Is McD still good?

yes but his offensive production is regressing

I don't really care about his offense if he is still good defensively I would take him considering how many years are left on his deal

7

McD is too old for that huge of a contract. They Jets don't want that...he also has a NTC

All four of the guys you are trying to trade have no trade clauses. Good luck getting them to waive them and get traded to some place cold and a weaker team with higher taxes....zero chance

I'm not sure you'd get that kind of contract out of Andy. Two years might be short enough that he considers it, but IDK.

I was hoping the Bolts would deal TJ to Calgary before his NTC kicked in because he does fit a need as a RHS top 6 forward. Instead they dealt Miller to Vancouver to clear some cap.

Does Johnson play center much, and if he does is he any good there?

That Gourde deal is a huge no Armia is more valuable to the Habs than you think. No chance Gourde could fill Tatar’s spot if he is moved. His contract is bad it will take a solid piece in addition to make any Gourde deal work.

They will waive their NTC to leave Tampa. They look at how much better JT Miller did in an elevated role. Guys will waive

His best years of his career was being a centre on the triplets line when he surpassed 70 points. He hasn’t played much Centre recently but it’s hard to be given an opportunity with Tampa’s insane centre depth

Tatar came to MTL as a cap dump. He struggled this year no doubt, but had almost 50 points last year and 64 the year before. That’s not a “bad contract”. He just had an off year. A team will definitely take a chance on him

Well, for a 3rd round pick I'd be down with it for sure. He'd fit the Flames roster like a glove and it'd be nice to have both him and Lindholm as top 6 RHS wingers who can also play C when needed.

Didnt Tampa just sign McD?????
Dont see the Tampa players leaving there no tax spots.

yes they did, but I could see them wanting to move on from him since Sergy deserves a top 4 role. I think TB players would be willing to leave Tampa for increases roles.

Habs pass unless Tampa adds a1st rounder

lol gourde would be one of your better wingers. hes not a complete cap dump. he had an off year.

@mhockey91 thank you for being a rational non Lightning fan and seeing that the Lightning players with NTC could possibly waive for the right situation like more opportunity and also seeing that none of these guys are horrible and cap dumps. Refreshing to see.

yeah theres alot of misinformation on this site. Teams think Tampa is completely stuck with these contracts but I think a big reason why Tampa overpaid at the deadline to get Goodrow and Coleman is because they are cheap top 9 roster players for next year and a combination of: Johnson/Palat/Gourde/Killorn/McDonagh will be traded. None of these players are on "awful" contracts and could waive their NTCs to be given an elevated role and produce more in a different environment. JT miller was never gonna be a 70+ point forward in Tampa, but given an expanded opportunity in Vancouver hes been able to really show his skillset. Guys on Tampa's roster will look at that trade favourably and may help them waive their NTCs for certain teams.

CBJ decline.

Gourde, playing for the top offensive team in the league, put up pts/gm that would fall 8th among MTL forwards this past season, so not one of their better wingers. Call it a down year if you want but he's 28, not an encouraging sign when arguing a bounce back, and would be barely an improvement on Lehkonen offensively (and MTL needs offense) before considering Lehkonen played for a far less offensively gifted team, and Lehkonen is not only younger than Gourde was in his career year, but also less than half the cap hit.
Gourde just doesn't make sense at full cost unless MTL gets some kind of gaurenteed compensation if he doesn't regain his form, and the value would either need to be a significant one time offer, or smaller compensation every year of his contract if he doesn't play to a certain level.

I stopped reading this when you compared Lekonen to gourde. Lost all credibility

Since you stopped reading I'll make the point again here so you'll see it, Gourde isn't worth his cap hit and term unless the team aquiring him has some compensation coming their way if he, at 28, doesn't bounce back.
Both are solid defensively and offensively they were similar this season while Lehkonen is still younger than when Gourde broke into the NHL, if you don't like using them as comparables that's fine though, it doesn't really change Gourde's value as a trade asset.

Gourde this year struggled but when he puts up 50-60+ points like the last two years his contract looks fine. This would be an opportunity where a team could buy low on him because of a down year.

I'm not saying he isn't a good buy low candidate, I'm saying that at 28 with his cap hit and term he's a massive risk for any team to aquire, and with the season he just had he's more of a comparable to Lehkonen than he is a potential top winger for MTL. Again, in relation to MTL, he would barely be an offensive upgrade on Lehkonen (who again, is younger than Gourde was when he had those 50-60 point seasons) if his decline is because of his age and he doesn't bounce back, while he is more than twice the cap hit. 5 more years at over 5M for a guy who had a 60 point season at age 26, with no NHL impact before that, and has declined in the 2 following years is, to hammer the point home again, a massive risk.