The Habs could conceivably get young/recently drafted players and/or a combination of picks, for both players.
Sorry but that's worth more from an assets perspective than one lone 7th overall pick.
Even if it were to only be picks in the 20th to 32nd range.
I'd rather have
1st, 20th, 26th and 32nd (not to mention our 33rd pick that already belongs to us which is essentially another 1st)
Than
1st, 7th and no 33rd
But that's just me.
I partially concur with your assessment; in this particular draft, adding 2 mid/late 1st rounders (#20-32 range) would most likely be best than trading up from #26 to #7, in the grand scheme of things.
If Nemec/Jiricek are still on the board at #7 however, it changes things a little. Acquiring a
potential 1st pairing RHD would fill a crucial organizational need in the rebuild; it could
hopefully complete a quite promising top-4 of Romanov-RHD1 ; Guhle-Barron in 5 years or so. And there’s no other top-10 projected RHD prospect this draft - nor in next year’s draft - so even more opportune to pull the trigger if circumstances are right, as defensemen take more time to develop.
This being said, if the price to pay for #7 is Anderson + Petry + #26, no way in hell is it worth it for the Habs (nor probably Ottawa, cap-wise, unless there’s a UFA-to-be cap dump in the initial proposal I guess?).
If Ottawa wants to pry away Anderson from a divisional rival and put #7 on the table for him, I don’t think there should be any other
significant asset (maybe a 1-2 early mid-round picks, since Montreal has 8 in-between the 2nd and 4th rounds) coming along either way from a Habs perspective since there’s essentially no need to trade Anderson at this stage, unless if it’s for what some (most?) would consider an « overpayment », and all, « an offer that cannot be refused ».
