Quoting: F50marco
IMHO An absolute disaster of a trade from the Habs perspective. I was sort of on board at quick glance because I thought it was the 2024 1st which has a chance of being quite high.... but for the 2025 1st, why one earth would we do that? Are we to expect NJ to be a worse team next year with the addition of solid goaltending?. It literally the one thing holding them back from being a legit playoff team..... Really really narrow minded gamble from the Habs perspective here. The goal you're trying to achieve can be done without even doing this, so why are we exactly?
Want Askarov? Fine, go get him. Habs already have all the assets to get him if they really do and having a tandem of Monty/Askarov would be amazing with Fowler coming in once Monty's contract is done. or sooner if needed. Habs mgmt is already poised to make significant improvements to the team next year in order to try and be more competitive. So, you are right, this trade won't happen in reality and frankly Im glad it won't.
This is not even to mention that it would be in bad taste to move the recently signed local boy right after locking him up long term, for....... picks and prospects.
There was an original post where I shared my "why".
1) If we trade him and ride Allen/Primeau until the end of the season, we will lose a lot more games. That's actually not a bad thing, as we will get a higher draft pick
2) We could probably get a mid-late 1st and a B prospect for Monty, or maybe just an A prospect
3) Allen and Primeau as a tandem next year is not gonna help us win a lot of games, but we can always dip into the goalie market this offseason if we feel we are playoff-bound after the draft
4) If we are not gonna make the playoffs next year, this would probably be "selling high" on Monty, as we can expect Fowler to hit the NHL in 2025-26