Just out of curiousity, what would you think the Kings would have to sacrifice to get Doan????

That being said, I’m kinda disapointed that this move happened today, cause that’s the kinda move I would have seen on March 9th, a few hours only from deadline. Gainey made it crystal clean that he believes in his defence, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this was the last Montreal’s trade for this year. To bad, O’Neill would have been a perfect fit.

Now Dowd brings leadership and will be a natural fit to Bégin, who will probably be muted to the right or left wing. Tyler Wright, Brian Holzinger or Jeff Halpern would have been good addition too, but considering the 4th pick we had to give for Dowd, I say this trade is good.

On another note…

It’s clear the Rutherford was pointing at Ryder when he said that he didn’t have to trade O’Neill, but if he was to move him, it would be against a first year player who can play a significant role for the Hurricanes right now…

I doubt Gainey would be stupid enough to trade Ryder, a legitimate calder contender for O’Neill, one-on-one. Any trade with Carolina involving Ryder would have to include Cole…now I’m just curious to see if you guys would do such a trade…

Carolina Hurricanes: Jeff O’Neill, Erik Cole and Bret Hedican

Montreal Canadiens: Michael Ryder, Marcel Hossa and a 2nd Round Pick in 2004

This is in no way something I’ve heard on a local radio or anything, and I highly doubt an offer like that has been made already, but I was just curious what you guys think of it…sounds like a good deal for both team in my opinion, but I might just be off the track…

Cole and O’Neill would be great addition to the Habs line-up, adding some weight on the top two lines, and Hedican would fill a important role on left side of the defence. In exchange, Carolina would get tehir hands on Ryder, a young player who can help them right away, Hossa who, even if he’ll never be as good as his brother, can still play a 2nd line role for them pretty soon (maybe with Vrbata and Brendl) and a 2nd Round Pick which, if Carolina doesn’t screw up, could result in another good quality player for them.

And while we’re at it, why not trying to get our hands on some Washington players, since they are so gently giving them away…

Washington Capitals: Brendan Witt, Jeff Halpern, Mike Grier and Brian Sutherby

Montreal Canadiens: Andrei Markov, Chad Kilger, Christopher Higgins and a 1st Round Pick in 2004.

Again, this is purely speculations, or some kind of fantasy trade. Witt would bring leadership and some grit to the blue line, Halpern would be a good replacement (upgrade) to Juneau’s retirement, while Grier would add some weight to the 3rd line. It’s no secret that the Montreal Canadiens are lacking of strong foward, and have hard times competing against team like Toronto, Philadelphia or Boston. Sutherby, for some reason, don’t seem to fit in Washington’s plan anymore (he’s not even listed in the top prospect by HockeysFuture.com) and would fill the spot left by Christopher Higgins.

On the other hand, Washington would get their hands on Andrei Markov, who can be a valuable replacement to Sergei Gonchar, Chad Kilger who comes at a relatively cheaper price than Grier, but isn’t as constant as him also, Christopher Higgins, a young prospect who might just be in the line-up next year, and would be a natural fit in Washington, and a first round pick, which Washington seems to be collecting, maybe to get the first choice overall in this year’s draft or in 2005…

Why trade Markov for Brendan Witt ? I’ll tell you why. We still don’t know if there’ll be an NHL Season next year. And if there’s lock-out, chances are a lot of players will play in Europe, especially Russian players. Markov is one, or maybe the best point man in Montreal. But he also said before he’d like to go back playing in his country. I have a feeling that if there’s a lock-out next year, Markov is gonna stay in Russia after. If he doesn’t, well at least we got Witt for him.

So I’m curious…what do you think about that ? Am I over-estimating or do these trade seems fair to both clubs (please keep in mind that the possible lock-out and other team finances changes a lot of things this year…)

Montreal New Lines Would Be

Zednik – Koivu – Kovalev

Cole – Ribeiro – O’Neill

Bulis – Halpern – Grier

Begin – Dowd – Ward

Souray – Rivet

Witt – Brisebois

Hedican – Komisarek

Theodore – Garon

Scratches: Niklas Sundstrom – Pierre Dagenais – Francis Bouillon

Contracts Buyout or Expired: Stéphane Quintal – Darren Langdon – Andreas Dackell – Karl Dykhuis – Joé Juneau – Yanic Perreault

Top Prospects: Andrei Kastsitsyn, Alexander Perezhoggin, Tomas Plekanec, Brian Sutherby, Cory Urqhart, Ron Hainsey and a few more B-Rated like Brenoit Gratton, Duncan Milroy, Cory Locke, Francois Beauchemin and Andrew Archer

Anyways, tell me what you think…and don’t bash, just explain why you agree or disagree, that will be just fine !!!

I hope in O’Neill or Doan. Afinogenov would be great too

but you forget begin is a center and so is dowd so begin gets the third line and dowd gets the 4th if anything…

It’s hard keeping juneau around knowing he’s retiring at the end of the season

but i duno what the big deal about him is he’s at best a 30 point getter, 35 and not even a bruiser…

you want to go far in the playoffs? give koivu another scorer on his side besides kovalev (zednik wont do it Smyth will)

play Zednik with Sundstrom and Dowd

and begin with Ward and hopefully Barnaby

Ofcourse ribeiro ryder dagenais

Souray-Quintal

Markov-Bouillon

Brisebois-Gauthier—get rid of rivet

theo in top form

and now we’re talking threatenning playoff run

we go far, kovalev like’s what he sees, resigns and we got an awsome team off the bat start next season

who do you trade for Smyth, Barnaby and Gauthier

Look at who we have to trade, Hossa, bulis, juneau, perreault, Dykhuis, Traverse, Hainsey, Rivet

Barnaby we can probably get for Dykhuis and a draft choice

Gauthier we can get for Rivet and Bulis

Smyth…give em pereault, Hainsey, Hossa

It’s not too undoable…

Affording players might be hard but look with these players are chances of getting to the third round increase we might hit even

next season will hit playoffs no problem and make it deep

these transactions would ensure montreal playoff runs for a few years to come

My guess is that we’ll see a Bégin-Dowd-Ward line, and a Dackell/Langdon-Juneau/Perreault-Sundstrom 4th line mixing and matching depending on the strategy coach Julien will want to use for a game.

I don’t think NY will move Barnaby unless some team overpays for him, which isn’t very likely (unless Detroit pitches in).

I really think Gainey is done moving unless someone offers him a deal he can’t refuse for a defenseman (i.e. if a team is stupid enough to want either Kilger, Dykhuis or Traverse plus a 5th+ rounder for a better defenseman, which won’t happen.