Probably more realistic and a bigger need to get Pavelec, rather than Grabner, but I think the success, amount of young talent, and amount of draft picks stockpiled that Vegas has are already so far removed from the history and reality of the NHL as anyone knows it, that I'm just going to leave it as is.

This team has the best reasons to trade for all the big prizes at the trade deadline this year, and the most assets to give up to get them.

And they're contenders even if they just stand pat.

Ridiculous.

I honestly think that is an underpayment on Pacioretty. Only good thing I see out of that is the 1st round pick + 2 Roster spots that are now taken

Well I like the idea. And I'm sure fans on the receiving ends of these trades like it too. So many assets in prospects and picks and good depth players. Might as well get a few playoff experienced guys.

As a Detroit fan I like that part of the trade. (Detroit drafted Pulkkinen originally) With Detroit out of the playoffs I find it hard not to root for Vegas. Vegas management has put together a team from scratch that has chemistry a very impressive feat. They are already way ahead of schedule, plus they have over $8 mil in cap space. I'd keep the team as is and see how far they can go and then add through free agency if needed.
GO KNIGHTS!

lolwut? That is the complete opposite of overpaying. Your package of Reinhart (bust), Matteau (bust, who Montreal had and decided not to re-sign), Hyka (24-year-old AHLer), and a combination of picks is garbage. The only valuable thing is the 1st rounder and it might be a very late pick at the end of the season.

Your profile calls you a "rational fanatic." I see the fanatic part here...

Reinhart is an NHL ready prospect, in that he's played 37 NHL games. When he plays closer to 18 minutes a night, he's been -6 with Edmonton. In 14 minutes a night with the league leading Golden Knights, he's even. Next year in Montreal, if he keeps getting stronger on his skates, he could play a top four role.

Honestly, emerging top four defenseman, plus first, second, third round pick, and a couple of young AHLers is more than the NHL trade values of guys like... Marian Hossa, Adam Oates, or PK Subban in their prime, so I'll stand by it.

But more to the point, giving one star to a team roster implies you don't think the team has improved.

If you just want more of Vegas' remaining trade assets, that's different from saying Pacioretty wouldn't be an amazing third line winger on an already good club. Your review of this team just shows a petty, egotistical focus on what's in it for your local club.

If you think you're saying the Knights can't afford Pacioretty, I'll point out that I still kept one of their first round picks from last year, a few decent prospects, and fourteen picks in the top four rounds of the '19 and '20 drafts.

I think all you've really said is that you've enjoyed cheering for Max Pacioretty, and you'll miss him when he's gone.

That's not really a criticism of me.

Pacioretty is on a pace for 25 goals this year, and an uncharacteristically bad plus minus, despite starting an uncharacteristically high percentage of his shifts in the offensive zone. I wouldn't say the wheels have come off, but I would say that he's being coached to score goals and ignore his defensive responsibilities to keep his trade value artificially high. He's still a very, very good hockey player.

But I think the Canadiens don't think they'll be in the playoffs next year, so they're looking at how good he'll be in two years, vs how much talent they can bring back. A 1st, 2nd, and 3rd pick in the hands of a team with great scouts should yield two NHL players. Reinhart will get more opportunity to become a third very good NHL player. There's some chance Hyka or Matteau make the leap, especially if MTL trades away other veterans this Spring, opening up space.

It's not the level of overpayment that MTL fans on here are requesting, or than Nick Kypreos thinks ownership are claiming they can get, but it's pretty close, and it's more than they're actually likely to be offered by any real life NHL team this Spring for just one and a half years of Pacioretty's services. But, sure, add another 2nd round pick, just to get it done.

