I'd much rather just take Allen than pay for Drouin. He's virtually valueless at this point. Also him taking a leave of absence and then MTL starting to absolutely flourish just after he drops out is a bit of a red flag in terms of his locker room presence.

I'll just comment on the Drouin situation: I completely agree with your assessment. At worst, he'll get you 40 points, but he'll most likely get you 45-50. So, he's not McDavid, but we all knew that. Complaining that it was, in hindsight, a bad trade, is playing revisionist history and I refuse to do that. 5.5 million is a lot for 45-50 points, and nobody would argue against that. But he is still a very talented player and probably could easily fit into their top 6. As long as the Canadiens' give a sweetener - a pick or prospect or even Kulak - I would bet they take that.

BTW, we are not the only ones who think this: both Friedmann and Ryan Johnson from The Hockey News have mentioned this.

Oh so Friedmann and Johnson say it so it must be true. Good grief! Drouin is one of the biggest busts of all time. He is NOT a top 6 forward not even in the minor leagues. Very talented? maybe on Xbox

I was never attacking or disparaging to anyone when I said this. It was just my opinion. We can agree to disagree.

Absolutely correct. My apologies I didn't mean to sound disparaging.

And I also think - and this is just my opinion - that the term "bust" is relative. 40-50 points, which is his career average to this point, isn't necessarily bad, but it's not becoming of someone drafted 3rd overall. If he was drafted 20th overall? He's fine. Is he worth $5.5 million per? No. Is he worth $4? I would say so. But again, that's my opinion.