Doesnt make much sense from the habs end. Zaitsev is a 6-7 dman he could potentially still be a healthy scratch on the dcore as wideman would be running the PP

Hoffman has a much better buyout as well so it would make more sense to just buy him out or waive him and replace him with Stralman than trading him for Zaitsev.

Lets also not forget, even thou a lot of the players and staff involved are gone Hoffman has bad blood with the Sens, he was basically traded out under value because the players hated him and his wife.

True. Just looking for a dman to eat minutes and not throw rookies to the wolves. Yet someone that won't hold the young guys back either.

I think that's the biggest obstacle here. But I thought it could be water under the bridge by now

Ya especially with that context its a move that would never happen. I think in general though its not a move the habs would be interested in. Realistically the end goal with both of them is to get them off the roster by the 23-24 season. I think Hoffman has a better chance of doing that. He had a solid if unspectacular 2nd half after marty came in and as he got some separation from his training camp injury he generally looked better.

Not that I think either would warrant a return just it may be easier to move Hoffman in the future.

It would make more sense to just waive Hoffman or Byron etc and sign Stralman for a year.

You'll tank his value but his value sucks as is. It would work cap wise and on ice effectiveness if Stralman comes in cheap