There absolutely no chance that Halak have interest in coming back to Montreal. With all the controversy around him and Carey Price he will stay away from that.

Not sure this works. It's an OK lineup, but what happens in year 2 when you have to re-sign Gallagher, Danault to big raises and lock in Kotkeniemi and Poehling, while still keeping Tatar, Petry and Armia?

I don't think that's true, but even so, substitute Crawford, Lehner, Talbot..... Lots of good goalies in the $2M to $3M range.

I dont think you keep Petry and Tatar past their current contracts. they will both be major trade pieces in next year's deadline. Habs most likely wont be able to do enough to drastically increase their chances of making the playoffs and there's so much youth coming up through the organization that eventually it has to replace some of these older guys. Petry by all accounts should be getting a raise and i dont think the habs can afford that and we have Tatar on an absolute steal right now i dont think its smart to be paying him 6-7 for 5 or 6 years after next season when we will have most likely already gotten the best years he has to offer. If management feels both those players are must haves going forward then guys like Drouin and Byron are probably dealt to make room.

This is a reasonable expectation and I am fine with KK and Poehling starting out in the AHL, but how do waivers figure into their respective careers once the next season starts? if they are waiver-free in the next season then absolutely send them down to play.