Joined: Jun. 2022
Posts: 1,276
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Montreal still needs Matheson more than they need to trade him... they just need to trade off some prospects
With Matheson and Hutson, they'll have a decent breakout... they defend those guys with Savard, Xhekaj, and Kovacevic... maybe they let Savard go but I don't really think they should... maybe use Barron to fill in 3RD role, and you basically got Guhle, Struble, and Harris who are disposable. Guhle has mid to late first value, Struble you might get a 3rd or 4th rounder for, and Harris is barely better than scratch value. Mailloux can compete with Barron for 6th D role next year.
Guhle and Hutson are basically competing for the same spot in the line-up, and really Hutson has the higher ceiling, which is 1D where Guhle is more 3D ceiling, maybe 2D on a so-so team. There's no reason to let a good defenseman go just so that you can develop a guy to be as good as the defenseman you're letting go.
And D won't develop right if they're getting shelled cuz you deal all the vets away...