OMG, Bergevin did get picked up by LA as a senior advisor to the GM

The Kings already annonced it. He will be Senior Advisor to the GM

Flames accept

No part of LA trading quality prospects for a non-rental player over 25 at this point is realistic.

I have mixed feelings on the Pens trade.

1) Let's clarify. Hoffman is NOT the better player. Better scorer? Yes, not the better player. While Zucker's scoring has dried up, he's a far superior 200ft player to Hoffman.
2) I believe Hoffman needs to play with high-end talent to score, so he COULD be Kessel 2.0 for the Pens.

I'm not against this trade, but it's a gamble of sorts. The Pens at least know what they have in Zucker and can use him accordingly and they only have one more year left after this on his salary, which makes him easier to move or buyout. Hoffman is SORT OF a gamble because you never know if he's hit his wall or just a victim of being on a bad team.

Hoffman isn't better than Zucker.

Hoffman is not a good player at 5v5. He lives off the powerplay

Hoffman is not even bad on the Habs
I would rather keep Hoffman than Drouin & Toffoli if I had the choice
But I know Toffoli have way more value and I think Drouin have almost no value

Hoffman is not a good player and this isn't some revelation. He's a one-dimensional player, which is fine and he's known to be a one-dimensional player and there's nothing wrong with having a sniper. The problem is he's not scoring right now, so the one-dimensional part of his game isn't even shining.

Who scoring on the Habs ? Nobody have more than 7 goals, the PP is horse**** because of the coaching staff. Caufield have one goal FFS, and it’s not because he can’t score. They are not using Caufield and Hoffman on their off wing for one timers, and when by mistake Hoffman is on is off wing, guess what, he scores. We have some of the dumbest coaches in NHL history, and US US fans have to suffer this. Everyone who knows a LITTLE bit hockey would put Caufield in the Ovi spot, but Ducharme for dumb reason is not doing it. And we never scores on the PP. Anyway, all Habs players (outisde Lehkonen) are losing value because of him, but I am torned of getting rid of him this offseason. Yes our player don’t score, but that means their next contract will be cheaper AND we will have a shot at Connor Bedard. But man I can’t watch another YEAR ! of Ducharme doing stupid call allllll game long.

Thank you lol

Dude, you need to chill out. If you look at my original post I wasn't saying this was a bad trade or anything, and I even said his scoring issues may be because of the team his on lol

Simon Nemec imo if they are third. Or Lambert. Nemec would solidify their future top 4. Guhle and Romy on the left with Nemec and Mailloux on the right. That has the potenial of a very sick top 4. Focus on forwards with the rest of their picks along with next years

Would MTL trade toffoli for zuck +

Zuk + Poulin + 1st RD pick and we could retain if needed

Gallagher turns 30 at the end of the season and is signed for FIVE MORE YEARS at a very high (for Los Angeles) cap hit. The Kings shouldn't be taking the risk that his effective playing days may be over well before that contract expires, particularly in light of the fact that we have Victor Arvidsson and Arthur Kaliyev pretty well set for the next couple of seasons at RW. And in 2023-2024 he gets $8 million, and in 2024-2025 he gets $9 million. Can you imagine spending that kind of money on a guy who may not have a better year in those two seasons than he's having now?

I totally get it, but again I can see Marc Luc & Rob going for it. They know worse case Danault-Gallagher gets pushed down to the 3rd line (who will be expansive) but if they bridge Byfield and Kaliyev I think there’s a way to be really competitive. But I personally wouldn’t do it if I was the GM of LA. I never proposed a Gallagher trade to LA before, but knowing how Bergevin likes Gallagher and Danault-Gallagher chemistry, the idea is out there

Aren’t 2022 and 2023 supposed to be really strong center drafts? If so, why the heck are the Habs not taking a center?!? Their center core is fairly weak, as Evans and Poehling are fringe 3Cs, Dvorak has not been worth it this season, and Suzuki has struggled. I have said it before and I will say it again. The Habs either 1. Matched the offer sheet or 2. Resigned Danault. The Habs have no high quality center prospects what so ever, so they should start picking some centers. And I hope for Habs fans sakes they actually let whoever they pick develop instead of just sticking them in the lineup right away ultimately to lose them for Pennies on the dollar.

Dvorak will do the job at 2C or if Poehling keeps getting better might drop at 3C. MTL need Connor Bedard in 2023

There are enough arguments with some merit that people don't need to suggest players are incapable of performing through their early 30's as their primary one.
That's barely a consideration to GM's when seeking players who can help them win now.

IMO, Dvorak is a 3C only slightly better than Poehling. He was touted to be a more offensive Danault 2.0, reality is he is a downgrade offensively and defensively than Danault. More of a less offensive Kotkaniemi (which is saying a lot)

Dvo is decent, just slow as ****

The problem is that you can't "just pick centers". That's how you end up with Kotkaniemi instead of Tkachuk. You have to take the best player available, at least at the top of the draft.
Selecting by position is how you might end up with Jost or Brown instead of Sergachev.
You can always trade the better player for a need later.
Picking Sergachev and trading him for Drouin is a bad example of the right idea.
Picking Kotkaniemi instead of Tkachuk is a good example of the wrong idea.

Normally, that's true, and I agree with you as a general rule, but in Gallagher's case, he played in only 59 games in 2019-2020 and only 35 games last year, so that's a specific concern with him. Injury histories have to be taken into account when looking at very long terms for contracts.

I wasn't saying he was bad just less offensively gifted lol

See, now that's a legitimate concern that can be debated in terms of value. Much better than he's 30 and has a 5 year deal. The latter only has bearing when age is noticeably a factor in a player's decline.

Gallagher's only injury concern should be his left hand, really. It's not like he has a chronic illness. He's just always in the tough areas of the ice and a victim of bad luck. Him "paying the price" is a merit, not a detraction.

He's never relied on speed, agility, or his shot. That makes him less susceptible to decline. He's going to get hurt, that's an occupational hazard. That never stops him. He comes back and keeps doing the same thing he did before, no fear and a smile on his face.

There's been no noticeable impact on his game due to injuries. He's still remained on a 30 goal pace in shortened seasons. This year is an anomaly until proven otherwise.

If you are pretty sure he's going to miss a dozen or so games a season, and your team can't handle that, I'll even agree with you that you shouldn't trade for him.
Most teams are okay with that risk for a player that is otherwise effective, but not every team has the depth.

People simply need to get out of this mindset that 30+ automatically means washed up or declining. Now we aren't even letting players turn 30 before declaring them cap dumps. That's simply wrong.

Agree with everything you say here. That's why I get so annoyed (probably over-annoyed) at the theory, common in some quarters, that John Gibson is simply going to keep declining with every year.