HF Habs: Trade Proposal Thread #88: 2024-25 Season

[Andy]

Wild prediction: Mike Matheson gets traded for Alex Pietrangelo.

Vegas walks away from the 8 million cap it for another two years.

 

[Habs]

Only in Montreal would people care about a 7th defenseman.

He's more than that on this bumbling blueline though.

 

[HuGort]

I don't know enough about Zegras and the fans here are divided on him. But if Hughes likes him, yes, his value is probably at a low right now. Again though, we would be giving up a kind of guy we can't replace.

Zegras's big contract and I figure 60 points. I'm not in his corner. He's Caufield best friend so imagine that is carrying weight.

 

[Goalfield13]

The majority doesn't imply everyone.

Fine with it doesn't mean it was a good trade.

It was A SHIT trade: prove me wrong.

I was livid we traded Kova without getting another RD back and having Guhle playing RD to start the season. It was an absolute joke then, and only those who were/are still hard about Bergevin being replaced by these "geniuses" were OK with it or ignored it.

 

[Goalfield13]

He's more than that on this bumbling blueline though.

A lot of our D would be happy to be called a 7th NHL D-man right now.

 

[Miller Time]

Wild prediction: Mike Matheson gets traded for Alex Pietrangelo.

Vegas walks away from the 8 million cap it for another two years.

That would be damn impressive... Don't see the knights doing that given the cap increase & the relief they got from the league on the goalie situation.

While not as impactful or flashy, Something around Whitecloud & N Roy might be more feasible and give our young group a bit better vet depth support.

 

[morhilane]

Fascinating that you would believe this narrative...

Back here in the real world:
Under MSL, total ice time by dmen:

#2 Savard. David
#4 Kovacevic. Jonathan

Last season, Kovacevic, who was not injured once, played only 62 games and was 8th among Ds for avg TOI per games played per NHL.com stats page. 6th if we remove Hutson and Mailloux.

MSL used him like a 7th D.

He's being used on the 2nd pair (a defensive shutdown pair) on the Devils.

 

[Andy]

That would be damn impressive... Don't see the knights doing that given the cap increase & the relief they got from the league on the goalie situation.

While not as impactful or flashy, Something around Whitecloud & N Roy might be more feasible and give our young group a bit better vet depth support.

Ahaha. My proposal was just for laughs.

But seriously, Whitecloud and Roy would be good options. I doubt either are available, let alone both.

Roy would be my preference. It's really too bad the bottom 6 is crowded by Armia, Dvorak, Gallagher, Anderson.

 

[Treb]

I absolutely did.

Weird that you didn't voice it in the thread on this board or the trade board.

 

[JoelWarlord]

Wild prediction: Mike Matheson gets traded for Alex Pietrangelo.

Vegas walks away from the 8 million cap it for another two years.

Honestly would be pretty fun. Pietrangelo has a full NMC and I doubt he'd waive for Montreal but it does kinda make sense for both sides.

 

[BJCOLLINS]

Kova is coming into his prime for D men, I always liked his game.

consensus coming into this year was we needed to cut 2 D, wow, retrospect what?

if we trade anyone it’ll be one of the vets.

I’d like to deal with Nashville if they’re interested. I’d try to package MM + picks for Zack L’Heureux. BTW, I know Zack is a handful, never a dull moment when he’s on the ice. Keep in mind we’d be drafting top 3 next summer though, lol.

 

[Leon Lucius Black]

I'm always amazed at how much fans of this franchise get so obsessed with depth D-man and middle 6 forwards.

Most of the time people don't give a shit about these guys when they are actually on the team, but when they are gone they make a big deal we got rid of them.

 

[WeThreeKings]

He's more than that on this bumbling blueline though.

He wasn't last year and he isn't this year.

 

[Leon Lucius Black]

He wasn't last year and he isn't this year.

The only reason he was playing to start this season was because Pesce and Luke Hughes were hurt.

Give it a month and Kovacevic will probably be spending most of his time in the press box and we won't hear anyone talking about him.

 

[HabzSauce]

The majority doesn't imply everyone.

Fine with it doesn't mean it was a good trade.

It was A SHIT trade: prove me wrong.

The fact we are now trying to get a RD because we have none proves this was a crap trade. So dumb lol.

Clearly Habs thought we could replace him internally, and that's fine. But ya that plan backfired. Kovy isn't a world beater by any means but he would be the best righty on the team currently. I'm sure they regret trading him

 

[Le Barron de HF]

The fact we are now trying to get a RD because we have none proves this was a crap trade. So dumb lol.

Clearly Habs thought we could replace him internally, and that's fine. But ya that plan backfired. Kovy isn't a world beater by any means but he would be the best righty on the team currently. I'm sure they regret trading him

So let me get this straight if goal is to obtain a bonafide top 4/top pair D, which Kovacevic IS not. This was a crap trade? Even if gasp, the asset we got for Kovacevic allows us to add some extra picks?

You guys are making it sound like we'd sitting at top of division when Kovacevic was a healthy scratch last year. He'd still be operating under the system some despise

 

[Andy]

The fact we are now trying to get a RD because we have none proves this was a crap trade. So dumb lol.

Clearly Habs thought we could replace him internally, and that's fine. But ya that plan backfired. Kovy isn't a world beater by any means but he would be the best righty on the team currently. I'm sure they regret trading him

I'm really annoyed about this whole Kovacevic nonsense.

