Habs Fan in Edmonton

Fair enough, you didn't say no value but saying in your example that he is 1/10 the value of what you hope to get certainly implies you think he has little value. I think he is a very mobile, smart hockey player with great character. Now he is somewhat limited by his size but if he was 6' 2" 210 lbs we likely wouldn't be having this conversation because we would probably want to keep him or be demanding a heck of a lot more in a trade. Barron scored 7 goals in 48 games from the back end. He certainly has some talent. They are both young and can get better.

Agree that's fair value for McGroaty. It is hard to value the Calgary pick as discussed before as it could be all over the place. I would not pay Mailloux and Calgary's 1st for McGroaty either. I think Mailloux has a lot of value and the Calgary pick might be high. I would rather wait for Demidov than have Hughes panic a bit to get a forward although I am thinking Hughes does want to make a trade for a forward. His interest in Marchessault indicates he wants to improve the team in the short term.

Yes, we do want someone very good to play with Dach, hopefully someone young that fits into the rebuild and wants to play here. There is a big difference in what you would give up for a Marner or Necas as opposed to a Perfetti or McGroaty.

I didn't say they had no value, I said they didn't have huge value individually.

That's a package that would be extremely attractive to other GM's. I would want something very good to give up that package.

Actually it clearer for me now than it's ever been. It's pretty simple, if Florida sucks (misses the playoffs, we want Calgary to suck). If Florida doesn't suck (makes the playoffs, we just want the Flames to be mediocre (not bottom 10, 11 is perfect post lottery), dlblair and commandant described it perfectly in one sentence. I thought I had it figured out before but forgot about the terms for the Florida pick transferring over to Calgary.

By themselves, not huge value but perhaps in a package to move up or for a forward.

Thank you for clarifying. There was some debate about this on the other boards but what you said makes perfect sense. Thanks!

Yes, that is the absolute best case. That would be wonderful.

Maybe I am over thinking this. But does "lottery protected" mean: 1) if Florida misses the playoffs in 2025 (unlikely but possible) and participates in the lottery then Calgary doesn't get Florida's 2025 1st rounder (reverts to 2026) or 2) Florida would have to win the lottery (ie move up 10 spots or end up drafting 1 or 2) in order for Calgary not to get Florida's 1st rounder (reverts to 2026). I thought I had this all figured out but my brain is starting to hurt again. Calgary Flames Acquire: Jonathan Huberdeau MacKenzie Weegar Cole Schwindt 2025 1st round pick (FLA) [Conditional]* *Conditions: Lottery Protected

Absolutely, there are many many examples, Marchand at 71, Shea Weber at 49, Bergeron at 45, Pastrnak at 26. Just a few that come to mind,

I agree, I see Barron as being the odd man out. He certainly has offensive skills but I just don't see him fitting the mould of a 3rd pairing D as Mailloux and Reinbacher will move ahead of him. Hopefully some other team finds him very attractive.

Some have used Brent Burns as a comparison. That could be the ceiling. I would be fine with that.

Before Hutson played his last 2 games with the Habs I was more optimistic in Mailloux being an NHL regular. The last 2 games (small sample size) seemed to indicate that Hutson's offensive skills will translate to the NHL. I sure hope so. I really think Mailloux will be an NHL regular. He had an excellent season at the AHL level which was important for his development. His shooting is elite, puck handling is excellent and he is big and strong. Like any young defenseman, he needs to work on the defensive side of his game but that will come.

That's the way I see it. Mailloux has a tremendous wrist/slap shot, very similar in a lot of ways to Evan Bouchard or Shea Weber. Huston will be the guy controlling the puck, bobbing and weaving trying to create some open space and finding the open guy. That's what I hope anyway.

I could be wrong but I just don't see Reinbacher as QB on the power play. I see a good all around defensemen but not the elite puck skills required to be a QB. I think of the young kids that Hutson/Mailloux are much more likely to fill that role.

I tend to agree, plus you forgot one important component for improvement next year which I know you will agree with. A healthy Dach.

I think you summed it up pretty well. Us fans tend to hope and dream that our prospects will turn into the group that takes us to the promised land but it certainly didn't work out with the group in 2015. I don't know who rated it a "B" but looking back that was a wildly optimistic rating. Jacob De La Rose #1?? I like to think that our current #1 prospect (Hutson, Demidov ?) and group of 10 will turn out far far better. It will be a massive disappointment if it doesn't.

I think that's a good way of describing it. I guess Caulfield would be the left side of the umbrella. It almost seemed to me that Slaf was modeling his positioning on the power play after Draisaitl and trying to emulate his one timer which was successful at times. But you are right, he is not the PP QB.

Slaf is a good distributor and showed a good one timer on the PP, actually reminds me a little of Draisaitl in the way he sets up but Draisaitl is not a PP QB either.

Agreed, as habs29RETIRED said, it could be equally convoluted. Attaching some conditions would make it more amenable to Winnipeg as they don't want to be embarrassed trading McGroaty for the 30th pick. It could be something like as you suggested; 1) if the pick is outside the top 20 then they get the best of Montreal's second round picks in 2025 (Habs have 2 second round picks, both likely in the top 15 of the 2nd round) or 2) if the pick is outside the top 20 and the Habs own pick is between 10 and 20 then they get the Habs pick I can convolute the heck out of this but I will stop for now. LOL I think McGroaty fits the rebuild so it's worth looking at. He's the right age and wanting to turn pro. Without a trade to somebody he will get to play with Hage this year.

I think we are splitting hairs here. You could call almost any move a gamble as there is always a chance however slim that it might not work. I think signing Skinner at 3M is a great move/gamble whatever you want to call it with a high probability of success.

Skinner also scored 35 goals in 2022/23, not sure who he will play with but it will either be McDavid or Draisaitl. The potential is there for a huge year. It's a great gamble! Apparently Toronto really wanted to sign him.

That does seems fair. Winnipeg doesn't know how high that pick could be, could be 12 (good deal for Winnipeg) or could be 30 (good deal for Montreal), there is always some risk involved in any trade.

McGroaty and Slafkovsky were born on the same day. Maybe they were meant to play together.