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

[MarkovsKnee]

Let's go get the other one now.

Well, I wanted him because I saw him as an upgrade on Pezzetta without losing the physicality. But, Heineman has stepped his game up big time. When Armia moves, Tuch will get an opportunity, so he isn't a real need anymore.

 

[rahad]

Barron was acquired almost three years ago. He's playing on a team with a deep d prospect pool.

I don't think it's a question of patience, but a question of numbers. He keeps getting passed on the depth chart by other players and needs to clear waivers to be sent to the ahl.

I would say the habs have been very patient with Barron. They've let him make his mistakes and he's been rotating in and out of the line up as most d-man who arent stars and have played less than 200 games do.

At no point did I feel they were unjust to him. The writing is on the wall. He hasn't been better than Struble, Guhle, Arber, Hutson. Mailloux and Reinbacher are knocking on the door and Justin has to pass waivers.

When Barron played 5 games with the habs in 2022 none of Guhle, Struble, Arber, Hutson were playing nhl (obviously). Since then, they have all passed him on the depth chart.

The situation with Barron is so weird. The first season he has good. He could have been a potential top 4 Dman in 2026. He regressed so hard in the last 2 years.

We keep describing Barron as a offensive dman.... But where are the numbers? One point only this year.

 

[Soundgarden]

Apparently Nashville fans universally hate the deal.

No, we're glad to be out of his contract. Taking on Barron was a "bonus" like the Ryan Ellis deal.

 

[Habs]

KH is making trades at 5am in Russia!! He must be really bored!!

That's when you have to boot the hot Russian escorts out of the room. Friend of mine told me ...

 

[JeffreyLFC]

Shouldn't their play last season be a more important factor then what they would hypothetically do in camp/pre-season? For example Struble earned his spot last year playing actual NHL games, shouldn't that be valued when making decisions? It's not like he was just handed a spot, he was outplaying guys like Kovacevik and Harris.

I mean the only actual rookie who was arguably handed a spot was Hutson, and he also earned his spot in TC anyways.

No the lack of depth at RD was a huge concern. In professional sport you have to fight for your spot all the time. Nothing should be handed out, if you want to win, you need players that compete and depth + competition is always a great motivation in doing so.

 

[Natey]

Lots of us called it a shit trade, Sakic is too smart.

I feel even more justified reading that thread hahaha

 

[Canadienna]

This guys makes 3.75? Until 2027?

I don't like it. You don't need capspace until you do.

Hell that's not far off what Monahan was making when we acquired him.

 

[Milhouse40]

Please, give it a rest with Lehkonen

He is playing on a team with MacKinnon and Makar ....not on a team with Suzuki and Matheson for crying out loud. That freaking helps. A trade is a lot more complicated than one on one and no GM is hitting 100%, that does not exist, never did and never will.

Cap space
Roster spot
Depth, draft and many other things came into play.

Fans are whining about the Lehkonen trade are the same that gave 100 proposal and 98 of them would turn out to be a disaster for the Habs.

Barron did not pan out because we couldn't give him the ice-time he needed and we have just better offensive D prospect than him, thanks to the same GM many of you crap on.

 

[JeffreyLFC]

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.

A 4th round pick is NOTHING. That's my issue. We traded away depth for nothing. If NJ get another defenseman through waiver good on them. The Habs are lacking experience, size and RD. Guess who could have filled that role...

 

[habamillions]

Like many said before he is likely a savard replacement for the next 2 years. Mailloux easily can be the new barron. Obviously hopefully better. Its a meh trade. Got something for a guy we were likely to put on waivers at some point

 

[le_sean]

A 4th round pick is NOTHING. That's my issue. We traded away depth for nothing. If NJ get another defenseman through waiver good on them. The Habs are lacking experience, size and RD. Guess who could have filled that role...

Depth? Even after trading away Kovacevic and Harris, the Habs still had good defensive depth. Like they could have predicted their 5th overall pick would have a severe knee injury.

 

[JeffreyLFC]

Depth? Even after trading away Kovacevic and Harris, the Habs still had good defensive depth. Like they could have predicted their 5th overall pick would have a severe knee injury.

I am not seeing that depth right now. The habs defense have underperformed and you cannot predict a severe knee injury but having more depth is always better than have no depth. Especially for a mid round pick

 

[dinodebino]

I sense that Bergevin is still affecting this forum. Trades are not all first step wins. That is how Bergevin used to think.
Barron didn’t work out. So we get Carrier. But we got Hage through a maze of moves. So we essentially got both for Lekhy. And who says that this new chapter is the end of this ongoing trade flow chart?

 

[Milhouse40]

A 4th round pick is NOTHING. That's my issue. We traded away depth for nothing. If NJ get another defenseman through waiver good on them. The Habs are lacking experience, size and RD. Guess who could have filled that role...

Kovacevic has about the same experience as Guhle....
It's not like we're missing D here....we don't have enough place even after trading Harris and Kovacevic.

And we still need to move some of them....

