If your trading Kulak to free cap space why sign Gauthier? I mean you can just as easily keep Belzile and bring up Fleury on game day and send him back down after to build deadline cap space.

I'm trading Kulak to have 8 defensemen. It's gonna be really important for the rotation. I send Weal to Laval to take a low risk on a young player with experience on Gauthier. For me he's a young Nate Thompson.

Belzile does the same thing and was ok in his stint last year to boot. By bringing Belzile up as the 13th forward and moving Fleury back and forth before and after games (literally just a paper trasaction) you build cap for the deadline. Gauthier just doesn't bring anything to the table that we don't already have in the system. If you don't like Belzile that's ok we have Vejdemo, Blandisi, Baddock, Lucchini or Dauphin who can fill a 13th man role as well.

Belzile can't play as center. That's why I prefer Gauthier. My first choice was Jumbo Joe... But now he's with Toronto. You need someone with experience. Weal is not good for NHL. He's an AHLer. Gauthier can play physical. He's a hometown player. He can do some interesting things as a defense center. I got no problem if he can share the 56 games with Evans in a rotation. There will be a lot of 2 games in 2 days. In defense I always believe that you need Young + Experience when it's five on five. At the end of the season I hope to see Ben Chiarot selected by Seattle Kraken.

Gauthier is a big physical centerman good at faceoffs. Belzile cant do any of those things. He is an "energy player", meaning he skates and forecheck and nothing else.

I would welcome a 2 way signing of Gauthier. Send him to Laval so that Bouchard help him with his defense play and bring him back as 4C when an injury occurs.

Habs still need more toughness for the playoffs.

I'm pretty sure if Fleury doesn't play this year he becomes ineligble to be picked by Seattle so i wouldn't play him