Joined: Mar. 2021
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I can't see either Montreal or Tampa agreeing to that trade. Gourde and Palat might well get moved to free up cap space, but they're not going to want to take Byron's cap hit back in the deal and probably not Lehkonen's either. For the Habs, KK is basically an untouchable. He was their 3rd overall pick and just turned 21 a couple of days ago. He's got at least a couple more seasons to show he can reach the 1C potential that drafted him for.
I don't think the value of Drouin for Risto is bad, but there's just so much we don't know about Drouin's situation right now and it's driven his trade value into the ground. I think it's unlikely that Drouin is moved in the off season and will at least start the season with the Habs, if he plays at all. If they did decide to trade him, giving up a top-6 winger that's consistently gotten around 50 points on a team that hasn't been that good, to get a 3rd pairing RD that they can't afford to resign at the end of the year is a really tough trade to sell, in my opinion. I think the Habs will more likely look for a cheaper option or just give prospects like Fleury, Brook and Norlinder a chance.
For nit-picks: It sounds like Bernier wants to stay in Detroit and will likely sign after the expansion draft. Armia isn't likely to take a million dollar pay cut after the season/playoffs he's had, so I expect he'll be looking for something around a $9-10M deal. The Habs probably can't afford to give Danault a $40M deal and will likely try for something closer to $30M, like an 8x$3.75M or 6x$5M (though he reportedly turned that down in the offseason).
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