Modifié 13 mars 2018 à 10 h 53
Quoting: Truebeliever
Pacioretty won't be hard to move . Price won't stay in Montreal if he feels he's not wanted/needed there. No one is that big a glutton for punishment.
That's a fair point and nobody knows what's been said behind closed doors. However, if that comes out as being the case and with that albatross contract around his neck then his value will plummet further. I don't think if Price does get moved he will bring back anywhere near what Habs fans hope or expect. Agreed on Pacioretty. Somebody will take a punt on him, and it would be understandable if all he wants is to get out now to go somewhere to try and win. He's currently Montreal's best trade asset imho, excluding the ones the Habs would want to hold onto. Stick with Price, develop a very young good goalie for 4 or 5 years time when the 10 mil probably won't look quite so bad, and he can slowly phase into a back up role and mentor, albeit an expensive one!
I actually don't think the Habs are as far away as a lot of people (and their results) suggest. If the Habs could build a stingy D around Price, whilst it wouldn't be pretty, it could be successful whilst some young forwards develop. If I remember right the last cup win was built round a top goalie, a stingy D unit (who were also good at moving the puck forward) and a lot of good defensive/two way forwards. Great team but the only major star on it was Roy. Admittedly some went on to excellent careers but there were no Gretzky, Lemieux, Yzerman, Sakic, Bourque, Coffey, Messier etc etc type players in there (Savard maybe but he was on the decline). The way the game is going now under the salary cap era I think that is going to be the way teams may have to try and go, and that is probably an excellent team to try and model on.
I forgot to say, whilst looking at the trades that I actually like the idea of the Sedin brothers in MTL. Mainly because they could handle the pressure as older guys, help solidify things for a bit, mentor a little, and I actually think you could get them for far less than you have signed them for. Whilst the Sedins maybe aren't the best defensively, if you add a few other Swedes, they have always appeared to me to be (arguably) the best 2-way nation (yeah I know, the Canadians & Americans on here ain't gonna like that! LOL! I would say French-Canada probably produced the next best historically so the Habs should have an advantage in finding them and keeping them) and I think that's probably a big part of their international success. That could be a route for MTL to replicate the '93 cup. Just a few thoughts on the Habs from an outsider.