances Tavares signs with us are very slim. Do you have any proof to what you're saying or are you just spewing nonsense to bash Habs fans?

Check out almost every single Habs team. He signs with the Habs in almost every single one.

A fair majority of the Habs teams have him being signed.

That's hope rather than reasoning. It's "look how the the team could look with Tavares" rather than "Tavares is gonna sign with us next offseason. Plus, no user signs him for the kind of contract you suggested

Your know the Montreal organization. They don't "step back". They could have done last year by trading Price. Then they drafted a potential stud Dman, for Drouin. And they were so interested in sneaking in the playoffs they signed the declining Alzner to 5 year deal. Making the playoffs, every year, so important to the Have ones. I'm not saying it's wrong, but that is their operating philosophy.

First of all I’m not saying that Montreal is likely to get him. All I’m saying is that in the off season the isles were assumed to sign him and now it seems that they only have a slight advantage over the field considering he looks like he at least wants to talk to teams in free agency. Reason I mention him in the context I did is because the poster is acting as if it’s a given that they sign Tavares and that MTL is on the downfall. Whereas in reality if a struggling team like Montreal were able to land Tavares it would completely change the teams outlook

I know, I'm just doing this for fun. As long as Bergevin is at the helm it's not gonna happen. Montreal needs new blood and fresh ideas in the front office for something as drastic as tanking to happen.

Hard pass

He does what he is told like all gm do
Only video game fanatics think the gm is the President of Hockey Operations