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

[Sorinth]

hey all
are the habs not tough enough? should they get some tougher players? or are we ok.

just seems to me we are bigger but not tougher. thoughts??

Depends if by toughness you actually mean meanness. We don't have very many mean players, and we don't have a style of play that preaches always finishing your checks or playing the body over playing the puck. But if toughness is more about winning the physical battles then I don't think we are bad in that regard.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Because if the answers to the questions are this player can't fulfill the role then as a team we have too many holes to start acquiring veteran players to fill them. If Dach can't be a good #2 C then we likely a minimum of 3+ years away from any sort of contention and adding a guy like R. Andersson doesn't change that calculus.

Adding a guy like Andersson adds value at a very important position now and he's still at a great age relative to our core. Any chance you get to add a guy like that, you should take it, if other people become solutions, they will be able to be used to acquire the pieces you are missing.

What if you don't make the acquisition for Andersson and none of your question marks pan out? Then you are even further away. We can't be afraid to make the moves if the right age, player type and person is available

Because they may already have the answer.

Then they can use that asset to get something else they need.

We can't sit around forever sitting on picks and prospects waiting to see if one might blossom. If you get a chance to get someone who is established now, in the window, you should pull the trigger.

Getting Andersson moves Guhle back to the left and allows us to trade Matheson.

 

[vokiel]

Because they may already have the answer.

The answers they have, may also be illusions and fraud.

 

[Sorinth]

Adding a guy like Andersson adds value at a very important position now and he's still at a great age relative to our core. Any chance you get to add a guy like that, you should take it, if other people become solutions, they will be able to be used to acquire the pieces you are missing.

What if you don't make the acquisition for Andersson and none of your question marks pan out? Then you are even further away. We can't be afraid to make the moves if the right age, player type and person is available

If the question marks mostly don't pan out then it means we are going to be relying on this upcoming draft(s) to make up our core and a 10 year age gap isn't a great relative age. Andersson's age is great relative to our core if the question marks do pan out. If Laine and Dach click then absolutely adding a guy like Andersson is the right move.

The good news is that Andersson is probably unlikely to be traded within the next 2-3 months, it's the type of deal that gets done in the new year as teams figure out if they are likely to be in the playoffs or not. That time hopefully gives us answers or at least confidence in those question marks.

 

[26Mats]

I’ll stick with my projection coming into the summer

Struble will be the pleasant surprise of the D group this year…

Do you think he can play the right side?

 

[salbutera]

And he is still developing.

Yup and what gets lost on many is how elite a skater he is despite his size - there’s a lot of growth potential.

I suspect we’ll see more of his mean side + more offensive prowess this upcoming season

 

[Gravity]

Yes Mailloux has lots of great tools but also lots of negatives. You are right that in 5 years, we can look back at a trade like this and say woops that was a bad trade. But the opposite is also true.

Imo, Mailloux will be a number 4D if everything goes well but most likely end up as a very good 5/6.

There are two other aspects that make me think we could use Mailloux to upgrade our D in a good way :

1-Timing/experience : We cannot enter 2025-2026 season with Guhle-Reinbacher-Hutson-Mailloux as our top 4. That wouldn't work. Reinbacher is not ready for top pair duty and Mailloux is not ready for top 4 duty either. We definately need a bit more experience on that top 4 for at least a couple a year to let Reinbacher and Mailloux develop in what could become their respective ceiling. Maybe Savard is extended to give that veteran presence but even though i like him very much, we can't be succesful with Savard playing top 4 minutes for another 2 years after this one.

2-Better defensive D-squad. The way i see it, looking at the type of young Dmen we've got, we will need more defensive stability on the top 4. Hutson and Mailloux look to be defensive liabilities going forward and even if we extend the evaluation through the bottom pair, Xhekaj and Barron are not exactly defensive studs, to be polite.


That's horrible D to be honest.

I disagree that Mailloux ends up a 4. With regards to your points:

1) if Reinbacher isn't ready, let him play in the AHL or on a lower pairing. You can sign vet Ds as stop gaps for experience without sacrificing talent.

2) Let's deal with that problem when we get there and from a position of strength (well developed prospects), not a position of weakness (raw prospects).

 

[WeThreeKings]

If the question marks mostly don't pan out then it means we are going to be relying on this upcoming draft(s) to make up our core and a 10 year age gap isn't a great relative age. Andersson's age is great relative to our core if the question marks do pan out. If Laine and Dach click then absolutely adding a guy like Andersson is the right move.

The good news is that Andersson is probably unlikely to be traded within the next 2-3 months, it's the type of deal that gets done in the new year as teams figure out if they are likely to be in the playoffs or not. That time hopefully gives us answers or at least confidence in those question marks.

