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

[salbutera]

I agree with you I wouldn't have made those moves either. But that's what I'm saying, Hugo is riding the tank this year. They wanted to be in the mix, and when they found out we suck again, they decided to tank. Lots of other GMs would have made reactionary moves to save their early season playoff/in the mix expectations if those were the expectations coming into season.

I'm happy they didn't make any moves. I'm pro tank, we'd be far better off in long run getting another top 5 pick then finishing a little higher in the standings

Which GMs have made reactionary moves exactly? In season non trade deadline deals rarely happen unless a team has cap space like Eller deal

Don’t think NYR, Bos, Buf, Sens etc want to make moves to improve their desperate situations?

 

[Richiebottles]

He’s in year two of a seven year deal at 7 mil. I like gambling on the player but that’s a lot of cash for a long time if it doesn’t work out. I think it’s too big a risk.

People said the same about PLD and looked how it turned out.

With the cap rising these deals will be affordable and we need to weaponize the cap space we have in the upcoming years.

Was it Gorton that made the move for Mika Z?

I’m wondering if there is a Gallagher/Anderson + for him that could work. He would provide stability at the C position and we could trade Dach for more help on the back-end.

 

[HabzSauce]

Which GMs have made reactionary moves exactly? In season non trade deadline deals rarely happen unless a team has cap space like Eller deal

Don’t think NYR, Bos, Buf, Sens etc want to make moves to improve their desperate situations?

Reactionary maybe not right word but this year alone Rags traded trouba and likely aren't done yet. B's fired Montgomery. BUF should do something (id fire Adams). Sens are currently in a WC spot so no need to do anything crazy right now.

 

[BLONG7]

Reactionary maybe not right word but this year alone Rags traded trouba and likely aren't done yet. B's fired Montgomery. BUF should do something (id fire Adams). Sens are currently in a WC spot so no need to do anything crazy right now.

There are teams, like the Rangers, Sabres and Preds who are all talking about changes, and very openly making changes......................can the habs get in there to help this year, or next??

Cap space as always rules the day. We have it, but others don't seem to.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

People said the same about PLD and looked how it turned out.

Ask the Kings how it turned out.

With the cap rising these deals will be affordable and we need to weaponize the cap space we have in the upcoming years.

Was it Gorton that made the move for Mika Z?

I’m wondering if there is a Gallagher/Anderson + for him that could work. He would provide stability at the C position and we could trade Dach for more help on the back-end.

Cozens might be a good pickup. He’s a real risk though. I don’t hate the idea but if it goes sideways, you’re stuck with a long expensive contract.

I think it comes down to what they want to do with Demidov. If we’re going to play him at center then there’s no need to go after another one.

 

[morhilane]

People said the same about PLD and looked how it turned out.

PLD has 21 pts in 30 games, spacing for 57 points, on the 2nd team for goals per game in the league. He makes $8.5m per year, the 2nd highest salary on the Caps (ignoring Backstrom since he's on LTIRetirement), but he's 8th in scoring.

If he was on the Habs with those stats, the fandom would be calling him all sort of names the most polite being "overpaid".

 

[FerrisRox]

With the cap going up and Gallagher and Anderson entering the last years of their deals, maybe a retention opportunity is back on the table for them this summer. Retain 3M on Gally and 2.5M on Anderson.

Gally would be 3.5M for 2 years, Anderson would be 3M for 2 years

Why would that be a good thing? How do the Canadiens improve by losing Gallagher and paying him to play somewhere else?

 

[HabzSauce]

There are teams, like the Rangers, Sabres and Preds who are all talking about changes, and very openly making changes......................can the habs get in there to help this year, or next??

Cap space as always rules the day. We have it, but others don't seem to.

If we really wanted to be in the mix this year I'm sure Habs would have done something even if small

I'm down for another tank year, and seems like Hugo is too. Top 5 looks juicy this year. In my opinion this is the last year we can afford to be this bad. Expectations will be sky high next year. Will need to make some good moves this summer. And hopefully bring in a good coach. WC contention at minimum should be the goal.

 

[Frankenheimer]

Very surprised to learn that Cozens has dropped off so badly. He was highly touted a few years ago. Definitely seems like a trade to explore if he's available.

 

[417]

Cozens...talented, inconsistent, frustrating, 7M a year for another 5-6 years?

Fans here can't even have patience for Kirby Dach at half the salary coming off a major injury.

How are y'all going to live with Cozens and his salary on the books for a half decade with his inconsistent play?

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's trash!

 

[Habby4Life]

If we really wanted to be in the mix this year I'm sure Habs would have done something even if small

I'm down for another tank year, and seems like Hugo is too. Top 5 looks juicy this year. In my opinion this is the last year we can afford to be this bad. Expectations will be sky high next year. Will need to make some good moves this summer. And hopefully bring in a good coach. WC contention at minimum should be the goal.

If he doesn’t make some good moves, it’s a lock next year will be gross. He can enjoy sitting on his hands now because the clock is ticking. No way, this garbage should be acceptable next year.

At some point expectations should be high, “it’s a rebuild” excuse isn’t going to cut it.

 

[417]

If he doesn’t make some good moves, it’s a lock next year will be gross. He can enjoy sitting on his hands now because the clock is ticking. No way, this garbage should be acceptable next year.

At some point expectations should be high, “it’s a rebuild” excuse isn’t going to cut it.

The Montreal Canadiens have a bunch of bad contracts coming off the books in the next 6-18 months.

Don't expect the veteran core of this team to look like it does now.

 

[Habby4Life]

The Montreal Canadiens have a bunch of bad contracts coming off the books in the next 6-18 months.

Don't expect the veteran core of this team to look like it does now.

