No you don't. Seriously DET fans.

"5. Victor Mete, D, Montreal-NHL
June 7, 1998 | 5-foot-9 | 183 pounds

Tier: Very good NHL player
Skating: 65
Puck Skills: 55
Physical Game: 30
Hockey Sense: 60

Mete has played three full NHL seasons where he’s been a modest-scoring defenseman who has played third-pair minutes. His skating is clearly the best aspect of his game. His edgework, and especially his speed, are elite and allow him to push the pace when leading attacks up the ice. There isn’t a lot about his game that dazzles outside his skating. He’s a smart passer who makes good outlets and has some blue line creativity, but I don’t think his puck game wows and as a 5-foot-9 defender it’s hard to see him as a “tough matchups” type. I think there’s enough to his skill set that he could progress into a league-average defenseman but it would be nice to see his game take a big step soon."

"7. Dennis Cholowski, D, Grand Rapids-AHL
Feb. 15, 1998 | six-foot | 194 pounds

Tier: Legit NHL player
Skating: 60
Puck Skills: 55
Physical Game: 40
Hockey Sense: 60

After playing up in the NHL for most of 2018-19, Cholowski didn’t take that next step and bounced between the AHL and NHL last season. He has NHL qualities in his skating and vision. He can get pucks up the ice through his easy stride and ability to make a great first pass. Cholowski can make plays from the offensive blue line and has power-play skill. Cholowski though has struggled defensively at the higher levels. He was a power play only guy without penalty kill duties last season in the AHL and NHL. He has the mobility to stay with players, but he isn’t necessarily a hard to play against defender and has struggled to be consistent enough in that regard to earn the trust of his coaches."

Mete would be your 3rd best defenseman and he is Left handed. Him and Seider would be an excellent combo.

Also prospects ranked from 14th to 24th this year project as "Very Good". Mete for a 3rd is a joke. You declining Mete for a 3rd is bigger joke.

Danault would cost more than that. He is legit 2C on most teams...many would easily outbid Jost, Kaut, late 1st.

And dumping Byron will also cost more than 2nd. Find a prospect thats worth between a 1st and 2nd.

You are insane!!
Danault a 2C... only on a bottom dweller like Montreal.
Any average team hes a 3C.
Lol....
You want him to get 5 yrs 5 mil plus.
1st n 2nd
Top prospect..
That's hilarious, pathetic, but hilarious.

Jost is a cap dump
Habs reject offer

I’m not sure where you pulled these profiles from since they’re not sourced but even those rankings are similar in category yet Cholowski didn’t crack our roster. Let’s not act like Mete is some bonafide top 4 guy and this is some outlandish take I have.

Pulled from your scouting profile from Mete, “ There isn’t a lot about his game that dazzles outside his skating” that’s great from a 5’9” defender.

They are from the Athletic, and no they are not similar in category, Mete is in a different tier than Cholowski. Mete is in the tier that projects him to be a 2nd pair guy, Cholowski is projected to be a bottom pair at this time.

You also chose to focus on his weakness (of being average at everything but skating) and ignored "His skating is clearly the best aspect of his game. His edgework, and especially his speed, are elite and allow him to push the pace when leading attacks up the ice." I'll repeat the word Elite, these guys don't toss those words out their lightly.

Also no one is calling Mete a bona-fide top 4 guy, but he has played top 4 role for MTL with Weber and Petry already, Cholowski can't even play in the NHL consistently at this point.

Only 13.7% of players drafted from the 3rd round have played at least 100 NHL games in their career.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/dobberprospects.com/nhl-draft-pick-probabilities/amp/

Mete just turned 22 and he has played 171 already. He is 20th in his draft year for points (as a defenceman with very limited PP time) and 13th for NHL games played.

He has never been a "minus" player in his career despite playing on non playoff teams for all three seasons finishing 28th, 17th, and 24th. He also has a higher % of Dzone starts than Ozone starts. Not only that, but he is actually 2nd behind Weber in +/- over those three years.

