Michael Matheson is a solid defenseman, but he's not worth two 1st round picks.

With his contract, age and production? He absolutely is. Especially considering the fact that we are talking about two probable late first.

Chychrun didn't return two firsts when he was traded from the Coyotes last year. His production was better, his contract was cheaper, and he had the same term remaining.

Matheson is worth less than Chychrun.

ARZ wasnt in a position of strenght as it was clear that they were trying to deal him. Also, that first was top 10 at the time and only top 2 or 3 protect which adds tremendeous value. And there was a second + attached to it. Matheson is absolutely worth the above

Oh and Mathesons production is better than Chychruns at the time.

No it wasn't. How may 15 goal seasons does Matheson have? How many 40p seasons does Matheson have? Chychrun missed time with an injury at the beginning of last season, but came back and put up 7g and 28 points in only 36 games. Not to mention that he was a plus player on the terrible Coyotes.

So historically Chychrun's production has been better. The seasons of their trade, let's call it a draw for argument's sake, even though I can make the case that Chychrun performed better on a worse team.

The other two things you cited in your justification for his price tag were contract and age, and Chychrun is superior in both, as his cap hit is lower and he was only 24 years old.

I realize that every player that plays for the Habs automatically adds an extra 1st round pick in value, but feel free to keep him if that's what you think his cost is. The Kings won't pay it.

Chycrun got a 1st and 2 2nd's, one of the 2nd's was conditional and had the potential to be another 1st round pick as well, so 2 firsts for Matheson isn't really far off what MTL would likely seek value wise.

I think including Arvidsson and LA's cap situation complicates this deal for me, but yeah if the habs are trading Matheson they better get a 1st +.

I 100% agree with you here.

We need Arvidsson back in our lineup more than we need Matheson. Why should we spend 4.8M + give up a 25+ Goal scorer and 2 first round picks for Matheson in which he'd be on the 3rd line pairing? Matheson is putting out these numbers because he is the go to defenseman in Montreal. It would make sense if we were weak on LHD, but that is not our weakness.

If LA continues to play poorly over the next few weeks it might be good for Montreal to accept a first and a second round pick from LA for Matheson because there is the chance that LA will fall out of the playoffs and that first round pick this year would be in the mid teens. Some Habs fans would probably want more for Matheson, but this might be as good as it gets.

Montreal could then use the 16th pick plus the Winnipeg pick to possibly move into the top 10 of the draft (or at least #11 or #12)., which would be a good haul and give them 2 of the following:

Celebrini
Demidov
Levshunov
Lindstrom
Dickinson
Silayev
Eiserman
Parekh
Catton
Helenius
Iginla
Buium
Yakemchuk

That would be very good for the rebuild.