Confirmed with Link: Jeff Petry (50% retained) traded to DET for Gustav Lindström and conditional 4th-round pick in 2025 (later of Detroit or Boston's pick)

[VirginiaMtlExpat]

Yep, at least he explained his thought process and I can respect that. I don’t think the goodwill he showed the Petry’s will lead to others wanting to sign here. I think that is naive.

Not necessarily. Another perspective is that he wants to avoid eliciting a negative perception on the part of other GMs and players. It may not result in a signing or trade in the future, but it may prevent needless erosion of goodwill capital just to score a second or third rounder. The kind of erosion that relegates Bergevin to B-listers. Able to get an interview on occasion, but raising enough red flags to keep him at the assistant position that he has now.

 

[MarioLeMoose]

Then don’t keep him, why are we helping Petry and Detroit? They get the best player for a 2.4m caphit and we get nothing for the 2.4m caphit for 2 years. Some can’t seem to separate the Hoffman trade from the Petry trade. Petry was ours, there was no need to give him away and retain space. It was a bad deal, Hughes was being a nice guy and nice guys finish last.

Ppl thinking because he was nice to Petry that it’s going to attract other UFA’s, yeah ok. Naive bunch.

or maybe Petry is just a washed 36yo who is awful and nobody wanted? and even more so, Hughes didn't want to break camp with him. I doubt it has anything to do with doing Petry or the Red Wings a favour.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Yep, at least he explained his thought process and I can respect that. I don’t think the goodwill he showed the Petry’s will lead to others wanting to sign here. I think that is naive.

He’s building a culture.

Remember that Petry is tight with all his guys. By taking care of him this way it sends a message to the team that he cares.

Is it going to move the needle in terms of UFAs coming here? Maybe not. But at least he’s creating a better environment overall and we really do need that. Right now we’ve got a terrible reputation around the league.

 

[salbutera]

Yep, at least he explained his thought process and I can respect that. I don’t think the goodwill he showed the Petry’s will lead to others wanting to sign here. I think that is naive.

I don’t think Hughes believes much of that either - but it made for a good quote for a media briefing

 

[Whalers Fan]

He’s building a culture.

Remember that Petry is tight with all his guys. By taking care of him this way it sends a message to the team that he cares.

Is it going to move the needle in terms of UFAs coming here? Maybe not. But at least he’s creating a better environment overall and we really do need that. Right now we’ve got a terrible reputation around the league.

It's certainly much different than "if you want loyalty, get a dog".

 

[Captain Mountain]

Then don’t keep him, why are we helping Petry and Detroit? They get the best player for a 2.4m caphit and we get nothing for the 2.4m caphit for 2 years. Some can’t seem to separate the Hoffman trade from the Petry trade. Petry was ours, there was no need to give him away and retain space. It was a bad deal, Hughes was being a nice guy and nice guys finish last.

Ppl thinking because he was nice to Petry that it’s going to attract other UFA’s, yeah ok. Naive bunch.

I'm not sure who else needs to hear this, but NHL players are not stocks or commodities, they're human beings.

Could Montreal have gotten more for Petry if they pushed? Almost definitely. But its clear now that Hughes was happy enough with what he got from the Karlsson trade (where Montreal was probably the one team not on Petry's NTC list that had cap/money/contracts to spare/futures driven focus to help facilitate the deal) that he was willing to just move Petry to where he wanted to go.

I'm also not sure you know guys who finish first if you think that "nice guys finish last". Niceness isn't really a factor one way or another.

Hughes probably thought that:

-Given the other parts of the trades - no Hoffman or Pitlick, a 2nd+4th, a couple of depth pieces which will be useful when Montreal becomes sellers - there may not have been a ton more to gain holding out for more and there was already a clear benefit
-To have the spot on the roster for young guys (either to prove themselves or gain experience while being a worse team)
-There's a chance that Petry falls off a cliff, in which case moving him will be much harder
-There's a potential benefit to being seen as a player-friendly organization
-Trading Petry does make it easier to get Price on in-season LTIR

Would I have done it in his shoes? IDK the whole story, but probably not. I'm a Petry fan and would have wanted to convince him to stick around until a better trade materialized. But its also not that big a deal either way.

A Monahan trade didn't really materialize for Montreal (or any NHL team this offseason), but Hughes was able to add a 2nd, 3rd and 4th, reduce and re-allocate cap space to move Price to in-season LTIR (which is important with how exposed Montreal is to bonus overages), and create spots for young guys on the NHL roster.

The Habs have a nice complement of picks over the next two seasons, a few vets who can build value in the rental market and space for young guys to grow into. The rebuild is continuing at an expected pace and the Bergevin cap mess is finally under control after two deadlines and off-seasons.

