Kadri is only a "perfect fit" if Monahan hasn't recovered and Kadri will actually consider signing there. I would rather not overpay to move Monahan for 1 good year of hockey from a guy on the wrong side of 30 and baggage

Solid team, but 7mil and the long term contract for Kadri is a bit scary. And 7mil is probably light on Kadri. But ideally adding Kadri puts a solid forward and dman corps.

You know this better as a Flames fan, but i tought Monahan is pretty much done? And even if he comes back is he realistically even a 3C anymore? And to the last point i think your window is 3-4 years anyway so the last years of that deal being bad doesn't matter. But like i said maybe you know something about Monahan that i don't and he can bounce back as a 2-3C.

Not a flames fan myself, but CGY is closer now.

All signs point to Monahan being able to come back and be a quality 3C who can fill in on 1st/2nd line. If he was paid 3-4mil it wouldnt be an issue. Ultimately CGY will have to pay to drop him or move him for an almost identical salary of a different trouble (JVR in PHI?).

If he comes back and plays well, hes probably a nice TDL piece, (with retention a 2nd rounder and a bit more), if he waives.

If he cant come back or comes back ineffective, he'd cost a fortune to dump

Monahan got surgery, generally people don't get surgery to retire. The first hip replacement last summer went really well, the issue was the 2nd one started to fail at some point fairly early in this recent season. Now he is skating again and should in theory be healthy by training camp. He will at the very least be a 3C. Basing him off his play while injured is pretty asinine, he was a 1C before his first hip went

People massively overstate the issue with Monahan.

In 2018-19 he had a career year
In 2019-20 he was "declining" because his season returned to career norms (albeit on the low end, but that entire top line struggled)
In 2020-21 he played on 1 leg and put up over half a point per game with a good linemate
In 2021-22 he played on 1 leg again (the other one) but Sutter limited his ice-time and played him with scrubs. But as late as mid-January Monahan led the Flames in PPP.

If Monahan if healthy and is placed with good linemates, I see no reason why he can't put up 50+ points. His pace last year dragging around Lucic, Dube, Lewis, Richardson and Pitlick was still about 30 points.

Fully Agree

Overpaying Kadri at his age/style of play...is a terrible idea. Think about it this way: Monahan was worth his contact in his prime, and one hip injury lead to another, and now you are trying to dump his cap hit. Imagine signing a player older than Monahan, 7M+ well into his 30s and expecting him not to rapidly decline.