I think you're wildly overvaluing Tatar in this and probably undervaluing Kovalchuk.

I would be uncomfortable trading a lot for Honka as he clearly has an oversized impression of his value as an NHLer. What happens if he tries to hold up the Habs for a kooky contract and signs in the KHL instead? If you're willing to eat half of Petry's contract, you should be able to get a lot more than what you have there from Dallas.

Fair points. For the Tatar trade, Habs won't be resigning Nichushkin (he's only there to free up a little cap space for COL). Maybe a 1st and Newhook is alot for Tatar and a 3rd but he still has another year left on a cheap contract and is tied at 31st in the league for points right now. Plus, COL having Thompson only solidifies their center core going into the playoffs. I don't agree for Kovalchuk's value. Every team had the chance to sign him after the LA buyout and we'd be lucky to have a 3rd for him, something out of nothing in his case. Although I like what he's doing right now for the team, we still can sign him this summer, but with the injured players coming back I believe he'll drop down to the 3rd/4th line and it would be kinda pointless. And for the Dallas trade, I'm fine with Johns and 1st for Petry alone. Petry has been a minus D-man all his career although he makes up for it with offensive contribution, but if we don't trade him this year, it'll be next year. I'm just afraid his value drops off next year (if he has a bad year + he's getting older) and we can't have a good return for him. I agree for Honka, but having multiple Finns on the team hopefully convinces him to join.

Good points on Tatar. Sakic won't pine over trading a pick, but I get the sense he sees a lot of himself in Newhook.

If the offers aren't really good -- or unless Kovy asks to be traded somewhere in particular -- I suspect he stays and re-signs for another year at around $2M. He seems to really enjoy playing in a place where hockey matters and there are young players. He seems to have no issues with load management either. I will be the first to admit I didn't want him and got him all wrong.

I agree that Petry's days are numbered, but I don't think the return is good enough. I don't believe in "hopefully". If the Habs are going to make a deal for Petry, the return had better be a major improvement. Honka and Johns aren't that.

Putting myself in the shoes of Sakic, i'd be reluctant of trading away Newhook, he seems legit. Maybe another B+ prospect would do and we scrap Thompson and the 3rd. The thing is, remember when Vegas payed a 1st, a 2nd and a 3rd for Tatar while he had a ****ty a** year? I believe his value is higher this time around and we could get something good with him. I kinda don't wanna trade him but he could get us a good return.

Yeah, Kovy is so fun to watch! And he is a good mentor for the kids. And I agree with you about him staying unless he wants a legitimate shot at winning before retiring. And if so, we have to trade him, it would be great asset management.

Fair point for the Petry trade. Would you have another trade in mind for him?

we should be focused on next draft and L'heureux who's projected top 10 and climbing fast as 16 year old Rookie leads the league in rookie scoring at a point per game .

if there was ever a player that reminded me of Lefleur its him as he's a pure sniper who can set up plays effortlessly .
he's on probably the most stacked QMJHL team in the league alongside the on other Q player with more then 2 points a game beside Lefreneiere along with a slew of NHL 1st round picks and standout players internationally . His stock will rise quickly and if we're smart we collect picks for that draft