For the record, I was high on Barron while he was in the Avs system.

That said, he’ll need waivers next season and will still be fighting for the #6 defenseman spot. I don’t think I’d give up two top 100 picks for him at this stage in his development. Those picks will probably be used for win-now rentals. A prospect swap seems more likely.

MTL won't move him for that little, whether anyone sees him as 1st round pick value or not. He's projecting to be our 3RD for the foreseeable future and we finally have depth on the right side. We would honestly need a 1st to consider moving him, otherwise it just recreates the lack of quality RD's in the system.

It's understandable that Montreal would want to keep him while he's still waiver exempt, but he's clearly been passed on the depth chart by a number of prospects. Mailloux, Reinbacher, Kovacevic, Harris, etc. Not to mention Guhle who plays on the right too, and Savard. It's good to have depth but in 12 months time you'll potentially be losing Barron on waivers, just like Lindström potentially in a few days.

Fair points, I can definitely agree with that. Colorado should be trading picks for win-now solutions, for sure.

Barron would probably take that 3RHD spot fairly easily though, considering that his only competition would be Malinski and Clurman, and and aging Manson.

I think the hope is that Malinski (who also will need waivers next year) will be NHL ready. Assuming Manson is healthy, he’s also an NHL lock. And I’m sure we’ll sign another Jack Johnson-type vet on a cheap deal to PK. So it’s far from a sure-fire thing, as much as I’m down for Barron.

Clurman… lol.

I would easily trade that for Barron. I think there would need to be something better included though, and I'm not sure the Avs have what they'd want.

He has? He hasn't performed well enough at camp to win a spot, but he showed a lot of growth last season.



Mailloux is in Laval, hasn't played any pro hockey and has less than 100 OHL games (regular season + playoffs) in his career. Reinbacher was just drafted and is in Switzerland. Both need time to develop before making the NHL.

Kovacevic was already ahead of him and is UFA in two years. Savard is also UFA in two years and his job is to get destroyed in tough minutes, they're not going to move a young D because he's on the roster. And Montreal has already shown they'll move vets to make room for young guys.

Harris and Guhle only play RD when they absolutely need to, they're LD. Lindström was contract spot ballast in a trade (and perhaps someone the team is comfortable being a 7th D-man so other guys get AHL minutes).

This feels very reactionary to pre-season, which is generally a bad idea. Reinbacher (and perhaps Mailloux) are better regarded in the system, but there's no reason to move Barron for likely later picks that far in the future. I don't think anyone is weighing a few weeks in September over everything else he did in 2023.

EDIT: Its not even new either, Barron was bad at camp last season too and it ended up not meaning anything.

Great point about the upcoming 12-month window. As a Habs fan, and following our other discussion, that might have sparked your decision to post this lol, I think I actually may pull the trigger on that deal.

I'm the *reactionary type* you're referring to lol.
And I agree - I don't have the patience required to be an NHL GM for sure - thank God for everyone involved.

But the whole buy-low sell-high approach is still an important one.

Clurman fr tho

This made me lol

Know thyself lol

AMEN, I don't have to comment. Thank you for that lmao

Maybe not this year but already next year we will need to start thinking making spots for Reinbacher, Mailloux and Hutson .

I really like Kovacevic so I hope Savard and Barron are the first ones sacrifice.

With that being said i would take a second round pick for Barron but for 2024 or 2025

Guhle/Reinbacher
Hutson/Mailloux
Xhekaj/Barron

This is the 6 I'd want to run, Top 4 combinations are malleable. Matheson can go this year or next, same with Savard & Harris. I like Kovacevic too but he won't be on that screaming deal much longer so the super value is about to run out. He won't look as appetizing once he demands his raise (and rightfully so). I'd be keeping Barron over Kovacevic long term personally, he has much more potential to show.