GHT120

Currently, one player needs to be moved/waived to meet the 23 player limit (counting Slafkovsky) ... almost certainly a forward (they have 15 on the current CapFriendly listing) ... another forward is also likely to be moved to make room for a 7th defenceman ... but since they want/need to reduce caphit to give HuGo flexibility (i.e., room to make other deals if they arise) during the season, my perception is that those moves are needed for roster/cap reasons and not so much directly to "make room" for Juraj ... I expect they would want to make them regardless of where Slafkovsky is playing. Based on "talk" that Byron may not be able to play, Paul going on LTIR may end up being the 23-man roster solution ... but that doesn't give HuGo the desired/needed cap flexibility.

I took your phrasing as meaning that Matheson was the same unknown that Guhle, Harris, Baron and Norlinder represent ... Matheson is an established NHL defenceman ... I don't know that he can match the very best of Petry but I absolutely think he can replace the contributions of one of 21/22 Petry, or Romanov or Chiarot ... I don't factor Weber as part of the equation as he was gone all last season and only the most hopeful (IMO) expected him to ever return ... the youngsters may or may not be in the NHL full-time this coming season and so I consider them in a very different manner than Matheson in terms of filling, pending any trade, the other two "empty" spots ... and considering how poorly the defence played last season I am not certain that it will be all that worse.

I expect that ***IF*** Slafkovsky merits being the NHL HuGo will move/dump somebody, somehow to make room in the Top 9 ... exactly where will likely be fluid early in the season to find what best suits Juraj's development.

I wouldn't include Matheson with the youngsters ... IMO it is a given that Edmundson, Matheson, Savard and Wideman are (at the moment) filling four of the six slots (barring injury) ... Guhle, Harris, Baron and Norlinder will vie for the two other spots with Scheuneman as the 6/7 D depending on how the youngsters perform. The good news is that if Dadonov, Byron, Allen, Drouin and maybe even Hoffman play well enough to help take the Habs out of strong contention (IMO bottom 3-5 teams) for the first overall pick they should be VERY tradeable as the deadline approaches and their departures help drop the team closer to contention.

For the curious: Mike Johnson 2007 Bryan Smolinski 2008 Robert Lang 2009 Jay Leach 2010 Ryan O'Byrne 2010-2011 James Wisniewski 2011 Colby Armstrong 2013 Thomas Vanek 2014 Manny Malhotra 2015 Victor Bartley 2016 Christian Thomas 2016 Zach Redmond 2017 Nicolas Deslauriers 2018-2019 Cale Fleury 2020-2021 Chris Wideman 2022 Expect the choice relates to the last player to wear the number before 2007 ... Richard Zednik, who wore it from his acquisition in 2001/01 through 2005/06 ... a fellow Slovakian ... Juraj has a CHANCE to become the best player to ever wear #20 as his regular number (Beliveau wore it for one year, Pete Mahovlich IMO the best "regular").

He will be 30 entering the 23/24 season ... much will depend on how the youngsters progress this season ... if the plan next summer is for 23/24 to be a playoff year (see below) then it definitely makes sense ... it also depends on term, AAV and, the great unknown, cap status next summer ... cap status in terms of the 23/34 cap ceiling, the projected cap growth and whether Price is an ongoing burden. playoff year: by this I do not mean whether or not the team is trying for a top 10 pick in 2024 but rather whether HuGo are making roster/cap decisions based on a goal to make the 23/24 playoffs or continuing to build longer-term.

Huberdeau makes some sense ... Panthers add goal scoring and physicality but give up a QUALITY winger to do so ... the bigger price may well be Weeger ... he was 2nd (regular season) and 3rd (playoffs) in TOI for Florida defencemen last season ... that is a big hole to fill ... but they were already over the cap so they moved out enough money to sign Tkachuk. From Calgary's perspective, it will be a quality return for this coming season but overall it will depend on whether they can extend either player, or get significant assets for them in a trade ... and with the loss of both Gaudreau and Tkachuk from the top 6 is this still a "Darryl Sutter" team?"

I don't know that I would automatically assume they are worse ... Tkachuk brings a different style that may greatly benefit them. They obviously face some cap/ roster challenges ... Bobrovsky is an albatross of a contract ... unless there is a season-ending, LTIR injury somewhere on that roster, I expect they may well consider significant salary retention if they can get Sergei to waive his NMC ... not many other places they can save the, at least, $3.4M they need to become cap compliant ... Reinhart, Hörnqvist (8 team NTC), Bennett and Verhaeghe seem to be the other trade candidates.

Or just strip it down to "W"

Slafkovsky gets #20 ... Wideman switches to #6 (which he actually has worn for most of his pro career). Dach is #77 Dadonov #63 Matheson #8 (in Florida he was #19 but obviously not here).

Like the books would ever show a profit ... that was supposed to be the deal with the TD Place development by Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group (Redblacks owners) ... magically..........

Calgary was a 111 point team ... their best season since 1988/89, 2nd best ever ... trading Gaudreau was almost certainly never an option ... Treliving was (IMO) stuck, even if he knew JG wasn't coming back.

I believe this is the last season of Brad Treliving's contract, so there is no chance if he is hoping for an extension ... but if he feels like he is going to be pushed out the door then maybe a tiny, tiny, tiny chance.

CHL has the benefit of adapting to the North American ice surface and style (and in a WORST CASE scenario an emergency call-up) ... so I'll vote CHL (as if my vote has any impact) ... ALSO ... perhaps it's not surprising that in SWEDEN there is a lot of talk about him playing in the SHL.

Sadly ... nicknames aren't what they used to be ... these days almost any player whose last name starts with MONT is likely to be called Monty

Link?

He just loves posting for clicks.

In a market where, albeit it taking account of his injuries last season, Pacs is given away for free (even a small bonus - undrafted 6/7/8, RHD Dylan Coghlan - for taking him) I expect Anderson would fetch either one or the other of your suggested returns, maybe with a second lesser piece, at best.

Exactly ... slightly tongue-in-cheek

Perhaps a perfect Petry replacement to support the rebuild, for ONE season

Ideally 22nd in the NHL or worse. 🤞

In this trade market it might well take a 2nd rounder to get a team to take Armia, or be a PACS-ish deal ... so Dvorak for PLD just doesn't work. I would do that deal in a split second, without a second thought ... which means it is completely one-sided for the Habs ... a reasonable "hockey trade" usually makes fans from both teams think before agreeing ... there must be a Habs fan posting on that Jets forum ...

He is a great story ... I don't have any illusions about his challenging the Habs top defence prospects ... but won't bet against him carving out a spot down the line (likely 6/7, maybe topping out as a #5).

If places were reversed, I wouldn't let PLD go for Dvorak, a mid-to-late first and a B/C level prospect ...if Winnipeg decides it is time to rebuild it will take more in terms of pick(s) and prospects and if they remain in "now" mode it would take more "current talent" than just Dvorak. The benefit of such a deal is that a new contract can be a bit cheaper as it buys out two RFA years rather than signing as a UFA ... but a question that comes to mind is whether it is certain that PLD is a centre ... I've read/heard reports he should be a LW ... that impacts his value.

That would be sweet ... CapFriendly showing it as $2.1M per year for two years. EDIT: They've corrected it ... $1.1M x 2