 

[Goldthorpe]

I think people underestimate the optics and drama that would come with us dicking Petry around until the last minute, waiting at the beginning of camps to see if some team folded, with the vain hope of a better late picks out of the deal.

And what if Petry actually has to come in Montreal and play? A guy we traded a few months ago, in a team that doesn't need him (and in fact, his presence goes against the whole reconstruction strategy). Him having to answer the media questions. The fans comments. What a unnecessary gong show and an all-around distraction. Nobody want a disgruntled vet around.

We don't know exactly how Petry came to wanting to leave Montreal, I know there's a lot that has been said about his family, but in the end nobody knows the details. But it's super easy to imagine how Hughes (and especially Petry) didn't want to deal with the drama, especially in this city.

Prety to Detroit is just the side deal of a side deal, made to accommodate another team's trade in exchange for picks and spare parts. Fans feeling the need to second guess it is peak HF.

 

[JianYang]

« Assets ».

Well, that clarifies things; Petry didn’t have value.

Still it’s good for him to go back home. And we clear 2.3m$.

It's one of those situation where if they hung on to him, they would have more.

Hughes put himself on a deadline though as a gesture of goodwill to petry, and he also sent him home. Detroit had alot of leverage in this situation.

The tangible return sucks. Hopefully, the intangible return does something for Montreal down the road. By that, I mean the way they handled petry, and what that might do for someone looking at montreal as a potential destination down the road.

 

[ReHabs]

Would be funny if -- owing both to Jeff Petry's advanced age and the Detroit Red Wings' glut of NHL-veteran defensemen -- Yzerman decides to buyout the contract of Jeff Petry next summer and leave the Habs and Pens down one retention spot for an extra year.

 

[Goldthorpe]

Would be funny if -- owing both to Jeff Petry's advanced age and the Detroit Red Wings' glut of NHL-veteran defensemen -- Yzerman decides to buyout the contract of Jeff Petry next summer and leave the Habs and Pens down one retention spot for an extra year.

Would it be funny because it's legitimately funny, or would it be funny because it would indirectly validate your opinion of the trade?

 

[ReHabs]

Would it be funny because it's legitimately funny, or would it be funny because it would indirectly validate your opinion of the trade?

Just a funny possible quirk that occurred to me. No need to overthink it.

Besides, if you think retention spots are irrelevant if they’re two years long then you’d continue to think they’re irrelevant if it turned out to be three years long. It wouldn’t whatsoever validate my opinion among those with whom I disagree.

 

[BehindTheTimes]

or maybe Petry is just a washed 36yo who is awful and nobody wanted? and even more so, Hughes didn't want to break camp with him. I doubt it has anything to do with doing Petry or the Red Wings a favour.

You sound like a Bergevin fan boy who supported him long after the Subban trade.

I get it, everything management does is awesome.

 

[Boss Man Hughes]

It's certainly much different than "if you want loyalty, get a dog".

Even if he was talking about players lack of loyalty to the team they are with it was an idiotic comment. Because it can be interpreted more than one way.

 

[BehindTheTimes]

He’s building a culture.

Remember that Petry is tight with all his guys. By taking care of him this way it sends a message to the team that he cares.

Is it going to move the needle in terms of UFAs coming here? Maybe not. But at least he’s creating a better environment overall and we really do need that. Right now we’ve got a terrible reputation around the league.

Marc Bergevin was building a culture too. A lot of good it did.

Why is our reputation terrible? This sounds almost entirely made up. Players are reluctant to come here, but it’s not because of our reputation.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Marc Bergevin was building a culture too. A lot of good it did.

He built a terrible culture. He put bullies in place at the NHL and AHL level. Players hated each other and we couldn't develop anyone for about 8 years once he took over. They treated Subban like absolute shit with the bridge deal. They treated prospects like garbage. "If you want loyalty get a dog."

Who the f*** wants to play for an organization like that?

Why is our reputation terrible? This sounds almost entirely made up. Players are reluctant to come here, but it’s not because of our reputation.

MB was a jackass. That's why. Gauthier was also an asshole. Remember the Cammalieri fiasco?

We've hired jerks for over ten years.

You think players want to play for coaches who are morons and ruin players? Look what was happening with Caufield. Trade for Vanek, put him on the 3rd. Trade for Drouin, put him at center. f*** around with Galchenyuk and play DD on the first line... It's been a gongshow.

Does that mean dealing Petry for less than max value is going to equal everyone flocking here? Of course not. But at least it's a sign that we're not run by a bunch of turds anymore. At least the whole "Montreal is run by jackasses" won't be a reason for players NOT to come here.

