If Montreal is taking a dump, a current dump player needs to be moved.

Not a bad trade, but I'd be surprised if Hugues takes in a two year contract for a 2nd and a 3rd. He's shown taking in that type of contract for a 1st, so don't know if VAN would consider that.

Also, with the cap for two years, I also think HABS will refrain as they will want to either get a 10M$+ players by trading or UFA this summer or next year.

Not saying it ain't a fair trade you put out there.. just wondering if they would consider it given those points.

My big question with Montrael this season is what they go for. They've been firmly in the basement since the cup run. To me, this is still an asset managing year, hoping to find more regular season success before the actual push next year.

And I'm not going against that either. Lot of people say "Series is the goal next year!" .. I'd rather it continue to be an asset management and rebuild than a series run. We still have too many years of Gally and Anderson, they need a good 5th overall at draft which may result in that player going back to school or AHL depending on who they draft, and still another development year for players already here and in the AHL.

Where I'm on the fence is that VAN is offering a 2nd and a 3rd in your AGM while Hugues as shown he'll take a bad contract, but for a 1st overall. So, would VAN accept giving their 1st 2025 overall with the conditional protection of a top 10 which would flip to the 2026 1st without protection?

I'm guessing that would be Hughes' price for taking on that contract.

My guess is it could be if that price isn't right, then it becomes something like Mikeyev and a 25 1st for a 25 3rd/equivalent value.