To be honest I don't see Montreal as a true contender either, but I do think they actually improved their team today by swapping out Kotkaniemi with Dvorak. Dvorak is the better player for sure. And the OS thing is done now. Bergevin started a war, Waddell just finished it. Either side would be foolish to continue it because that's no way to build a team. I bet Waddell regrets the OS now anyway.

And 3 months ago he was in the run for the best gm pin the NHL

Waddell got the better player just look at the advanced stats! KK is a possession monster compared to Dvorak.

Who would you rather have?
5G 15A 20P $6.1M x 1
Or
17G 14A 31P $4.45M x 4

I would rather have the 21 y.o. who has the potential to be a true 2C than the 25 y.o. who has hit his ceiling as a 3C and is below average in possession numbers.

To be honest I don't see Montreal as a true contender either, but I do think they actually improved their team today by swapping out Kotkaniemi with Dvorak. Dvorak is the better player for sure. And the OS thing is done now. Bergevin started a war, Waddell just finished it. Either side would be foolish to continue it because that's no way to build a team. I bet Waddell regrets the OS now anyway.

Oh so the overpaid third line center, who hasnt proven much since his rookie season? Ok

Not by me, MB is one of the worst GM's in terms of asset management and player development. He has a tendency of lowering his players value right before he tries to move them then overpay for a player he gets to fill a hole he created.

Agreed 100%.

Dvorak is the better player in virtually every metric. KK might be better in the future, we'll have to wait and see but right now the Habs are better with Dvorak than with KK.

10 goals in 29 playoff games. BTW that's 10 more than Dvorak has EVER had! This has all the makings to be another Droui/Sergachev situation.

Really? How far did Dvorak help Arizona go in the playoffs this passed year? Right, he helped them miss the playoffs! Now how far did KK help Montreal go? Right, he was instrumental in helping the Habs get to the SCF! That definitely makes Dvorak the better player cause what teams goal is to get to the SCF?!

Wow so much negative on here. Dvorak is an upgrade to kotkaniemi. I like this.

Campabee this is getting pretty old from you.

Was the sky falling a week ago? No? MTL just definitely upgraded in the short term, Dvorak is an obvious upgrade over KK right now so why weren't you freaking out a week ago?

Before all of this I compared KK to Couturier in the sense that it sometimes takes time for players to produce in the NHL. In the case of Couturier he did not break 40 pts until he was 25 years old when he jumped from 33 pts to 75 pts in just one year. I argued that if MTL bridged KK for 2 years they could likely lock him up long term before he hits his prime in his mid-twenties just like Couturier... although when I made this argument I didn't have KK making $6M for at least 8 years so that is where the value would of have came from for KK. The moment Carolina made the offersheet this all changed... KK would not have provided positive value $6.1M a year for several years.

Now you have Dvorak, who you are really quick to s*** on. A "3rd line C"... he played 18 min / game last season for the low scoring ARZ and put up 31 pts in 56 games. His 1.8 P/60 is an upgrade over KK's 1.4 P/60 and it was also better than Couturier's 1.6 P/60 as a 24 year old before he broke out. Coincidentally, Dvorak is 24 years old, and he's primed to break out in MTL in a big way. He will be the PP1 bumper, he will play important PK minutes, and he will likely play with Gallagher which is the most important 5v5 line. Think Phil Danault but good on the PP.

As a young player Dvorak put up 120 pts (50+ goals) with the London Knights leading the team (and outproducing linemates Marner and M. Tkachuk who were 1 and 2 years younger respectively).

KK is no more of a guarantee than Dvorak was, at least Dvorak can be relied on, is better than KK right now, and makes less $$$.

This team improved up front regardless of the KK/Dvorak swap. The real cause for concern is the downgrade on D. The Weber situation isn't MB's fault, and a downgrade is all but inevitable with the prices on top D this off season.

The larger point is valid however. This team should be in much better shape. Center and puck moving D are far from new needs, and not moving any of our failed 1st round picks when they still had value, in order to address those needs, are inexcusable lapses from MB (and the scouting staff).

Shanesaw9 don't like my posts feel free not to comment on them or read them. I have just as much right to post my opinions and threads as anyone else on this site.

I agree that at 6 Mil KK is overpaid but his ceiling is also much higher than Dvoraks, at worse KK ends up as Dvoraks equal. The key for me is the mismanagement of the asset. I know his QO at the end of the season is set to be 6.1 but Montreal could have used the first window to file for arbitration or they could have worked out a longer term deal at a lower cap hit. They already invested the time and assets to begin his development why not wait and see whether those efforts paid off? It was 1 year at a high cap hit when we had the room to accommodate it. From an asset management stand point he failed again. I am not saying Dvorak sucks I am saying we gave up too soon on the better player. Ideally I would have liked to keep KK and add Dvorak as the 3C. Even with Hall and Kessel on his wings Dvorak couldn't hit 50 points. That is why I say he is a 3C cause if you can't put up 2C numbers with top 6 wingers your not a 2C.