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Pacioretty is Montreal’s best forward and Craig Smith is Nashvilles’s fourth or fifth best player. Even on Montreal, he would be our fourth or fifth best forward. I would take Craig Smith on my team but what’s the point in arguing we shoukd take him at .5x dollars compared to Pacioretty’s x dollars? I’d rather have them both. One thing has nothing to do with the other and I don’t see how he’s Pacioretty light. Because he’s not incredibly fast and has a good wrist shot? I could just as well argue that Evander Kane is Pacioretty light during the regular season based on their statistical history. Pacioretty has spent years being one of the best 3 goal scorers in the entire league and that’s obviously elite. The “50 goal” expectation numbers are completely made up and Galchenyuk is not a top line center even if I want him to be. He’s been bad overall in the playoffs but he’s only played 4 playoff seasons. In one of them, our team got swept and against the Rangers he disappeared. I’m not making excuses for him but there could be several reasons, like injury, that make that the case. In any scenario, 38 games is less than most players you can think of when it comes to how many playoff games they’ve played so its’s not entirely indicative of how he will perform in the future. As for international play, Pacioretty has 13 points in 19 games. People look at his olympics where he was being Tortered by Torterella and overlook that he had 12 points in 8 games for team USA at the world’s in 2012. Again a small sample either way.

I’ve often felt as though there is a very small subset of the fan base who want Pacioretty gone partly because of the Subban deal and how there was perceived to be a Pacioretty vs Subban divide amongst the players. It’s like they are saying “see MB, you should have traded Pacioretty and kept Subban”. People can disagree with me and I’m not saying this applies to anyone here so please don’t feel that way. In addition, there are obviously valid reasons to trade Pacioretty at this point time. But I can’t help but feel as though these subconscious waters are still churning amongst some.

Pacioretty has had two seasons with 10 and 11 game winning goals respectively. He was a disappointment last season. He hasn’t been one in general.

My hypothesis is that during the 20 year stretch where you found girls, you were also living in the bedroom.

He was quicker but you lasted longer. I also think this is good news but have no real level of excitement because it’s been discussed for so long. I’ll be interested in learning who will take over.

I’ll be surprised if they do but they’re top 4-5 favorites.

I’m not sure how I feel about the strategy used by New Jersey and Washington this post season. I guess strategy may not be the right word, but both teams used their second string goalies to start the playoffs and both teams started off their respective series’ down 0-2. By game 3, both teams have decided to go back to their more conventional starting goalie. In both cases, Schneider and Holtby had been struggling during the regular season and their backups had been playing well, but it feels no different than had we entered the playoffs starting Niemi over Price. It’s still early, but this shows me that having the goaltender position locked up is extremely important. I think having a capable backup is also extremely important in the playoffs but to start them? Is Holtby Grubauer’s backup game 1 next season? Is Kinkaid the number 1 over Schneider come October next year? One New Jersey player even went as far as to say that Schneider has been their backbone all season, and this is despite the fact he hadn’t won a game since December. Clearly, we know how the players feel. I think both cases are doubtful and these decisions may be the reason these teams get knocked out in the first round.

Who do people have winning this year? It’s still early enough to be honest. My pre playoff bracket had Pittsburgh besting darkhorse San Jose in the final for their 3-peat. Feels unlikely because it’s the same final as two years ago. Tampa and Winnipeg are looking pretty good as well but I’m going to stick with what I went with pre playoffs because I have to! Pittsburgh > Sharks in 6

On one hand Pacioretty is our best player. On the other hand, depending on what the moon is, I don’t see how he can demand it when he had a season like he did this year. He is not McDavid. He is not even Taylor Hall who makes 6 million dollars a year. I think Pacioretty deserves 7 million because it is indeed a veteran contract and I don’t see the cap as an issue on our team for the next few seasons. I don’t think it’s a given he gets 8 years. Even if he did get 8 years, I find it convenient that if we traded Pacioretty to a team this off season, they would be able to find a way to ship him out for value at the trade deadline, yet if we resigned Pacioretty, it’s always out of the question that we could still trade him a few years into his new contract for value in return. The argument will then be “but his 64 million 8 year contract will be basically untradeable because it’s an albatross.” If that’s the case, then I doubt any team actually signs him to that in the first place. People are overthinking things and developing reasons to worry about Pacioretty before it actually happens. Of course this is called foresight but I don’t agree with all that is envisioned.

