Game Day Vs Sharks, Pacioretty Should Be Dealt To... (pacioretty)

pacioretty

Game Day Vs Sharks, Pacioretty Should Be Dealt To...

By Brandon Smillie

Jan 2, 2018 • 11:07 am

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Happy New Year!

All the best to you and yours for this upcoming year. I wish you nothing but happiness and prosperity for 2018. This will be a big year for me and my family as we are planning a cross country move for the last couple months that is set to begin around March.

So here’s to a great year for us, you, and all us downtrodden Canadiens fans this season. Just remember that as of now we have a great shot at Dahlen!

The Canadiens are back home to start 2018 and will face off against the San Jose Sharks at 7:30 pm EST at the Bell Centre. The Sharks come in having lost 6-0 to the Dallas Stars on New Years Eve while the Canadiens are begging for mercy having lost their last 4 games by a combined score of 12-3.

This season is gone folks, every Habs loss should feel like a win to the fan at home who sees the big picture. So let’s see if the also relatively weak Sharks can bring us closer to adding R Dahlen at the 2018 draft.

WHAT WOULD BE AN ACCEPTABLE DEAL FOR PACIORETTY?

The Canadiens can’t score.

Understatement of the season right?

So the current talk to remedy that is to trade the Canadiens captain, and 5 time 30+ goal scorer, Max Pacioretty. Makes sense right? Actually, I think it does.

Pacioretty has been a great player for Montreal, he’s a class act type guy who has been Montreal’s most dynamic offensive threat for years. But, he has only one season left on what is called one of the best contracts in the league (4.5 million cap hit until 18-19 is over) and is going to get a huge raise, likely in the 7-8 million range.

The captain will also be 30 next November and the Canadiens will have to decide if they keep Max for one more try at a Cup next year and risk losing him for nothing, or flip him at this years deadline or draft for a pretty good haul of picks and prospects. I say the time is right to trade.

Look, the team has let everyone down from themselves, to fans, to management. Pacioretty found zero chemistry with a dynamic offensive player like Drouin and has only managed to score 8 goals and 12 assists in 39 games this year. This was supposed to be a playoff team. The losses of Beaulieu and Emelin on the back end were replaced by Mete, Schlemko (eventually), and Alzner. The loss of Radulov offset by the addition of Drouin. The only real unaccounted for loss was Markov, but he hasn’t exactly been dominant in the lesser KHL so there is reason to believe he would be struggling right along with the rest of the team. Except he would have a 2 year, $5 mill per deal that ppl would use to call for Bergevin’s head. In addition to all the other reasons the fans want him fired.

Carey Price soiled the sheets to start the year on his new skates and then found himself injured before his return to the ice and to form. So this team, while they may not be as bad as we see currently, they are definitely finding life in the bottom 5 difficult after coming into the year with fairly high hopes of making the playoffs. But decisions have to be made and we’re talking about to be 30 year old goal scorer on a team that needs elite prospects and picks more than one more year of service from Max.

Max should already be close to 20 by now and most GM’s likely know this but are definitely throwing out low ball offers because that’s their job. Someone will step up to pay the hefty price for Pacioretty it just remains to be seen if that’s at the deadline or the draft.

Part of me feels Max will be dealt for the deadline for a huge return. McPhee in Vegas is not afraid of the big trade and their team is all kinds of hot right now. Maybe they would be a huge target for Montreal?

Would Pacioretty and Benn for Vegas’s 2018 1st, Tuch, Suzuki/Glass, and Brannstrom make sense? I think if Montreal had that offer on the table it would be hard to refuse. That is the kind of deal I would look to make at the deadline. Bring in top notch prospects and young players along with a 1st round pick. Tuch is currently breaking into the league, Suzuki/Glass are having good junior years, and Brannstrom is a blue chip blue line prospect. That would be acceptable to me. What do you think?

Go Habs Go!

COLLECT THE BEST! COLLECT UPPER DECK!

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Don't forget to check out Upper Deck products at your local hobby shops and online! This seasons Black Diamond is now available with the possibility of finding actual diamonds embedded in the cards! It’s a high end product for serious collectors so if you’re a big collector, or a new one, make sure you stop by your local shop and see if you can get yourself a box (or case).

Follow Upper Deck and Upper Deck Hockey on Twitter for breaking info and cool giveaways like this. They asked on Monday to submit your favorite memorabilia embedded card for a chance to win a Upper Deck #Mailday where you could receive a box from Upper Deck loaded with packs, swag, box, auto, who knows! Be sure to check them out!

Here’s a first look at the upcoming 17 18 UD Ice product!

Follow me on Twitter @BrandonSmillie where I mostly stick to hockey stuff.

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