Josh Anderson is probably one of the most polarizing players on the habs. People love to trade him on this site, but people seem to list him as having negative value or being worth a first +. As habs fans, we tend to overrate all of our players, and I believe that Anderson has some value, but not as much as some people would think.

The thing is though, it DOESNT MATTER what we think his value is, the only people's opinion that really matters are the 32 GMs across the league, specifically Kent Hughes. There have been tons of reports saying that Hughes has taken calls on Anderson, but so far he hasn't gotten an offer that he cant refuse. While I might not think he's that good, it really doesn't matter what I think cause I'm not the one that's making the trade.

I do think that whenever we do trade Anderson, its gonna be for a good haul, and alot of people are going to be surprised with how much the habs get for him. But there's a reason we call our GM Went Wughes, and until he gets an offer he cant refuse, we are in no rush to trade him.

Well put

The only thing I'll be surprised by is that another team actually gave up assets for him.

Anderson is a hard player to put a price on. He has the ability to control a game but he also has too many nights where he is invisible. Which I think leads to the discrepancy in value. With that being said, power forward always go for a lot because of their ability to impact the play. Especially in the playoff. I think he contract is viewed as a bad one by most people so that brings down his value. I think a contract has to be coming back and I think the habs want no part in retaining salary. I'd say he gets you a first though because the habs don't need to trade him

They'll be shocked but I dont see it happening because this place is a bubble. Just like the NHL boys club is a bubble.
Both have vastly different opinions on player value.
The TDL last year and offseason should be a clear example with guys like Chiarot and Bjorkstrand being traded at much different prices than imagined..

Imagine saying Chiarot would get more value than Bjorkstrand at the start of last season. You'd be flamed all throughout the thread!

He's a luxury player. Worth nothing to a rebuilding club but worth a ton to a club that needs another piece to push for the playoffs. He's a much better player than Goodrow for example and we saw that return.

Every year he doesn't play in the playoffs is just a waste

Oh yeah! Hughes is just waiting for someone to blink. The problem is the cap not going up much next year. I see him being moved at the 2024 TDL

I am sure Went Wughes has Luck Letcher and Lon Lextall on speed dial. But Wom Witzgerald ain’t touching it.

God Bless Fletcher. He makes fantasy trades realistic. This place should pay royalties to him if it made any money, of course.

The biggest problem, to me, is that Anderson just cannot seem to turn the physical gifts we keep hearing about into sustained production. He's making $5.5M for 4 more years after this season, and he's basically played at or slightly above replacement level since coming to Montreal. He scores some goals and throws some hits, sure, but his production falls far short of some of the guys you'd hold up as the good examples of power forwards - your Tom Wilsons, Chris Kreiders, and Evander Kanes of the world. The reason that a lot of Montreal fans have thrown around for that is his inferior teammates - but, to me, I'm paying a guy $5.5M to help make the guys around him better, right? That's a top-6 salary, I want production like a top-6 guy, and Anderson hasn't been able to put that together and sustain it over a full season.

Another damning thing for me is the lack of playoff production - sure, he had some very timely goals, but he had 6 points total in 22 playoff games during Montreal's run two years ago. The playoffs are when the game slows down, when your big bruising power forwards are supposed to make their money and really come through - and again, he's been inconsistent. Hell, during the 20-21 playoffs, he had a pair of 2-goal games - and just 1 goal and 1 assist in the other 20 games he played. That's maddeningly inconsistent, and, again, not what I would want out of a guy making that kind of money to do when the games matter most.

Goodrow is not a good comp for Josh Anderson - first, he wasn't really marketed as anything more than a defensive/checking line kind of guy when he was traded. Second, he had an extra year of term on his deal when he was traded and he was only making $925K.

I'd also go back and look at that trade - yeah, Tampa gave up a 1st, but they also got back a 3rd - their 1st was #31 in the draft, and the 3rd they got back was #85. The value difference between those two slots is a middle 2nd rounder. And again, it was for a player making about 20% of what Anderson is currently making.

Anderson is a better version of Zach Sanford.. Way faster and much more physical mainly. He's not really more talented outside of that

There's going to be some games where he makes a difference, but most of the time, a complete passenger.

People who thinks he is worth anything close to 5.5 AAV are totally blinded by the optics of his skillset. His problem is puck handling and passing, too below average for a player who would like to be a top-6 forward. Great 3rd liner though, would be awesome on your 3rd line at something like 3.5-4.0 AAV

Problem is he has 4 more years at 5.5 and turns 29 y/o after the season



AND trade for him WITHOUT taking long term salary back

I mean, every team that wants to compete is in cap crunch and the cap will most likely only go up by 1 M$

The GM who pays to get him would not be much more knowledgeable and "game understanding" that fans that are blinded by the optics.

