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Confirmed with Link: Alexandre Carrier acquired from the Predators in exchange for Justin Barron

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Seems like an ok trade, kind of just shuffling deck chairs hoping for something that's a bit of a better fit for both teams. Should probably help a little short term but don't love that contract.

High level when looking at the series of trades, it doesn't look good. Not the end of the world since it's just shuffling depth pieces, and it's at least good to see the GM not let his ego get in the way and try to save face by trying to force Barron to work, but when that's the best you can say it's a sign things didn't go well.

That said even though things went wrong, I can't blame the process too much. I can see how maybe the plan this summer had been, let's give Barron 30 games to show some progress, after which Reinbacher should be ready for a callup and play some meaningful minutes. The LD/RD imbalance mostly fixes itself, with at worst Struble playing some 3rd pairing RD if Barron struggles or as an injury replacement. It was a decent plan, but Reinbacher's injury really throws a wrench in it.
 
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JeffreyLFC said:
I disagree 100%.
While I agree it was obvious the habs would only be able to keep a maximum of 8 defenseman in the NHL but instead of letting their play during camp+ pre season decide if their defenseman warranted to stay in the NHL, the habs decided to decimate their depth so they can give opportunity to their younger defenseman. To me this is/was always dumb, a 4th round pick for Kovacevic is not good enough of an asset to move him before training camp. If a team offered a 1st, sure but a mid round pick? The worst case scenario is that Kovacevic stink at camp and you demote him to the AHL or lose him on waiver and miss out on a mid pick. No big deal considering his cap hit. The issue was, if Mailloux, Reinbacher, Barron were not ready (which we know happened) or showed the talent to stay with the big club at least you would still have Kovacevic as a depth defenseman. It would also mean a battle for a roster spot at camp. Handing out NHL roster spot to rookie prior to the camp is not the way professional sport should be. It's a competitive sport, you need depth and you want them to show you they are ready by their play on the ice. Now guess what, we have acquired a depth defenseman in Carrier with a significant cap hit and terms. If he stink, you are stuck with him, demoting him to the AHL is not an option.
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The problem is everyone has many players vying for jobs at training camp. You wouldn’t have received a 4th rounder for Kovacevic at that time because NJ would have just taken someone else on waivers from the plethora of players available.

And Carrier’s cap hit isn’t significant. He’s a 1 for 1 replacement for Savard. Who is beating him out for a RD job next training camp? There’s still room for Mailloux or Reinbacher.
 
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OldCraig71 said:
Well, I think they made a mistake and are trying to fix things.

Having as many as 5 rookie defencemen on the ice on any given night was wrong.

We had Kovacevic on a minimum wage contract( 1/6th of what Carrier earns) and could have kept him to trade at this year's deadline if need be. We sent him to NJ, and by all accounts, he has been good while Barron has not.

Dach and Newhook were traded and not missed by Chicago and Colorado and will eventually get traded out of Montreal, rebuilding or not.
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It's hard to say.
The Kovacevic thing has been discussed and most agree it wasn't the brightest thing HuGo have done given our lack of experience at that position.
The thing is I think the move will help give us more stability for players like Guhle Hutson and even Xhekaj.
The one thing I've noticed with our current coaching group is the pairings are never stable and everyone ends up playing with everyone else.
I'm sure the three different LD getting walked on that right side against Pittsburgh was the catalyst for this move.
The one thing with Carrier is he will immediately bring a better balance to the team because he can play 20 plus minutes.
Unless you are pushing for a complete tank something had to be done and Mailloux is not the answer for this season for sure.
 
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Holy ..... So much toxicity over a simple trade. People are so angry about the past and how they expect the team should performed. Also so much history re-visiting trade and other decisions made by management.

People forget that you have to view a trade in the context it was made at the time it was made. Can't fault people for not knowing the future or for event that where unforeseeable.

At this point, trading Barron was the best option as he was a devaluating asset and there was no role for him given his skill set. Carrier may not be the perfect RD, but he'll be serviceable and will have a role short and medium term. I dont think he's the solution on RD... but as I said in another post, our entire RD need to be re-model and this could be a first step toward that. Hoping for more move to continue the work started last night.
 
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This trade only hurt our tank and our cap flexiblity, it doesn’t really help us in our rebuild. We get an additional French player, add player represented by Quartexx(Hughes old agency). I’m not losing sleep over Barron but the team isn’t improving because we traded our #7D. Considering the situation on RD we gave Kovacevic away who was the perfect #6/7D, Fabbro was available on waiver and Trouba was traded for Vaakanainen and a 4th… this deal isn’t anything to get excited about I would have been much happier with the other 3 options…
 
Lafleurs Guy said:
As everyone said before the year began...

