I don’t think we’ll make the playoffs, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be a busy trading deadline.
Here are some players I think will be traded and their trade value.
David Savard
2nd and 3rd round picks. Depending on the team, he’s valuable for a playoff team. He’s going to get the same value as Chris Tanev last year.
Christian Dvorak
I don’t think he’s worth much on the market base on his cap hit. Maybe if we retain 50%, we might get a second round pick out of a team looking for a 3rd/4th line center. We gave up a 1st and 2nd for Dvorak in the Kotkaniemi offer sheet.
Jake Evans
I think we’ll try to resign him. I don’t see a 3rd/4th liner worth anything more than a 2nd round pick and prospect. Evans has more value than Dvorak because his cap hit is 1/3 of Dvorak. Also he’s better than Dvorak. I don’t know if we want any more prospects but bringing him back to teach Owen Beck is more valuable than trading him.
Josh Anderson
I don’t think any team will touch his cap hit.
Brendan Gallagher
His cap hit is too high but he’s off to a great start. If LA somehow is interested because of Bergevin’s influence on Blake, then we might see a prospect and a pick in return.
Savard : Optimal candidate for the Habs’ last salary retention spot; at 50%, he should in principle (veteran RHD) fetch a
late 1st round pick from a contender in such context.
Evans : If the Habs can’t re-sign him to a reasonable contract (2-3M AAV) prior to TDL, he should become a prime candidate for contenders looking for a swiss-army knife forward to bolster their bottom-6. Wouldn’t be surprised if Evans fetches a
late 1st or 2nd round pick in such context.
Dvorak : Habs would have to take back a bad contract and/or trade a middle-round pick to a third party to retain 50% of Dvorak’s salary to extract any significant value; maybe a
late 2nd round pick from a contender looking for a bottom-6 C with good face-off skills?
Armia : Habs would have to take back a bad contract and/or trade a middle-round pick to a third party to retain 50% of Armia’s salary to extract any significant value; maybe a
late 2nd or 3rd round pick from a contender looking for a bottom-6 forward with good playoff credentials?
Anderson/Gallagher/Matheson : N/A, for this season at least
Struble/Barron : If somehow the Habs want to sell AND buy at TDL to avoid offseason bidding wars, one of them could be an asset in a package for an experienced RHD?