I agree with waiting as I doubt Andersson is being moved until mid-season.. but they should and will be in the conversation here. Conroy isn't getting blistering good deals and the prospect of getting their first back might be comforting to them and give us the leg up in any trade.

 

[junyab]

We can't afford the price of R Andersson. With his cheap AAV and very short 2yr-term a contender would surely outbid us.

 

[WeThreeKings]

We can't afford the price of R Andersson. With his cheap AAV and very short 2yr-term a contender would surely outbid us.

Contenders don't usually have surplus of picks or prospects.

 

[junyab]

Contenders don't usually have surplus of picks or prospects.

I'd disagree, outside of maybe 3 teams.

 

[vokiel]

We can't afford the price of R Andersson. With his cheap AAV and very short 2yr-term a contender would surely outbid us.

I disagree we have lots of firepower. You just need to stop raising icons with your favorite prospects.

 

[Nico Cauzuki]

We can't afford the price of R Andersson. With his cheap AAV and very short 2yr-term a contender would surely outbid us.

pretty sure we have much better assets then contenders specially to a team like Calgary who will be looking for picks and young players

 

[morhilane]

We can't afford the price of R Andersson. With his cheap AAV and very short 2yr-term a contender would surely outbid us.

Calgary will take what they think will be the most profitable and
- Habs draft picks will be higher than the ones from a contender
- Habs won't require Calgary to retain
- Habs have plenty of neary ready D prospects they won't mind moving the other way

And Calgary might want their 1st back...

 

[themilosh]

Do you think he can play the right side?

This imo is the BIGGEST issue facing the Habs= RD (like many teams).. we cannot go another season relying on Guhle to play his off-side. If either Mailloux or DR are not ready to take that place, then Hugo should be looking for a trade.
It simply makes no sense to throwing away Guhle on the right side, bc the actual vet (matheson) cant do it himself.. brutal.

 

[Kimota]

Would you do Huberdeau for Newhook if we only pay 5/per for JH.

 

[Boss Man Hughes]

Would you do Huberdeau for Newhook if we only pay 5/per for JH.

NO. NO.Noooooooooooooooooooo.

 

[Boss Man Hughes]

Calgary will take what they think will be the most profitable and
- Habs draft picks will be higher than the ones from a contender
- Habs won't require Calgary to retain
- Habs have plenty of neary ready D prospects they won't mind moving the other way

And Calgary might want their 1st back...

Habs won't move any d prospects until they are pretty sure what their ceiling is.

 

[JeffreyLFC]

Would you do Huberdeau for Newhook if we only pay 5/per for JH.

Can I unsee this message?

 

[26Mats]

This imo is the BIGGEST issue facing the Habs= RD (like many teams).. we cannot go another season relying on Guhle to play his off-side. If either Mailloux or DR are not ready to take that place, then Hugo should be looking for a trade.
It simply makes no sense to throwing away Guhle on the right side, bc the actual vet (matheson) cant do it himself.. brutal.

If you put Guhle on the right side, you have to trade one of Matheson, Hutson, or xhekaj.

It could make sense to try to get a guy like Rasmus Andersson from Calgary, and then trade Matheson. But I'm not sure management wants to trade Matheson. And if they don't trade Matheson, it's one of Hutson or Xhekaj, our two unicorns. Who knows, Hutson is such a unique player and a rover, maybe he can play the right side.

Matheson Reinbacher
Guhle Mailloux
Xhekaj Hutson

 

[vokiel]

Would you do Huberdeau for Newhook if we only pay 5/per for JH.

Nah man, Joe is done, or close to it. If we get Sharangovich with him though, we could thinker a package.

They'd obviously have to take Gallagher.

 

[Canadienna]

Is PuckPedia the best site to get an idea of our cap situation? They have us as over the cap by a couple million right now, but I'm pretty sure Hughes said they'd be cap compliant without putting Price on LTIR.

Anyone have a better handle on the Habs current cap situation?

 

[LV426]

Would you do Huberdeau for Newhook if we only pay 5/per for JH.

 

[Sorinth]

Is PuckPedia the best site to get an idea of our cap situation? They have us as over the cap by a couple million right now, but I'm pretty sure Hughes said they'd be cap compliant without putting Price on LTIR.

Anyone have a better handle on the Habs current cap situation?

As far as I know it's accurate.

Teams can sort of cheat in order to become cap compliant because you don't need a 23 man roster, so we send some waiver exempt players down to start the season and start the season with a 20 man roster including Price. Then we immediately put Price on LTIR and callup the guys we sent down and get back up to a 23man roster.

 

[Kimota]

View attachment 910341

I laughed so hard that I think I broke something.