MTL is not a playoff team. Hertl and Carlsson will not change that

Laughably low value for Carlson. As much as I and others bash the guy, he's still a ppg defenseman and would cost more than a cap dump, a mediocre 1st (and lottery protected at that, lol), and an okay prospect to get a 1RD who, as previously mentioned, is a ppg defenseman, has term on his contract, and since Washington is not trying to rebuild they have no incentive to move him.

Though Carlson's NTC would almost certainly prevent this ridiculous trade anyway.

Barron is gonna be a good defenseman for a lot of years. He's a great piece for a rebuilding team.

Florida's pick was never gonna be a lottery pick anyway.

2 x 1sts is a good value for a 32 year old defenseman. You won't find a better offer if you are inclined to trade a defender with that cap hit who is at high risk of decline.

Not to worry though - this post was just for fun. HuGo is way too smart to make these win now trades. Only bored hockey fans like me would propose something like this and then only in the summer months.

I very much agree with Suzuki that everyone is under-rating the Habs. All of those players declining that much in the same year is insane. A full season of MSL at the helm will tell the real story.

Don't forget it's also the additions of Slafkovsky, Guhle, Harris(for all intents and purposes), Matheson, Monahan. Plus the continued development of Suzuki and Caufield.

That's a lot of good things to just write off!

neither move pushes the needle much and even if the above team performed above expectation why would the short term reward of maybe making the playoffs (the atlantic is stacked theres no guarantees) be worth completely scraping the rebuild? whether the value is right for Carlson is debatable but can say with certainty that Washington isnt going to consider it, they are looking to win now.

It wouldn't. But while having coffee at 5am... This seemed like a bunch of fun!

this is one of the rare Montreal posts where I feel Montreal shouldn’t do the trade. Montreal is likely a top 5 pick this year, with Hertl maybe a top 10 but regardless now is not the time for your club to pick up vets in their prime, especially for a top 10 pick, what’s the protection on that pick?
and San Jose just resigned Hertl to an 8 year deal to keep him in SJ and built the team around him Meier and Eklund, would be a bad move to flip the guy after he took a hometown discount to stay.

while i agree a lot of people are under valuing the Habs, they still are in a very deep division and it will be very hard to win a playoffs spot even with those two guys, most likely the team is much better this year but still well out of the playoffs.
I think there are a few older anchors on this team that need to age out or be moved before your a real threat.
by 24/25 i see the Habs being a contender again.

I agree FWIW. Just exploring ideas because another post about where will Drouin/Hoffman/Dadonov/Monahan will line up puts me to sleep.

this year will blow, but next year you guys get 3 of those players off the books, and by 24/25 al 4 will be gone.
Anderson and Gallaher are both anchors but i would assume with better line mates and coach they both should rebound a bit and not be so big an issue.
I have to believe every player regressed from the cup hangover and bad coaching, not actual regression. and the team should rebound a bit this year. no playoffs but they should be better and more fun to watch.

I think Gallagher has 1 or 2 more good years ahead of him. Looking for 22+ goals from him. Anderson... I hope he can finally live up to the hype... But as long as we move Armia we can have an overpaid bruising body.

Holy underpay for Carlson

But fun to imagine

both should rebound to 20 goal guys and while we can argue they are overpaid, but they both add a lot of vlaue that doesn’t show up on a scoresheet, Gallaher with leadership and mentoring and Anderson with his grit and willingness to fight along the boards for the puck.

Gallagher has even more grit than Anderson... At least more grit per capita... Grit in a smaller package...

Like Insaid both add value and i’ve seen a ton of instances where a player may not have got an assist but what the sole reason his team had the opportunity to score and both those guys do that work, they just need linemates that can capitalize on their hard work and make it worthwhile.
this is why underlying stats are vital shows how players who are driving play and contributing (or not) to their teams success

Why in the world would the Caps trade Carlson, we are in win now mode until Ovi retires essentially

I dunno sir. Things get crazy at 4am on ACGMs.