I think Montreal would rather keep the first and buyout Byron in the offseason.

We don’t need cap space that bad. Byron is staying put.

Holland stated he's not going to make a trade for depth this TDL, he's looking for an experienced top 6F

Honestly that's fair and I think Montreal might prefer that. The flip side to that is that Montreal would be able to get the full value of his contract off the books to resign Tatar and Danault. Plus realistically that pick next year is probably mid to late in the first round.

Take Rielly and the 4th out, even though I think he's an upgrade over what's on the taxi squad rn. I'd say Ryan Dzingel counts as an experienced top 6 forward. Dzingel for a 3rd is fair and he wouldn't have to quarantine either

I like the idea of throwing in a pick to offload Byron, but a think a 1st is a bit much personally, and bold of you to assume Montreal will make the playoffs lol.

I agree, Mike would be an upgrade for sure but if I'm not mistaken I think he just wants to use what assets he has on a solid top 6F because he's happy with the depth overall. I also agree that Ryan could be a fit and a trade could be there possibly. Holland also said it has to be cap in cap out though.

Definitely understand the price being a little high. Maybe I'm misjudging how tight they might be up against it this summer. If they let Tatar and Danault walk then obviously Byron's contract isn't as much of an anchor. We'll see what direction they take in the offseason but for their sake they better be in the playoffs next year lol

For what it's worth it probably takes a first for Vancouver to get rid of Eriksson's contract in order to sign Pettersson & Hughes and I'd much rather take that on than Byron's contract.

I'd say a cap dump for Byron probably looks like a 2nd, 3rd, and maybe a 5th, Montreal will be tight against the cap if they sign both Tatar and Danault but I doubt that happens, it gets really tight for Montreal in the 2022 offseason when the have to resign Suzuki and Romanov, but this offseason as long as they manage things right, they can probably add a piece or keep Tatar and Danault, I'm indifferent towards the decision, I like Tatar, but his play this year has been troubling and he's 30, even with Danaults struggles, I'd prefer to resign Danault.

That's fair, Eriksson's contract is so bad lol.

That's interesting, maybe Ottawa could retain 50% on Dzingel and take Turris back the other way? Those salaries would almost even out and I know Turris hasn't had much of an impact. Might take a little more than a third to make that happen though. Or maybe a bigger trade where Ottawa takes on the last 2 years of James Neal with some higher picks?

Either way I think Dzingel would fit really well and there's probably a trade to be had in there somewhere

Time will tell but from what you're saying it doesnt sound like as much of a crunch coming this summer as I thought. I think Byron for a 2nd and a 3rd would be fair after the season, 2 years at 3.4 isn't as daunting as 3. If they let Tatar walk, sign Danault to something reasonable and trade Byron I think they might come out okay in time to sign Romanov and Suzuki. Then again that Gallagher contract kicks in this summer, maybe Chiarot and his 3.5m gets moved IDK. All i know is I'm happy I'm not a habs fan haha

Tatar was gone from the moment Toffoli was signed. He’s a good player, but Caufield can take over his role next year. After that, we’re good on the cap next year. If we moved anyone it would be Chiarot, not Byron.