Captain Mountain
Formerly Captain Wolverine
- Jun 6, 2010
- 20,378
- 15,656
Hard to address something like that internally especially if Montreal wants to take advantage of the ELC years for Demidov/Hutson.
Can see them wanting to push being competitive pretty quickly.
I doubt that's the plan, we're talking about options way down the list. We're specifically talking about Zibanejad and what that trade might look like, not saying that status quo is better than signing someone like Duchene or Tavares to big money short term contracts or trading for a mid-20s C.
And teams don't really build around ELC contracts nowadays. It can be a boost, but if that was really a concern then Montreal wouldn't have been so eager to burn the first year off of Hutson's ELC last season and burn the first season off of Demidov's ELC now. The pre-UFA eligiblity years (and 2nd long term contracts) seem to be where the value is nowadays. And who knows, Montreal may want to play Demidov at center long term.
Its not a no to Zibanejad at any cost, it has to fit what Montreal wants to do. Pushing to be competitive pretty quickly can backfire pretty spectacularly, and whether the moves have worked or not, Montreal's front office have been pretty deliberate in not overextending themselves.