 

[Redux91]

I'll be honest, I'm just happy we have an NHL player playing on defence.

Exactly

Instead of our RD going
-Matheson lefty being overplayed
-Savard righty but no wheels being overplayed
-14 mins of either the super soft RD Barron or an offhanded still green Struble

Now you bring in a 20 minute a night 2nd or 3rd pairing righty who can kill penalties (we are no longer on the 3-4 year look out for a PP QB D, we are still not used to that) so we are 'not' in need of the type of D Barron is hoping to be, we're not trying to bring in a D with hopeful offense like 'maybe he can help the PP!'
So it was imperative bringing in another PKer , shotblocker DESPITE the 'small size' which gets blown out of proportion anyway when we get in the realm of the '5'11' debate, like relax lol, it's not giant but it's not midget either

He's going to HELP this team, not hurt it, and that's all that matters right now moving forward

 

[Milhouse40]

I am not seeing that depth right now. The habs defense have underperformed and you cannot predict a severe knee injury but having more depth is always better than have no depth. Especially for a mid round pick

Cause there's no injury....Mailloux and Engstrom are pushing....lucky Reinbacher is injured cause he would probably be pushing too.

 

[le_sean]

I am not seeing that depth right now. The habs defense have underperformed and you cannot predict a severe knee injury but having more depth is always better than have no depth. Especially for a mid round pick

So we’d keep Kovacevic and then what? Our 5v5 goal differential would be -21 instead of -23?

Please, he was a nothing player. 6’5 and never laid a hit in his career

 

[MXD]

I sense that Bergevin is still affecting this forum. Trades are not all first step wins. That is how Bergevin used to think.
Barron didn’t work out. So we get Carrier. But we got Hage through a maze of moves. So we essentially got both for Lekhy. And who says that this new chapter is the end of this ongoing trade flow chart?

Not to mention, NOT trading for Carrier (or any RD that can play on the 2nd and 3rd pairing) because Kovacevic was let go in order for Barron could have a shot on the right side, and ultimately fail at it, is basically compounding a mistake with another mistake.

 

[Sorinth]

No the lack of depth at RD was a huge concern. In professional sport you have to fight for your spot all the time. Nothing should be handed out, if you want to win, you need players that compete and depth + competition is always a great motivation in doing so.

But why do you think that "fight for your spot" is something that onlys happen during TC? They played actual NHL games all of last year, and for Barron the year before as well. And as time went on Kovacevik lost the fight/spot to guys like Barron and Struble, so why are we supposed to ignore that?

 

[Redux91]

Okay, but it a mistake by Hughes.

He traded for the wrong player.

This is not a positive thing.

Present to me *1* NHL GM or a GM in any professional Sport who bats 1.000%.
Go on.

 

[Runner77]

I'm not against moving the possible longer-term potential in Barron for some short-term stability in Carrier, but overall this shows we didn't get a great return on Lehkonen.

It also shows that whoever scouted Barron on behalf of the Habs failed in their assessment. It didn’t take long for random posters on a hockey forum to realize Barron’s shortcomings.

What were these scouting people looking at? Size, handedness and ability to walk the blue line don’t make up for lack of IQ, limited offence, poor defensive coverage and no physicality.

Because a lot of these scouting jobs come from the friends helping friends NHL circle jerk, I suspect that whoever recommended Barron is still a Habs scout. And if that’s the case, they can also ruin a future deal Hughes completes and that’s the part that is way more concerning than losing out on the Lehkonen trade.

 

[OldCraig71]

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.

He will be an upgrade over Barron and probably Savard as well because the latter has lost mobility and I wouldn't be surprised if he retires.

I don't really care for losing a ton of games to secure a higher pick. We have Demidov, Hage and Beck on the way and some good defensemen as well. I think that playing better hockey will pay more dividends at this point. There isn't a generational player available in the top three just more projects and we already have a cupboard full of those lol.

 

[Rapala]

What will you ever do with that username now that Hughes has dispatched your guy?

"I'd like to drop an R Pat"

 

[1909]

Francis Bouillon is undersized, but I always liked his game when he played!

Bouillon was like a brick on skates. That's why they called him Cube too.

 

[Andy]

I am not seeing that depth right now.

The habs have turned their D depth (Kovacevic, Harris, Barron) into Laine, a 4th, and Carrier. We actually see the depth at work here. It was so deep we were able to turn into into a mid pick, a top 6 forward (possibly more), and an experienced RD. We did this without having to trade any of the d-men this board is unanimous in keeping (Guhle, Hutson, Arber, Mailloux). They still have Engstrom and Reinbacher as well. The habs were and are deep at D even if they are still missing that top pairing d-man.

Folks are just frustrated we do not see immediate results, but this is a rebuild. It's naive to think all your prospects will hit and hit at the same time. This is the type of movement we will continue to see until the team makes decent strides.

All this whining about Lekhonen and Kovacevic. These are depth players. They are not what the habs need right now. Those players won't turn the habs from a bottom feeder to a bubble team.