your ask for a rental 2nd line center is ridiculous

Florida isn’t trading that for a UFA lol

Lundell is an incredible prospect and I don't think this deal could acquire him.

To answer your question, people are trading Danault because keeping Tatar, Danault, KK, and Petry under contract next season is impossible and he is the odd one out with Suzuki and KK getting better.

Because he didn't accept the 5mil aav contract offer. KK and Suzuki are legit and there really isnt room for three good centers financially. To get full value for Danault you need to have an extension in place to get maximum value. Whether Florida would part with Lundell or not, A top two centers of Barkov and Danault is legit

If you hadn't put part of the explanation in caps, I would have missed it and made a stupid comment.

This is partly what I meant with my Phil trade. There is no way any team is offering their top prospect for a soon to be 28yr old UFA, no matter if he is a top 5 defensive center in the league or not... I agree that Danault has been an incredible Canadiens, but unbiased habs supporters and other NHL fans across the league are smart enough to know that if they don't trade for Danault this year, they can just make a push and sign him in FA in july... I'm not saying he isn't valued, I'm saying at this point it looks to me he is becoming more and more replaceable.

agreed.

Incredible how Jake Evans is looking like a 7th round steal and we still have Poehling sitting in the wings... Hopefully we don't lose one to Seattle : (

That's why they can't sign Danault until the offseason. If he signs then Evans gets exposed. So people need to keep that in mind when/if Danualt signs, its definitely a variable that is part of the equation.

That's why I have the classic "handshake deal" in place with Phil for the offseason. But if he chooses not to agree to that, I trade him for Eetu Connolly and a 2nd ; )

Seattle can still take Danault even if he's unsigned. Then Montreal loses their exclusive negotiation rights to him.

Why would Seattle risk taking a UFA? Unless there is already an agreement in place. And if there is already an agreement in place why wouldn't they select another player and just wait for free agency to sign Danualt?

Why would Montreal ever think of trading Denault for futures? Playoff contenders don't trade upcoming UFAs, if anything they try to acquire UFA from. non contenders for a playoff run.
It's kind of a CapFriendly obsession.....you can't let UFA walk. Well generally there are 3 UFAs per team, and virtually all of them "walk".

Depends on the quality of the UFA and what the return would be. For example, how much better would the islanders be today if Tavares was dealt at the deadline for a massive package? My thinking is simple, if they get a huge return for Danault (who is gone next year anyways) why would they not trade him? It's not just about this year. Now if the package is very underwhelming then definitely dont trade him

Well they aren't going to get a great package for him anyway since he is a UFA. Great message you send to players and fans.....trading a good centre as a team gearing up for the playoffs. Montreal has a chance to win the division and advance deep in the players. You don't take that away from the players and fans. Isles were in a different situation, I believe they were four points out of playoffs at TDL and well could have made a deal for futures. But even Isles management and ownership knew it was better to make a playoff run with the best team possible.

Because then they can negotiate with him exclusively and don't have to compete with other teams on the open market.

You can't have an agreement in place in advance. That's called tampering and can get you in a lot of trouble.

And hows the message percieved to fans and players by not accepting a 5 mil aav contract? And the package would be really good if it came with an extension (that was part of the equation). The goal isnt to appease the fans btw. It is to make the best decision for the team. And there is a legit debate whether it's more important to take one kick at the can with this guy or see what type of package you could get for him to prolong this winning environment

I get they can negotiate with him, but that's a big risk to take. Pretty sure that's a risk they wouldn't take. If he doenst sign (fyi he wants to test free agency) then they get nothing! And the habs will be exposing some good players.

Danault is a trade chip at deadline.
Nobody wants to pay a 3c 5.5 + mil per year.

hes a 2c on most teams. hes played fine in a 1c role but hes better suited as a 2C. he lacks the finish to be a true 1c

Ok then for a Cup contender....
No real contender has this weak of a 2c.

solid 2C. weak 1c. best 3c ever probably

Seattle will be in a unique position to over Danault a significant contract. Unlike other teams that are hampered by the flat cap, Seattle can build it's salary structure up from scratch. There's not a lot of teams that will be able to compete with them and their cap situation.

I will go as far as saying that if Montreal leaves Danault unprotected, it's nearly guaranteed that Francis will select him on draft day.