When healthy, no the devils do not need a downgrade on Bahl Siegs and Hughes. And we'd rather take on an actual quality guy with a higher cap hit (like Gryz or Forbort) than xhekaj who isn't NHL quality

We are looking for a goalie. Would pay a 3rd for retained allen.

We are looking for a fast, defensively strong 4C who is good on the PK. Monahan is slow, weak defensively, and a below average penalty killer.

Guhle for Holtz if you want to make something happen.

The comp is there from montreal already when they traded Romanov for Dach

Cal Foote is not a NHL defenseman. McLeod hasn't been charged with anything yet.
Devils need an actual upgrade not an option that isn't much better than what they currently have in net. They would be better off just playing their young guys or finding someone on an expiring contract, not someone who will hinder their cap constraints next season. Not to mention block Daws and Schmid next year as well. If they go for a goalie, it's a long term solution at a #1 goalie or an expiring contract who is cheap to obtain.
Finding a LHD for the bottom pair, hell for that price they get Hanifin extended and Bahl can play bottom pair.
Finding a temporary centre solution might be something they do, but considering where they are in the standings, I can't see them paying anything close to a 1st for one.

This team has had so many injuries and bad luck this year that it doesn't make sense for them to do anything unless it's a high end long term solution like Hart or Hanifin. With how competitive the east is, there is a very real chance they miss the playoffs. This team is young, missing the playoffs isn't the end of the world. They have seen some of their young players take steps forward, like Holtz and Nemec.

Most of these are insane, but this one might be interesting: "Holtz for Calgary 1st+Colorado 2nd+ Montreal 3rd"

You're actually out of your mind but I don't blame you considering how the habs have been ran in my lifetime

All of those were approximations of value.

In terms of actual need the only one a realistic trade could be built around is Guhle for Holtz+3rd, a virtually identical trade to Romanov for Dach+3rd

I see. In that case there would be zero interest on Montreal's part. As for the value:

Guhle > Romanov
Dach > Holtz

Guhle and Romanov are virtually identical assets in terms of age, contract, role, and play.
Holtz has been more productive than Dach was at that time.

okay now its confirmed. You actually dont watch the sport. If anything Romanov is closer to Xhekaj as an asset than he is to Guhle.

They're both 22 year old LD playing about 20.5 minutes a night with similar metrics

Romanov is 24 bozo

Romanov was traded 2 years ago. Do some quick math for me on what 24-2 is

Dach was playing a shutdown role on one of the worst teams in the league. Holtz plays on one of the most offensively-minded teams in the league and isn't trusted to play up the lineup because of his poor defensive play. I'm taking the responsible 2-way centre who drives play over the 1-way winger with slightly better production every day of the week.

Guhle and Romanov are closer, but Guhle's speed gives him a higher ceiling imo. He's also got higher production, but that's mostly a function of how the team plays now.

Dach was failing horrifically at being a responsible 2 way center and driving play*.

Holtz has struggles defensively and so stubborn ruff doesn't use him enough on a team trying to contend. Dumb, but understandable
Dach was given all the opportunity in the world and was struggling at every aspect of hockey except killing penalties

Romanov was a back defensive player with little offence 2 years ago. He was also playing bottom pair. His analytics are like Guhle right now ( minus the comp)

Romanov was playing Bottom pair and yet was within 30 seconds of Guhle in TOI/game? That doesn't check out

No Romanov's analytics were better than Guhle's (minus the comp)

Guhle has bad results vs good competition
Romanov had above average results vs average competition

Dach was struggling to be a responsible 2-way centre, while showing clear signs that he would be able to do so in the near future. The second he was given a reasonable opportunity in Montreal, he did so.
This is not the case with Holtz, who may or may not develop a solid 2-way game at some point in the future, but who will never be as good defensively as Dach.

Did he? Because most of Dach's success came playing on the wing in Montreal.

And he didn't find an offensive game 5v5. They just stuck him on the power play for 4 minutes a night like they're doing with Monahan now.