I will preface this by saying that I really liked the guy, but here are the facts: Kovy played almost two full seasons with the habs. Not only did he almost play two full seasons with the habs, but he played those seasons with a very similar d-core that the team currently has. The habs finished bottom 5 twice.

He is not a difference maker. The problem with the current habs is not depth defense. You can bring in all the depth d-man you want on this club. The defense will improve when team defense gets better, and you have your top two defenders playing as legit top two defenders.

Enough of this.

Kovacevic playing 16-20 minutes a night doesn't change the fact that habs team d look trash and that the entire team is out of sync.

The habs need top pairing performance. Kovacevic doesnt bring that.

 

[Leon Lucius Black]

The fact we are now trying to get a RD because we have none proves this was a crap trade. So dumb lol.

Clearly Habs thought we could replace him internally, and that's fine. But ya that plan backfired. Kovy isn't a world beater by any means but he would be the best righty on the team currently. I'm sure they regret trading him

They are looking for a TOP 4 RD, not a RD in general.

With Guhle hurt and Savard falling off a cliff, we need a top 4 RD who can provide a ton of quality minutes. Even if we kept Kovacevic we'd still be looking for a top 4 RD since a 27 year old with 150 career games on 3 teams isn't an adequate solution.

 

[vokiel]

So let me get this straight if goal is to obtain a bonafide top 4/top pair D, which Kovacevic IS not. This was a crap trade? Even if gasp, the asset we got for Kovacevic allows us to add some extra picks?

You guys are making it sound like we'd sitting at top of division when Kovacevic was a healthy scratch last year. He'd still be operating under the system some despise

We wouldn't have the pressure to get a top 4 RD with a stopgap like Kovaceic. We could wait till Reinbadger got healthy ... It's called depth, and we should have kept it on the right, making room on the left instead.

They are looking for a TOP 4 RD, not a RD in general.

With Guhle hurt and Savard falling off a cliff, we need a top 4 RD who can provide a ton of quality minutes. Even if we kept Kovacevic we'd still be looking for a top 4 RD since a 27 year old with 150 career games on 3 teams isn't an adequate solution.

They won't get one, that's them blowing smoke out of their asses. You don't need to be a genius, look at capwages.com and see there isn't anyone available for what they have to give.

 

[Le Barron de HF]

We wouldn't have the pressure to get a top 4 RD with a stopgap like Kovaceic. We could wait till Reinbadger got healthy ... It's called depth, and we should have kept it on the right, making room on the left instead.


They won't get one, that's them blowing smoke out of their asses. You don't need to be a genius, look at capwages.com and see there isn't anyone available for what they have to give.

We'd still be losing games. You know it. I know it. Kovacevic's mom knows it

 

[Rapala]

I'm always amazed at how much fans of this franchise get so obsessed with depth D-man and middle 6 forwards.

Not surprising at all when you haven't have many/any superstars other than a goaltender in decades.
Are they supposed to get obsessed with below grade top 6 players.
There was/is a reason players like Eller and Lehkonen and even Gallagher were loved by a certain segment of this fan base.
They at least played an honest game.

 

[Le Barron de HF]

Not surprising at all when you haven't have many/any superstars other than a goaltender in decades.
Are they supposed to get obsessed with below grade top 6 players.
There was/is a reason players like Eller and Lehkonen and even Gallagher were loved by a certain segment of this fan base.
They at least played an honest game.

To be fair Gallagher in his prime was arguably among the best RWers in the league.

 

[morhilane]

Honestly would be pretty fun. Pietrangelo has a full NMC and I doubt he'd waive for Montreal but it does kinda make sense for both sides.

Vegas doesn't have that many RHD too. I'm not sure that is a match.

I just went around the league and most teams don't have any depth at RHD. Looks like a generalized league issue. Like most of the league top pair RHDs are over 30-31, then you drop to 26ish for the next batch. There is a lot more LHD around...

It's like there is a gap of 4-5 years where RHDs prospect didn't pan out (or their was way less of them).

 

[Andy]

Not surprising at all when you haven't have many/any superstars other than a goaltender in decades.
Are they supposed to get obsessed with below grade top 6 players.
There was/is a reason players like Eller and Lehkonen and even Gallagher were loved by a certain segment of this fan base.
They at least played an honest game.

Prime Gallagher was a legit top 6 player. Short prime (not surprising given the playing style), but he was actually awesome. Tough as nails. Caused complete chaos in front of the net. Fantastic defensively.

Lehkonen got more love after he left. There was a small crew here that always loved him. But that love definitely only grew when he had success in Colorado that he didn't show he was capable of here.

Eller, that's a different one. 13th overall centre with good size, skating, and strong along the boards. There was legit potential there.

 

[HabzSauce]

So let me get this straight if goal is to obtain a bonafide top 4/top pair D, which Kovacevic IS not. This was a crap trade? Even if gasp, the asset we got for Kovacevic allows us to add some extra picks?

You guys are making it sound like we'd sitting at top of division when Kovacevic was a healthy scratch last year. He'd still be operating under the system some despise

Yes because we currently don't have that top 4 RD. And very rarely do those get traded this early into the season. Who knows how long it will be before we get one. Wouldn't it be nice to have Kovy right now while we wait for that trade? That way we have some stability in mean time and mailloux doesn't need to be rushed in? We could always trade him after getting that top 4 RD no problem....

It's not a massive problem in the grand scheme of things so whatever, but nothing wrong with objective criticism even for the small moves. Kovy would be an improvement right now even if it's just a little bit. I'm sure even HUGO is saying the same stuff between themselves.