Everyone else is up in the air. Mailloux, Roy, Laine, Struble, X, Engstrom… most will probably be with us but some may be leveraged in trades.
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Not sure that I see the need to trade Laine. He isn't that old. He is formidable when motivated, which he appears to be. We can have nice things!
 
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No welcome to Montreal video for Carrier? Sad. But not really :D

Wonder how Hughes' trip to Russia is going and will the bring Demidov with them.
 
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calder candidate said:
This trade only hurt our tank and our cap flexiblity, it doesn’t really help us in our rebuild. We get an additional French player, add player represented by Quartexx(Hughes old agency). I’m not losing sleep over Barron but the team isn’t improving because we traded our #7D. Considering the situation on RD we gave Kovacevic away who was the perfect #6/7D, Fabbro was available on waiver and Trouba was traded for Vaakanainen and a 4th… this deal isn’t anything to get excited about I would have been much happier with the other 3 options…
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Count me as one of those non-excited about this trade. Don't care we lost Barron though... but we could have lost him for a lot cheaper.
 
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VirginiaMtlExpat said:
Not sure that I see the need to trade Laine. He isn't that old. He is formidable when motivated, which he appears to be. We can have nice things!
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I think Laine is here longterm if he agrees to a decent contract. If he wants 10+ I think we'll move him. We'll see how it goes but I think he'll likely stay. He's bounced around so much and if Montreal can help put his career back together, why move on?

Most of the players I listed I think will be here. But some won't. We just don't know who's staying and who's going. That will unfold over time. All these players are being evaluated. We have so much depth. They'll stack rank and then go from there.
 
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Le Barron de HF said:
Just waking up to this. Very surprised that Habs pulled this off. I was a defender of Barron but I really don't like how his season went this year. His confidence is shot. He may be able to build a career like a Mike Reilly but solid work by HuGo
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What will you ever do with that username now that Hughes has dispatched your guy? 😭
 
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People gotta understand..

Hughes didn't trade the Lehky you're seeing in Colorado (tho some of us DID think Lehk was more than a 4th liner)
He traded what Bergevin and Julien/Ducharme did to Lehkonen by turning him into a bottom 6er for us
That's NOT Kent Hughes fault...
That's the player he ended up having to trade BECAUSE Bergevin gave all our money away to players we are STILL currently trying to get rid of..
And we , at that specific exact time, could not afford to give a deserved pay raise to a player that hadn't reached his ceiling *with us*, and tried to bring in a RD, which was always 'taking a stab' , it didn't work, it happens

Obviously would of loved to have kept Lehk, but I'm glad he made something out of himself over there, even got a Cup

Right now we have Hage and Carrier, and let's see where that can take us
 
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Im sick of the Lehkonen trade ongoing mourning because Barron didn’t work out. I don’t fancy myself being the best talent evaluator, I’m no scout, but I’ve watched hockey my whole life and Barron’s tools were evident. Every time I went to the Bell center to watch a game he stood out, very solid skater, good hands, good shot, sometimes physical. You hope that he puts it all together, but to me he was a clear first round talent and I’ll never be mad at Hugo for whiffing on this one because the gamble was worth it.

Along the same lines, although I wish Sergachev was still here and as much as I hated MB, I thought that trade for Drouin made perfect sense at the time and although it’s probably MB’s worst move in retrospect, I still think it was a decent gamble.
 
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Barron has regressed since being acquired, and with Mailloux, Reinbacher, and Engstrom coming soon, Barron wouldn't have much of an opportunity here anymore.

So they traded him now to at least improve in the short term.
 
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Kudo Shinichi said:
Barron has regressed since being acquired, and with Mailloux, Reinbacher, and Engstrom coming soon, Barron wouldn't have much of an opportunity here anymore.

So they traded him now to at least improve in the short term.
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It’s definitely worth asking why and how Barron stagnated. We have too many young players not progressing at the same time — some troubleshooting and deducting is in order.

Andy said:
Habs fans don't have the patience for a rebuild.

The toxicity is just a reflection of their inability to cope with not getting immediate results.
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Do you think Hughes was impatient with Barron? You insistently argued for patience with Barron this year.
 
VirginiaMtlExpat said:
Not sure that I see the need to trade Laine. He isn't that old. He is formidable when motivated, which he appears to be. We can have nice things!
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I think for Laine it comes down to pricing. He doesn't drive the play and isn't particularly good at ES/defensively. He's not a guy you pay 11+ mil to. But he is definitely one of those "missing piece" type of players.
 
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