I agree but his next nhl moves need to be better than his Dach, Newhook, Barron ones because frankly they stink.

 

[ReHabs]

Cozen's 68 pt season on BUF two years ago is nothing to sneeze at, remember many here were saying Dach was "amazing" two years ago with the Habs and he played at a 53pt pace. If Dach's season was amazing two years ago then Cozen's season was historic and legendary.

The problem is Cozen followed up that hot year with a 47pt year and now is on pace for 30-something points (but should go up to about 40ish points once they get out of their losing streak). I haven't watched much of BUF to know the cause of the decline but he's certainly not part of the solution right now... then why would he be a part of our solution? He's not trash just as Dach isn't trash but his cap hit is much more difficult to justify right now.

 

[HabzSauce]

I agree but his next nhl moves need to be better than his Dach, Newhook, Barron ones because frankly they stink.

Always felt like newhook acquisition to me was to just give the core a bit more talent to work with while we rebuild. Never expected him to be part of long term plan.

Still a bum trade tho we paid way too much for him

 

[Habby4Life]

Always felt like newhook acquisition to me was to just give the core a bit more talent to work with while we rebuild. Never expected him to be part of long term plan.

Still a bum trade tho we paid way too much for him

He is vanilla, he can skate but that’s about it.

Both Colorado and Chicago gave up on young guys. I think we are seeing why. Not impressed with this regimes evaluation of NHL guys, so far, so bad.

They would have been better off using the first rounds picks and or keeping Romanov.

 

[WeThreeKings]

He is vanilla, he can skate but that’s about it.

Both Colorado and Chicago gave up on young guys. I think we are seeing why. Not impressed with this regimes evaluation of NHL guys, so far, so bad.

Dach was looking amazing before the leg injury.. let's not rewrite history because he looks bad after losing an entire season and is playing within the confines of a roster that has yet to find a semblance of their play late in last season.

Newhook also had a pretty solid end to last year as well. He's playing adequate hockey right now and should settle in as a 3rd line winger who uses his speed offensively and defensively.

 

[BLONG7]

If he doesn’t make some good moves, it’s a lock next year will be gross. He can enjoy sitting on his hands now because the clock is ticking. No way, this garbage should be acceptable next year.

At some point expectations should be high, “it’s a rebuild” excuse isn’t going to cut it.

Pretty sure, it has been said, that next year is the year they all want the playoffs..............they mentioned this year, and WANTING, to be in the mix...............may or may not happen at this point.
Gorton and Hughes have both admitted a rebuild, can only go on for so long.

My thought is they have spent a ton of time and effort in making Montreal a destination for players to WANT to come to......................that is the key next summer.

 

[ReHabs]

Dach was looking amazing before the leg injury.. let's not rewrite history

"Dach was looking amazing before the leg injury.. let's not rewrite history"

 

[WeThreeKings]

Pretty sure, it has been said, that next year is the year they all want the playoffs..............they mentioned this year, and WANTING, to be in the mix...............may or may not happen at this point.
Gorton and Hughes have both admitted a rebuild, can only go on for so long.

My thought is they have spent a ton of time and effort in making Montreal a destination for players to WANT to come to......................that is the key next summer.

Also regarding the high expectations in the post you are quoting.. at some point they should be high, but we've already done the math and we know that the earliest rebuilds exit are 5 years. The fan base getting all antsy about expectations and not being a playoff team heading into the 4th draft of the rebuild, are not on a logical timeline.

Especially considering the ingredients for getting out of a rebuild in 5 years usually means winning the lottery in 2 drafts and getting a franchise level talent in both. We won the draft lottery in a year where that level of talent wasn't available to us. Demidov is a franchise level talent, so we aren't meeting the minimum qualifications to get out of a rebuild in 5 years and into regular playoff contention.

 

[417]

I agree but his next nhl moves need to be better than his Dach, Newhook, Barron ones because frankly they stink.

Not sure I agree they stink, a lot of recency bias on that especially with regards to Dach.

But nevertheless, we're talking about a different type of move then those.

 

[Pompeius Magnus]

Cozen's 68 pt season on BUF two years ago is nothing to sneeze at, remember many here were saying Dach was "amazing" two years ago with the Habs and he played at a 53pt pace. If Dach's season was amazing two years ago then Cozen's season was historic and legendary.

The problem is Cozen followed up that hot year with a 47pt year and now is on pace for 30-something points (but should go up to about 40ish points once they get out of their losing streak). I haven't watched much of BUF to know the cause of the decline but he's certainly not part of the solution right now... then why would he be a part of our solution? He's not trash just as Dach isn't trash but his cap hit is much more difficult to justify right now.

At his worst, Cozens at least still has a good motor and a competent two way game. He's always been a complete package since his junior days, if you can get his production back to where it's acceptable, you end up with a better all around center. That would be the hope. That and he's been durable, which in a lot of ways is the best quality of them all in a top 6 player.

 

[vokiel]

View attachment 946594

"Dach was looking amazing before the leg injury.. let's not rewrite history"

They'll just refer constantly to that fluke 58 games season. What kind of injury shortened that one?

 

[Boss Man Hughes]

View attachment 946594

"Dach was looking amazing before the leg injury.. let's not rewrite history"

He was getting better as the season went along. As usual stats are only part of the story. And in any event 50 pt pace playing with turds is very good.

 

[knuck]

Dach was looking amazing before the leg injury.. let's not rewrite history because he looks bad after losing an entire season and is playing within the confines of a roster that has yet to find a semblance of their play late in last season.

Newhook also had a pretty solid end to last year as well. He's playing adequate hockey right now and should settle in as a 3rd line winger who uses his speed offensively and defensively.

Agreed. I think Newhook is the perfect third liner. Him being in the top6 is a roster problem and not a Newhook problem.