Swap Broberg for Holloway and the Hawks might consider it. Hawks would have zero interest in acquiring Broberg as part of this trade.

Broberg is the wrong piece for the Hawks who have had decent returns with LHD prospects Korchinski & Vlassic. If you squint while watching them, you can sort of see a top pairing and middle pairing guy for the next decade with some further development. The Hawks have also had Kaiser and Phillips taking NHL shifts with mixed results as LHD prospects and have Allen and Del Mastro in the AHL as additional LHD options. The absolute last thing the Hawks are looking for is more options at LHD until they sort through some of their own promising choices. Flip Broberg to Halloway and you probably start an actual discussion.


Edit...or what Hawkguy81 said quicker and more succinctly

Montreal fans have said it would take about a 2nd round pick for them to consider trading Kovacevic. I doubt you can get him for a 4th rounder. He is under league minimum for this year and for next year.

Kovacevic is a fanastic 3rd pairing dman. Reminds me of Rivet without the mean streak. I can see the Habs moving more valuable assets first in order to keep him in rotation. He really seems like a core piece. A Savard replacement for the next stage of the process.

He's probably worth a 3rd, but at $766K and with teams so tight under the cap Kovacevic is probably the best bang for the buck for a RD and that's why we believe he could fetch a 2nd.

Kovacevic is better than Kulak ever was while making 700k for 2 years. Kulak got a second and a seventh. I expect at least that for Kovacevic

Exactly.

If you're an NHL GM, and seeing a very reliable, 6'5" solid RHD on the chpeaest contract for this year AND the next, while having a +2 rating on a brutal team... there is no way you trade him.

Players in the cap era are not just... players. They are players-contract.

Fans know that quickly when a contract is horrible, for instance, Josh Anderson.
Josh Anderson at league minimum would be welcomed in every single NHL team, playing on the 4th line as a bruising, fast horse.
But with his contract, he would not be picked up on waivers.

Who wants Morgan Reilly? Every NHL team!!!
Reilly @ 12 million AAV for another 7 years? Mmmhhh... probably zero NHL teams.
Reilly @ 950k AAV for another 7 years? All teams.

So in Kovacevic's case, he is the opposite of a cap dump.
He is giving the Habs a value incredible higher than what his contract shows. And for another year. He's as close to free as can be.
(He should fire his agent though lol)

Cheers mate, hope all is well for you!