Équipe: 2018-19 Canadiens de Montréal

Date de création initiale: 23 nov. 2018

Publié: 23 nov. 2018

Mode - plafond salarial: Basique

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Disclaimer:

This is a draft made for the sole purpose of armchair-GMing the **** out of this situation that MTL is currently in.
They do not know when Weber nor Byron will come back, Juulsen and Armia are day-to-day but do not have proper replacements.

The trades made may not be realistic, but they could potentially work if LAK, CGY and CHI don't think it through too much...

The rest of the description is a long novel explaining the trades, the line configuration and ****, so you can skip that if you want.


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MTL - CHI trade

Until Weber is 100% back and Juulsen gets his face stiched up, there is no way MTL can win games without at least another right-handed D who can actually get the puck out of the defensive zone.

Hence why trading a 4th round pick to LAK for Rutta (28 yo, has a pretty decent control of the puck) would fix that momentarilly.

As explained in the trade details, the 4th round pick from MTL would become a 2nd if Rutta plays for more than 30 games with MTL for the remaining of the regular season. Some of you might comment that that is not a legal trade condition, but it already happenend with the Sergachev trade 2 years ago. Go look it up, it is actually a legit way to add conditions to a trade.


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MTL - CGY trade

This gets tricky. Alzner and Shaw are complete nuissance and slow down the rest of the team either by taking stupid penalties (Shaw), by creating turnovers whenever they have the puck (Alzner) or both...

With a 1m$ retained for each of them (2m total) for the next 4 years (cap wise, this is not a problem), CGY would benefit from 2 veterans who have been in playoff situations (boy, do they choke in the playoffs since 2004, eh?).

A conditional 2020 4th round pick would most likely seal the deal, since it would become a 2nd if MTL gets to the Eastern conference finals (also legit trade conditions).

Lazar has only played in the AHL so far this year and is showing some skills. He also knows Domi, since they brieftly played together on the Canada U20 team back in 2015. Making him play on the right wing could potentially bring a spark to this already talented line. More on that bellow.

The 1st round pick is conditional to the lenght of Calgary's playoff run. If they get to the Western conference finals, it becomes a 3rd round pick.


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MTL - LAK trade

Jake Muzzin is a big piece on the defensive squad in LA, but they need to make room for a rebuild. Time to snatch him out while they aren't getting back up for this season (unlikely)!

Hagelin's 4m$ contract is an easy buyout acquisition, leaving LA with more cap space to move their contracts around.

Vejdemo, probably the 4th most interesting center prospect in MTL, is a fair trade, accompagnied by Shinkaruk who is going back to his original division (Pacific).

As detailed, the 2021 1st round pick from MTL would come with another 2020 1st round pick if MTL wins the stanley cup this year. Bergevin would probably never do that, but if MTL doesn't win the cup while Price is still in his 30's, then Bergevin would regret not doing that kind of trade.

Last thing to sweeten the deal, center prospect Cameron Hillis' contract rights gets transfered to LA.


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Roster

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Offense

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Drouin - Domi - Lazar
If it doesn't work after 2-3 games, then switch Lazar for Hudon or someone from the prospect pool, until Byron comes back

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Tatar - Danault - Gallagher
This line should remain the same as long as no one is injured

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Agostino - Kotkaniemi - Lehkonen
Remains the same until Armia comes back

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Deslauriers - Chaput - Hudon
Chaput can be switched with Peca or even someone else from the AHL (Froese, Audette, etc...)


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Defense

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Muzzin - Petry
Stays like that until Weber comes back, downgrading Petry to the 2nd pair

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Reilly - Rutta
Could switch Reilly for Mete if the chemistry isn't working, at least until Petry gets back down to the 2nd
and/or Juulsen comes back

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Mete - Ouellet
Both could be switched for Schlemko, Benn or even Juulsen


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Goalies

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Price - Niemi
Depending on the outcome of the games to come, Price could be switched more frequently for Niemi, or even
by Lindgren or McNiven if one of them gets injured (lower body for Price - a virus for Niemi...)


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Special Teams
Don't really need explaining, could be modified anyway and anyhow. As long as the PP is above 18% and the
PK above 82, should be fine


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Conclusion:
It's freaking 2:48 in the mornin' and I gotta get some sleep. I won't bother looking back at the writting, so excuse me for any mistakes.

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