We already have enough picks... we had 3 2nds last year (10 picks overall), we have 10 this year as well. We just got Suzuki to go with our Prospects.... We can't trade everybody, we need some Veteran leadership to guide these guys

One could argue that Vegas, by fleecing the BlueJackets into getting the Suzuki pick, didn’t give up as much and overall comes out ahead. But the fact remains Suzuki is still one of the Top-10 Centre prospect not playing in the NHL at the moment.

And lest we forget that Tomas Tatar (who Vegas game up a 1st/2nd/3rd for) is a perennial 20 goal scorer who almost never gets injured! His goal totals (GP in parentheses) are as follows:

2018: 20 (82)
2017: 25 (81)
2016: 21 (82)
2015: 29 (82)
2014: 19 (73)
2013: 27 (79) - NHL+AHL
2012: 24 (76) - AHL
2011: 25 (79) - NHL+AHL
2010: 16 (58) - AHL

The only seasons where he didn’t hit 20 goals were in seasons where he didn’t play a full slate of games. While he doesn’t have quite the goal scoring prowess as Paccioretty, he is only a small step down (and 2 years younger and locked at >2M less). Throw in Suzuki and a 2nd and the winner of this trade - it saddens me to say it as a Leafs fan - is definitely the Habs.

Bergevin May have just saved his job with this fancy manouvering.

C'mon Hater, you're making this too easy:

2008 -- Kristo: Out of the next 10 picks, only 2 have played games in the NHL. He was a worthwhile gamble who didn't pan out;
2009 -- Leblanc: Yup, horrible pick, especially when Kreider was the very next one available. (FYI, Leblanc was hardly French, coming from the West Island, but, yeah, it's still too bad....)
2010 -- Tinordi: Would have been dynamite if drafted in 2005, but he was picked the very year the NHL changed to rules to stop clutch-and-grab defence. BTW, the scouts did find Brendan Gallagher in the FIFTH round, so that turned out OK;
2011 -- Beaulieu: he had a good career going in Montreal but was traded so that he wouldn't be lost in the expansion draft. Oh, and he's not at all French. He's from Strathroy, ONTARIO, you racist;
2012 -- Galchenyuk is second to Filip Forsberg as best performer from that draft. Meanwhile Nial Yakupov (#1) and Ryan Murray (#2) are pretty forgettable; Collberg was traded for Tomas Vanek, so that was a pretty good save; Thrower never developed the foot speed. Bozon was doing pretty well until he got sick and almost died. And, so far, Hudon looks to be pretty good.
2013 -- McCarron was a gamble. Had his foot speed developed, he would have been fine. Would everyone prefer Shea Theodore? Yup. Still, it was an honest gamble at #25. JDLR, Lehkonen and Andrighetto have all turned out to be pretty good;
2014 -- Scherbak: By age, Scherbak is really more a member of the 2015 draft class, so this year will define the player he should become. Again for a #26 overall, he has been fine
2015 -- Juulsen: a keeper, for sure. Should they have taken Anthony Beauvilier (who went #28)? Maybe, but then you'd say they did it because he's French
2016 -- Sergachev: He is a fine player who netted Drouin, who's also a fine player; Bitten looks promising and Mete looks to be very good;
2017 -- Poehling: One of the top players in the NCAA as a sophomore; Josh Brook and Cale Fleury are both Team Canada prospects; and goalie Cayden Primeau was a first all-star in his first NCAA season.
2018 -- Who knows?

This trade has no real winner. Disappointment Tatar for in Montreal disappointed Pacioretty. Plus-minus that. The bonus for Montreal is Suzuki and a second rounder. Just don't understand why 7M for Pacioretty, that's really too much for that player.

We lost 15 Goals for Suzuki + 2nd

Max can score 30+ with Vegas and both teams will still have won.

MB botched Pacioretty's value so technically in a perfect world, this would be low in terms of value back yes but given the situation they are in, this is a solid solid return.

Suzuki is a top 30 NHL prospect
Tatar is a decent 20+ goal scoring winger to replace a portion of Pacioretty's loss.
2019 2nd rounder in a deep draft

Habs got good value in this trade and Vegas got a very good winger. Win-Win.

