I think they were right for aquiring Drouin, I just think giving up Sergachev was completly wrong. They should have offered god awful defence-man Petry and pick/other prospect for not retaining salary

And You think that Tampa would have taken that...

no team is willing to trade a young number 1 center, unless they have an influx for them, which is rarely the case around this league nowadays. unless u want to trade a 19 year old D for a 26-30 year old center (which makes no sense), there is no point in trading him. if drouin is not a number 1 center, then at least he is a dynamic winger, and he is young, and has a lot of potential

First of all, Petry is definitely not awful. He's just inconsistent. Sometimes he plays like a first pairing defenseman, sometimes it looks like he would struggle on the third pair. Second, how can you think Tampa would have accepted that?

Possibly. Drouin has been wanting out for Tampa for a while so that helps the canadiens alot. Lightning get a depth D-man who doesnt have to star because they have Hedman. MTL might need to retain tho

Lol, from what I've seen, he is a 3rd pairing d-man. By all means, take a look at his stats and play, he doesnt know how to throw a hit, or anything. That being said, hes playing over the top min on a horrendous MTL team, with horrendous media. sending him to the lightning where he can quietly play his game and doesnt have to be the star because Hedman is. might need to retain Salary, or throw in a pick. Remember, Drouin was fussing pretty hard to get out of Tampa

Yep, that's how you determine how good a player is, by the hits he throws. Johnny Goudreau must be awful to you.

I wouldn't have traded Sergachev

He doesn't check the player is what im trying to say mate. Don't compare Johnny to Petry. To be a dman, you have to be physically strong and capable of separating players from the puck with skill, strength, or smarts. Petry has none of those things.

If all it took to get Drouin was a 3rd pairing dman and a pick, there's a lot of teams that would have done it. Yzerman waited for a long time to make the deal that he wanted to make, and in the end, got it.

Yes he does, he is fine dman. Granted I too think he is not worth 5.5M but you have to remember a couple things:

1) MTL has a hard time luring UFA's. Its not a super envious destination for players so we don't get the cream of the crop. usually have to settle for lesser guys like Alzner.
2) We have some of the highest tax rates. In order to beat another teams offers, not only do we have to match the dollar value but even over pay on top of that as the UFA would have way more tax deducted here than in other teams.

The allure of playing for the Habs rich organization has all but been forgotten. This is a job to players now. not a priviledge. Whether its Anaheim, Detroit or Montreal. Its doesn't matter. Money and quality of life matter now.

He is not a bottom pairing dman. That is silly to say. Nothing supports that at all. But he is also not a top pairing dman as he lacks some attributes the best dmen in the league have. If all dollar rates were even and all things considered, Petry would of been a 4.5M dollar dman and that is his sweet spot. Tack on the two things mentioned above and an extra 1M gets added on to the deal.

People forget that MTL has to overpay in order to compete with other teams. 1 Nashville dollar does not equal 1 Montreal dollar.

You are bang on that MTL has the toughest job in luring UFA because of how tough the market is there, I don't disagree, but I will die on this hill that Jeff Petry is not a good defender.

He's sure as hell not worth 5.5 mill... barely worth 2 mill in my mind. Go take a look at his hockey DB and you'll see where im coming from... its outstanding how bad he is. He's been a + player once in his career and he has never surpassed the 30 point mark. He doesn't check, doesn't lay the body, coughs up the puck way to easily. I'm sorry, but he really doesn't cut it, especially in a high market like MTL.

While I do strongly agree that MTL has a tough job of luring in players, having an horrendous gm like Bergevin doesn't help, thinking players will sign for much less then what they want and are owed (Markov and Radulov). MTL has alot of problems right now, but i think the biggest one is poor asset management. If MTL has any chance of being a contender again, they got to do a rebuild, a quick one at that, and it starts with Unloading that horrendous contract of Petry, and praying to the hockey gods you can sign Tavares for what Leafs would have signed Stamkos for. It really is all based on him. They should be looking at what they can pry out of Vegas', Arizona, Sabres, and Sens hand while they have a chance. If they can get Tavares then a rebuild isnt needed, just a better set up... but if not, blow it up.

