GHT120

Agreed ... it wasn't that $5M was too much to spend on a goalie ... but it was too much to spend on THAT goalie.

True ... but Markov also excelled at quickly and subtly getting the puck to the net, as well as setting up shooters other than the BOMBER ... that was part of what made his PP effective ... unlike the Weber-based PP it wasn't BOMBER dependent.

Give me peak Markov and Souray and I'd play two D-men on the PP next season ... but I'm not certain any of the Habs current D-Men are either the QB (Markov) or Bomber (Souray) types that the PP needs.

I was just tweaking my post (above) when you posted . Great minds think alike and ...... EDIT: And just tweated it further @ 1:53

They don't even seem to consider that Campbell has a 10-team NTC. Edmonton is perhaps the most "win now" team in the NHL ... If the NTC/NMCs can be resolved, I would ***consider*** swapping Price for Campbell and a 2nd rounder (to help move Allen) ... JC's contract is one season longer, but has a $5.5M lower AAV impact ... Habs would get off LTIR and Edmonton gets $5M in cap space by using LTIR for Price ... EDIT: AS originally suggested in the link, Edmonton would also get DeSmith ... so $3.7M in additional cap space with Price on LTIR ... of course if they preferred Allen, I would go for that.

I agree ... not worth getting excited ... but a Kovacevic type asset would be nice ... solid 6/7 defenceman is still an NHLer.

He didn't even include HIMSELF on the list???????? 😜

Doubt there is a direct relationship between the two ... I don't think Norlinder was in their plans this year anyway.

I'll guess that HuGo had hoped that Petry would accept playing a few months with the Habs to rebuild his value (Pittsburgh had apparently been trying to trade him for some time with no takers) ... Jeff didn't want to play in Montreal ... HuGo decided he could have been poison on a young team if forced to do so ... NOBODY else wanted him at this point ... dreams of a BIG return for Petry were just dreams.

Lindström competition for Kovacevic? At best? Good news is that he is a pending RFA so Habs can just walk away next summer if needed.

Expect HuGo knew this was a possibility when they acquired him ... Petry obviously did NOT want to play in Montreal and keeping him was not an option on a young team ... sending him home to sit and wait would do nothing to improve his value.

And only $429,166 in projected cap space thanks to $4.5M in carryover bonuses from 2022-23 ... LTIR can SUCK.

If I had to guess ... I suspect HuGo really don't want to retain much salary against next season's cap ... the "lesser bad contract" as a cap offset rather than salary retention makes a lot of sense to me.

Unless MB gets a GM job ... then he gets 3 yrs @ $3.4M ... Marc's not making the mistake of that fourth season again.

The "Q" has not, despite the thread title, eliminated fighting ... they have just made the penalties for fighting severe enough to VERY STRONGLY discourage it ... if someone takes a severe cheap shot run at CC or NS then I would be OK with another Hab immediately reacting and jumping the guy; penalties be damned ... but if by "a run" you mean throws a big but legal hit, or commits a simple penalty, then the minor is fine. But I believe that part of the approach sanctioned by the "Q" is for the referees and the league to also be more severe in punishing actual cheap shots.

If "policing" worked the @$$holes who pull the actual cheap-shots would stop ... but the true cheap-shot artists depend on those cheap-shots as part of their raison d'etre and are well paid for what they do ... so they won't stop. Most of the time what is called "policing" is just retaliating for legal hits ... there is really nothing to "police" ... it is intended to TRY to intimidate the player who threw the legal check from doing it again ... that type of "policing" has no place in the game I-M-O.

Thought I was agreeing with you ... 9 games is too short a sample ... highlight reels are a skewed sample.

It is like "scouting" off a highlight reel ... it is not always representative of the player.

I have no love of fighting ... it sometimes happens organically (i.e., in the course of play) and I can accept that ... but far too often it is either pre-arranged, intended to try to intimidate or to obtain "revenge" ... IMO, there is no place in the game for the last three.

I doubt WiFi or Petry are in the running for the 7D position ... Wideman is perfect for it.

That is to not have to LTIR Price ... which I hope they will not have to do. But HuGo seems to be all about maximizing return ... ***if*** Petry is OK with returning to Montreal (we saw what happened when he wasn't) and there aren't great offers on the table then I expect Petry to start the season in Montreal ... whether he even makes it to the trade deadline is another matter (i.e., Hughes tends to make deals once he is offered the value he has in mind). Allen or De-Sith will undoubtedly be gone ... frankly I don't care which.

Suspect it may just be pending Petry (i.e., what does he want to do, do they want to do with him) ... they can't welcome DeSmith and not also welcome Petry.

I wonder if it has something to do with giving Petry some time to absorb the trade before Hughes discusses with Jeff his the future, if any, with the Habs.