I say no to this deal. Montreal does not need B rated players. Either we trade Pacioretty for a LHD, center, or picks.

And if no one is willing to part with those, we keep him and extend him longterm (as its rumoured that's what Pacioretty wants)

Agreed. He would be mentally stronger after all these trade talks.. Take the C off of him just like the Kings did for Dustin Brown and I am sure he would find back his touch quickly. Gallagher and Weber are truly the leaders of that team for the next 4-5 years.

What else would you expect in return for that deal to be made? Not hating on your response just curious from a Habs prospective.

From a Habs perspective, I am looking at Derick Brassard and Olli Matta. Not saying you need to include both players, just saying those can be a starting point.

You have to be careful not to take some comments too seriously. The players offered for Pacioretty here like Sheary and Rust are not bad players. They are simply not what MTL needs. MTL currently has players similar to Sheary and Rust already so offering more of them simply saturates the one position MTL has plenty of already.

Habs need top 2 centers and/or top 4 LHD's on the roster currently. If not we'd need picks and prospects who can eventually be quality centers and LHD's. That would be where to start if you really want Pacioretty.

Fair enough, I think the Pens would be willing to part with Brassard i dont know about Olli though. What do you value Pacioretty at? Like a good player a prospect and a pick?

There are a lot of wingers available right now. It's really killing their value. To be honest if MTL was going to move him, they should wait till after free agency.
You have multiple good wingers who will sign on with teams, Neal, JVR, etc... there are like 4 or 5 of them. You have Panarin who is on the market. So the value of a trade is going to be smaller. Especially on players with no term. I would trade you brass for patches, but you would have to take cap space on patches.
Otherwise, the Pens can shoot for JVR.

At this point, I would like 2 players for Pacioretty. A young prospect and an established player. The second option would be a 1st round draft pick (I am sure Bergevin would love an additional pick around 10th 11th position in the first round. So my thinking is 1st round draft pick from EDM and Sekera for Pacioretty and a 2nd draft pick.