Me, being a Leafs fan at that, don't mind if the Habs succeed. Great Fans, community, support, history, and horrendous media coverage like the leafs lol. I just dont want them to be stupid and crap for the next few years with no plan in place, and if this kind of thinking continues (Petry at 5.5 mill) it will drive them straight into the ground

Ok but you are looking at some insignificant stats and basing it off that.

=/- is the most pointless stat in hockey. Ekman larsson is -39 this year should Arizona put him on waivers? No. Honestly don't bother using =/-. Anyone "in the know" understands this and picks apart other peoples rationale in seconds.

Hits? Comes down to what is most important to you? Petry is not a "hitter". Markov doesn't hit players to be effective. Neither does Petry. But just for fun, Let's look at the numbers. Petry actually has the second highest # of hits of anyone not named Emelin in the past 10 years. So he is hitting and does hit. Maybe not Scott Stevens type hits but how many players still are like that in the NHL? Also chances are you are looking at this season mostly to base your opinion of him. This year is over. Why on earth is going to risk injury at this point and go in for any big hits? LOL believe it or not, Petry is off to his highest hit per game % this year since joining the Habs.....

Petry for all his talent is not an offensive dman. He is a good all round dman. Doesn't excel in any one thing but doesn't bring his team down at any thing either. In terms of point scoring, he's right where most guys of his type are so i'm not sure what you are comparing him to? Offensive dmen? Ok but now look at those players and look at what Petry does that they don't.

In all honesty, Petry drives me nuts sometimes also. When entering the offensive zone with speed he is the only player that the minute he passes the other teams blueline, has no idea what to do with the puck and will skate into the zone round the net all the way back to his own net and then coughs the puck up. Petry is culpable for making some absolute bone headed mistakes sometimes but if you analyze his play as a whole you'll realize, those mistakes don't end up in goals as much as others mistakes do and his best attribute is going unnoticed in games. When he is unnoticed, that means he did everything perfectly but because isn't fancy, never catches the eye.

I am not defending Petry because I like him, in all honesty his face annoys me and he always has a dumbfounded expression, but he is a quality middle of the pact top 4 dman. Not a star player but definitely not bad.

Okay, that was a bit of a poor comparison to compare him to OEL, as OEL is also playing for the worst team in the league for the past few seasons, meanwhile Petry was playing for a legit contender. But having the -/+ ratio is honestly pretty important because not only does that prove he isn't an offensive dman that can score his way out of trouble, but he also is a liability in the back end... at a staggering -22 this season.

If he isn's offensive, and hes a disaster defensively then im sorry, but hes a bottom pair at best? Leafs signed Ron Hainsey to be a defensive player and he has as many points as Petry WITH a +7, AND makes 2.5 mill less then petry. Everytime i watch him further concretes my belief that hes straight up not a good player, bottom pairing AT best. I watch a couple habs games here and there, and every time I do, its mistake, after mistake, after mistake.

Now i Think you mis-interpreted me when i said hits. What i mean is checks, and checking the player. Wether its closing him down at the boards and going to try and separate the body from the puck with his body or stick, he doesnt do any of that, literally watches the play go by him as Price bails him out every time. Strongly will die on the hill that hes worth 2 mill at best, and bottom pairing dman. I do appreciate the civil conversation were having here, much better then some of people here lol... PS: OEL at -39 holy balls...

Petry is a positive possession player, driving play in the right direction, and is having a near career year this season, despite having really low PDO and on ice save%.
This is despite playing on a poor team this year and having a rotating cast of questionably reliable partners.

Don't let obsolete statistics or general opinion influence your own evaluation. He's a steady 2nd pair defender and Jack of all trades, master of none.
Given a time machine, I'd still sign him, for $500k or so less, and be perfectly satisfied. The only thing I would do differently, is not saddle him with slower, less mobile, stay at home types, like Emelin and Alzner.

The OEL comparison is just to contrast how unimportant the +/- stat was, nothing more. i wasn't comparing players against each other Either way you went with the same explanation again of how a =/- is somehow suppose to validate a player or not. I strongly disagree with your statement and I think once you hear how often people are against it, you'll come around too. And for how bad you thought an OEL to Petry comparison was, even though that wasn't my comparison, Hainsey to Petry might be even worse. Once again your logic is basically saying Mike Green is just as good as Roman Josi because they both are +1 and have 25 points. but since Josi costs 1M less, he's only 1/5th better........

