Habs accept. A late 2nd for Lehkonen is a very fair deal for both teams. Well done.

You don't think Kadri would re-sign at the same price?

I'd argue Lehkonen could get a bit more than that for 3 years, he's a great 3rd liner, trade seems good though

I doubt gio signs that

Hes on pace for 122 points. I think another team will come in and offer him a huge contract and im not sure if it makes sense to give him a huge contract as a 31/32 year old

I think 6.5M would be lowballing him tbh

That's definitely possible in the free-agent frenzy, but at his age and considering his production history, it would be a red flag to offer him more than $6.5M

Hes probably worth more but at this point in his career I wonder if he cares more about winning than trying to squeeze an extra couple million dollars out of his last contract. His estimated career earnings will be over 60M by the end of the season

Agreed

It'll never happen, but I have played with gaining as much cap space as possible next year and giving Kadri a big one year deal. Then extend him a few years at a more modest AAV but front load it. Call it circumvention if you want. I bet they can get away with it though, lol.

Thats interesting. How would you get the extra cap for the 1st year? Compher?

Kadri might also want to cash in long term after such a great year though, so im not sure if it would work from his perspective

Was curious so peaked around, the most recently comps for a C would be couturier signed his extension this year, 7.75x8 (29 years old) and Zibanejad 8.5mx8 (28 years old)....Kadri at 31 I would agree that 6.5m+ probably is unlikely unless he is getting like a 7mx4 deal from some team. Hes just at that age he wont get high AAV and term. Hes getting 1 or the other.

Yeah mainly Compher but potentially even EJ. I don't like the latter scenario, but if the Avs win the Cup and they send EJ somewhere nice then I could potentially live with it.

As far as Naz is concerned, the math would have to work. Just as an example, if they gave him $10M next year and then $6.25 for another four years, it's the equivalent of 5 years at $7M. Escrow is complicated these days too, so that adds another wrinkle.

Like I said, it'll never happen. It's interesting to mess with though.

Edit: I have also messed around with trying to get 4th liners/healthy scratch players with retention. It's kinda silly but imagine paying 400k for a couple players. It helps but also obviously comes at a cost... I really should be working but here we are ha ha.

It's been shown that, for most people, you can never have too much money. This is his last chance to cash in and while it would be foolish for anyone to sign him for more than 4 years, you could see some teams in need of premium help down the middle putting a lot of cash on the table. NJ and Seattle spring to mind.

Are you talking about Kadri? My comment was about Giordano

Oh, I guess I didn't follow that. My bad.

There's nothing inherently wrong with a Lehkonen for a 2nd trade. I just don't see Montreal selling him for that. An interesting RD or C prospect would carry more weight, even if it's just adding someone drafted in a later round.

True but i think there are top tier teams that would pay more.