I’ll break down my perspective and you tell me where you disagree
1. The Habs do not have first pick at premium FAs. Many times in the last decade the very best FAs have publicly not considered the Habs as a viable destination — notably Stamkos and Tavares, but the Habs have certainly failed to entice many other premium FAs as well.
2. PLD is considered a premium FA
3. It is assumed that, unlike other premium FAs who would not even pick up the phone, PLD would consider joining the Habs
4. When the premium FAs did not join, the Habs had to shift cap-spending priorities elsewhere. For some years of the last years of Weber’s and Price’s prime the Habs spent nowhere close to the max cap for instance. Other times they picked up cap dumps like Jake Allen and Joel Armia instead of spending that cap on premium players… for lack of viable options.
5. Therefore it is not a given that there is a viable second option toward PLD’s cap commitment that has the pts-TOI-caphit profile as PLD. What I mean to say is that it is less likely there is a single other premium player who can be a viable alternative to PLD — viable, as in we can actually imagine him joining us.
The above argument, simply put, says that PLD should be considered a viable target much like how when Tavares was entering his UFA season many Habs fans were day-dreaming about signing him.
If you accept that PLD is a viable acquisition target, then the only two arguments left are: (a) with his prospective contract terms, is he a good acquisition for the Habs? and (b) what is the cost threshold for acquiring him through a trade this summer
(a) is a simple argument: it’s almost a matter of taste — do you figure he’s worth the cap hit and term he’s going to get?
(b) is another simple argument: what’s the most you would trade to WPG in order to acquire him this coming summer?
If WPG would trade him for a 3rd Round Pick, there wouldn’t be any complaints about waiting until summer 2024 would there?
So, if you think he’s worth the likely 8m cap hit for 7 or 8 years, what’s the most you’d trade in summer 2023 to acquire PLD? That’s the discussion.
I’d be less sarcastic if it wasn’t so bitterly ironic — we had one of the worst managers in the NHL for the last ten years and his motto was “I won’t mortgage the future” while all he did was squander the present and not build for the future.
At some point this fanbase has to look at the evidence and accept that magic beans and empty cap space are worth a lot less than premium NHL players. Cap space and draft picks don’t win NHL games, players do. And premium players help win playoff series!
’d easily trade magic beans and a chunk of cap space for a player of PLDs profile, wouldn’t you?