There is many factors just like every trade...

Will Pacioretty fit into the Vegas system?
Will Pacioretty return to form?

Will Suzuki turn into anything at the NHL level?
Will that 2nd turn into anything?
Will Tatar rebound?

It's one of those trades that we will need 5 years to judge to determine who won this trade..

As this point it's pretty much 50/50, but that could quickly change for either team very quickly

There's no way to gauge future success ahead of time. One can only gauge current values and in this case MTL got good value in this trade. If Tatar gets caught with Heroin and if Suzuki steps on a landmine is besides the point.

The goal for Vegas was to get an established goal scorer. They did. Win. MTL's goal was to accrue future assets, preferably in a position he is needing, and semi replace some Pacioretty's scoring. He did it. Win.

Their performances and development going forward will determine who won the trade more.

As much as I think Pacioretty will fit nicely alongside Stastny, I am very concerned about how much can last season's monster success cost Vegas long-term. Okay, iít was probably worth it just to see the cinderella story and to break all those records and to establish themselves as not-loosers. But imagine that last season was a fluke and beginner's luck - 50/50 chance I think considering that so many guys had their career years and Fleury stood on his head trying to prove everybody wrong (+ was reasonably healthy). Very hard to repeat that. So, we can have a mediocre team who got rid of their 1st, two 2nd and a 3rd round picks along with their second best offensive prospect (not far behind Glass - I love Suzuki) just to prove their innagrual season was not a coincidence. I hope that everything works out in the end but that cinderella story might prove very costly.

By the way, Montreal has amassed quite respectful center depth in a few years. They need that big 1C. But behind that, there's a healthy competition for every spot. High-end 2C - Kotkaniemi, Suzuki. Low 2C/high 3C - Evans, Poehling, Olofsson. Very good 3C - Danault, McShane, Vejdemo. There's still some potential in McCarron and Shinkaruk, I think. Plus bunch of center prospects that are hard to predict but may turn into something good like Ikonen, Fonstad, Verbeek, Alain, Audette. And the best thing is that they can move Drouin to wing, which I still think is better fit for him.

Last year Vegas had a lot of players play wayyyy above their standards. It made their run magical but I don't think it is sustainable.

Going into this season, Patches and Statsny, overall, is much better and more stable than Neal and Perron. Great for Vegas

A dark horse is Daniel Carr. Kid plays with heart and can be an effective 3rd/4th line winger.

If they manage to boost their D (considering Shmidt's suspension), I think they will have a really good chance to repeat last years performance

Carr is a great energetic 4th line guy, but he can't play defense to save his life. Don't expect much from him

No question that the Tatar deal was a total flop for Vegas. They were very fortunate to be able to dump his ridiculously high $5M cap hit on MTL. I believe the trade was going to be Suzuki for Pacioretty straight up and MTL agreed to take Tatar for a 2nd round pick. Contrary to popular opinion: Tatar had a negative value given his AAV. Vegas had to pay MTL to get rid of him.

During the first preseason game, Tatar was easily one of our best players, I really like this deal. No way was Tatar a cap dump. He scored 20 goals 4 seasons in a row. We both know Suzuki alone was not worth Pacioretty

I'll buy you a beer if Pacioretty scores 20+G this season. HAHAHA

That seems like a giving. I will bet you he scores 35+ this season. With Stastny (Wild Bill) I would even bet there is a high chance he pots 40

So sorry!!! I meant to say Tatar!!! I actually do believe that Max will score at least 30G this season, especially on Vegas's top PP unit. You're right, his ceiling is close to 40G. He's finally gonna be playing w/ a good Center-which he never really had the benefit of while in MTL.

Yep. I can almost guarantee you Tatar will pot 25 goals this year. Top line + Top PP time. Someone has to score and he has looked really good in Training Camp + Preseason thus far

Vegas easily fairs the worst out of the teams mentioned

Yikes, how wrong were you

Imagine Montreal winning both now and in the future..

XD

Funny how he goes from Negative value to being worth pretty much the same value as Pacioretty.

I probably shouldn't of made this 2nd bet lol

4 more goals in 31 games and you owe me a beer

You're right. I'm happy for Tatar and the Habs.