How do we know exactly who's looking to buy?
As of right now there's 7 or 8 western teams in the race for a wildcard spot. 4 in the East excluding us. That's 23 teams total in a position to make the playoffs. While not all of them might be looking to buy, that's still a pretty big pool to fish in.
Well you said it yourself, not everyone is looking to buy. We're even in a playoff spot, are we open to trading our top prospects? I hope not!
Agreed. As for Tatar, I'll use another point you expressed in your initial post. If selling Petry, as productive as he's been, represents a massive shakeup, then clearly this team is not anywhere near a position to win(not just a series but a Cup) anytime soon. Tatar while not old is still 28, what are the odds he'll be as effective in 3, 4 years? We're already seeing signs of slowing down with Pacioretty. Could Tatar be one of those who buck the trend? Possible, who knows. I think it'd be foolish not to consider him an option simply because he's having success now, when we're still so far.
The loss of Petry represents a big shake up given how already weak our D core is.
I think our difference of opinion stems from our difference in outlook as well. I think the sell till you get enough picks that "somebody, anybody, please" ends up elite is not really in our best interest. I think whatever we gain in that we'd lose in Weber and Price's age and ultimately find ourselves in same position 5-6 years from now. I consider habs a bubble team with an above average prospect pool. We don't always include him because he's in the NHL already but Kotkaniemi is also part of that new wave. At 28 Tatar is even considered a vet on our young forward core because lots of the players are young. A few good moves, signings and this team can be a well-balanced playoff team. I don't propose we'd be as good as Tampa but I don't see it in the cards right now. Stamkos, Kucherov, Hedman, Vasilevskiy, etc....it's ridiculously well stacked. Trying to compete with this head on and pray is a little bit of a failure IMO.
I'm all for adding top talent but i'm also encouraged by the fact habs have had several high picks in last few years(I mean top 3 rounds) so we did increase our chances of acquiring better talent through the draft. At this point I believe if habs are out of a spot and struggling only Shaw, Byron, Benn are the expendable ones with value. It wouldn't case a huge shake up and guys like Suzuki, Poehling or other UFAs may be able to bridge the gap. I'd miss Byron's speed though.
I'd also be open to pulling another Mason trade where we use our capspace to help a team for a price. Callahan in TB may be one of those guys come the off-season.
I just don't see the logic in moves that put us too many steps back. 1 step back, 2 steps forward. Not 2-3 or 4 steps back.