It’s a self fulfilling prophecy to me. If we do trade Pacioretty for a younger asset, it’s true that it may help us in the long term but it will also solidify the fact that we won’t be able to win for a few years. It actually will be part of the reason. Things won’t look too different to those who knew we couldn’t be competitive anyway but again, trading Pacioretty for young assets and nothing yet proven will have been a major part of othe reason for our short term woes. On the other hand, those who think we can turn things around in the short term without completely derailing the future are looked at with a funny eye. I do admit that as a fan I don’t want to go through more seasons like this one and it is indeed part of the reason I don’t want to trade Pacioretty without a proven player coming back the other way. But I don’t think my fandom has made me overly blind in thinking that it’s possible to turn things around. I’m fine with a Pacioretty trade, although I don’t see it happening, but there are once again other avenues I would explore before trading him. I also don’t understand why people think it’s going to happen any time soon. At this point, I find the likeliest time a deal would be made to be next year’s deadline. As “smart fans”, some people might simply worry that this would be a mistake, because if we are in a competitive position next deadline, we may end up not trading Pacioretty at all and either lose him for nothing, or sign him to an unwanted extension. But I will never be able to be on the same page as those fans. I’ll be happy we’re competitive next year if it were so.

Is it common sense for Carolina to trade Jeff Skinner?

Again, no one said he is getting an 8 year deal so it defeats the majority of the argument.

I guess you’re right that Philadelphia could trade him later as well but it seems a little far fetched to me. I assume a lot will depend on how the rest of their playoffs turn out. On topic, they got blown out 5-1 today once again. I will still be surprised if Pacioretty gets traded because the goal of our team seems to be to be competitive next year. Trades like yours would be nice if we don’t think Pacioretty will resign at a reasonable rate but I then see it as evident that we’re obviously getting the better end of the stick on proposals such as yours. We can argue about all the emotional relationships certain fans have attributed to Pacioretty, especially since his captaincy and events around that time, but the real reason our actual brass would consider trading him is because he has an expiring contract, not because Pacioretty and losing culture are synonymous. I don’t feel as though it’s as easy as it sounds to get your type of deal done in such a circumstance because the same dilemma (expiring contract) will face the other organization. Especially during the off season where people seem to think this may get done. Teams that make sense to me for Pacioretty would be teams like Pittsburgh, Tampa, Washington, Nashville, maybe LA... Even Vegas. Not necessarily teams that need wingers it teams that know they will be competitive next year for sure.

I don’t know why a team would do a deal like that prior to next year’s deadline when Pacioretty only has one year left on his contract. If Philadelphia sucks half way through next year, it’s a terrible trade from their side.

I don’t want anyone who’s been on Buffalo anymore. The Habs do need a player who can lift a club and no one has done that on Buffalo. With that biased perspective in place, I would have taken Evander Kane in our lineup even though LW isn’t a priority right now.

It’s funny when you think about it. When talking about Alzner, Bergevin refers to how many people thought Chara was too slow a few years ago and it turns out he was just tired. His comment about Alzner is then that perhaps he was just tired this year, implying that he may not be too slow for the league. The topic later changes to our centers and one of the names that comes up is Eric Staal. Bergevin then states that it looked like he was done a few years ago. First he defends Chara and states that he wasn’t actually over the hill and that we can’t go by what people say in that respect. He also says that Alzner may have just been tired this year, sardonic or not. He then comments that Staal looked over the hill and everyone was saying the same thing. Why couldn’t Staal have been “just tired”?

