Yeah the devils don’t do that. Take out both 1sts and Savard

There 0 chance Montreal accept to retain salary for two more year even for Holtz and an late first.

At this point, I mean, it is highly unlikely the Devils catch Tampa or Detroit for a wild card spot. I'm thinking Fitzgerald would have traded for Markstrom instead of letting the deal die, if he truly, truly felt it would mean the difference. Along with retaining a bit on Chris Tanev in exchange for a 4th round pick in the Calgary/Dallas deal, I also hear Toffoli is of interest to the Kings, and if Fitzy is thinking ahead to next year already, he may just strike a deal for a young player or two from Rob Blake to help with the coming years (Kaliyev?). I'm guessing he'll leave his goalie search for the off-season, when it is determined which UFA's are going to leave, how much exactly the cap will go up, all that. I wonder if he's also waiting to do a quick re-tool of sorts with a new head coach at the helm going into next season..

I think there’s a chance we could sneak in. But I also don’t think it’s worth giving up massive assets for a 34 year old goalie to increase that chance.

Especially since our weaknesses are honestly quite a bit different than earlier in the year

For the first couple months we were playing elite hockey and getting sold by our goalies, injuries then torched us. But recently goaltending has been acceptable (not good), meanwhile the team is just playing much worse overall.

Losing McLeod was a massive hit, and the coach needs to go before anything

My stance on the Calgary side: Primeau has to go through waivers, so the Flames would have to keep Wolf in the AHL and let Vladar and Primeau ride things out for the rest of the season, and then see if they can trade Vladar in the offseason, or maybe even at the deadline this year, but that is really, really unlikely.

That said, I could envision liking a future tandem of Wolf and Primeau, and the 1st is nice. I'm not sold on Harris being a huge piece for Calgary, unless Kylington decides he wants to test the market, then he could replace him in the line-up. I'd rather Calgary re-sign Kylington, I really like the player, he went from having a questionable attitude in his draft year to being a story of resilience and maturity, and doesn't seem to be missing a beat in his return to the line-up.

Indeed.. I think Devils fans will feel disgruntled for the time being, but ultimately, it is in the best interests of the team to take the long view and get it right, instead of bowing to demands of young players like Brady Tkachuk or Jack Hughes or whoever (to give two examples around the NHL), to "make us win right now because I want to". They are early on in their growth period, sure, Hischier has been around for some years now, and Hughes for a couple, and they have some veterans, but they still have Holtz, Nemec, Mercer and others who have yet to grow to their potential. They also need to surround them with better youthful depth, as guys like Palat will not be all that useful forever at their cap hits.

I don’t think the guys up front are playing well enough anymore to warrant going all in on a goalie. When healthy through about December we were but our play has dropped off since then

no one is retaining that long unless they are forced to. montreal is rebuilding, not looking to sustain mediocrity

LOL as if anyone would offer Montreal that!