New Rumours

[Polarice]

A couple new rumours for ya....apparently Anahim reached out to a couple of teams including the Habs re-addressing a deal for Zegras. They've lowered their ask a little, asking the Habs for one of our Defensemen and either a high pick or a top prospect forward. Not sure who they have in mind but we do have an abundance of d-men.

As well Columbus contacted some teams looking to dump some contracts as they are now below the cap. It's rumoured that the league may cut them some slack considering. However, they are looking for short term contracts or contracts with a LTIR. We happen to have both available.

Might be an interesting training camp.

[Tankdriver]

Barron and Mesar, is an overpay, but are only the two I feel comfortable giving up.

[frozone]

Maybe I’m in the minority, but for Barron and Mesar I would make the trade. But that’s because I feel strongly that Zegras is a project that would do very well under Marty. Hopefully Anaheim could retain a bit, but it may also encourage Hugo to move out at least one of the expensive veteran contracts asap.

It would kinda suck giving up Barron before we know exactly what we have in him, but I’m very comfortable rolling the dice on just Reinbacher and Mailloux.

[Cranky]

I seriously doubt Mesar and Barron move the needle on Zegras. The most likely choice is that they want Mailloux, which would be an epic mistake on a Sergachev level.

Zegras already set the table that he will want very big bucks and extremely high probability he will walk if his dollar fantasies are not met. Meanwhile we have ONE offensive defenseman that can play a complete game. I don't care how many vitamins Hutson takes, he's not going to be there protecting a lead in the final minute. Nor likely to be standing after 20 playoff games.

Another point, we do NOT need Zegras at this point. Let's see how Laine does and if he mixes in well PLUS we have Demigod on the horizon, that's good enough and affordable enough. Having said that, IF Mesar and our late 1st is the asking price, THEN I would do it for no other reason then the pure asset acquisition opportunity.

Lastly, why on earth would Verbeek want to trade Zegras unless there was a serious fire under that smoke. It make absolutely no sense to trade a top 6 player for mid 6 potential and a low 1st. Unless Z has asked for a trade and we don't know about it, which is the ONLY thing that makes sense, then be afraid of the Trojan Horse.

[seventeen]

I'm torn on this one. For Barron and Mesar, I'm starting the car. I don't think Barron has a long term future with us and Mesar, despite the skill and speed, is another small guy we can't afford. Verbeek isn't keen on small players either, so I doubt Mesar is a name in question. The guys that Verbeek will be interested in are Hutson, Mailloux, Reinbacher and to a lesser extent, Struble. I would not be keen on trading any of those guys. I'm still not sold on Zegras and the beauty of what's happened this summer is that there is no desperate need for any one type of player. We have Suzuki, Dach, Newhook, Dvorak, Evans and on the horizon, Beck, Kapanen and possibly even Demidov (if he can take faceoffs). Hage is also just past the line of sight and our goal scoring is likely resolved with a healthy Laine and Caufield. We are in a hugely better bargaining position when we were on June 15th.

I'm still intrigued by Zegras' skill, but if the price if higher than Barron, Mesar and a 3rd round pick, count me out.

Now if he's interested in Matheson, I could carry on a conversation, but I'm in a minority on that one.

Just for an example, let's look at the defense on the 1990-91 Montreal Canadiens

Eric Desjardins 21
Mathieu Schneider 21
Petr Svoboda 24
Sylvain Lefebvre 22 (yeesh)
JJ daigneault 24
Don Dufresne 23
Lyle Odelein 22

Not one guy over 24 to start the year. Was that team great in 90/91? They finished with 89 points in 80 games, a 91 point pace in today's dollars, without any loser points. In other words, a playoff team which lost in round 2. Pat Burns was the coach. The moral of that story is that the very young defense, with a highly structured coach, did just fine and gained a lot of experience on their way to a 93 Stanley Cup. Why not give this same group the same opportunity. Some are younger, yes

Savard 33 (soon to be 34)
Guhle 22
Barron 22
Xhekaj 23
Struble 22
Hutson 20
Rein 19 (soon to be 20)
Mailloux 21
Engstrom 20 (21 in November)

They're not slugs. And we're deep, especially if they have enough ice time. Reinbacher's the only one who MIGHT need some Laval time. The rest are ready. Colour me optimistic. The one difference is Pat Burns. That team had no ppg players. Russ Courtnall was the leading scorer with 76 points, but they did have a goal differential of +26. Serge had his defense in place and only needed to add some scoring punch, which he did.  I'd even say we have more scoring punch that that 91 team. 

www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/leagues/seasons/teams/0000451991.html

[Polarice]

My best guess is that the only D-men we would consider trading for Zegras would include Savard and Barron, I know the Habs are high on Matheson so no chance of him being traded. I'd bet the players they would want would include Barron, Beck and Roy. The would have to take on some salary as well so Anderson would also have to be mentioned. So a package of Barron, Beck and Anderson and 2nd for Zegras and a 3rd could be the ask.

[Tankdriver]

Sept 5, 2024 5:33:50 GMT -5 Polarice said:

My best guess is that the only D-men we would consider trading for Zegras would include Savard and Barron, I know the Habs are high on Matheson so no chance of him being traded. I'd bet the players they would want would include Barron, Beck and Roy. The would have to take on some salary as well so Anderson would also have to be mentioned. So a package of Barron, Beck and Anderson and 2nd for Zegras and a 3rd could be the ask.

I don't know how Hughes values Anderson, but he would have to go back for Zegras. Just because we would need the cap space long term (year 3).

[Willie Dog]

I'm not interested in Zegras, on the surface he's a me guy(maybe he isn't), but I'm not willing to risk our future 3C. I am a Beck fan and I think we need to keep him, so him and Newhook are the 3rd line next year along with Bgal or whomever...

Another reason to keep Beck is Dachs injury history, either Beck or Newhook can backfill the 2C position if necessary... I am hoping dvo is gone, he brings nothing special to the table imo, he might this year since it's a contract year (same as Armia)

[folatre]

Verbeek may be reengaging (because I think he can't stand Zegras) with other GMs, but I highly doubt the price has gone down all that much. And it is certainly not in the Barron + Mesar range. He is undoubtedly asking for Reinbacher or Mailloux.

I appreciate what a skilled player Zegras is, but honestly I do not want him for a couple of reasons. First, the looming contract headache is totally predictable and unappealing. He refused a reasonable long-term number in Anaheim, so why bother. Second, Montreal already has one small, perimeter skilled forward in the top six and I simply do not see adding another one as the priority move to make.

[Cranky]

I bet the newly renovated 3 storey deluxe outhouse it's Mailloux. It's their biggest need.

It's more then 50% that Zegras would be gone in 3 years, Mailman is a 60 point top 1 defenseman for Anaheim and were wondering if we're going to hit 100 points.

Thankfully BargainBin is destroying a different team and Hughes is hanging up the phone...