Confirmed with Link: Artturi Lehkonen (50% Retained) Traded to Colorado for a 2024 2nd Round Pick & Justin Barron

[WG]

Maybe Barron will turn out to be a magnificent NHL defender. My point isn't about Barron, but about Lehkonen. He was still young and so promising. He could have been part of the rebuild no problem. It was a gamble, and I question whether that gamble was necessary,

If it was for cap-related reasons like @MarkovsKnee says, then OK.



I'm not "panicking". I question the trade, that's all. Isn't that what the Bergevin haters have been doing for 10 years? What, Hughes and Gorton's moves are above scrutiny?

If? Habs are running a 94MM cap right now, and Lek reupped with Colorado for 5MM more. If the team didn't have $20MM+ tied up in useless/grossly overpaid forwards, then keeping Lek around for the rebuild would have been feasible. But in the reality the team is in, they traded Lek at max value and got pieces that might be useful when the team is good again.

 

[Prairie Habs]

Tinordi & Beaulieu were 1st rounders as well didn’t make them good assets from the get go. Barron is as vanilla as it gets, and I expect will follow Beaulieu’s vagabond path. Barron is the definition of shite on a platter.


Lekhonen was a guaranteed 10-year NHL player (excl unforeseen injury of course), who could be used in any situation with elite level work ethic. More importantly his market value was not measurable via stats - so Habs would’ve never received “fair compensation”

Obviously not all 1st rounder work out, but then why are people complaining we didn't get the Avs first in the deal? HuGo saw enough value in Barron to bring him in as a return, so it wouldn't be surprising at all if they were to use the pick on a similar player. The difference is the KNOW who they are recieving in Barron and they've also seen an additional 2 years of development for him that they were satisfied with. Would a guy like Tinordi still have held his value 2 years after being drafted? Probably not.

Why are we weighing his 4 AHL games so much heavier than his 5 NHL games with us? He still has every possibility of people a solid NHLer.

 

[viceroy]

Three rookie defensemen on the team right now―THREE―and the one we got for Lehkonen ain't even one of them.

Four no? Guhle(0gms), Harris(10gms), Xhekaj(0gms) and Kovacevic(4gms).

D-men takes a longer time? Sure. Some do. Let's hope he does.

Some? Most do. Heck practically all do save for some phenoms.

Many of us stated multiple times Lekhonen’s value was much greater than his stats, thus the wise move was to keep him vs getting anally raped which is what happened w HuGo’s deal

What kind of revisionist BS is this? Most wanted to keep Lekhs but most of us were quite happy with the returns. Even most outsiders, fans and even TV talking heads felt we did very well. I can't believe some of you yokels are all out of sorts just because Barron can't be a full time NHL'er at 20 like Guhle and that Lekhonen is now on the Avs 1st line because of injuries.

Fickle, fickle.

 

[Andrei79]

Tinordi & Beaulieu were 1st rounders as well didn’t make them good assets from the get go. Barron is as vanilla as it gets, and I expect will follow Beaulieu’s vagabond path. Barron is the definition of shite on a platter.


Lekhonen was a guaranteed 10-year NHL player (excl unforeseen injury of course), who could be used in any situation with elite level work ethic. More importantly his market value was not measurable via stats - so Habs would’ve never received “fair compensation”

Weren't you saying glorified Josh Gorges (Harris) wasn't anywhere near NHL ready and might never be just like 2 weeks ago ? Why are you being so definitive on Barron then ?

The trade might end up with nothing and a loss. But, it's still too soon to say and also expected in a rebuild. Teams in rebuilds trade away players knowing they're going for darts on the board. The hope is that enough hit that the team ends up competitive.

 

[Whitesnake]

Some? Most do. Heck practically all do save for some phenoms.

Not talking about being ready to play a top 4 role. I talk about showing stuff that you will then be able to envision him as a top 4. He's nowhere near. 2-3 years after their draft year, you can start having a really good either of where you will be able to slot them. Barron at D+2 right now, is still a big mystery. So we will let him develop this full year. We will then see him start next year....and re-assess.

But Brandon Carlo at year 2 was already portrait in a Bruins lineup. But Zboril at year 2 and year 3 wasn't seen like that. McAvoy was seen great at D+1 Most round 1 D are on the fast path. Theodore at D+2 was showing some great signs offensively. Yet, same draft year Mirco Mueller chosen BEFORE Theodore....didn't look as good.

And yes, looking awesome D+1 or D+2 isn't always necessarily a sign of success. See Julius Honka. He just plateaued right after. But it's always preferable to see somebody succeeding than not...Also, we are not talking about a d-man drafted in round 5 who would openly need 4-5 years of development.

 

[TT1]

meh, i thought Guhle was carrying him a lot

I've never been a big fan of Barron but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.. his hockey iq is meh, he has good tools tho.

rip

 

[Walrus26]

Thanks to the former regime's cap "management", we couldn't afford to keep and re-sign Lehks so had to deal him for the best available return we could get at that moment. That return was not likely to be, say, a 1st and an A prospect.

Unless I've missed something....?

 

[DAChampion]

Why are you being so definitive on Barron then ?

I think that some people want Barron to fail, because they think that they'll be able to argue that Bergevin is better at trades than Hughes.

 

[DAChampion]

Thanks to the former regime's cap "management", we couldn't afford to keep and re-sign Lehks so had to deal him for the best available return we could get at that moment. That return was not likely to be, say, a 1st and an A prospect.

Unless I've missed something....?

Trading an expiring UFA like Lehkonen was a good idea regardless of whether the Habs can fit him under the cap.

He won't be as good when the Habs window opens, and his roster spot can go to Slafkovsky/Ylonen/Mesar/Beck/etc.

