Seeing and hearing more and more how much Plekanec wants to stay. I can certainly see it from his perspective, he's comfortably entrenched. But, from the perspective of where the roster is at and where the team is lacking, I'd much rather get as high a draft pick for him as possible. He doesn't bring anything this team needs right now and he's 35. Time to move on.
I disagree. He brings veteran savvy. I think it is somewhat honourable that Plekanec values his career with Montreal. I think that Radulov and Markov valued $$$ more.
He's a pro. Shows up. He would still be effective in a reduced role. Reduced payroll. There is no one in the pipeline to replace him next year. $3 million for the turtle neck, $2 million for Danault and you have your bottom six centres.
Still need a top 6 centre. Drouin can not do it alone. I still keep developing him in the spot. I was really impressed with the pace at which he, Galchenyuk and Sherbak moved the puck against one of the best (defensive) teams in the league.
Add a centre to play between Lehkonen and Gallagher and you have a 2nd line.
If we got Gaborik with Vilardi, I 'd like to see a line of Byron-Plekanec-Gaborik. That would have an interesting look. Plekanec and Gaborik bridge the gap between Poehling-Vilardi.
Danault down on the 4th line with Hudon/Deslauriers and Andrew Shaw, and that's a 4 line team.
I like this Vilardi kid. He has a big league shot. Canadiens have no strong shooting forwards from the right side. He has size, that's the knock on this team. Big hearts, no toughness. Brett Hull wasn't a good skater, he had a decent career.
I don't see St. Louis trading. Central is a d&d division, except maybe Dallas. Nashville is drafting well enough to trade some assets. L.A. can use Pacioretty in the next 2 playoffs to give their veteran core a shot. Taking Gaborik off their books gives the Kings the chance to go after McDonaugh or Jack Johnson. I think we have a deal, just a question of pieces.