Comparing him to a 21 yr old Jared Spurgeon (both guys are 5'9"), Spurgeon had 6 EV pts in 53 games and Mete had 10 EV pts in 51 games. Spurgeon has gone on to finish 11th and 13th in Norris voting.

Mete even outproduced Vince Dunn at even strength last year while Dunn had 60% Ozone starts and Mete had 46%.

I'm not saying Mete is a bonafide top 4 D. But he has a shot and at worst he is a 3rd pair guy who can play top 4 occasionally.

You just said you wouldn't even trade a 3rd round pick (or a 13.7% chance of a NHL player) for that.

What I said was this, “ The Detroit trade isn’t too bad but just doesn’t make too much sense for us. We have guys like Mete so I’d rather keep the pick and play guys like Cholowski.” which you took offense like your Mrs. Mete. I never once said Mete is trash but rather I like our guys to fill the bottom pairing LD.

I took note of his skating because let’s face it without elite skating at that size he doesn’t sniff the NHL. The wording of the tiers leaves a lot to be desired without context I’d say ‘Legit NHL player’ > ‘Very Good NHL Player’ but I’ll take your word that it’s the other way around. I also don’t like to point to a particular ranking as bias occurs Pronman is a prime example of seeing smaller skilled guys ranked higher than power forwards or less flashy guys.

Okay so you admit Mete isn’t a bonafide top 4 guy so what about my initial statement is so outlandish? You could compare ever small defender to Spurgeon and point to what could be but let’s face it Spurgeon is an outlier not norm. That I’d rather keep the draft capitol and try out our youngsters or use that capitol instead on top 4 veterans (De Haan, Leddy)? Let’s say we sign a guy like Dillon/Edmundsson, now we have DeKeyser, Dillon/Edmundsson, and Nemeth holding down our LD. Or maybe we go after a big fish and snag Krug.

The 1st pick in the 3rd round so I’d wager is closer to 17.2% than your 13.7% which is minimal but your still selling short to fit your narrative. Personally, I’d rather use that pick with our 32OV to move up to secure one of the guys we might covet due to various reasons.

Ok forgive me. You'd rather have a 17.2% chance at an NHL player than a projected 2nd pairing Dman, 3rd pairing at worst. Gotcha.

If you can get Krug then sure I would have zero interest in Mete, but you're going to have to overpay big time to get Krug and I think you know that.

For the record Krug had a pace of 21 EV points as a 22 year old and and 65% OZ starts. Mete had a pace of 16 EV points as a 21 year old this season with 46% OZ starts.

People point to Mete's "lack of production" to a weakness for a 5'9" defenseman, but do not consider his usage at all. Not used in an offensive role and gets almost no powerplay time because he is behind Weber and Petry.

Without any other moves, Mete would be on your 1st pair next season.

It’s all good, I like having this conversations with opposing fan bases as long as they provide reasoning behind their opinions. There is a lot to like about Mete in terms of projections but he wouldn’t be on our top pair. I’d also wouldn’t put Krug on our top pair either so I’m not knocking him for that but rather I’d want a defensemen to compliment Hronek. I can’t remember where someone mapped it out but forwards hit their prime at like 23 while defensemen it’s like 27 so it makes sense that Mete’s current production when factoring utilization isn’t a 40pt D. Could he be one day, yeah. He could also not progress. If he does progress we wouldn’t be getting him for a 3rd round pick. I just like some of our LD guys (more so the guys a year + out McIsaac/Johansson) with seeing what we have with Cholowski and hopefully Blashill doesn’t screw with him like in prior years. Ultimately, I don’t see a true Norris 1LHD in our core but Hronek/Seider is a nice future cornerstone of our RD so maybe we select Drysdale and move one of them to LD.

i just dont trade Danault. why trade away good centers?

Makes sense for Habs to slightly overpay him to be 3rd C behind the two young Cs. They are on cheaper deals for few years ....