Wouldnt trade the 2019 second rounder : gonna be a early 30 pick

Maybe, but Blais is nearly NHL ready and should be a decent second-round facsimile. Bouwmeester is better than what Habs have on the LD for the moment and played well with Weber in past. I don't believe in the tanking gameplan, so this makes the Habs a little better for the moment (while helping the Blues with cap to be able to sign Schmaltz). Interested whether you think one could do this trade for less?

Thats a good question, i would try to swap the 2019 for a 3rd and a 4th in 2020, or maybe give mccarron instead

I'd be down with that!!!

Ryan's contract is four years left, far too long to be taking a cap hit. Gotta be optimistic that you need that cap room soon. I would think it would "discouraging" for players to have an cap anchor on a team for longer than a year.

In your scenario, you have 11M$ left to sign Pac's, Armia, Lehkonen, Hudon and Reilly...

Pacioretty is getting between 7 and 7.5M$ AAV garanty.

Armia will get something similar to what A.Lowry got, which amounts to around 2.5 to 2.75M$ AAV for 3-4 years.

Lehkonen will ask for a bridge deal of 2 years at 1.8-2M$ AAV.

Hudon will be given, if he only keeps his level of play of last season, a similar contract to Mattias Janmark, so probably 2 years at 2.3-2.5M$ AAV.

Reilly might be getting a 1 year "show me" deal at 1.3-1.4M$ if he played anywhere close to what he did in the time he was a Habs, last season.

...AND you have A.Shaw on permanent LTIR with full cap relief...lol

Add it all up and your plan doesn't work at all...not even close! You have 11M$ free and you'll need at least north of 15.5M$...PLUS adding Shaw's contract on the book since he's not going on permanent LTIR.

Granted, Shaw is the wildcard in this, but it's probably 50/50 that he ever plays again. Why would he?

So you're right, there's $11M available for signings. Pacioretty is $7.5, which is an increase of $3M. Armia is $3M, so that's another $1M. That leaves $6M to sign Lehkonen, Hudon and Reilly (maybe, as the others will be pushing up by then).

The time bomb is Domi in two years and, a year later, Gallagher. But by then, the cap will have grown by $5M, Petry will be taking less or be gone.

Ryan is still a useful player if you don't look at his cap hit. The Habs are a bottom-third team in cap right now, so he's not taking away someone else's ability to earn. If he returns to form, Habs could easily eat $3M of Ryan's contract and peddle him to a team that wants him more, especially for a playoff run, where he has thrived in past.

This year's UFA market tells me the Habs (nor any Canadian team) is competitive unless there's a hook, like we saw with Tavares. So I've come to accept there's no point in holding on to cap space when a perfectly good NHLer is being offered for nothing because that owner is a bottom-feeder.

EXACTLY!!!!! Molson has money and the Habs have cap space. Habs should take every opportunity over the next 1-2 years to bring in decent players on bad contracts, play them lots, and then move them in the second half while retaining 50% of the salary. At $3M, Ryan is a great get. At $2.5M, Pacioretty is pure gold to a playoff team near the cap.

If Ryan gets 30-40 points, he's a quality addition even at that price ... because the Habs can afford it and need the scoring.