Personally speaking this doesn't make EDM any better. Koskinen/Smith does the job Allen does just as good, the level difference between Kassian and Crouse is not that major and Chiarot is overrated as heck imo. Hinostroza-Perlini is close to a wash, and it doesn't change anything.

Also if Lebrun hadn't make the claim about Chiarot potentially gathering a first at the deadline no one would consider him being worth that. Stats wise the guy is plain old bad. He's a third pair D at best, maybe 2nd pair one in a bad team.

If I were a GM, most I'd give up for him is a third and low ceiling prospect.

Hinostroza looked good to us and he doesn't get top 6 minutes that often. He really plays like a good third line player. He also scored all his points at ES.

Perlini has 2 goals and 6 pts in his past 56 NHL games.
On the other hand Hinostroza over his last 48 NHL games has 10 goals and 27 pts.
While Perlini is a past first round pick (which I like getting in trades), and showed great promise his first two years his production is rather poor over his past three seasons.
I think the trade as written is close to fair, Maybe Buffalo sends the Devils 5th pick back to balance it.
Then each team receives a player and a pick.

Try both those pieces for one of those Habs assets, not both.

Buffalo isn't sending anything, we don't need Perlini, but if Hinostroza continues to play as well, he'll easily get 3rd at TDL, maybe even 2nd depending on the market.

No interest in Lavoie. I’m not always right on prospects, actually most of the time I’m not, but I was bang in on Lavoie. He was a 3rd/4th rounder for me in his draft year. I’ve seen him plenty in Halifax. He’s a bust. I knew it then and it appears to be trending that way. He might play in the NHL but never as an impact player. No interest in trading for him.

Come on Allen is miles better than Koskinen & Smith
No one thinks Chiarot is WORTH a 1st RD pick, but it’s been reported he will likely bring back a 1st RD pick. You can’t say he is a 3rd pairing guy, he is clearly a top 4 dman who can eats minutes. Same thing for Edmundson, MTL didn’t went to the SCF with all bottom pairing Dmans

Allen is better but it's not a massive upgrade that'd change their course. And no I don't think Chiarot is a top 4 D. Edmundson might be.

"Maybe Buffalo sends the Devils 5th pick back to balance it."