[Proposal] MTL-EDM Blockbuster

[underrated]

Montreal needs to embrace the rebuild.  They are overachieving this year so a rebuild oriented trade may not be super popular with the fanbase, but they are in a unique spot where their two best trade pieces are also the two pieces that may start to go downhill, and on long-term big contracts could be a dead weight to their rebuild in the future.  Clearly I'm referring to Carey Price and Shea Weber.  In my opinion, the Habs should trade them now while they hold decent value. 

 

On the other hand Edmonton has to be in win-now mode.  With the best player in the game, a young second superstar in Draisaitl and a perennial underachieving team, they need to make a big move for veterans to turn the culture in the locker room and the skill on the ice.  Specifically Edmonton needs to upgrade on defense and in net.

 

Obviously the likelihood of this happening is very slim, and a big deal like this would be a statement move by each GM, and it comes with major risk for both, but it puts Montreal years ahead in a rebuild and gets rid of two contracts that could hamper them for a very long time.  For Edmonton, they try to turn the corner with two superstar-talent veterans, and dump a bad contract in the meantime.

Without further ado:

To Edmonton: Carey Price, Shea Weber (Cap Hit = $18.357 Million)

To Montreal: 2019 first round pick (top five protected), Evan Bouchard (2018 first round pick), Jesse Puljujarvi (2016 first round pick), Ryan Spooner, Cam Talbot, Milan Lucic (Cap Hit = 17.591 Million)

 

Edmonton's perspective: 

Talbot clearly has underachieved this year, and his deal is expiring.  Koskinen has been fine, but is not the long-term solution by any means.  In Price, Edmonton gets a potential franchise goalie when healthy. Price has the skillset to be a true difference maker, and take Edmonton to the next level.

Shea Weber is exactly the type of player you want in your locker room and to help change the culture in a team.  While aging, he has ten points in fifteen games this year.  He's still a rock.  He's also a great mentor to the younger defenseman like Nurse, Klefbom and Larsson. 

As a last ditched swing for the fences, Chiarelli goes for two veteran former superstars who still can play at that level.  The clear risk on Edmonton's part is the health of both Price and Weber, the large long-term contracts, and parting ways with three important young pieces, especially Bouchard.  I think Montreal wouldn't do this deal without Bouchard being involved.  Edmonton also gets rid of Lucic's contract.

 

Montreal's perspective: 

Montreal tries to cash out of its trade chips while they still can.  In losing Price and Weber it clearly puts the team in 100% rebuild mode, and likely would set up even more deals before the deadline.  However the package they receive puts them multiple years ahead in a rebuild.  They essentially get three first round picks in return, along with Spooner who played great last year with the Rangers but is struggling this year.  Spooner is a 26 year old center who could actually be a valuable part of this trade for Montreal.  Talbot gives a stop-gap with potential to turn it around, they can re-sign Talbot at a lower price and hope for a rebound, or move on from him and sign a free agent in the offseason.  Lucic is clearly on a bad contract but having a big body isn't a bad piece of a rebuild especially for a team like Montreal with some small guys, and his contract won't matter that much while they rebuild.

Montreal shed's its two worst contracts, a combined $18 million per year for several more years for players in their 30's.  This is a very important part of the trade.

However in Evan Bouchard they hope to get their future #1 defenseman.  Recent 10th overall pick, and Canadian blueliner.  They get a 2019 first round pick, that should be middle of the round, as a good asset, and they try to turn around the career of Puljujarvi who is still only 20 years old and has a lot of talent if he can put it together.

 

Thoughts?

[qwijibo]

Ok. First off. What makes you think this years team is overachieving rather than last years team under achieving?  They literally never had a healthy Weber in the lineup last season. That, combined with the “Drouin as a centre” experiment hamstring the team.  

 

The centre question seems to have been answers with the emergence of Domi as a top C. Kotkaniemi is the youngest player in the league and is already looking very good. 

 

They have a strong stable of prospects right now (7 players in the WJC) along with a great young core of Domi, Drouin, Gallagher, Mete, Juulsen. 

 

Id say Montreal’s retooling over the summer has actually put them on the right path and trading away their two top players would destroy that. 