Anyways, I was under the impression you were a Habs fan but knowing that you aren't and that you don't watch Petry enough to really have a true idea of his value, I won't bother trying to convince you, especially if you're going to die on a hill over a player who yourself admittingly said only watch "here and there".

Agree on the civil conversation though! Respectfully disagreeing is nice change from the "ur so stupid if you think (Blank) is worth that!".

@hazard @F50marco @ricochetii

Without bringing a bunch of statistics, imo Petry offensively has the skill of a #2 defensemen, but is such a defensive liability that it bumps him down to an over paid #4-5 defensemen. It’s not because he isn’t physical or slow, he actually hits quite hard and is a quick skater. It’s his positioning and his decision making are what drives me mad! The amount of times he gets deked around or gets caught staring at the puck baffles me.

So as much as I would miss his offence, I would trade him for a couple of draft picks and use his cap space elsewhere, put Juulsen in his place, give him a chance.

Petry doesn't throw any big hits but on good days, he definitely has the skill and smarts to separate the player from the puck. You don't always need to do it with tough body contact. On bad days, he gets these brain farts and terrible skating errors which make him look awful. Generally, he's very mobile and can move the puck well, decent in the offensive zone too. Inconsistency is the big issue. Now that Weber is out, he's the #1 dman out there for us and while it's far from an ideal situation, he's handled it adequately.

No no no, thats not what I meant. I knew you werent comparing OEL to him, but rather just trying to say that stat means piss all, and I was trying to convince you that, that stat is actually pretty important. But okay, lets forget that stat and look at comparables.

He makes 5.5 mill, and age 30. The top 8 players that compare to him are, Macdonald, Sekera, Staal, Ericsson, Edler, Boychuk, Martinez, & Stralman. Out those men, he is better then Eriksson, and debatable on Macdonald, thats it. I've seen enough games to have a fair judgment in him, and im sorry, but he doesnt stack up. And at 5.5 for him.. MTL doesnt need that money handed to players like him when Price is about to come on the books for 10.5 mill, and whatever on god theyll pay tavares and Galch and UFA they sign. Thats why I dont like him

Thank god, finally someone who expressed my point 100% exactly. You are absolutely bang on my friend. Very Bang on.

Maybe I've just watched every single game that he's played bad in lol, but it seems like he does this more often then not. thats why i feel he doesnt deserve the big bucks

I think we have very fundamentally different opinions on this matter so there really isn't any farther we can go so we'll agree to disagree.

Sergachev's success is system based
he's a playmaking D on a team with 6 goals scoring forwards alone

in MTL when he played he did nothing because our D is expected to score the goals
as outside Patches and Chucky there was no options for goals and Sergachev would have struggled like he did
in his first few games with MTL .

this may suck for the fans but it was a win win for both players

He's easy to pick out because he makes more absolutely goofball obvious mistakes than most top 4 dmen out there. Maybe you have the illusion that he's always bad because it's much harder to notice when he's good than when he's bad.

Its crazy how so many people have different opinions of a player.

I don't know, I am "pro" Petry sort of speak but even i wouldn't say he is a top 2 offensive dman. Not nearly the dexterity needed and I wonder even if he is capable of deking a goalie. I also disagree with the sentiment that his brain farts make him a 4-5. Although if we're counting pennies here, a "top 4 dman" is a 3-4 dman. The difference between a #4 and a #5 in a vacuum is a large difference. So its pretty hard to say a guy is a 4-5. Either he is top 4 or he is a bottom pairing. Some bottom pairing guys have potential of moving into top 4 for small amounts of time and look decent. That doesn't make a bottom pairing dman a top 4 now.

Goes to the same terminology as when a guy like Emelin last year played on the top pair with Weber. Does that make him a "top pairing dman"? IMO no its does not.

Secondly, I get the bad positioning and decision making sometimes too but the truth is: When Petry is generally unnoticeable, he has done his job. He is not overly flashy but making mistakes is. So he suffers from not getting the accolades he deserves from the things he does well but gets all the blame for the things he doesn't do or does badly.