As a Habs fan, I'm not ready to do that. We have issues scoring goals. We're not going to give up (yet) on a potential goal scoring W that was drafted in the 1st round for a guy that looks like he'll top out on a 3rd line.

I think I would be willing to do this. What Monster doesn't see is that MTL has too many wingers as is. Quality centres are what we don't have. Mitchell Stephens was a team Canada representative at the WJC and played very well. Yes may not be a big time scorer but neither was Danault and frankly he's our #1 centre right now and quite possibly our most important one to boot as Drouin simply does not fit in at centre and Plekanec is aging. Poehling may be our only ray of light but that could be in a couple years. I've seen Scherbak play live and Im sorry the kid is all skill no heart. On a team like TB he'd be much better suited to play that way. In MTL he'll never be that player we hoped for.

So what would you rather have? A 20% chance that Scherbak is a decent second liner or a 80% chance Stephens is solid 3rd liner? Don't know if you've noticed but MTL hasn't been the best at cultivating their talent the past 10 years. I'll take the TB grown talent that was bred to be a winner and can actually attain the level we'd be able to develop.

Scherbak or much more of a playmaker than a goal scorer. He's getting comfortable in the AHL but up to now, doesn't have the foot speed to play in the NHL. Hopefully he'll reach that level cause he's full of talent. Not doing that trade either even if we do need a 1st line C in Laval too.

What I probably should've said is that I'm sick of MB getting 3rd and 4th line players over and over when our needs are on the top 2 lines. Drouin isn't cutting it at C. They obviously don't think Galchenyuk is a center. Yes, Danault is our 1C right now, but he's not a top 6 forward if you are aspiring for big playoff runs. On a team that goes deep in the playoffs, Danault is a 3C.

I want to see the Habs acquire 2 quality Cs as a 1-2 punch down the middle.

I would seriously consider a deal like Weber to TOR for Nylander, or to EDM for Draisaitl. (you might have to decorate those trades to make things work for everyone, but those are the main components). That would get one of the top 2 Cs I'd like to see.

Maybe they have enough cap space next summer to throw 12M$ at Tavares.

I wouldn't be opposed to trading Scherbak, I just think it would be too early. Let the guy play at least 20 or so NHL games before we decide to ship him out. His stock is way too low right now, if there's another injury on the wing this season, call him up and test him in a top 6 role (where he needs to be). If he does well, maybe you can get a similar deal but with a better pick, and if he becomes a failed experiment, than do this type of deal where at worst the 4th rd pick is removed. Gambling a 4th rd pick in terms of value is worth it if you can increase his stock. There's also no rush for trades like this, this could wait till the offseason or the draft where there could be more teams interested (which increases value).

This

Fair enough. I've seen what I need to see from this guy. He has talent. We all know this. That heart and effort level is just not there. His skating clearly isn't good enough either even though when your talented you could make up for that. I dunno, I just can't see ghim pushing guys like Shaw, Gallagher and now Galchenyuk out of the way. The LW is even more stacked. I honestly feel we need to start cashing in these 1st round picks soon or we are going to lose them for nothing. Mccarron, Scherbak, Galchneyuk, Beaulieu, Tinordi, Leblanc......MTL isn't a very strong developing organization. If Im a betting man, there's a bigger chance only 10% of the guys we're hoping develop into solid NHL'ers, actually do. (If they stay with MTL)

Adding Stephens and a 4th is a very solid return. Stephens was only taken 6 spots ahead of Juulsen really so he is by all intensive purposes a 1st rounder also and is younger than Sherbak. Add on a 4th rounder also and I think we're making out like bandits at that point.