This could work?

Fair return for Petry but without retention. This roster has plenty of cap space as it is

Think this is a fair offer, doubt you move him without having to retain again.

If the Habs retain then it's a better return than this. Not much better but taking a contract we don't need back and getting pretty much full retention would mean that picks likely a 2nd and not a 3rd

If you’re retaining on Olofsson, especially 50%, you better get at least the second round pick or don’t bother moving him.

It could be, I was just going of a Hab AGM where they retained 50% for a 2nd. So I just caught it in half with dropping the 400 or 500K with the 2nd to 3rd.

I don't think Buffalo moves him at all Truthfully, been trying for awhile and No takers. I just know Dallas called on him last TDL. I am probably selling low but I was opening up a contract.

Yeah, but you also have Montreal taking on more salary than they're retaining. In that context, keeping Petry makes more sense than using a retention slot, taking a 3rd and a player they don't really need (because if they wanted a RD, they could just keep Petry).

Sure, but Lyubushkin if of your books next year. I could be talked into Joker.

I don't really see a difference tbh. If Montreal's moving Petry, the reasons would be because they want a good future piece, they want some cap relief, or they want the roster spot for a young guy. Jokiharju does make more sense than Lyubushkin, but if they're retaining then its still probably not worth the effort.

2M retained is way too much if the Habs are taking back a more expensive 1 year contract.

Like retaining 2M each season and Bush only having 1 year still only means the Habs are saving about 1.2M over the course of this entire deal compared to simply keeping Petry. For what, a 3rd?

For this concept to work, it would more than likely need to be Stillman or Bryson that would need to come back. That way MTL is getting the cap saving and the pick and Buffalo is getting the best player in the deal.

Was just trying to send someone back that could actually play and have seen Lyubushkin in other Habs fan AGM's

MTL has the opposite problem to be honest Haha. They have too many players at every position that can play. They need less roster players, not more. It was one of the reasons why they sent Hoffman and Pitlick in the EK trade. They simply didn't have a forward roster spot for both guys. Adding Petry made the defense have the same problem as with the forwards so they're now trying to trim the defense also.

This is why I don't think the Habs will get a huge return for Petry even with 50%. They don't want roster players back. If they told teams that they would retain 50% AND also take back a big cap dump player for example, they would be getting a large return but they would prefer to NOT have more bad players on the roster as opposed to getting a better return. This would mean teams will get Petry for a good price but will have to burden the cap cost the most here as a result.

You gotta pay for the player, the retained salary and the salary dump going back. MTL would actually save money by not doing this trade. A low pick isnt worth it.

Understand where you are coming from, makes sense. Unfortunately unless I knew I could move a Dman out It would be tough to take Petry on with all the D we have signed. I think he's a good fit with Buffalo. If I had another deal set up for a D I would probably go Kisakov and a 4th.

This year, but I get your point

I expect MTL to take back a contract in a Petry to Buf deal. I'm not saying they don't. Just saying the player coming back would have to be cheaper than Petry @ 50%. Not more otherwise it defeats the purpose of trading Petry. So Stillman, Bryson etc could work. Habs would probably just waive either in hopes of 1 of them being claimed, Buffalo could easily do this also in order to trim some of the fat they have on the d corps. At least most of their cap would be covered by being sent down. Comrie could be another option if they prefer sending a goalie. other than those 3, i don't see anyone else making sense if the Habs are retaining 50%. If the amount of cap retained is reduced than so would the players cap they'd take back could be. Joki, Bush, Jost, etc?

I don't get the obsession with a 35 yr. old Petry. Must be analytics because he doesn't seem as if he'd be a significant upgrade over Clifton. IMO, if you're going to pluck a defenseman (which they don't really need right now) from MTL, might as well go after the younger David Savard, who is a defensive defenseman that would offer max offensive freedom to Power on the second pairing.

Well if you can get him at 2.6 to 3mill a year the only difference is one has proven he can play 22 minutes a night while the other never has.

Point taken. But Clifton brings aspects that a rather vanilla d-man like Petry lacks and the Sabres need, such as sandpaper and PK acumen.

Just don't think he offers a significant upgrade.

Savard, may have been the better choice, but the Sabres would have to have sent assets to MTL for David Savard and he is signed for one more season beyond this year.
Large defensemen seem to age better than other NHL players.
Chara played until he was 45 and Chelios was traded for two first round picks when he was 37 and he continued to play at least 66 NHL games in 7 of the next 8 years.
The Sabres may have over paid to get Clifton and Johnson, but the Sabres did not have to give up any assets for them while neither of them need to be great just better than Pilut, Clague, Fitzgerald, Lyubushkin who played 200 games last season.

Petry isn't a shy Boy himself, even at 35 he can bring it. He wasn't far off in the hit department or blocked shots from Clifton and was a 50% War at 22min which is solid. And I watched a bunch of Pittsburgh games and he actually helped Pettersson look like a Viable Top 4 Dman last year. Played the most minutes he ever did, ramped up the hits and shot blocking and looked confident. Well the upgrade is he gives you a better 6 on Defense

Fair enough. Final thoughts: Petry is already on a retained salary transaction so I don't believe MTL would eat any of his celery and he also has a M-NTC/NMC. I think he's in MTL for the remainder of his contract, or maybe a trade would happen at the 2025 TDL

He very well could be, and a player can be traded twice on a retained salary trade

Well he went for a bag of pucks and 50% retained. Buffalo could have easily matched that. Big miss at 2.3mill IMO by Adams