Hall Kovalchuk Thompson or 4th liners 13th forwards
Hall will sign in ARI CGY or MTL IMO

You're loaded with young centers, is guess dadonov makes alot of sense on the rw.

I know this won't sounds fun to MTL fans, but trade away that entire top line 50% retained at the TDL. Continue to develop a syatem the right way. The cap isn't going up. Theyll likely comeback the following year anyway. Take advantage of your pending UFA's and cap space.

Targets

Hall, Hoffman, Krug, Dadnov, Thompson, Kovalchuk and Pietrangelo (Pietrangelo will just be an inquiry)

Players that could be interested in playing with Montreal

Hall, Hoffman, Thompson, Kovalchuk, Dadonov (probably would play anywhere) Krug (There are rumours he doesn't want to play in Canada but if true maybe he overlooks that to reunite with CJ)

Makes sense, and don't tell the team you're trading them to that you have a condition that they will resign with you since they all have amazing chemistry together

I worry about Hall's term and cost against the cap, and I am not sure he'll be worth $9-10 million a year on a 6-7 year deal. It is a lot to pay for his level of production. While he is elite in some eyes, he has not really put up any season of note (Hart trophy season not withstanding). Again, this is just my opinion. I would rather see a team like the Canadiens either sign a middle-six forward to a low-term deal or make a play at a big RFA (though offer sheets rarely work). Hall, Hoffman, Dadonov, etc. are all good players, but they could be dangerous signings for a team like the Canadiens that are not necessarily ready to compete for the Cup.

Would you trade Kane and Twoes? No cause that is stupid. Why would we trade our 3 best players all of which are 28 or younger? They all come in at about 6-7 Mil for their new contracts, 2 of the 3 are elite talents and Tatar is a great goal scorer not the types of players you trade away in the last year of their contracts. The smarter play is try and work a deal with them to resign after the ED but before FA so that you don't have to protect them and even if Vegas picks say Gallagher, he just goes to FA and signs with the Habs.

Apples and oranges. Pending UFA's vs 3 years left. This highest cap hit is Tatar at less than half either Toews/Kane.

Where do you think Danault is going next year??? Odds are he goes back to MTL. Why wouldn't you want to get an extra 1st rounder for free?

Danault will go to whatever team pays him what he is worth as a 2nd line Center. With Suzuki and Kotkaniemi pushing for the top 2 spots that will force Montreal to pay Danault as a 3rd line center ie. Between 4-5.5 Mil. If he gets an offer of 6-7.5 Mil to play in say Columbus do you honestly think he says no. Maybe he leaves 0.5 Mil on the table if the Habs gave him 5.5 and the offer was 6 but I doubt he leaves more than 1 Mil on the table to return to the Habs.

All the more reason to trade him and get a 1st if you think he'll leave anyway...no?

A top 6 winger like Hall, Hoffman, or Dadanov would be ideal but Kovalchuk is more likely

I tried to evaluate the chances of getting them (this is not scientific!)

-Never gonna happen but try : Krug (0%)
-Allowed to dream: Hall (10%)
-The perfect fit: Smith (20%)
-You owe me one: Kovalchuk (50%)
-Make them pay (offersheet) : Sergachev (20%)
-Upgrade the Dcore : Hamonic, Edmundson, Soucy, Kulikov, Pysyk (Depend on Petry's negociations, drafted players evaluation and protection list for Seattle)
-Need a goalie signed for 2 years because of expansion draft: Dell (15%), Brossoit (50%), Domingue (35%)

Sooo a goalie and maybe Kovy 🙄

Really like the Dadonov ideas here. He can fly under the radar too. But we'd have to trade away someone on the top two lines I think.

I was not saying I thought he would leave, I was saying IF he is traded and goes to FA it's a huge risk on a player you want in your lineup but maybe not able to compete with the price he can get on the open market.

Dadonov? You really want to $ign a small 31 yo russian long term?

Could I please turn your attention to Craig Smith?

6'1" 208lbs RW. Steady 20 goal scorer, responsible defensively and can play center. Would propably be cheaper too.

I know his name is less exotic, but I would prefer to put my money on him.

Ohhh right kinda forgot about him, didn’t really look it over just the first guys that came to mind. He could fit nicely for sure.

No I dont like Craig Smith. He scores 20g sure but he is around a 40pt player. He's kind of overpaid even at 4.5Million

Oh boy...

You are going to have a heartstoke when you are going to see Domi, Mantha and Gallagher next contracts then!

Maybe. I've been saying for a while Domi would take a 2 year deal. If he does it'll be 5.5M give or take 0.5M I would think.
Gallagher (who is the heart of the team really) I'd say 5 yrs x 7M.
Mantha is a pickle because he's good, injured a lot recently and hasn't played a single playoff game at soon-to-be-26 years old. Iunno, 5yrs x 7M?

But all that being said, you're not comparing Smith to those guys are you? Smith is a calibre below Gallagher and Domi and Mantha is one calibre higher I think

I dont know what a caliber is, but I do know that 20 players with 15+ goals - 40pts this year make more money than Smith. He is not overpaid at all. Paul Stastny, Sifverberg, Saad are all good comparables and signed for far more in the last years.

I would go after Hoffman or toffoli up front and krug and petro on the back end. Of these 4 I think we are almost 0 chance of landing krug. Petro is a long shot too but if he doesn't resign in stl Montreal is one of the few teams that could offer top dollar for him. I could see either hoffman or toffoli signing here but most likely is kovalchuk coming back and no one on the back end imo. I have very little interest in hall as he is likely to get way over paid because of 1 amazing season. He is a great player but more than likely that season was an outlier.

I wouldn’t mind trading Tatar and Danault, but Gallagher is basically a Hab for life.

Pretty sure Krug is friends/acquaintances with Petry too

For what it’s worth, he’s a poor playoff performer

Also imo we already have a player that can produce like him for a cheaper price in Armia. I would rather bet on Kovalchuk for a year.