We were just talking about JT. Johnny T wants sooner rather than later, and MTL can't do that right now at the same time as transitioning into rebuild, or Retooling.

If he's smart, he wants more than now; he wants a front office he can trust will put him in a place to win in the near future, but also throughout the length of his contract. In truth, there are a limited amount of teams he should be considering. MTL is certainly not one of them (and to be honest, the Islanders should not be one either).

im not a MTL fan...but there are plenty of intriguing things in MTL that could lure JT. A front office that is absolutely willing to do whatever it will take to win. MTL cares about hockey like a religion. It's also canada, which I'm sure JT would love to play in his home nation. He also knows he will have a stellar goaltender. Price (most likely) is not gonna go anywhere for a long time. Goaltending is something JT has really lacked in New York. If he signs, he immediately slots into that top center spot where there are many talented players around him and on other lines (Drouin as a 2nd line center). Also the fact that MTL will pick a highly talented forward in this draft could only lure JT even more. There are also plenty of other good players, not to mention a stud Shea Weber (besides this past year). Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of reasons why he shouldn't sign with MTL...but MTL can pay him what he deserves and is not content rebuilding and sitting around for years to come.

Any team will free up cap space for him, so I am not persuaded by that argument. MTL is a hostile market, and he does not need the pressure. And he simply cannot trust this GM to make the right decisions. This trade proves it.

Who cares? How about you let JT make that decision. You don't know anything. And I agree, I don't think he will either but that doesn't change the fact that your opinion has no bearing on what JT wants.

Yeah MTL is very hostile and there is so much pressure to succeed. Who knows about this Domi trade. Could go either way, but obviously the MTL fans overreact and act as if this is the end of the world (to your point about the added pressure that would be on JT). There are def reasons why he shouldn't sign in MTL (and also should), but ur also totally right about the pressure

You mentioned the Galchenyuk for Domi trade as a specific reason for why the Tavares shouldn't go to the habs so this is what I will discuss.

The Domi trade actually makes signing Tavares more realistic than ever for Montreal if you take the cap situation into consideration (and assuming they don't blow the Domi contract.) Galchenyuk makes $4.9M and was set to become a UFA in 2 years. If they sign Tavares (at say $12M), they would have a real hard time resigning Galchenyuk with 30 other teams competing to sign him. Meanwhile with Domi, they can either lock him up for 5 or 6 years at around $3.75M (which adds over $1M in cap space over the next two years in comparison to Galchenyuk) or they could bridge him and don't have to worry about his next contract because Domi is an RFA for 4 more years. This deal sets Montreal up perfectly to sign Tavares actually (just need to convince him to join Montreal - see BBM's post on reasons he might).

Lastly Domi and Galchenyuk both have a career point per game of (0.61), this is a fair deal straight up - both teams are taking a risk it's up to the players to realize their potential.

I'm not referring to the cap space increase. I actually assume this was a move to make a push for Tavares. But you only get Domi in return? No picks? Prospects? The decision to get rid of Galchenyuk is not what I criticize; it's the return. For all I know Domi puts up 60 points this season in a Habs sweater. But that's missing my point. This trade is a another example that proves of Bergevin's incompetency, and if I were in Tavares' shoes that would be a major concern.

The point totals do not matter. I look at the economics of each player. Domi's value seemed to have decreased after this season, so his demand decreased, and the price for him goes down. Galchenyuk still scored 19 goals. Coyotes do not have many goal scorers, and so their demand, and therefore the market price for Galchenyuk, was higher. Bergevin could have taken advantage of that. Again, trading Galchenyuk for Domi may be a "fair" deal, but from Bergevin's perspective, he lost the negotiation. Fair does not necessarily mean good. That is the concern. It's the same issue I had with the Hall and Eberle trades with Chiarelli; they may or may not win the trade in the long run, but to me they lost the negotiation because of the foregone return. I just look at MTL's front office as a mess, and I would like to believe Tavares knows to avoid the habs.

I agree it would be nice to see more of a return with Domi, but if you are Arizona why would you add to that? You're already taking a risk by trading a guy who is an RFA for 4 more years and can be signed low long term for a guy who will be a UFA in 2 and might not even want to stay with Arizona. Both players have a career point per game average of 0.61 - this is a fair trade... Domi has a much better contract situation, galchenyuk has more upside.