I wish it was that easy........

I think it's a better deal than what it really seems. It's just difficult to get behind the idea of trading Price for a guy like Markstrom.

In terms of how much a single player can improve a team, there is an argument there. But in a world where cap space is important, being able to acquire players with a lot of cap has almost become impossible.

Price is still very good and will be for a long time. His contract though, is simply too much money for any player not named McDavid or Matthews. People argue Toews isn't worth his contact anymore either and he is a #1 center so imagine for a goalie.

I doubt Montreal gets that much. Probably insert Joulevi instead of Pettersson. Is Price really worth an average starter + 2 top 5 draft picks given his cap hit and term? I'd say theres got to be some way to configure it to where both teams are happy, but right now I think Vancouver is giving up too much because I personally like the top 5 of this draft class and Pettersson is practically off the charts in Sweden.

Ok so two questions then:

- If Habs retained 4M on his Prices contract, would his value now be considered full value? That makes his contract 6.5M for 8 years. Would teams then be willing to really trade for Price?

- Secondly, Trading price would initiate a rebuild meaning that the Habs would have at the very minimum 3 years ahead of them of being completely not expected to compete for a playoff spot. Then possibly an extra 2 years for some of those picks and prospects to develop into good eenough players to really help the team so that makes it 5 years to fully and utterly rebuild from top to bottom. Leaving the final 3 years of Prices contracts cap retention a significant burden to the team. So essentially the 4M retaining would only negatively impact the team in the last 3 years of the contract. Would it still be worth it?

Those two questions would need to be thought about long and hard before any trade is done. (This is also just assuming Price waives his NMC too and that Vancity wants to try and compete now so adding Price would be justified)


IMHO. Price is tradeable but a couple things need to align perfectly for it to happen (aside from him waiving his NMC which we'll just assume he will)

1) A team needs to feel that they can win a cup if only they added an all star goalie. Making Price a good target of theirs.
2) Habs retain a huge chunk of his salary which given that they would probably be in a rebuild at that point, won't be so bad for the 1st five years. The final 3 years might be a little trickier but it can be done.
3) The assets coming back make sense for the Habs. Picks and prospects only. Not players to help them win now. (Obviously cap dumps could be added just to help the other team fit Prices contract under the cap though)
4) Habs officially agree to start a rebuild.

If those 4 things happen, Price can absolutely be traded. As I mentioned, that is a lot of things to align perfectly for this to work though.

If Montreal retains the 4M you are suggesting then I would suggest he would indeed be worth what the original poster wanted in value. 4M cap is a pretty big asset to have in terms of re-signing young players.

I think with all the offers MTL could get for Price if Bergevin says he's available, he would certainly get more. This is truly a potential top 6 center and a possible top 10 first round pick which is already very good. Markstrom doesn't really count here. If Price is available, there would be such a frenzy that the final offer could be a 1st, a 2nd, a high potential prospect and an established young player + contract leverage (that could later be traded for late picks)

And for his contract, if you're really serious, any team that would have drafted Price would have given him that 10M contract which will be a bargain in a few years (like crosby). Any team.

Then I think MTL should consider this type of offer and maybe convince Price to waive. The 4M in cap is important yes but does it completely impede them from having a great team? I don't think so. Many teams compete and don't spend up to the cap either. People shouldn't get too hung up on the 4M, like I said, it'll only really matter in the final maybe 3 years of his contract and given that we'll have him this knowledge way ahead of time, we should be able to forecast in advance for that 4M accordingly. And If it means having to buy out a contract in the future that isn't worth its cap hit anymore, so be it. Small price to pay for the greater good.