Let me crap on this deal: MTL are getting robbed

NYR aren’t doing a Laf deal. Not for a 4th, not for a 1st in 2 years, not for the above package. There’s no deal that NYR takes that any fan base would be happy to give. It’s not a possibility. The non existent OS is the only option to acquire him..

Fair feedback. I was reminded with the Newhook and PLD deals how expensive it is to acquire young/developing talent.

Think of it like this. Looking back at the 2020 draft he's 4th in production. How much would it cost to get a 2024 4th OA pick? Would this be a fair price?

Well that's just silly. Of course your GM makes a deal if he believes he can sell it and make his team more competitive in the process.

Also, and more importantly, it ruins my fun sir!

Is see where your coming from

Im a NYR an & i like Lafreniere but Id think Drury, who didn't draft Lafreniere, & with a lot of depth at LW, might take this & run.

montreal should absolutely not be trading its first for next year, protected or not

Thanks. Nice to hear some positive feedback. I tried to structure a fair deal that takes into account optics and upside.

If they can put their hands on a 21 year old player with Laf's upside, under team control for the next 8 years... They absolutely should.

Idk that KH would move MTL's first but could potentially pull another "Romanov to Dach" move and use another teams first

How does that trade make the rangers more competitive? Anderson’s numbers aren’t even better than Laffy lol it’s a lateral move at best and rangers stick with the guy who has way more potential

Lateral move in the regular season: granted
Upgrade in the playoffs
Upside comes from Mesar & 2024 1st

As an outsider I just don't really get MTL's plan. They have a lot of young guys that I like and think will be good players -- Guhle, Newhook, Dach, Slaf, etc. -- but I don't see any of them being true superstars. Suzuki is also one of the most overrated guys in the league IMO and I think is the 2c on a good team. Caulfield is the only one I can envision taking that next step, Reinbacher is too much of an unknown at this point. I would put Laf in that same Newhook/Dach/Slaf category where it's hard to see any of them being more than the 3rd or 4th best forward on a true contender. If I was MTL I wouldn't want to lock myself into that core when I don't really see the endgame for it.

I guess that is a long way of saying I expect MTL to remain quite bad for longer than most lol.

I think if the Rangers are gonna trade Laf, they're gonna need someone exciting back to justify it, preferably a RW. The 1st is valuable but teams trade 1sts all the time, and Anderson is a bummer too he's not even above half a point per game. Unless you package so many high picks that the Rangers can't say no, or drop the Rangers a top 5 pick, I don't think MTL has the assets to trade for Laf.

Hard to find a 20 goal scoring RW power forward for 2.75M

I really appreciate your perspective. I disagree completely with your assessment of the Habs players, but clearly that's why we are so far apart!

Rangers already have one in Laf, his stats are almost identical to Anderson and his contract is probably gonna come in at that rate. That kind of player isn't in demand for them.
He just needs to get comfortable at RW, or better yet Kreider switches to RW and Laf stays on the left.

I agree that Montreal should add a higher end player if they are thinking of making the playoffs and competing soon. If not, let's hope they are really bad next year (or the year after that if necessary (but hopefully not)) and hope they get a Macklin Cellebrini or Michael Misa type player.

Adding good but not excellent talent will leave them in the "mushy middle".

I suppose, though, there is still a chance that Lafreniere could turn into a true star (80 + points per year) and that is what the original poster is banking on. It could happen. If not, though, I think Montreal should have bigger goals for their next forward acquisition.

No for MTL imo

Thanks for sharing your perspective!

Problem is Lafreiniere, as of yet, hasn't shown he can play the RW, NYR has a depth at LW (Panarin & Kreider ahead of Laf & i just don't see a coach like Laviolette moving CK over)
Anderson slots in as RW 2 & top prospect Brennan Othman slots in as LW 3
Getting Mesar a former first rounder & MTL's 2024 1st round pick also gives Drury more draft capital to use at the deadline & adds another piece to a weak RW prospect pool or something to add another NHL ready piece for a playoff push,,,

Anderson isn't gonna solve their RW woes with his mid point production and I don't think Othmann is ready for the NHL yet. If I'm Drury I'd rather try my luck at moving Laf or Kreider to RW. The Breadman-Trocheck-Laf line was good for the short time it was assembled last season, Gallant only took it apart cause he ignored stats and goes with his gut, and he'd been eating too much Chipotle.

Mesar and a 1st aren't bad assets to get back at all don't get me wrong, I'm just saying if I'm Drury and I wanna trade a former 1OA I'm looking for something exciting back, and those 2 pieces aren't really exciting.

I think it's a very interesting but I truly don't know what direction the Rangers are going this summer. Who does Anderson skate with - do you stick him with Panarin & Mika as a Tom Wilson-lite type of guy? Or do they stick him on Chytil or Trocheck's wing in the middle-6 and bring back one of Kane or Tarasenko to be the top line RW? Because Anderson on the top line at $2.75M actually feels like a shot at the 25 goal/50 point guy that Habs fans all claim he could be - but stick him in that middle 6 and I think he's more of a 35-40 point guy.

I think there's some intriguing possibilities here, though. Putting myself in Chris Drury's shoes, I might push for a D prospect over Mesar, though - they already have a lot of money tied up in Fox & Trouba, with K'Andre Miller needing a new deal this summer and Braden Schneider needing one next year. Getting a younger, cost-controlled guy for the bottom pair would be more of a focus for them, I would think.

A positive reaction from you is something of a barometer for me here, so thanks for sharing your perspective!

I would be happy to swap Mesar for Harris or Engstrom.

Oh if he can make them better ya, this doesn’t really do it. Laf is still developing and leads the team in 5v5 goals and would produce even more if he was on pp1. And he does this at a team friendly cost with 10 years or more to come. Love Anderson as a player and at that rate is great. The package is by far the best I’ve seen on the site to be totally honest. But NYR is building around the big youth pieces for the future while taking chances with the current core. Most people see NYR as a win today team and that’s not the case. It’s a possibility for sure but the youth is the long term plan. Otherwise they would have moved these pieces 1-2 years ago for some really big pieces to win a cup or 3 now.