Yup. I have to give Hughes credit for making some very good deals, but I can't imagine there being a competitive market for Anderson to drive the price where he probably wants it. Not a lot of teams that simply have the room for him.

Not in the current cap crunch. I mean, any GM trading for him without sending significant cap the other way is crazy. OR give up valuable assets

I agree he has very little value to rebuilding teams. But with most of the contenders being right up against cap and with his cap hit and term left you've removed most of the playoff teams. Add those to the rebuilding teams and you're left with about 5 to 7 teams.



Good point and it brings up another question how do last seasons TDL trades effect this seasons TDL trades. Example: Chiarot playing far below what Florida payed for him will that make other teams weary about spending big on a similar type player.

Dreger confirmed one week ago that Anderson remains one of the hottest commodities on the NHL trade market.

Like you said, MTL doesn't need to move him and are going to wait for their price, which would be an A prospect, plus maybe a low pick if they have to take some salary back.

Anderson's 5.5m for four and half is big negative, unless Montreal retains heavily or takes an equal high contract back.
He might be valuable in last year of his deal, but 5.5m for 3rd liner is way too much for any team.

The fact that Dreger is trying to make "something outta nothing", confirms there has no serious trade talks.

Right, which almost defeats the purpose of the move since Anderson is in some ways a cap dump. Hughes has to hope another team has another player in a similar situation where they value Anderson enough to tack on some picks.

I also don't think Hughes has any real urgency to move him. The rebuild has really just begun and Anderson's value improves with every year off his contract, not to mention if he finally strings together a couple of healthy seasons, which I doubt lol

While I totally respect Dreger, I'll believe this one when I see it.

No one doubts he is better than Goodrow, what made Goodrow valuable was his contract. He was making a million dollars for two years. Anderson makes 5.5.

Right off the bat, any Anderson trade starts off with (insert "other teams bad contract who makes less than Anderson" here). That is just the world we live in today. So few teams have enough cap space to make a deal for 5.5M alone. Honestly I don't think that is a big issue anyway frankly, the point will be that the habs don't have to retain cap. Habs will absolutely not retain salary in any trade for Anderson because the open retain salary slots for the remainder of the contract are worth more than taking on a bad contract to them. They can buyout bad contracts, they can't add more retain salary slots after 3 per year. They would much rather take back a useless contract of equal value to the retained salary than retain salary itself (On long term contracts I mean - 1 year is fine).

Secondly, and this is frankly the most important thing, is timing. That "haul" that Habs fans think and maybe even actually will get, will only happen once two criteria are met: 1) a GM gets desperate and 2) The market for a player like Anderson is high.

We've seen GM's make absolutely dumb moves before because they know if their team doesn't do some damage in the playoffs, they'll get fired. So they throw a hail Mary to hopefully get some success even if they know the trade will look bad in a few years. Also trade values will depend on the trade market. if Tom Wilson, E Kane, M Foligno, L Crouse, B Tanev are all available on the trade market while Anderson is, teams will have less pressure to settle to pay the price for Anderson. If they have to choose between Josh Anderson or A Johnsson/ J Lucchini..... I think they'll be more willing to take a gamble on Anderson at a higher cost. But we won't know whose available yet and maybe the right team who'd want Anderson won't be looking to add this year, etc

That means moving Anderson will take time and may not even be this year. The truth is Anderson's trade value could sway from a 4th round pick to a 1st rounder based on the criteria above. So its up to Hughes to decide how long he's willing to wait in order to get the right return. if he's antsy, he could move Anderson tomorrow but the value will be probably not be great from a Habs perspective.

The good thing is, the Habs don't have to rush to move Anderson. As much as he's overpaid for what he does (and he is Habs fans), his teammates love him, he's not a distraction at all, he's somewhat of a fan favorite here in MTL and he's signed long term so if Hughes doesn't get a good offer, they'll gladly keep him. He isn't hurting a rebuilding team like the habs at all.

So all this talk about trade value is a moot point. You could all be right or wrong depending on the time it eventually happens. A players value like Anderson isn't a constant we can predict at all times. It will fluctuate a lot just because he's that type of niche player. McDavid will always be valuable. Teams will need to be looking for exactly what Anderson brings to trade for him.

Bill Zito had a really great start with the Panthers, and they looked very good the last 2 season... until he traded for Ben Chiarot and paid a stupid price to get him. He got dummied by "name recognition"

Then he continued on that path and made more mistakes

My positive evaluation has only went down since

It's possible that a GM is desperate enough to think Anderson will be a "difference maker" for them but I mean, he's almost 29 y/o and never was. When is going to break out? At 32?

I wouldn't want him at 50% retained.

He rejected 13th Overall, Holmstrom, and Salo.
That's telling.