I’m very leery of Mesar’s transition to the NHL despite some obvious skills. No such concerns with McGroarty who is going to shine in a high level physical game.
I think this would be an absolute no-brainer for Montreal…McGroarty would be the perfect complimentary piece to what they are building up front. Having him oppo of Demidov or Slaf next to Suzuki would potentially create a really, really complete line and lots of options.
For Winnipeg it’s a bunch of stuff…some upside I guess but I certainly wouldn’t love it. But it’s a tough situation. And Chevy could sell the optics of it as “we got two firsts!” (Or even three, if you want to be completely disingenuous and try to sell Barron as a key piece) even if a deeper dive is less appealing than the first glance reaction.
I think any Habs fan who says they wouldn’t do this is absolutely nuts. This is why you collect lots of assets. To get the finishing touch stud pieces.