Quoting: Club_de_Hockey_le_Canadien
Here's the only problem. Pacioretty this year was on route for 22 goals, 25 assists, 47 points. Byron played in all 82 games and had 20 goals, 15 assists, 35 points. Drouin was on route for 14 goals, 35 assists, 49 points. Lehkonen was on route for 15 goals, 11 assists, 26 points. Domi played in 82 games for the Coyotes (worse than Habs) and still had 9 goals, 36 assists, 45 points. Hudon was on route for 14 goals, 20 assists, 34 points. All of these LWs that I just listed are younger than Patches and have more potential for improvement next season. Two of them have to go. Byron is one of the most underrated NHLers so we would be stupid to let him go and wouldn't get back enough value by trading him so we have to keep Byron. Drouin was on route to putting up more points than Patches and has elite potential so we have to keep him. Lehkonen's stat production has been going up exponentially each season and has underrated upside so we have to keep him. Domi was on a worse team on route for putting up just 2 points less than Patches would've and he has potential very similar to Drouin's so we have to keep him. Hudon was on route for fewer points than Patches but he does have upside, he is the LW who is the one of the least underrated and has one of the lowest upsides of all of these LWs making him one of the two LWs who should go. In our best attempt to keep Patches, we would have to trade Hudon and move Drouin to center. This though would cause us to be a rebuilding team right up to the cap trying to resign Pacioretty, leaving us with very little money to sign Byron and the younger stars such as Scherbak, Lehkonen, Juulsen, Mete, and Lindgren to long-term or even bridge deals. Keeping our captain was my original hope, but after taking into considerations our teams status as a rebuilder, our cap situation if we did resign him, and our roster spot issues he has to go, and with him, the sooner the better.
I understand everything you're saying, and you're right, we have a surplus of LWs. The issue is that for most of them, we don't know their potential so it's hard to give one up unless we have something solid coming back (as part of a larger deal). In a perfect world Drouin is playing LW and not C but for next season they may opt for that. I could even see them trying him at RW like they did at Tampa. To be honest, I much rather see Drouin at RW than C if that's possible.
Lehkonen I think is a good gem for us, he's such a smart player. He just needs to find his stride and he'll be decent for us.
Hudon is one of those players that can play anywhere in the lineup. In fact, I would love to see him at C, a position he played a lot in Juniors. The guy put up 30 points last season and I don't even remember seeing him half the time. He's good and he's motivated.
Byron has been absolutely amazing for us but if we had to give one up with value, it would be him. Like you said, we need to give our young kids the opportunity and maybe trading Byron is the way to go