Not a good plan, Gourde has picked up his game recently, Paquette is an important depth piece, and Cernak is almost as good as Petry

Gourde is bottom 6 with one of worst contracts in NHL .. agree on Paquette as I really like him .. but Petry is better than Cernek .. hence the "biz deal" as it frees 5M cap for 2020 and over 25M still owed Gourde

Not the right pieces for Habs. Taylor Raddysh and Alex Barre-Boulet -- a grinder and a scorer -- would be two prospects that would make more sense. And, please stop. Cernak is not "almost as good as Petry." That's a ridiculous statement. One has 11 points on a team that mills scoring chances and the other has 37 on an offensively mediocre squad.

Petry has a corsi rating of 76.64 for the season and Cernak has a corsi rating of 74.55. Cernak is playing in his 2nd NHL season. They are quite a lot closer then you think. Imagine basing a player off of point production only, you should be cheering for the leafs with that mindset

and using only 1 of the "modern" stats is also a waste .. my favorite is "expected goals" .. this makes me laugh out loud .. how about REAL goals as some players happen to shoot better than others.. assuming you played, you only have to actually watch games to see ability .. Petry better than Cermek and I am a Tampa fan but never to be called a Disneylander ..

Very interesting proposal. Could they add Thompson and/or Cousin for cheap depth ?

Dont see Gourde willing to leave a cup favourite for non-contender

Yeah this won't happen for a couple reasons, 1 is that Gourde isn't waiving to leave a top contender for a non playoff team. Secondly, Tampa I believe sees Cernak in their long term plans as a top 4 RD, unless they feel Foote is going to be better than him starting next year, which is very doubtful. I think Petry would obv be a great addition short term, but realistically the only way this happens is if Montreal retains 40-50%, Tampa is willing to give up their other 1st, and they believe that Cernak or Foote is no longer part of the plan going forward. For Petry at 50% retained, I could only see Tampa realistically doing 2020 1st, Foote and a 2021 conditional 3rd(becomes a 2nd if Tampa wins the Cup either year with Petry) or 2020 1st+Cernak plus 2020 3rd/b prospect. In either case I don't see it from Tampa.

He will if he never plays and is sent to minors ... also if Gourde sent to Syracuse.. team saves some Cap .. Tampa team morale is at stake .. if I am Paquette Cirelli Coleman Serg etc.. how am I feeling in off season and heading into 2020?

Gourde isn't being waived either, Tampa isn't giving him away for nothing, give me a break. He's having a rough year being put on a 4th line with 2 rookies, what a surprise... Yes his contract looks worse this year but he is still nearly a .6 ppg player over his career. I believe they may ask him to waive this Summer in an attempt to keep Killorn, but realistically neither Gourde nor TJ will waive and Tampa will get a very good return for Killorn(likely anywhere from 1st+b prospect to just a 1st to at worst 2nd+better prospect/additional 2nd imo). Tampa's defense is fine for the Cup run this year, Coburn had a bad game vs Vegas, so did about 5 or 6 other Lightning players. Once McD and Rutta return, Coburn becomes the 7/8 again with him, Schenn and Gaunce being the depth behind the top 6. Tampa won't go for a rental like Vatanen, it goes against their philosophy atm and Petry costs too much to really go after unless Tampa truly decides to go all in for just this year and next.