Quoting: Armchair75
Ok So I am just curious about a couple of things....
1/ What makes you think he will sign a LONG term deal in the offseason? The man clearly stated and as you said you thought it was professional of him to do so, told Jets Management that He WANTS to go to free agency.
2/ If Habs do get make the mistake of offering up draft picks and prospects to get him, you are OK with taking that gamble, knowing he most likely walks at end of season?
Despite my thoughts about his Character, my BIGGER concern is giving away part of our future and rebuild on a gamble......
2/
What makes you think he will sign a LONG term deal in the offseason?
1) Statistically very few players have ever take 2 consecutive 1 year deals if they did not absolutely have to. I have a hard time coming up with any examples, but there can't be more than 5 players in the salary cap era who have done it
2) Winnipeg will trade him if they can to maximize the return in the offseason. Trading him at the TDL next year they will get less than a sign and trade or something of that nature where they give a team permission to negotiate with him ahead of a trade
3) He's having a career year and this would be the ideal time to cash in. Last year his numbers were OK, but this year they are great
4) The risk to the player in doing 1 year deals 2 years in a row are large. He could hit a funk. He could miss significant time with an injury. He could have a season ending injury. He could have a career ending injury. In all of these cases he makes significantly less money than if he signs this offseason
5) While I think he would sincerely like to play in Montreal, I think his desire to "only" play in Montreal has been severely overstated. No player would hand that lever to a team so they can lowball them with it. This is a media fabrication and people taking the situation out of context
6) There is a time honoured tradition of French Canadian players manifesting their "desire" to play for the Habs and leveraging it to juice other teams to pay a premium for their services. I'm not saying that's what Pat Brisson is doing, but it makes a heck of a lot more sense than telling the world for no reason that his player will only play in 1 market so that market can lowball him...
You are OK with taking that gamble?
I would expect a trade to come in the offseason with a pre-negotiated 8 year deal in place. Otherwise it makes no sense. I don't think it's much of a risk to trade Owen Beck and the Florida 1st plus a lesser asset for a PPG center age 24-25 years old. Seems like a no-brainer to me.