I'm not touching that price deal even at 50% retained. First of all price likely wont even play this year and second of all what is he going to play like with such nagging issues?

Toffoli is not going anywhere unless we get a first and a great prospect for him. So try Bourgault and a first for him (with any salary necessary). As for Carey, at 5,5 millions, you must include Holloway. So, if you want both of them, it would likely cost you Holloway, Bourgault and 2Xfirst (plus cap *Keith, Koskinen, Kassian, etc.)

Habs are not retaining 5M in a flat cap era for Price... We will keep him instead.

Price hasn't played, he wouldn't help Edmonton this season.

And there's zero chance Montreal would do the 2nd one.

I agree with keeping Price, but if we did move him it would take "some" retention. If we are already locking up a retention spot for that long, might as well get full value and retain max.
A Price trade is a precursor to a rebuild any way, where we would be operating well below the cap for a number of years. We'd save $5M on goaltending alone running with Primeau and Allen (or another vet) for the first few years, and even if Primeau hits $6M, we're only losing about $2M a year beyond that.

hard pass on price. his value is maybe 3 million. he is good in the playoffs but mediocre the rest of the time and struggles to stay healthy.

Everyone keeps saying Price isn't healthy, etc. Yes he is on LTIR and restarting rehab for his knee injury, but he also went to rehab for substance abuse. For all any of us know, the reason he played borderline average in the regular season was because he was in pain and the reason he played well in the playoffs was because he was taking some form of drug to overcome the pain.

Id bet money that if/when Price comes back he will play well.

Ya'll overvalue him so much, hes good but not worth a first and a top prospect

Then we keep him.

Absolutely not! Any team would be absolutely stupid to trade for Price right now, no matter how much salary Montreal retains! As for Toffoli, i think he would be a great fit in the Oilers top 6. Toffoli for a first round pick + X. Bourgault gets it done IMO.

Then the Habs will keep him. He's worth more than 2 2nds, a throw-in prospect and a player that has less than zero value to Montreal.

A goaltender with bad knees and hips is a ticking time bomb. Price has to play and play well for anybody to even consider at 50% retention.