 

[BehindTheTimes]

He built a terrible culture. He put bullies in place at the NHL and AHL level. Players hated each other and we couldn't develop anyone for about 8 years once he took over. They treated Subban like absolute shit with the bridge deal. They treated prospects like garbage. "If you want loyalty get a dog."

Who the f*** wants to play for an organization like that?

MB was a jackass. That's why. Gauthier was also an asshole. Remember the Cammalieri fiasco?

We've hired jerks for over ten years.

If you think we have a bad reputation because Gauthier traded Cammalleri a decade ago then I don’t know what to say.

I don’t wish to continue this conversation.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

If you think we have a bad reputation because Gauthier traded Cammalleri a decade ago then I don’t know what to say.

If you think cherrypicking one sentence out of an argument helps you here, you are sadly mistaken.

I don’t wish to continue this conversation.

I don't blame you.

 

[JianYang]

I don’t think Hughes believes much of that either - but it made for a good quote for a media briefing

Well it would be a process of building that goodwill. One transaction isn't likely to move the needle, but players talk to each other around the league to gather their insights, and the bigger web of goodwill that you can weave, the better chance it has to have some effect on the prospective players.

It can't hurt at the very least.

 

[Boss Man Hughes]

If you think cherrypicking one sentence out of an argument helps you here, you are sadly mistaken.

I don't blame you.

And management previous to MB is relevant if the owner was the same. If every GM he hires is an asshole there is no reason to believe a new GM will be any different. Fortunately it appears that somehow the owners finally got one right.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

And management previous to MB is relevant if the owner was the same. If every GM he hires is an asshole there is no reason to believe anew GM will be any different. Fortunately it appears that somehow the owners finally got one right.

There are lots of reasons not to come to Montreal. Being a poorly run organization is definitely one of them. Treating players like crap is another. Those are two easily fixable issues. Does it fix everything and magically make us a prime place that attracts UFAs? Of course not. But it's one less problem that we'll hopefully have to deal with.

 

[Kaladin]

There are lots of reasons not to come to Montreal. Being a poorly run organization is definitely one of them. Treating players like crap is another. Those are two easily fixable issues. Does it fix everything and magically make us a prime place that attracts UFAs? Of course not. But it's one less problem that we'll hopefully have to deal with.

I guess the question then becomes is the supposed "one less problem" worth a potential second round pick or decent prospect we could have got if we stuck to our guns and weren't the nice guys? (the return quoted is speculative but I think that's what the argument boils down too).

For the record I liked the trade but as you know I don't think being nicer to players is tangibly moving the needle any which way for us when it comes to FA's or players being okay being traded here etc.

 

[Hostile Offer]

The value is garbage and it sucks to spend a retention slot but it's a class move to trade Petry to the team he always wanted to play for after all the service he's given for this franchise.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

I guess the question then becomes is the supposed "one less problem" worth a potential second round pick or decent prospect we could have got if we stuck to our guns and weren't the nice guys? (the return quoted is speculative but I think that's what the argument boils down too).

For the record I liked the trade but as you know I don't think being nicer to players is tangibly moving the needle any which way for us when it comes to FA's or players being okay being traded here etc.

I don't think it was calculated that way. I think Hughes genuinely figured he'd gotten what he'd wanted and just moved on.

There's no doubt in my mind that Hughes could've gotten more. I can't possibly know what he was thinking here. But my guess is he just figured he'd do Petry a solid. Maybe there's some calculation here in helping Detroit get higher than us in the standings but I suspect it was probably a genuine gesture and he just wanted to get things over with. Maybe he felt bad about the way Petry left... I don't know.

From a pure value standpoint though, I agree it's a clunker. Classy move on Hughes' part though.

 

[Kudo Shinichi]

Would be funny if -- owing both to Jeff Petry's advanced age and the Detroit Red Wings' glut of NHL-veteran defensemen -- Yzerman decides to buyout the contract of Jeff Petry next summer and leave the Habs and Pens down one retention spot for an extra year.

No chance of that happening.
They aren't going to buy out a contract that has 1 year left at 2.3 M. If they don't want him on the roster they will trade him or waive him.

 

[Belial]

Is it going to move the needle in terms of UFAs coming here? Maybe not. But at least he’s creating a better environment overall and we really do need that. Right now we’ve got a terrible reputation around the league.

Who said this? Can you give me one example of someone publicly saying this?

Just because you couldn't stand Bergevin doesn't mean he had bad relationships or reputation with other GM's in the league or Montreal was viewed as this toxic environment that no one would ever want to be part of.

You're projecting big time here!