Yeah talking about the quality and depth of drafts in absolutes before it even happens is ridiculous, not what I'm trying to do. Also agree that it's a case by case, because you could draft an overager in 2023 but still, it's more likely that the 2022 draftee is closer to the league. I am not, the 2022 pick in this case is going to Philly, who would like to compete sooner rather than later.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gixC5ccog7E&ab_channel=TheSickPodcastwithTonyMarinaro

At 17:28 Lebrun says exactly that. He goes on saying that the Petry trade is a tough one because of term and that MTL has no appetite in retaining for some reason (which is not smart IMO because MTL won't compete in the next 3 years and should try to maximize the return on Petry) and not to expect a Toffoli type return. All of that to say that only getting Helleson for Petry while retaining on Compher is far from a fleece for MTL.

I understand the perception on Petry though, he's been absolutely brutal before the coaching change and everyone In MTL wanted him out. But let's not forget that in the first half or so of last season, Petry was in the early conversation for the Norris and not only in MTL. Granted he was playing above his head, but he was nearly PPG with great underlying numbers. Petry is neither the early 2020-2021 Norris Petry or the useless Petry we saw for 40 games this year, he's somewhere in between and other teams know that.

1- Uhh no I didn't. I literally said "the '23 draft might even be better than this years".

2- Speaking of absolutes, that's not what you said when I responded. You initially said "A 2022 draftee is closer to the NHL than a 2023 draftee" - which is not necessarily true. Now you are saying "more likely", which I would not have argued with.

3- Ah yes, I mixed that one up. My bad.

4- Ummm that's not actually a report, but Pierre stays away from the wiggle word crap, so I'll just go ahead and count it as close enough to one. However, a player's value is what others are willing to pay for him. Pierre made it pretty clear that many teams will want nothing to do with him, and that Montreal is going to need to come down off whatever it is they're asking. Put it all together, and maybe he has a little positive value - but it probably ain't much.

And considering their cap outlook, I'd say getting rid of 20M worth of Petry contract, getting Helleson and perhaps jumping a handful of draft spots is more than worth the loss of Petry and retaining about 1.5M on Compher this season. I'd call that a big win. You obviously disagree.

5- He's waaay closer to the latter than the former. The guy is 34 and will be 37 when his deal ends. I don;t think it's wacky to suggest he's well onto the down slope. The first half of last season is a looong time ago for a 34 year old.

1 - I didn't say YOU were talking about the draft in absolutes, but rather that doing so is ridiculous.

2-4 - You're really nitpicking here lol

He's clearly on the down slope at his age, arguing otherwise would be ridiculous. I just don't agree that he's fallen off the cliff just yet. The sample is small, but he's back to his normal self since the coaching change and he's dealt with a lot of **** this year (away from his family because of COVID measures here, complete disconnect with previous coach and the team's SERIOUS SCF hangover - figuratively).

The deal likely won't age well, but he's currently still a very good and mobile minute eating D. I, unfortunately, watch every single Habs game and it's obvious that he still has some good hockey left in him. I don't expect other team's fans to do that, but thankfully other team's management groups do. If MTL was willing to retain a portion of the money and a team would get Petry at let's say 4M per until the end of the deal, they'd get an interesting return. Now, they won't get anything crazy, but they're not dumping him.