Lou needed players who could help now. Romanov is what you'd project a top-10 pick in this draft class to be like. I'll take NHL certainty as a win (especially in a shallow draft)

Pls take care of Romy

Romanov is only 22, this is a great move for a young NHL ready d man. He didn’t spend a 1st on a late 20s, early 30s guy who you may get 3 years from. Romanov skates well and can move the puck, the isles d is now almost all under 30 (Mayfield will be 30 this season). Dobson can only get better now too not carrying Chara around the ice and Salo slots into the 3 LD.

Words dont Describe how much MTL hates this move
After this 1st round i've questioned sticking it out
I've been around for 3 decades but Molson Ownership is to Painful
When he's in charge we Blow more 1st round picks then at any other point in MTL history

I dont wish for ill will against others often
But if something happened to Molson just enough to make him Retire from Hockey i'd be happy.
Its the only way we'll be able to Purge ourselves of their stink without making a Roy level bad move like trading Suzuki

It just stings to see what Fiala went for and we didnt get him. But he will be great for Dobson and our top 4 of Pelech-Pulock and Romanov-Dobson may be the best in the league (or one of) so I am bery happy

I think Lou is thinking how much better would the forwards have been if the Isles weren’t playing Chara and Greene every night. With 6 guys who can get the puck out and up the ice now do guys who struggled last year improve. I would have hoped for Chychrun but pumped about this as I think the edge that Romanov brings is needed too.

This is a really solid deal for us imo, Romanov is already a good defender, is really young, probably gonna be cheap and has lots of potential. This hopefullly fills a need for years to come and could help us as soon as next season, which an 18 year old taken 13th overall wouldn’t be able to

Romanov lays the BOOM
In the Playoffs its felt and guys like Pietrangelo give him room as a result


Its why he's always in the playoffs except this year
as a late 17yr old ,18 and 19 yr old he was in the KHL playoffs and winning a title
20 and 21 he was was at a SCF as a Rookie followed by missed playoffs after Record Setting 60/83m cap out Injured at one point

Reminds me of Trading Chelios
I got it but i knew we'd regret it and boy did we ever regret it

i wish we'd gotten fiala or debrincat too, but i like romanov's upside and i think he's got the right skills for what we need.

Nope its a piece of why he's moved
Reports are he denied a 3.5m offer
He wanted a short term deal with it looks like 4m+

I get why MTL wouldnt given his Offense hasnt developed yet and you pay people for what they earned not what they will earn.
If every team signed deals like that we'd all be stuck with Rick Dipietro deals

Like Romanov but not worth the 13th overall pick. A late first rounder and a 3rd maybe. He has good upside but I think its a win for Montreal.

I don't think the trade is as bad as you think it is. If you look at the trades in a whole, they essentially move Romanov for Dach plus those mid picks.

Well in that case, he probably won’t cost more than other guys we wanted. And besides, I’d rather pay a 22 year old that kind of money than a 32 year old of the same caliber. Still a win for us in my book

Chychrun wouldve been an overpay IMO. I wouldnt even move 13OA for him. In the end, Im not super happy but I am satisfied. None of the players i wanted were even available at 13 so it was a good pick

I'm with you - if you told me 5 hours ago that Romanov would fetch a mid-1st rounder back in a trade, I'd say you were being a bit too optimistic of a Habs fan. The acquisition cost is high but the fact that he's only 22 is huge to me - you're going to pay him a bigger cap hit than an ELC would cost, obviously, but there was no one available at #13 that would've been able to step into LD2 right away. Romanov is only a couple years past his draft year and already is a proven NHL player - I hope that he can follow the Pelech/Pulock/Dobson development path and really give us 5-6 years of an incredibly strong top 4.

Agreed
It just wasnt in the cards for MTL
We got Harris,Eddy,Ghule and Xhekaj for LD next year
Trudeau, Struble and Norlinder in Laval or about to Join Laval in the next 12 months

Trudeau's no joke either and reminds me a lot Nick Leddy
Struble is expected to be a Weber type Dman who has a similar path to the NHL as Shea just in American Development system(2 sports athlete competing at National level)
Norlinder is the Sleeper but Oscar Hedman brother of Victor and one of his Mentors from europe was very high on him insisting he'll be a top pairing guy(not sure i agree but he's good)

It is easier to sell high on Romanov then sell low on those prospects before they gain value.
Doesnt mean im a fan of the move even if i understand it
Its committing to being losers another full year and i dont embrace a losing culture with anything but Hostility

it also shows that Lou is willing to go for young guys, which is a huge W. Hopefully he makes a move for a young winger to help Barzal. It was 100% a bit much to pay, but id rather move 13OA with who was there than a future 1st or a prospect like Dufour. Overall, its a net gain for our roster from before the draft to how we will be leaving

exactly - when I keep seeing corey pronman describe the guys picked at #13/right after being described as "a 3C who can maybe turn into a 2C" or "a top 9 winger if the skating holds up well enough" it makes me feel good about getting a 22 year old LHD who already has experience playing 20+ minutes a night. They didn't move any of the Raty/Holmstrom/Dufour/Iskhakhov pool of depth-to-decent forwards they've been growing, and they snuck in an extra 4th there so they even got a lottery ticket with it.