And we are doing that Holloway Drouin Neal trade

I wish…

Nah

Gonna be honest, if weber retires I think the league is gonna do something to minimize the damage to Nashville. Would be bad for the league to force Nashville to forfeit like 24m in cap a year

It already changed. It's cheaper but longer

If he's LTIR...all of this goes away though.

The thing with that though is each parties motives. Why does MTL want to do that? They'll still have to pay a small portion of Weber's contract that isn't insured and LTIR only lets them go over the salary cap which is a slippery slope. Why does Weber do this? He makes peanuts in his final years, its not worth it if he has no intention of coming back. He'd still have to stay in MTL and do testing, etc. The only team that wants Weber to go on LTIR is Nashville. The team that doesn't own his rights. So MTL, if Weber decides to retire, holds all the power......

Now.......while I think the trade for Nashville to get Weber's contract back is plausible, I don't think its gonna be this massive steal of a trade for the Habs. I think Habs may add a low pick and Nashville adds a much better pick and maybe an ok prospect, that way it looks like a actual value trade a little bit. The main thing here for the Habs will be the cap space and 8M will go a long way to improving the team. If MB holds Poile's feet over the flames like the above trade, he's not only burning his bridges with Poile but painting himself in a bad way with the ol' boys club of Hockey guys which isn't MB's style either IMO.

Its ok to fleece a GM in a trade where the other GM is just being dumb. (Chiarelli style for example). Its another to basically blackmail a GM who essentially has no other choice but to comply.

Nashville is on the cusp of a rebuild as it is. Trading away futures doesn’t make sense when we should be looking to get cheaper and younger as is. Weber’s recapture penalty will only expedite the rebuild start date. We will sell if parts for futures. It’ll suck but buying our way out of it hurts the team more long term

You explained the facts really well, but talking about motives for each parties, I figured Weber would accept to be placed on LTIR partly out of respect for MTL AND NAS. Because being on LTIR would help both team (MTL acquiring assets and not losing him for nothing, and NAS saving a 24 millions cap penalty over the next 5 years). Also, I know its peanuts compared to what he made throughout his career, but a couple of millions is still a couple of millions…. So if all hes gotta do is testing at the start of the seasons, I think Weber would gladly accept being places on LTIR (plus the fact that it helps both teams).

And I dont get how MB would paint himself in a corner for doing whats best for his team… Hes got the opportunity to make a great deal and to also help NAS in some ways. Obviously, the fact that hes in a position of strenght doesnt means hed have to completely destroy Poile in a trade (like Tomasino + 2022 unprotect first, etc). The trade I suggest is perfectly fair and isnt crazy bad for NAS either. Saving basically 10 millions + in cap for the next 5-6 years is worth a lot on the market, a lot more than the trade above…

You’re crazy this trade is terrible for Nashville in every way. In no way is it fair. Nashville is being held at gunpoint in this trade. Fabbro is a top 4 Right handed Dman who’s only 22. Also the 18OA pick, which Nashville needs because we’re headed for a rebuild. No way would this happen. Maybe a gentleman’s agreement for a late pick or something but no way is Nashville trading a 1st, 2nd and Fabbro to the cap recapture. I don’t think Weber would do that to Nashville and I don’t think a single GM in the league would pull a move like this because even if it’s good for the team who wants to play ball or trade with someone who’s ruthless like this. Montreal fans y’all gotta cut this out cause it’s getting ridiculous

Lol, the cap penalty then (and the loss of an extra 7 millions in cap space)

Listen, it’s not happening no way is Nashville giving up futures like this because of cap issues there are a dozen ways around this that don’t involve sacrificing those kinds of futures

Weber will not sacrifice his retirement freedom after all he's done and gone through, to "SAVE" the team that traded him, if he's not STILL on that team. IF he wants to be nice, he can ask to be traded to Nashville and then let them put him on LTIR on paper to SAVE them, not him. MTL gains nothing by saving NSH so they are in their right to force Nashville to take Weber back if need be but I don't think is will be a crazy big cost like you mentioned, which is ALOT, a 1st, 2nd and a good young roster player would net you a stud player in a trade, not a LTIR player. Yes the cap saving is great but the optics are too slanted nd would be way too obvious. There has to be respect between the GM's. MB wouldn't blackmail other GM's and I think any GM that would be find himself on the outside with the others. Remember, this only happens if Weber wants to retire. If that is the case, Habs are losing 7.8M in cap space also, that is a benefit to them too. Habs are winning this trade, no matter what from the get go. Can't get too greedy.

If it happens it will happen in 23-24 when Weber's salary is 1M a year for 3 more years. Not before that since he'll still be getting 3M next year and currently is still very good so the Habs will want to keep him if he can still play. But assuming in 23-24 he starts to suck really bad and wants to retire, the trade would probably be more like:

Weber
MTL 2nd Round pick 2024
for
NSH 1st round pick 2024

That way Habs clearly get what they want. Nashville pays a realistic price that definitely hurts but isn't catastrophic. Everyone is happy and the League won't have any negative press from it. Nashville quietly places Weber on LTIR for the remainder of his contract and lets Weber go live where ever he wants because they don't care about him coming back. Its all for show anyway.