exo2769
Joined: Jul. 2015
Posts: 15,536
Likes: 9,582
I think the trade is pretty darn good! The hard part from the Hawks side is the $4.8M NEXT year. This year isn't the problem, but they only have $12M (maybe a bit more due to cap increase) and taking $4.8 of that away leaves $7M for at least 1 #1 goalie, Boqvist's ELC, and 3 forwards. Possible, but pretty darn hard.
***EDIT*** My bad...I forgot Smith had 1 more year which opens up $3.25 next year. That opens up the cap quite a bit.
Another option (because I do think Gus fits really well for MTL) is picks/prospects. MTL has a really good farm system and a lot of picks. I'm not suggesting it needs to be MTL's #1 this year because it likely won't due to the draft being in MTL, but with Price having 7 years left...would Cayden be available? Maybe Alexander Romanov becomes expendable if Gus gets an extension?