dont think SEA would want price. they couldve tooken him for free at expansion so dont think they would target price

Agree! no one values Price much outside of Montreal and no one wants a 35 year old goalie making 10.5 for the next 4 year who is coming off a season where he barely played due to injury.
unless montreal takes back another bad contract.

Grubauer is a bad contract.

nothing compared to Price deal, and tor asking a 2nd back with his deal. I get Price is a fan favorite but that contract is brutal and you know it.

I know Pitlick had a good year but idk if he's worth a 2nd just yet. If he repeats this year and does it again absolutely he is, but I just dont know how teams value his one good year so far. If he was signed to term he'd be a steal but the fact his contract is up raises questions too, especially for the pens who are super tight on cap

I know Price contract is looking ugly. He said he couldn't play 40-50 games anymore. I think he is going on LTIR this summer or the next one.

If not, his contract will be easier to move after his signing bonus in July 2024, since he'll have 3 years left at 10.5M against the cap, but only 17M total to be paid.

MTL is tanking until 2024 or 2025 anyway.

I could see him having a similar path to Hagel. In their first full NHL season, Pitlick had .56 PPG while Hagel had .44PPG, although Pitlick was 2 years older.

In his second season, Hagel had 21 goals before trade deadline and was traded for 2 first round picks. The fact that he had 2 more years left at 1.5M helped alot.

If MTL signs Pitlick for cheap, and play him with Suzuki and Caufield, i could see him have 21 goals by 2023 trade deadline and traded for 2 first rounders just like Hagel.

I have no idea what Pitlick's asking price is to be honest. I mean I like the player but for me I would really have to see the contract before I would have any idea what his value is. Clearly there is value there, it's just a question of how much you trust his ONE good season.

I am a big Hagel guy, and I agree he could take a very similar career arch.

I see a lot of unnecessary signings and/or too rich of a contract/term for certain players

Romanov, Alexander 2 $1,650,000 (IMO - Romanov will be getting a longer term with a higher value, somewhere along the 4M - 4.5M x 5)
Primeau, Cayden 2 $900,000 (based on the ways he's been playing in the AHL playoffs, and as our only "NHL ready" goalie prospect, I think he'll get more 1.5 x 3)
Boqvist, Adam 4 $4,200,000 ( I like this idea, but I don't think it happens) CLB has tons of cap space and can easily match and going any higher on the OS would be too much compensation going back.
Perreault, Mathieu 2 $900,000 (no need for this signing, aging vet is just taking roster spot and ice time from younger prospects even in the AHL).
Niku, Sami 2 $800,000 (same as above)
Lagesson, William 1 $800,000 (not needed, to many LD already) - he walks for nothing)
Pitlick, Tyler 1 $1,200,000 (same as Perrault and Niku)
Belpedio, Louis 1 $800,000 (good leader but doubt he gets signed since we have a lot of D prospects coming to Laval next season)
Dea, Jean-Sébastien 1 $800,000 (same as above but with forwards influx in Laval coming next season)
Copp, Andrew 6 $5,900,000 (I like this signing, but is it really needed given that we have Dvorak already and Wright coming in) 6 years at 5.9 M is a high investment IMO

On the trades
- there is no team that is going to take on Price's contract. It's not the same situation as Weber since the salary needing to be paid to Price while on LTIR is too much "out of pocket" for most teams.
- Keep Pitlick and sign for the same amount as Evans. Great bottom 6 that can be plugged in anywhere.
- Keep Clague, even though he under performed. He can play both LD/RD and is needed down in Laval and as a call up throughout the season since the habs are low on RD.
- COL trade is wrong on so many fronts. Firstly, they just traded Barron to us. He's exactly what the habs are lacking (RD with top pairing potential). Girard is a LD with a scary injury in the playoffs that makes me want to stay away.
- I don't think Anderson gets traded since he fits the mold of what Hughes and Co. want on the team. Big and speed with high hockey IQ.
- Drouin gets more than that in return for sure.

Many montreal fans want much of the same but a lot really needs to change here, this team needs to move on from some bergevin mistakes. A lot of the players that actually put pts up on this roster weren’t even that impactful of players and even in the cup season they ran at about .500 regular season record with ducharme. Drouin won’t ever be a major contributor in MTL and that needs to be accepted at this point. I would rather have guys like Pitlick, perreault and lagesson come in as depth players bc they actually all had pretty decent seasons in the NHL last season vs. some of the super strugglers like Clague, Dauphin, Schueneman, etc. MTL doesn’t have a true 1LD rn and Girard could very well be that and coming off his worst season and an injury would be the right time to buy in lower than he is actually worth.

If I'm a team that wants to make the playoffs, I'd wait to see Drouin play before using $2.75m of cap space. If I don't plan of making the playoffs then Drouin would probably be worth the gamble at that price.

Sorry, can't agree with your logic or reasoning.
We have a plethora of LD that can step in and and hold down the 1st pairing until Guhle is ready.
It makes no sense to trade Barron for Girard, when we specifically targeted him to fill the need in RD. The fact that you're exchanging Barron, a 1st and a 2nd - that is not cheap like you mentioned and way overpayment for Girard.

@KPM12 @willinlisbon Girard been playing on the right side for the most of his career.