He wants to sign with a contender. Does he need an already proven contender? If so he will need to give up a lot of money to sign with one because they are all fully cap committed, pretty much. Or is he willing to sign with a team ready to contend as soon as they get a vezina calibre goalie?
To me, the latter looks like it makes more sense for him but I have no idea how he would analyze the situation.
If the latter, Habs are on the cusp of contending with the addition of Helle and PLD. There are a couple of more teams that could be in a similar position. LAK don't need much more than a goalie. Same package to them. Of course, they don't have #5 OA so it is a different return. Without the futures to pay for Helle & Dubois, are they still on the cusp of contending after they pay us for those players and move out the cap to accommodate them? IDK.
With that package going to LAK lets shoot for the moon. Brandt Clarke + Vilardi + whatever cap dumps they want to send our way. Helle may not be worth this year's #5 but how about #8 from a couple of years ago?