He has a career high of 19 points 5v5 in his rookie year.
Holtz has 21 already this year

Yes, Dach's best performance was at centre, where he drove play and was good defensively.
His production will go up once he plays a full year with proper wingers.

Over his career, Guhle is 80+ percentile 5v5 defence and this season has learned to contribute offensively 5v5. Romanov was good 5v5 offence in his rookie year but has fell off since, and only a slight improvement to his defense (in the 30s percentile)

Romanov only played so much in his age 22 season (still worse comp than Guhle this year btw) was because he was the only one of 4 players to play 60 games in that d core. Everyone was injured. Also the year the Habs finished dead last

That doesn’t check out because Dach has played 410 minutes with Suzuki and 410 minutes without Suzuki (Suzuki is a proxy for center because obviously he’d be on Suzukis wing)

With Suzuki: 51.5% xgoals rate, 52.5% fenwick, 51.4% Corsi,45.7% scoring chances, 52.5% high danger chances

Without Suzuki: 45.5% xgoals, 47.5% fenwick, 47% Corsi, 45% scoring chances, 45.6% high danger chances.

I imagine the thing inflating your perception was the 95.5% save% that he had behind him without Suzuki, which makes the viewer think he’s doing better defensively when really the goalie is just bailing him out.


Overall he had just 4 goals and 10 points in 410 minutes without Nick Suzuki.

To compare, Holtz has 11 goals and 21 points in 500 minutes.

Why do you use Guhles defensive %ile, and then switch to “he’s learned to contribute offensively”. Please, tell me his offensive %ile.

Show some honesty I beg.

Also if you're referring to the Jfresh cards Guhle's defense has taken a BIG hit this year.

Overall dropped to a weighed average of 58%ile defensively, 3%ile offensively.

How does anyone read that and think "that's damning". The original Athletic article is behind a paywall, but the highlights are available on The Score

"I'm an NHL player right now. That's my opinion: that I should be in the NHL right now."
"I see guys from the same draft, like Simon Nemec and (Kevin) Korchinski ... they get a chance on the power play," Jiricek said. "They play a ton of minutes in the NHL. Those are different teams, so different situations, but I can compare with them. I just want a chance to play like that."
"They told me the last game was not good enough for me," Jiricek explained. "I told them I don't think so, but that's your opinion. I was out of the lineup after that."

That's not a player demanding a trade, that's a player rightfully demanding to play. Even Elvis rescinded his trade request when the team played the guy who should be playing.

I don't see the value here for the Devils:

-Out of 67 goalies who have played at least 10 games this year, Vitek Vanecek is 60th in goals saved above expected per 60 minutes (-0.458) and Akira Schmid is 56th (-0.302.) Not good at all, but it's not like Jake Allen is a world beater at #37 (0.061). He's basically replacement level - an improvement over the Vanecek/Schmid tandem, sure, but not necessarily something I think is worth much more than a mid-round pick.

-Assuming that Jack Hughes comes back after the ASB (as most reports have him): who does Monahan knock out of a top 6 of Meier-Hughes-Bratt and Toffoli-Hischier-Mercer? Monahan most likely slots in on the Devils' 3rd line barring any new injuries, and I just don't think that's worth the value you're putting on him here. Sure, some other team might pay that value for him, but I would assume that other team would have a hole in their top 6 that Monahan would fill.

-What does Arber Xhekaj bring to the Devils that Kevin Bahl already doesn't provide? Bahl is 6'6", 230 and second on the team in hits - plus he actually gets nearly 2 minutes a night on the PK, something the Habs have not trusted WiFi to do. And as far as depth, the Devils have a lot of LHD that are Xhekaj's age (or younger) to step up into that 6th/7th D spot when someone gets hurt.

I don't think the Habs' players here are useless; I just don't think they fit on the Devils, and certainly not at the cost of what you yourself are valuing at a pair of 1sts and a 3rd. It's a marginal upgrade in goal, arguably a minor upgrade in the bottom 6 from Holtz to Monahan, and another LHD that doesn't really stand above what they already have in house. I just don't see the value for them here.