Feel like Guhle could be had cheaper than that

I'm not sure but he's one of the most used d-men at his age so this sounds like Parayko's money + year upgrade. He plays both sides of the ice and is still actively one of the best youngsters with SlafGOATsky.

High usage may get him paid but his results aren’t particularly great and I question his upside

It’s tough bc Montreal isn’t currently a contender who saving short term money benefits but I think I’d be a guy who I bridge and see how his results translate when in an improved situation.

Also in terms of Parayko his analytics were RIDICULOUSLY good his first couple of years.

I know the Jfresh cards aren’t perfect but he was 98th%ile offense 89th%ile defense as a rookie.

Overall his war ranks hovered from the 98th%ile to the 100th until like 2020.

Guhle for context (again I acknowledge the situation isn’t great and he plays TOUGH minutes) is putting up results in the 10th%ile range.

I’d like to see Guhle if possible in an easier role to really see what he can do

Many Habs fans have a high value on Ghule, and yes he has played many top-pairing minutes or gotten injured so this is not helping to see where he sits.

The two toughest things to judge.

A dman getting caved against tough competition in an awful situation

A dman dominating sheltered minutes with a fantastic situation.

the 20 + minutes of ice time should hint at top pair probability for his future. he's an all-around d-men who's still growing and we didn't see his ceiling yet.

BTW @dgibb10 who would you be open to trade Holtz for?

Guhle, while I’m not as high on him as MTL fans are, I do think could be a solid puck moving dman+PK guy down on the 2nd/3rd pairing in jersey (the pairings aren’t particularly meaningful all of him luke nemec Marino Hamilton siegs would be getting about 20 minutes each)

I’d do holtz+2nd

Slaf is obviously not on the table for anything but id go Holtz+1st+1st at this point for Slaf+3rd

Montembault I like, I’d rather give up picks for him but either something in the range of 1st+Vitek for or Holtz for Monty+1st.

Those are the big 3 guys who I think would fit perfectly into jersey.

Other pieces of interest from MTL are Evans who is like as a PK defensive 4C between Nosek and lazar (or Trenin who’s my dream target)

Kovacevic as defensive depth.

Evans maybe we take a flier on but our GM likes long mobile dmen.

If there’s a center prospect we’re always looking for that (like every team in the NHL)

My valuation of holtz is approximately 2 1sts, and I am always willing to swap in a pair of 1sts for him in any trade, or slightly less (like 1st+2nd+2nd)

Is Evans + Winterpeg 1st + Habs 2nd + Kapanen be a possibility or is it too low?

The value seems reasonable enough but I just can’t see holtz being moved for a collection of smaller assets.

Feels like he would be kept or saved for a hammer.

Would a Beck + 1st + 2nd at the draft be a better option?

Depends on what we could ship them out for and obviously the rest of the devils and holtz’ season

For example if we could package our 1st+that package and get a swayman, boom I’m sold.

thx!

Would you do Reinbacher vs Nemec?

This may be crazy, but I would not be opposed to Montreal using their picks to get rid of Anderson's and Gallagher's contract so that they could use that money to try to overpay Draisaitl in free agency (if he makes it to free agency) when it comes up (and, yes, I am well aware that it would probably have to be a significant overpay to lure him to Montreal...like somewhere between $1M to $3M annually more than anyone else would offer)

Caufield Suzuki Slafkovsky
Dach Draisaitl 2024 First Round Pick
Newhook Beck Roy/Mesar