dlbalr

I don't know who said he had no value (I know I didn't in the post you quoted). What is his standalone value? If it's a fourth-round pick, it's pretty inconsequential. On a playoff team, he's a 7/8 guy, that's not worth trading much of anything for. And for a rebuilding team, he's worth it as a depth piece but Winnipeg had no luck trading him which is how Montreal got him off waivers in the first place. Rebuilding teams will want a warm body for as cheap an acquisition cost as possible so while Kovacevic would indeed fit that bill, those teams won't offer much of anything for him. If they can't get him for dirt cheap, they'll just claim someone off waivers (like Anaheim claiming Gustav Lindstrom during the season). Suppose the Habs are in trade talks for an impact player and they're trying to find the missing piece to a package off. If Hughes offers up a fourth-round pick (or Kovacevic if that's his value) as that missing piece, it's probably not moving the needle. That's what I mean by close to throw-in value; he's not going to be the difference-maker to match up value in a bigger trade. He has some value, sure, but not enough to do anything of note which, as others have said, means it probably makes more sense to keep him at this point.

Scandella's a free agent this summer, not a year from now. That probably takes this one off the table.

If a player doesn't have good trade value on his own, he's not going to have more value being included in a trade package. He's close to throw-in value in a package deal, more of a third piece type of inclusion.

Would it? What would the price point need to be to dissuade Carolina from matching it? And remember, the first-round pick(s) the Habs would surrender would be unprotected - they can't substitute in the CGY/FLA one. Necas is a 2C, is that really what they should be parting with prime draft capital to get? If they were further along in the process (in other words, a steady playoff team) and needed a 2C-type player as that missing piece, then sure, there's a case to be made. But they're not there yet or particularly close so I'm not sure offer-sheeting anyone makes sense for Montreal right now.

The reason that there aren't many AHL contracts being signed is that we're in May. It's usually when free agency opens up that we see a bunch of those deals. Interesting tidbit about the CBA extension though, I wasn't aware of that (nor is it updated on the PHPA's website; I was just on there on the weekend looking for something).

Worth noting, two of the players in their group rankings are players that were traded away two months ago (Mysak and Legare).

I tried going into the first post as well, doesn't look like there's an option to add a new poll within the thread now.

Vincenz Rohrer will play for Austria at the Worlds. David Reinbacher, somewhat surprisingly, won't due to injury.

So the fun part with this is that the buyout date isn't set in stone. It's the later of June 15 or 48 hours after the Cup Final ends. I think the last possible date for the Final to end is like the 24th or 25th. If it's the 25th and it goes the distance, they wouldn't be able to get in a 1/3 buyout.

The early signing sets it up that the Habs could issue him a qualifying offer to retain his rights, just in case something clicks over there and he becomes a bigger threat. Doesn't mean they will but it makes it easier to do so.

He did? He brought in Chiarot, Edmundson, and Savard on NHL deals and signed Xhekaj to his ELC. If anything, I think he was a little too enamoured with the big, physical defencemen you're describing; he certainly didn't move away from them.

Very much a possibility. I could also see a clean house scenario where all three go.

There's a good chance he'll be sixth soon enough.

I think Stephens has a chance at re-signing. I don't expect Maillet to though, that one didn't quite go as planned so I think he'll move on. Keeping Paquette-Bisson would be nice but he needed some convincing to come back for this season; would he want to stay in the mentor role or try to go somewhere where he can play a bigger role? I'm surprised you have Galipeau in the not expected to be back column. I think that's exactly who they'll try to bring back in that 6/7 role as depth. I'd scratch Guindon off your list. The fact they didn't even give him a sniff after his junior team was eliminated tells me they're moving on. And from the lines, Keeper will almost certainly move on. He could barely crack the lineup when healthy so I suspect he'll look for somewhere with more of a chance to play.

What's odd is that Tampa isn't playing bad at all in that series. They could easily be up if it wasn't for the good version of Bobrovsky showing up. Don't sense a rebuild is in the cards either way; with a bit more cap flexibility opening up, they might take one more crack with this crew.