Pacioretty has never been a league leader in scoring but those players have been the crop of the league for 13 years now and they still continue to lead the league in scoring along with a few younger players like Connor McDavid. In terms of scoring, I beg to differ that Pacioretty has never been at their level. He was and can be right there with Ovechkin and other elite scorers over time. That wasn’t the point though. The point was that players can remain productive relative to their potential longer than people are giving credit. The body doesn’t just say your muscles will remain youthful because you are elite. Rick Nash’s numbers started dwindling when he went to the Rangers at the age of 27, not when he became 33. Who else’s numbers went down when they were on the Rangers? Eric Staal. The Rangers seem to play a system that doesn’t allow for a high point total amongst their players, similarly to Montreal. If we’re arguing that Pacioretty won’t put up numbers because he doesn’t have the teammates, I can buy into it. If we’re saying he won’t be able to put up 25-30 goals at least because of age? That shouldn’t happen for years. I’m not sure who would want to sign Pacioretty at 8 million for 8 years but it’s also a number that’s arbitrarily being thrown out there in support of why he should be moved. I would personally sign him for 5-6 years at ~7 million and have no problem with it. See how my number is arbitrary as well? I repeat that I would accept a trade with Pacioretty involved and also repeat that I wouldn’t sign him to 8x8. But at this point cap space is one of the least of my concerns. We should be trying to find players to add to our team and compliment Pacioretty. Once that isn’t possible? Sure, like Alfredo said, it’s rebuild time at that point. Markov is 40 and Radulov is 31. Some people felt not signing at least one of them was the biggest mistake last season. If we have Radulov, do we trade Pacioretty? It’s only one person, one year later, and we have cap space to make acquisitions. Yet here we are.

How many more years does Evgeni Malkin have? How many more years does Alex Ovechkin have? Blake Wheeler? Jamie Benn? Sidney Crosby? Anze Kopitar? Eric Staal? Claude Giroux? Gosh, it feels like there’s a lot more on the border of 30 plus year olds who can produce quite well. Brad Marchand? I remember when Boston fans wanted to trade him. Older than Pacioretty. I’ve already heard how Ovechkin is done and that Eric Staal is over the hill years ago and yet here they are at 33 scoring 40 plus goals. I strongly disagree that Pacioretty only has two years left in the tank. I can certainly see how there might be a little more inconsistency in one’s game as they get older from season to season. Heck, Pacioretty already has an off year this year. But it would not surprise me to see Pacioretty have a great year in 4-5 years. Signing him to a large contract may be a mistake but let’s hear what those numbers and term are first.

I’m probably the wrong person to ask because I also would have paid Radulov more to stay in Montreal and even said that beforehand. Max Pacioretty deserves 6-7.x million wherever he ends up and the 9 million figure is one I’ve never heard. With that being said, the cap is going up and the amount of cap space should be the least of our worries after seeing what transpired this year. I would pay Pacioretty 7 million. He’s our best player. I’m not opposed to actually trading Pacioretty for a nice return. What I do see is that people come up with reason after reason that he should be traded without any of it being necessarily factual. 1) He’s regressing —> what if he’s not? 2) he won’t resign with us anyway —> he loves it here? 3) he’s not worth 9 million —> he’s signing for 6.9? 4) it’s because he’s old etc. etc. etc. If it comes down to it, trading him is fine but people have made up a lot of things about him as well, and given them as reasons he should be traded.

Joe Morrow with the first game winning goal of this year’s playoffs.