 

[sheed36]

Trading an expiring UFA like Lehkonen was a good idea regardless of whether the Habs can fit him under the cap.

He won't be as good when the Habs window opens, and his roster spot can go to Slafkovsky/Ylonen/Mesar/Beck/etc.

Lehkonen wasn't an expiring UFA. He was still RFA after his 1 year deal ended last season.

 

[TT1]

Trading an expiring UFA like Lehkonen was a good idea regardless of whether the Habs can fit him under the cap.

He won't be as good when the Habs window opens, and his roster spot can go to Slafkovsky/Ylonen/Mesar/Beck/etc.

trade him if u want but make a good trade, Lehkonen is a good player and he's young/woulda been cheap for us, that's as simple as it is

if Barron busts you ultimately gave up a core piece for a late 2nd rounder lol

 

[DailyKaizen]

To be fair, Eller’s departure was just stupid given where we were at the time. They also traded him to make room for a bum like Andrew Shaw and his awful contract. I can see why certain fans had a hard time letting go of that. Lehkonen simply wasn’t a fit anymore. It’s much easier to move on without any regrets. You don’t sign expensive role players when you’re rebuilding unless you’re a team just looking to just reach the cap floor which we aren’t. Somehow former management managed to make us one of the most expensive basement dwellers in NHL history.

Agreed, but was it not to make room for Jacob de la Rose?

 

[xX SEYF Xx]

Ok we could've had better in that trade
Like we are expecting to win our trades by a wide margin EVERY time
Can we move on? Lol

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Many of us stated multiple times Lekhonen’s value was much greater than his stats, thus the wise move was to keep him vs getting anally raped which is what happened w HuGo’s deal

No way.

I make that trade every day. Leks is a good young player but he was never going to help us. We were going nowhere and he would’ve been wasted here.

Clearly a valuable player elsewhere. So… we did exactly what we should, we dealt him. That’s what rebuilding teams do.

 

[TT1]

If u can't get a good trade for him then you re-sign him, we weren't forced to trade Lehkonen away. He was a young cost controlled player that fit with our core group age-wise. He woulda been re-signed as a bottom 6 player, the bonus was his upside.

ppl were wearing rose colored glasses here when the trade was made, if you've ever seen Barron play you know he has no hockey sense, all tools with no toolbox

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Let's be patient with Barron.

Whether Barron makes it or not, that’s the kind of trade you make.

 

[TT1]

Whether Barron makes it or not, that’s the kind of trade you make.

lmao in what world do you just give away good/young/core players for free, literally makes no sense

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

If u can't get a good trade for him then you re-sign him, we weren't forced to trade Lehkonen away. He was a young cost controlled player that fit with our core group age-wise.

ppl were wearing rose colored glasses here when the trade was made, if you've ever seen Barron play you know he has no hockey sense, all tools with no toolbox

He’s a good prospect. At the time of the trade it was widely regarded as win/win and that’s still how I see it.

 

[TT1]

He’s a good prospect. At the time of the trade it was widely regarded as win/win and that’s still how I see it.

ok, my perspective is biased cus i didn't like Barron from the get go

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

lmao in what world do you just give away good/young/core players for free, literally makes no sense

In what world do you sit there and see no value in a good prospect? We didn’t give him away. We held out for Barron, they didn’t want to give him to us.

If you don’t understand this then I’d better not ever see you posting about rebuilding again.

 

[TT1]

In what world do you sit there and see no value in a good prospect? We didn’t give him away. We held out for Barron, they didn’t want to give him to us.

If you don’t understand this then I’d better not ever see you posting about rebuilding again.

a good prospect? he didn't show anything back then and he doesn't look anywhere close to being an NHL player now, what are you people watching if you consider this guy a good prospect?

by all means trade the guy if you think it's needed for the rebuild but at least get good pieces back

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

a good prospect? he didn't show anything back then and he doesn't look anywhere close to being an NHL player now, what are you people watching if you consider this guy a good prospect?

by all means trade the guy if you think it's needed for the rebuild but at least get good pieces back

He’s a 2020 FIRST ROUND PICK! What the hell are you talking about???

You don’t like Barron? No problem. Some people will like some prospects more than others. But saying we gave Leks away for free is ridiculous. Of course he has value.

What the hell do you think rebuilds look like?

 

[TT1]

He’s a 2020 FIRST ROUND PICK! What the hell are you talking about???

You don’t like Barron? No problem. Some people will like some prospects more than others. But saying we gave Leks away for free is ridiculous. Of course he has value.

What the hell do you think rebuilds look like?

okok, great trade, time to move on

personally i woulda rather had a 1st + 2nd rounder over Barron + 2nd, that's all im saying

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

okok, great trade, time to move on

It’s one thing to not like a trade… it’s another to go over the top saying it’s a giveaway. At least wait for him to show what he can do.

 

[Kimota]

To be fair, Eller’s departure was just stupid given where we were at the time. They also traded him to make room for a bum like Andrew Shaw and his awful contract. I can see why certain fans had a hard time letting go of that. Lehkonen simply wasn’t a fit anymore. It’s much easier to move on without any regrets. You don’t sign expensive role players when you’re rebuilding unless you’re a team just looking to just reach the cap floor which we aren’t. Somehow former management managed to make us one of the most expensive basement dwellers in NHL history.

Eller was not gonna bring more than he already had given. He ended up with the Caps doing what he did with us, as a third line center. So he never became the player many people thought he would be. I also thought Andrew Shaw was fantastic for us early on. A true warrior who scored his share of goals in front of the net, what many were not ready to do(or did not have the skill to do).