Devils have the better Alex Laferriere

kuokkanen does interest me from a fan perspective, but not too sure about tatar considering he's probably gone from his second round in MTL after his contract's up

it would probably have to be a different player over Tatar (unless Ducharme gets canned) based on how his tenure with us ended

Why would MTL want Tatar back...

A player I'd look at is Johnsson and Boqvist or a Pick, but I'm not sure what he's worth to NJ. I know he's having a good year but it seems like it could end at any point since he only had 11 last year

Maybe not the feedback you were looking for but I don't see the upside in acquiring Gallagher.
Nor do I see any benefit in moving Tatar (who is a better player imo) and Kuokkanen (who has some runway left to develop, not to mention a good contract) for Gallagher who's qualities are declining rather rapidly and a suboptimal contract to boot.
Honestly I see little point in trading for any non-high end / elite winger for the foreseeable future as we are gonna have too many middle six wingers anyway in the near future.
If you are looking to bind up future cap space just do that in free agency, or better yet, remain flexible towards the cap as all of our prospects ELCs' are gonna run out sooner or later.

I guess I should ask though, what do you see in Gallagher anyway?

The Canadiens have no reason to move Gallagher and even fewer reasons to retain on him over 5 seasons. Is the contract ideal? Certainly not, but he's not the big waste some pretend him to be. He scored 31 in 2017-18, 33 in 2018-19, was on pace for 30 in 2019-20 and 32 in 2020-21. This season is an outlier until proven otherwise, as the team is decimated by injuries/covid/coaching and he lost his two linemates of the last three years in the same offseason.

You have the right idea for what you are trying to accomplish.

Player A has a $4M contract for 4 years.
Player B has a $2M contract for 2 years.

Both teams retain 50%.
Both teams have a $3M equivalent cap hit for 2 years and $2M for 2 years.

If however, team A retains 25% and team B retains none.
Team A has a $3M cap hit for 2 years and a $1M cap hit for 2 years.
Team B has a $3M cap hit throughout.

So the double retention does what you want and is more beneficial to Team B, provided they are retaining on a contract with shorter term.

I believe we don't see it happen normally, because team A doesn't want or need retention on a contract they are receiving.
Teams also don't want to lock up their own retention spots and are susceptible to the other team's whims if they do.
You can send a contract back with retention expecting to be free and clear in 2 years, only to have the other team use a buyout which will put you on the hook for 4 years. Suddenly your expected retention, which you presumably gave up assets for, is reduced.

GMs prefer to do straight retention. They want as much benefit as they can get immediately. When you are asking for retention, it's usually because you need it or want to maximize your cap space now. Retaining in that position is counter-intuitive.

I totally forgot Tatar's history with Habs. I was really just looking at a contract to retain. Just brain-farted his last season and the playoffs.

Consider him a place-holder for now...

This

The problem is I don't see NJ with any players that fit the bill so it would be really hard to make a Gally to NJ deal work IMO.

If MTL is going to move Gallagher, its going to be for a pretty big bad contract coming back and then some picks and prospects to make it worth their while. The Gally contract is simply too long to retain on so taking back a negative asset would provide that other team the cap relief in that form.

I think Gallagher would check a lot of boxes for us.

(1) he is a finisher. Maybe not going to win Rocket Richard trophies, but when he is healthy and playing his game, he should put up 2015-20 Kyle Palmieri-esque numbers.
(2) he is a right shot winger, who can play with pace.
(3) he does well in a possession style game, is a positive CF% player his whole career.
(4) he is close with Ty Smith and I think he could tie into the clubhouse quickly.
(5) he plays with heart, is a leader-by-example type player (would be in some ways, like another Miles Wood in that respect).

...and he has always been one of my favorite non-Devils.

This right on. An example could be when Habs traded Pacioretty for Tatar a few years ago.

Patches had 1-year, $4.5 million remaining
Tuna had 3-years, $5.3 million remaining

Habs retained $450,000, Knights retained $500,000. It was a wash for first year, but saved Habs on years 2 & 3 of Tatar contract.

Not sure I follow. If Habs need cap space to speed along their rebuild/retool, this would provide that.

They could take the slow road, trade a Tofolli or Chiarot, gain some picks, wait until they develop and Petry, Hoffman, etc deals expire.
But that would be 4+ year rebuild.

No I think you misunderstood me. Im saying NJ should need to send back more bad cap back for this to work for them. From a Habs perspective, they don't need cap space. They're probably rebuilding and players will be traded naturally to give them tons of flexibility for future years. They need picks and prospects.

So its in Habs best interest to A) avoid retention for 6 years which is just way too long to retain on, B) take back bad contracts equivalent to what the retention would have been and C) take back enough cap so that the other team offers better picks and prospects as the sweetener.

Thats why I don't think NJ makes sense for the Habs to trade to and why NJ probably wouldn't want to offer more of what the Habs need to make it worth their while.

Oh, gotcha, that makes total sense and is pretty aligned with my thinking.

I just wanted to see of there was a there, there