Neech

It helps that RD is a position of need, and if we have to keep Petry he'll be useful for us. I guess the deal will look worse if he's still on the cap next year and we're having trouble unloading him.

I'm still marvelling at this trade. We dumped a bunch of deadwood for a decent pick, and a decent player who could fetch another decent pick (or more). We basically got value out of thin air and cleared up much needed space at forward, jettisoning a useless bum (Hoffman) in the process.

If he returns to form and is on a 40 point pace at the deadline, with salary retention he should be worth more than just a 2nd.

If we retain 50% on Petry's salary, what's his value around the league? A veteran RD coming off two down years, turning 36 this season, but with some great years before that including a recent finals run where he was a key contributor. Should be worth at least another 2nd, right? Would it be worth it to rehabilitate his value in the lineup first?

Some analysts are saying that the Karlsson trade was a logjam holding up other moves around the league, so maybe we're in for an active month of August.

Did Mike Grier get absolutely taken to the cleaners on this trade? Sure, he got rid of Karlsson's contract, but he didn't get much in return, and even sent out a 3rd rounder. Another example of why I'm glad we didn't go for a former player as our GM.

I love this deal, especially considering that we'll probably get some more assets by flipping Petry down the road at a lower cap hit. Glad that Hoffman is gone and we can forget he was ever on the team (and was a replacement for a beaut in Danault). This means more stability on D and another spot up front for a prospect. A 2nd rounder is nothing to sneeze at either, and maybe even Desmith will provide some value.

As there would be with Carey if he weren't on LTIR, which is probably the best option for Gally at some point soon.

I'd love to maximize Hoffman's value, but he's probably not worth much more than Dadonov was at the deadline. I'd rather just play the youth and see if Ylonen or Farrell can hang in the league.

Gorges was a hell of a depth D for us until he got paid. Similar to Gallagher as a blood and guts role player who took too much punishment to ever merit a big chunk of the cap (obvs Gally was better). Harris seems more cerebral and able to avoid getting clobbered.

It seems like there's a 90% chance that it won't effect his career, but it is a little concerning. I wonder how much this would have changed his draft stock if this information was available earlier.

Unfortunately we were unlucky with the timing of those two picks, which is a big reason why I think we need another dip at the top 5. Reinbacher and Slaf are more likely second pairing and second line talent than the superstars we hoped for. If we had those picks in reverse years we'd have Bedard and Jiricek - probably about the same ceiling on D but a massive difference up front. I agree that Carolina is a good comparable for us with their strong two way D-corps, and they're well set up for long term contention.

This stuff makes my leary - you don't hear about other stars engaging in this quackery. It seems like Slaf has deficits that could be addressed with more conventional coaching. But we'll see the results on the ice. At least he seems like a hard worker.

I think we'll probably be back in the top 10 as well, just looking at the competition in the division. I agree about the whole tanking business, and we're doing a good job of creating a positive culture by all accounts. But it would probably be better for the future if our pick next year is closer to top 5 territory and we get a stud.

It seems management and fans are done with bottoming out and want to be more competitive next year. Hughes has also said he expects it to be another 2-3 years before we're contending for the playoffs, which I take to be good management of expectations but good luck with that in the rabid Montreal market. What worries me is that I don't think we're coming out of this 'tanking' phase with the top end prospect talent to become a contender, and that we're heading for another decade plus similar to the last 15 years - a good but not great team that can come close but never really contend. Looking at the division, every other team either has at least as good or better talent in its prime or in the pipeline - how do we surpass them, let alone the rest of the league? Should we swallow our impatience and extend the rebuild to come out with a true contender a bit further down the road?

That's a pretty impressive lineup of legends!

I think he'll get 40 points easily with top-6 minutes and linemates. The question is if he can establish himself as a true top-6 piece over the course of this deal and score in the 50-60 point range.

These AAV's are so good from Hughes that I'm starting to wonder if he doesn't have some under the table form of extra compensation set up. The only downside is that it takes Newhook right to UFA.

Detroit gets Debrincat at a decent number for the rest of his 20's, and Ottawa recoups a 1st rounder. Both these teams are around the point we hope to be in a couple years and figure to finish ahead of us in the standings again. In fact, we're probably looking at another last place finish in the division, which IMO is good news for the rebuild because we need more top talent to become a real contender.

Bergy always undervalued Danault, wouldn't be surprised if they traded him.

I watched only a bit of this 4 on 4 scrimmage, and boy is Hutson a wizard with the puck. He'd be a future MVP candidate if the NHL was always 4 on 4 (along with Cole).

Compilation of his fights. Plying the family trade. Pretty fearless, but will need to put on a lot of weight to hang in the pros.

Both McCagg and Marinaro say Mailloux stood out as by far the most NHL-ready prospect, mentioning his great size, speed, puck-handling and physicality. Engstrom also receives high praise.

I wouldn't have minded another year of term to keep him cheap if his production continues, but glad to keep him around.

Average of 56 games played over the last four seasons.