Canes still pass

That is way too much. I'm not sure I would do Matheson for Necas 1 for 1

Yikes

Top 10 point producer for defense vs inconsistent winger, not much of a question realistically

Lol, Barrie lead the league in points by defensemen just a few years ago too. Being a PP specialist but useless at 5v5 means you have low trade value

Barrie's value was pretty high that season as well. But Barrie is also useless everywhere else since he's like 5'11. Matheson is 6'2, much better physical game, and is inconsistent defensively, but not straight bad. And since when is 32 EVPs as a defender useless 5v5?

MTL has 0 reason to trade Matheson for Necas, so get over it

Matheson is the perfect remplacement for Pesce/Skjei as they are both UFA. Very team friendly contract, leader, 60 pts guy this year. To add to that, they receive a bottom 6 player in Evans to solidify their forward core, Xhekaj does have some upside, adds grit and physicality while also receiving a 1st rouder. If they decline, we are very close to a deal i think

Habs have all the reasons in the world to move Matheson tho. His value is at an all-time high, while we have a ton of LD prospects like Hutson Engstrom and already having Guhle Harris. I believe that the Habs are at one top 6 player after the draft from actually starting to become competitive and the Canes wont have enough money to lock up Necas.

Yes, but we also want to become competitive. Remove Matheson sets us back. Until Hutson can prove he is going to be a consistent point producer, who won't get out-bodied all the time, and can eat 23 minutes a game, Matheson should stay. This may come as soon as December, but it might not. I have hopes that Matheson can be traded next off season, but I don't think it's a good idea to trade him now.

Also, if we were to do a trade with Matheson and Necas, adding a 1st, Xhekaj, and Evans is absolutely too much

Add to all of this that Hughes has been turning down offers for Xhekaj since the last offseaon and it's the easiest decline by the Habs (or any team) in the history of this site.

Matheson for Necas is debatable.

Adding Xhekaj plus a late 1st (and Evans too) is just ridiculous.

Matheson is bigger than Barrie yes, but you are wrong about his defensive play, it's some of the worst in the league

As for points, that 32 is incredibly misleading. 8 of them came when either Montreal's or their opponent's goalie was pulled. generic sites count empty net and 6v5 goals at EV. He only had 21 points at 5v5.

Gustafsson put up 60 points in 18.19and only returned a 3rd a year later

Necas is a great player but never Montreal overpaid for this
You have a 8th for. Mathewson and near of this for Xjekaj

Is too high for a RFA

All of that is great and all, but the Canes have no use for more LHD. They have Orlov to replace Skjei, and Nikishin will arrive next off season. If they are looking for a LHD, they are looking for a cheap stopgap for 3LD as a bridge until Nikishin comes over. Evans holds no value as a bottom 6 C, since the Canes already have 3-4 who can play that role. Frankly, Xhekaj sucks, so I doubt the Canes would have much interest in him. The 1st being in the 20s in what appears to be a crap show draft, really doesn’t hold that much value.

If the Canes move Necas, they would be looking for 1 of 3 things, none of which is being offer here. 1) a top 6 2-way C, 2) a top 4 young RHD, or 3) a W upgrade on Necas. The Canes don’t want a futures package either. As had been said before, the Habs and Canes are not good trade partners for Necas.

LMFAO, on what planet do you seriously think any of those trades are possible?! Teams don't give up top 6 C's or top 4 RHD for middle 6 W's and no team is downgrading their W to help the Canes improve theirs. The best you are going to get is a futures package that allows you to free up cap space for a potential FA signing or a hockey trade that allows you to bolster another position like Matheson for Necas. You aren't going to get multiple top assets for a guy who 1. His own team doesn't believe is a top 6 center 2. Disappears in the playoffs 3. Can't play defense against timbits players.

Matheson defensive play have been very decent. He always have the toughest matchup. He excels in puck retrieval in defensive zone. Barrie never played against top opposition. He also mainly use in offensive zone starts at a rate of 65% career against a 45% rate of offensive zone starts for Matheson. Is he a Elite defender no, but he can stand is own and would be a perfect complement to a team who already have a strong top 2.

Matheson had very difficult deployment this year. I'm not denying that. But to say he was very decent defensively is no where near the truth. He would be a significantly sheltered defenseman on any half decent d-core and would never produce like he did this year anywhere else

I mean this is pretty logic, if you are less often on the ice, your production will drop. Matheson, Makar, John Wick, it wouldn’t change that fact. What would change is Matheson surrounding, he was a very efficient defender in Pittsburgh when he wasn’t the guy’s. Your graphic doesn’t tell anything, you never take into account of the 4 other player on the ice. This is the supreme bull**** of analytic, people donlt know how to use it. Matheson doesn’t many thing well defensively, but there also thing he doesn’t excel. He ain’t a physical defender and Habs where one of the worst team against the cycle. This doesn’t show in your graphic. Also they where playing a men to men defense and had numerous change to there roster, that had a major impact on defensive coverage and directly on those stupid analytics stats.

Then the Canes keep Necas? I feel like the implication at least in a couple of those scenarios is Necas packaged with a first/prospect, but the Canes have 0 incentive to trade Necas for a collection of pieces that don't fill a need.