 

Secondly. I don’t know where the idea that Weber is one of the team’s worst contracts.  $7.8m a season isn’t outrageous for a guy who is still one of the leagues top defencemen.  After this season Montreal isn’t on the hook for any recapture, he has zero NTC protection, and the cap hit goes away if he retires. Right now their worst contract is Alzner. 

 

Montreal needs a top pairing LHD to play with Weber. Otherwise they aren’t in bad shape. I see zero reason for them to tear it down just to get out of Price and Weber’s contracts. 

[Blue Jay 22]

Oh boy...where to start?

 

I won't even bother with Edmonton's perspective because it is quite obvious why they would do this. They get a premier and unquestionable #1 Dmen along with one of the best goalies in the game for basically a 1st round pick that ends up in the 20-30 range after this trade, a blue chip D prospect, a forward prospect that has significantly lost his draft status polish and currently has 33pts in 120 games, and spare parts. If Peter Chiarelli managed to pull this off, he would not only save his job, but probably be given a statue in his honor. Police would probably do a wellness check on Bergevin's family just to make sure that Chiarelli didn't kidnap them to force MB into this trade.

 

31 minutes ago, underrated said:

 

Montreal's perspective: 

1. Montreal tries to cash out of its trade chips while they still can.  In losing Price and Weber it clearly puts the team in 100% rebuild mode, and likely would set up even more deals before the deadline.  However the package they receive puts them multiple years ahead in a rebuild.  2.They essentially get three first round picks in return, along with Spooner who played great last year with the Rangers but is struggling this year.  3.Spooner is a 26 year old center who could actually be a valuable part of this trade for Montreal.  Talbot gives a stop-gap with potential to turn it around, 4. hey can re-sign Talbot at a lower price and hope for a rebound, or move on from him and sign a free agent in the offseason.  Lucic is clearly on a bad contract but having a big body isn't a bad piece of a rebuild especially for a team like Montreal with some small guys, and his contract won't matter that much while they rebuild.

5. Montreal shed's its two worst contracts, a combined $18 million per year for several more years for players in their 30's.  This is a very important part of the trade.

However in Evan Bouchard they hope to get their future #1 defenseman.  Recent 10th overall pick, and Canadian blueliner.  They get a 2019 first round pick, that should be middle of the round, as a good asset, and they try to turn around the career of Puljujarvi who is still only 20 years old and has a lot of talent if he can put it together.

 

6. Thoughts?

1. Well they clearly failed at it in this trade.

 

2. That's not how it works. Not all 1st round picks are the same. For starters, the Edmonton pick sits currently at 11th right now, but they are only 5pts behind the 2nd Wild Card in the West. How much improvement do you think Price and Weber would bring to Edmonton? Let's be conservative and say...a lot. Bouchard looks very good, probably the best piece in this deal. But Puljujarvi has definitely lost some his draft status shine. 33pts in 120 games is not good...at all. You can argue that he was mismanaged by terrible Oilers management, but that is not going to help in trade value.  

 

3. LOL. 5pts in 33 games. "Struggling" is putting it lightly.

 

4. Great sales pitch. "Hey guys, this guy has been struggling for over a year now. You guys can hope for a rebound from him, or if he sucks, you guys can just fill that new big hole in net in free agency."

 

5. He may not be worth it when he's in his late 30's and early 40's, but Shea Weber is still an beast, and is more than playing his money's worth this year. There are far worse options/contracts in the league than a #1 Dman making $7.8Mil.

 

6. My thoughts are that this is an incredibly one sided trade in favor of the Oilers that would probably be vetoed by the league. By your own admission, the only piece going Montreal's way that isn't looking for either a rebound in their career is Bouchard, and all he is a 19 year old blue chip defensive prospect. I didn't even bother talking about Milan Lucic because he has negative trade value. Montreal would probably make Edmonton fork over another 1st round pick just for putting him in this deal.

 

I don't understand how you possibly typed all of this with a straight face. Seriously, did you take a look at all of these players stats before you typed this out? I did. Spooner, Lucic, and JP have a combined 18pts in 98 games. That's horrible, LMAO.

 

Bad Proposal. 0/10

 

Spoiler

 

[Nuxfanabroad]

If I were MTL, I'd sell these two greybeards separately.

 

Price to Cowtown(Proposal made a couple days back).

 

Then a Weber deal to EDM.(maybe add Gallagher?)

 

Return would mainly be Larsson & Puljujarvi(then EDM would add Drai!)