Get your head out of your ass! I gave you 1 star because your Montreal trade is so dumb and detached from the real values of the players that it brings the overall value of the post down. I would have given you -3 stars if I could have. Your Griffin Reinhart assessment is the worst thing I've read on this board! He is a bust! he was left unexposed in the expansion draft because he sucks, he was put on waivers because he sucks and nobody claimed them because he sucks. Same thing for Matteau, he came to Montreal in exchange for a disappointing player (DSP), he played for Montreal and wasn't resigned because, as you can guess, he sucks! Another bust! Their overall value is minimal, if not zero. The value of rest of the pieces is not even close to Pacioretty.
You either have the worst, wrongest opinion about these players or you felt like you wanted to trade Patches to the Knights and picked random players, who are still fairly young to make it look like a good trade.

@Eli
Typical montreal fan, overvalues their whole organization and disvalues every other team and player and prospect and pick and coach and gm and medical staff and sponsors.....as seen with matteau since he is no longer a canadian, no longer has sentimental value to him....

Generalizing much?

Go ask Devils fans about how awful Matteau is if you don't believe me. or Oilers fans about Reinhart.

I may be overvaluing Pacioretty, but that package is a big and frankly disrespectful undervaluing an elite winger

He's currently 96th in scoring, and -10, but inexplicably the subject of a quarter of the fan posts on this website. I think a 1st and 2nd and a bust is the realistic ceiling.

He's one spot behind Victor Arvidsson. Other guys ahead of them include Nick Schmatz, Yanni Gourde, Clayton Keller, Dustin Brown, Tyler Johnson, and Jason Zucker.

Some of those names, I'm sure we'll all recognize in a year or two, and Pacioretty has accomplished a lot more than any of them, but right now, for another team to trade for him based on past achievements, when Vanek is more likely available for less at the deadline, and producing at a faster clip?

Nah.

Shocking really that a member of one of the lowest scoring teams in the league, with the worst center depth in the league and the most immobile defense in the NHL is not having his usual elite performance. Also, +/- is such a flawed stat that you might as well make up random stats.

I didn't know the only meter to judge a player was his current season. Oh, Backstrom is having a down year? He must be literally garbage at this point, right?

The truth is Pacioretty is an elite 1st line winger in his prime, a perennial 30-goal scorer with a polished defensive game and the ability to play the PK, who's having a down year because he plays on one of the shittiest teams in the league. Add to this the fact that he is on a dirt cheap contract and that the Habs can even retain half of it, and you should understand why the ask is high your proposal is worth less than garbage, especially considering the market for rentals (which Pacioretty is not) in the past two years.

Sports trade markets are incredibly volatile from year to year. You could totally be right. It could happen. Pacioretty is a more consistent goal scorer than Vanek or Nash, but Vanek's cap hit is only one million, and both were more hyped as rookies. Hoffman has outscored Pacioretty over just the last three playoffs, has come close in the last few regular seasons, totally out of nowhere, but he's also rumored to be quite avaialble. The Sedins aren't each that much better than Pacioretty, in terms of total career impact but if a team can add both without giving up too many key pieces, one probably will. They've each had a bigger role on their Olympic team, and gone further in the playoffs than Pacioretty. Grabner is on pace for thirty goals this year on an expring 1.5M deal, and has more upside than any of the above.

But on a side note, even though your dig at Backstrom is rhetorical, and I get it, you're right that Backstrom's immediate trade value is lessened because he's out of the top 50 in the NHL in points this year. If the Caps were trying to trade Backstrom away to a team that also had the option of adding Pacioretty, they'd most likely go for more goals at a lower cost. You know, unless they needed a center.

There are years when a solid 4th line center gets a 1st round pick at the deadline. There are also years when someone the league's general managers just voted the most valuable player in hockey goes for a grinder, a bubble grinder, a bust prospect who will never be heard from again, and a late 1st: http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/hossa-trade/

This year, with the Rangers leaking plans to be sellers even if they're still mathematically in the playoffs, there figure to be a lot of wings available, so I don't see Pacioretty getting quite as much of a return as Hossa got, whether or not he is in the same league.

We can debate the value of Pacioretty all night, or you could just look at the above, and put in Rick Nash in that spot, for the same package or two first picks more, if they think he's worth it, because there's cap space.