you're exposing weber???????

NO ONE is taking his contract

probably Edmundson from that list. Only 3.5mil, signed for another 3 yrs

maybe lehkonen

(wont Suzuki have 2 yrs of pro experience?)

True but MTL will still not expose him.

i have a suspicion they will but its early so who knows

at the same time they need to get to a cap floor, and weber is still good and a good leader

I agree that we should expose Weber, but protecting Fleury and Mete is not the right option. I'm protecting Chiarot and Kulak over Mete and Fleury.

IS Mete protected here? If so if we protect Ed instead of Mete do we still have enough exposed?

Weber gets taken imo if available. He would be their captain and face of their franchise immediately plus his play hasn't even declined yet. Montreal will not expose him. Expect Allen, Chariot, Edmundson or Mete to be taken

i'm protecting Fleury over Kulak

Really? I don't see Fleury becoming much more than a 3rd pairing defender and Kulak has already proven he's a very good 3rd pairing defender.

they are older. kulak is a 5-6 defenceman

yes really because Romanov play both side and when Flower will be ready I put them together.

first of all he's the captain and if they dont protect the captain there will be some beef and it just looks bad as for the organization
second of all his contract's cap hit decreases every season after the next one. For the last year of his contract his cap hit is 1mil.

SEA will take Weber if you expose him... It's not like he's disappointed expectations, he's been roughly on the same point production his whole career. They'd immediately cement their veteran presence and captaincy. Also, cap won't be an issue for SEA upon entry. I think people are overthinking his salary. The term is not ideal (that's NSH's problem), but 7.8M is not that bad. I feel like people think 5M+ is considered a lot, without considering the exponential factor of higher salary. There's a hell of a difference between say Weber's cap hit and Doughty's cap hit at 11M. You totally draft Weber, even if you think he'll regress after one season.

I'd agree Evans is currently playing his way to protection. But then, I would think Lehkonen would become the most attractive pick for SEA

agreed, bad gamble to assume he wont be taken cause of contract

granted but hes 36. hes way passed his prime and hes definably slowing down

Is he though? It's never been his thing, he's a stay-at-home-D and I'm fine with it. The game has gotten faster around him, but his IQ and physique is still there. He can make his presence felt -- and we definitely saw it in the postseason. The optic for Weber, what we're hoping for is he has a similar career path to Chara's. So far, I think we have to agree he's meeting that expectation.

Salary, not cap hit. There's a big difference.

PRIME no ... 36yrs old is actually the begging of your peak in a normal existence ... hockey is now getting closer to become a work, not a game. With older player we upgrade one path : experience ... now Hockey is entering it 3rd era for real ! Crosby was the first blink with pittsbugh a while ago but this year Habs will show the new form of a team in this new era. I wonder if the old Dynasty will come back with this era.

definitely Weber.

A lot of valid points by everyone here about who MTL should protect. However, one thing has not been stated at all yet and it's the following: if MTL makes an arrangement with Seattle, say draft Kulak for example, we send you a couple of picks/prospects, it won't matter who's not protected. I know some teams got burnt last time with Vegas doing side deals but don't think for a minute that good teams won't try to do the same thing this year. The only reason those side deals made some teams regret it is simple, all those players ending up having career years all at the same time. The chances that something like that happens again (and Seattle making the finals in year 1) are slim-to-none.

I honestly see them taking Jake Allen. He has been great and he is on a good contract. I could see Seattle finding better forwards or dmen options elsewhere, but Allen is one of the best goalie options. I think that would be their choice.