ChiLla

Yeah, but do you really want to have Duchene out there as your go-to guy for tough match-ups? I'm not convinced that's the best way to spend ~10M against the Cap. I'd rather keep the known commodity in Danault, trade Drouin, and maybe still take a swing at Duchene if we can afford it.

Especially that

This feels really good, congrats to St.Louis! It's really a great story with them being dead-last in the standings, almost trading half the team, their rookie goalie Binnington, 1st time Cup winner etc.

Yup, I'm sure Danault has real solid trade value. What's not to like? He turned 26 not too long ago, he's on a very reasonable contract, and he's easily the strongest two-way center we have on the team. He also doesn't need to be sheltered in any way and you can comfortably use him against other top lines, while he'll still give you 40-50 points with the right linemates. You don't want to have him as your No1 guy but he's definitely a useful and very capable 2nd line center IMO. Players like that don't grow on trees and even though we may have a guy in Poehling who could play a similar role down the road, he'll need time to get there. As you've said, I don't think it makes sense to create another hole in the lineup to patch the hole at LD, especially since we could use other assets to acquire the guy we're looking for (e.g. any combination of Drouin, Shaw, Byron, and/or draft picks including our 1st rounder). Without Danault on the team, are we going to use Kotkaniemi/Poehling against the other teams' best players? I don't think that's going to work out and certainly wouldn't be ideal if we really want to develop those guys the right way.

It's intriguing but I probably wouldn't do it. I think that Danault is criminally underrated and none of the other centers on the team can replace what he brings on the defensive side right now (not Domi's or Duchene's game, still too early for both Kotkaniemi and Poehling IMO). Knowing Julien, we'd probably see Thompson on one of the top lines in no time I think Drouin is the guy we should be trying to move for a quality LD, it's the first time I can remember that we seem to have some real depth at center and I'm quite happy with that.

Evans maybe? I‘d rather keep Shaw than Byron though but I‘m guessing Shaw‘s trade value may be a little higher...

Good question, I'm not sure they can take on Weber's salary because they need to sign Marner, so you're basically looking at an extra ~20M against the Cap. They want to get rid of Marleau and Zaitsev and still need to re-sign Kapanen and Johnsson, so my guess is getting Weber is out of the question for them at this point. It would have to be a pretty massive deal with plenty of pieces coming the other way (or several moves to free up Cap space first). Yeah, it's a little scary. If Skinner gets 9M as an UFA, what are Panarin, Duchene, Karlsson, and even Marner (though RFA) going to command? Is Skinner worth 2 million more than Nylander, who also just signed his long-term deal? I don't see it.

Changed my mind, a game 7 won't be necessary after all

Yep, I thought he was going to be cheaper, too. 9M on a shorter deal to essentially buy the rest of his prime years could make sense for the right team but 8 years? Wow, that's just a lot of money and term for a somewhat one-dimensional scoring winger. As long as he's scoring 35+ goals per season, the investment is fine, but is he going to do that in year 5 of that contract? I don't think so. Since he came into the league in 2010, his totals are virtually identical to Pacioretty's, who you could argue is more versatile while Skinner is the more dynamic goalscorer. I'm not trying to compare Skinner/Pacioretty, my point is that I wouldn't want to pay 9M per season for ~65 points and not much else.

https://www.tsn.ca/buffalo-sabres-gm-jason-botterill-remains-confident-in-jeff-skinner-re-signing-with-team-1.1317011 Looks like Skinner is inclined to stay in Buffalo. McKenzie says they're ready to go 8 years around 9M per season, which is a little too rich for my taste. No thanks.

Danault Petry Mete Gallagher

You can also add Petry, Danault, Lehkonen, and Kulak to that list, for a total of 7 players having career years. Sustainable? We'll see I guess.

Not going to quote Ted's and jedi's posts to avoid a wall of text but I wholeheartedly agree. I'd be all for signing Karlsson if that meant we'd trade Weber to finally fill that hole on the left side because a. he'll fetch a better return on the trade market than Petry simply due to name/reputation/pedigree and b. he's the older, less mobile player in a league that puts a heavy emphasis on speed and mobility. Again, I do like Weber a lot, probably way more than many others around here, but from a pure business perspective that's the move we should go for if we truly want to take a shot at signing Karlsson. That's all fine and dandy on paper but again, I don't think it'll happen, like ever. Weber is Bergevin's thoroughbred, his legacy. He traded Subban for Weber straight up because he was convinced that we'd be a better team now and in the future, not sure that's an exact quote but feel free to look up his post-trade interviews. Trading Weber now – 3 years plus ~160 regular season and 6 playoff games later with absolutely nothing to show for it except a first round exit, two major injuries, and missing the playoffs twice – would basically mean he came up way short in the biggest trade he orchestrated as GM of the Montreal Canadiens. Bergevin seems to be a very proud individual, I just don't see it happening.

Because I don't think Bergevin will trade Weber, even though it's what we probably should do.

Exactly, that's like close to half the Cap for three RHDs and a goalie while still having a hole on the left side. I just don't think it makes sense for us, unless you trade Petry for a LHD and then sign Karlsson to replace him.