I like it

Unless Winnipeg REALLY want to get rid of Dubois because of his lack of attitude and willingness to stay with a team long term, maybe this trade works, but the Habs need to add retention on Anderson and/or Dvorak to make the salary work. Dubois would probably play 2C in Montreal behind Suzuki, might not what he would want exactly in order to be willing to stay in Montreal long-term.

I keep seeing Arber Xhekaj in mock PLD trades and my question is why? Jets have tons of LHD prospects, he was the 21st scoring Dman in the OHL as a 21 year old (by p/pg, 30th by points, which isnt that impressive considering his age), has no draft pedigree to back him up, etc. I just fail to really see any value at all in him in regards to a Dubois trade. Is he just a throw in to make a trade seem better through sheer quantity, which habs fan are okay with getting rid of as he wasn't drafted, or do people actually see him as a legitimate prospect?

It's not serious enough for Winnipeg to even consider.

There's no first and you're adding a bad contract and not giving Winnipeg any compensation to take it. Plus an average 3C and a couple longshot prospects.

That's incredibly easy for Chevy to turn down.

Most just throw him in because they know he's worthless to Montreal, but he is an extra piece, so they can say "we're giving you 4 pieces, your being unreasonable".

While Xhekaj is not so offensive and stats wise, he seen as a good physical defensive D-man the fact he was not draft show that he have pass under the radar. There some junior player who have play against him that say he's a hard man to work around.

He may not be the most spectacular or prolific defense player but he still could have a good carrier as physical top 4 or top 6. Pair him with a more offensive player he could make a good partner.


Also while I understand there as certain value to a 24 year old center with a good physics and able to produce Average of 60 pts per season, people also need to think that this value have been reduce by the same player and agent because they have go to media on multiple occasions telling anyone who want to listen that they want out of Winnipeg, where they would likely goes and want to be decisive about where they want to go by been UFA.

Now like I say on multiple occasions, there could still be a trick use to have better leverage to negotiate on price of the new contract like done before by alot of other player. But there also the chance that this is genuine. If the case gm would be more conservative on there decision to trade for him.

Some could see him having attitude problem to not be able to stay with the same team for long. It's could also be just the case the player didn't like the team for which he play and was just obligated to do is job because of the constraints is contract demand.

You rationalization of lowball offers went off the rails when you assumed Dubois and his agent "have said multiple times he wants out of Winnipeg." Dubois and his agent have NEVER said he wants out of Winnipeg. Just that he intends to go to UFA before signing long term anywhere.

Dubois also has never said he will only sign long-term in Montreal. While I'm sure Montreal media portrays it that way, all Dubois' agent said is that he wouldn't mind playing in Montreal someday. Just like Tkachuk wouldn't mind playing in St. Louis and Huberdeau wouldn't mind playing in Montreal. Yet neither of them signed long-term in those cities.

So, you need to rethink your rationalization. While Montreal fans mistakenly believe they have all the leverage in this situation, the reality is they have no leverage.

Meaning Montreal has no leverage to force Winnipeg to take a far below market value return in a trade.

This. Montreal's media is terrible with their coverage of the team.

As a Habs fan, the way I see it is we should not trade for Dubois this year or even next year, unless we can move a bad contract (but it won't happen). If Dubois really hits the FA market in 2024 as he said, and if he really wants to play in Montreal, then sign him as a UFA. Period. This will accelerate the rebuild and Dach or Dvorak will become available as trade bait to acquire a good RHD.

But before doing this, we'll go through 2 drafts, and there are good chances we draft a Top C in one of those 2. Or maybe Dach will finally explode and reach his potential as 2nd C. There are many maybes along the way, so we might not even need PLD.

Agreed. Winnipeg has no reason or incentive to lower their asking price for Dubois now. They control him for 2 more years, so panicking and taking below market value now just makes no rational sense. There just isn't a logical reason for Winnipeg to do so.

Likewise as you said for Montreal, they shouldn't be giving up the pieces required to obtain Dubois. They need to try and clear some bad contacts and see how their young players develop. If in 2 years they still need Dubois and can afford his contract, look at him then, if he gets to UFA.

This isnt close to a serious offer, sorry cap dumps and C/B prospects are not serious