Most trades are cap dumps, got rid of Poehling since he has had so many opportunities to develop yet nothing has been good, Evans is a better player to fill the 4th line center role. (+he's reunited with DeAngelo, his fellow trumpie)
Petry has long overdue his stay in Mtl, Petry has been rumored to be going to Dallas for nearly 6 months, it's happening here, Dadonov hasn't had a chance to prove himself but he does not fit the style of play the habs are looking for, and a hefty contract becoming a UFA next season could bargain us a 7th in 23' or 24' and finally Joel Armia, not a contract many teams would want, Avalanch shall grow their Finnish family so See you later Joel!
With shipping out Mike Hoffman, we get to unload a ****ty contract, and send the clearly tanking Blackhawks one of our best tank commanders who will lead the way! We get Colton Dach back to reunite the brothers, alongside with Hoffman we are flipping our 4th round pick from Colorado that we received for Joel Armia.
Carey Price and Paul Byron are both on LTIR, Johnathan Drouin is on the last year of his contract, meaning this would have to be a "prove yourself, it's your last chance" moment for him, he is off LTIR after the long offseason.
Having 20 million in cap space means Management can activate a full roster with being under the cap.
20 Million+ gave me the ability to sign key UFA/RFA players, mostly Kirby Dach, Samuel Montembeault, Cayden Primeau, and Frederik Dichow.
Ultimately Rem Pitlick got sent to the UFA market, but with my cap space I will sign him back but without an arbitration increase salary.
We offer sheet Kailer Yamamoto, sending our 2nd round pick in 2023 to Edmonton but we acquired a second-round from Dallas in the Petry trade so it is of no concern.
In the end, we cleared out bad contracts and freed 24 million in cap space.
Chicago isn't the place right now to trade away prospects and picks for players we don't need. Also no reason to trade Dach, he's been developing nicely.