And then they both sign deals that bring them to UFA and they walk to MTL for free...

Of course. All French Canadian UFAs in the league want to play for the Habs (in their early to mid 30s)!

Not much chance the Jets consider that. A mediocre winger isn't much of a replacement for a 1C.

Cap is a thing

Would have to imagine that it's impossible for NYR to fit a contract like that in. Miller and Chytil are probably higher priority and those two alone are going to take a bit of juggling to ink new deals.

If PLD wants the most money and the most freedom, he is only signing a 1 year deal. Your trade idea falls flat when you realize NYR would have to shed a ton of salary on their roster to make this work. So when taking salary into consideration, you not only have to find a team that has the assets WPG would want but also that have the cap to make it work long term, not to mention the need for top 6 C. The list of teams drops significantly. There are teams obviously but it definitely drops.

Habs have all the necessary pieces to make a PLD trade work. That's not the issue. The question is do they really want to spend what it costs to not risk another team signing him long term if they don't. IMHO it comes down to the draft lottery. If the Habs draft a centerman in this draft, why would they pay full price for PLD? Smith/Carlsson/Fantilli/Bedard are arguably better for the teams long term plan anyway. The only thing that keeps bringing this rumor to the forefront is the province PLD is from.

If PLD was born in Manitoba, Habs would probably not even be interested. (in the sense that the Habs are rebuilding and don't need to be paying full price to get a legitimate top 6 center right now - they're still years away)

And what cap space do the Rangers use to pay that contract for PLD? 1C is filled by Mika and 2C is filled by Trocheck, so the Rangers keep Laffy and their 1st round pick and you can keep PLD.

I get it. The team will have 16M free. Plus maybe there is a world (and don't shoot me NYRs fans) where they trade Trouba?

PLD can play Center or Wing, and he plays a playoff-stlye game and is putting up increasingly good numbers year over year. A big physical 30+ goals 70+ point center would fit in nicely with the NYR core, I have no doubt.

It’s not a knock on PLD at all. The issue I see from an outside prospective with Trouba is the NMC and how he pretty much went through the saga of playing nowhere but New York. It would be extremely difficult to get him to agree to a trade and also find someone that can and is willing to take on the cap hit.

With how they’re currently constructed though and how well Miller has played I’d be hard pressed to imagine them doing anything until he and Chytil are signed and that takes them out of the running for really any addition outside of the 4th line or a vet on a min contract.