When I look at Max Pacioretty’s statistics, I see a model of consistency. He’s also a player who came back from a broken neck much earlier than anticipated, who’s nickname is Wolverine and so all joking aside, I would have to think that if any player should defy the odds of recovery and ageing, it would be him. I would firstly assume the best when it comes to him rather than assume the worst. This isn’t even based on wishful thinking in my opinion. Max Pacioretty has never been a purely speed based player in order to accumulate his points. He was/is fast North-South but it was usually to the outside of the rink anyway unless our defense were feeding him breakaways. He scores his points with his lethal shot from inside the offensive zone, and there’s no reason to assume that part of his game will regress in the next 5-6 years. Max Pacioretty is our best player and quite frankly his statistics this year show me that he didn’t have any first line players to play with, not that he’s regressing rapidly. His assist totals are an underrated part of his game and they were much lower this year as well. Max Pacioretty has performed without first line players before, having been centered by Desharnais, but they had chemistry that made Pacioretty’s numbers remain reasonable. Drouin can be a first line player but he doesn’t seem to me to be the type of player to raise the level of other first line players as well. Furthermore, he was in the process of learning a new position. As for trading Pacioretty to get younger, that’s not a good enough reason for me. Age is something similar to character and I would rather skill than age. I’t’s fun to propose acquiring a “younger prospect center” who can be a first line center, but why does any team make that trade for a player with an expiring contract prior to next year’s trade deadline? Perhaps even ever? Surely, there are other options for our team to move forward prior to dealing Pacioretty.

Trading Pacioretty for someone younger will likely change the team’s average age from 26.8 to 26.7. It’s not like we’re going to become extremely younger by trading him because Pacioretty is old. With Price’s, Weber’s and Pacioretty’s age getting up there, this is precisely why we should try to make our team better in the short term without mortgaging the future. Help them win here. I seem to be in the minority but personally that glaring 8 million in cap space is what I would first focus my attention on. Use it wisely and it can help us be a better team now. As for Pacioretty’s value, the argument seems to be that the longer we wait, the lower his value will be. We didn’t trade him this season when teams would get two playoff runs out of him and yet people who said we should trade him this year because our return will likely be better will still want him traded “whenever”. The argument is now that he should be traded ASAP because his value will be higher. Well, this was already the case before. As for Pacioretty himself, I’ve already posted trade proposals with him included, but it seems to go completely over people’s heads that he can still be a helpful piece for another 5-6 years himself. Trading Pacioretty for a core piece who is also younger can be said for Weber, Price, Pacioretty and even players like Gallagher and Byron. It’s nice to say that we should trade Pacioretty for a core piece who will help for years to come but the only certainty I see is that Pacioretty himself is a core piece who can help for years to come. Some people are proposing that he should be traded based on a timeline regardless if a beneficial trade is actually available out there. As for Pacioretty being clearly unhappy in Montreal and wanting to leave, everything I’ve heard him say points in the other direction. Of course he’s not going to come out and explicitly say he wants out, but it seemed to be apparent common knowledge that he wanted to leave (which I never believed) and now here is he a few days ago saying how he wants to be part of the solution and that he loves it here in Montreal.

Why is I so important for the team to get younger, when it’s already one of the youngest teams in the league?

The main answer I didn’t like was the Karl Alzner one. Comparing him to Chara from years past and then saying “maybe he (Alzner) was tired”. It’s a little too easy to always answer questions by saying fans and media just don’t know everything and it seemed like any opinion about Bergevin’s methods were always incorrect and had Bergevin always saying “no” to Melnyk’s opinion. The other stuff, like the attitude and character discussion is blown out of proportion in my opinion and even being lost somewhat in translation considering Bergevin is French. I don’t believe intangibles are the most important thing, but I certainly agree that some players like Drouin and Price often looked disinterested throughout the season. Some would say Pacioretty looked that way as well. It’s not the most outlandish thing to say that the attitude needs to change. The other side of the coin is that he keeps repeating that the team wasn’t ready from day 1 and were never in a position to compete for the playoffs. That’s where I believe he’s either completely blind or too manly (or not man enough) to admit that the team lacked enough skill to compete for a playoff spot. He instead says that we could have the best players in the world (which we did not) and it would not matter.

Considering players like Evander Kane, Rick Nash, JVR and James Neal are actual free agents who teams can sign for free without losing any assets, just like John Tavares, Pacioretty is not the second highest prize come July 1st.