Bullsmith

So far Perezhogin has not shown an NHL effort for any length of time. I trust Gainey et al to decide what to do with him, but right now there is a slot wide open for an offensive winger to play with Pleks and probably Johnson. Alternatly, someone like Higgins could play with Pleks and make an effective line, opening up a slot with Koivu and Ryder. Depth = flexibility and if a prospect needs offensive ice time to play well, then we have the talent to create three offensive lines, not just two.

If Koivu can't go, then we've got a ton of money under the cap. Someone who's in the last year of their contract will become available for a good prospect later in the season. We got Kovalev for Balej, and where's he? In the meantime, it's an opportunity to shake the lines up and give some of the young guns a limited-time opportunity to shine.

This is all win for the Bulldogs and the Habs. As the franchise owners, the Habs get to put their prospects' needs first, and everyone gets to play on a better team because there are a couple more actual NHL prospects on it thanks to the Oilers. A split team is bad for everyone, a majority/minority team is only bad for the minority, who have no say over who plays.