Is this a Tyler Seguin 2.0 situation or is there more smoke here than fire? It has been widely reported that the Habs were interested in adding a Top-6 forward this offseason, so subtracting one would require that they add two. Is this a Backes-Oshie for Galchenyuk+ deal waiting to happen? I sure hope so.

Look, we all know Oshie is (or should be) gone. He has value on the open market, but there is a tremendous amount of value to this team to subtract him from the equation, assuming we get anything of value back. Backes has been our captain throughout the last 4 years of playoff darkness, and whether it is his fault or not he owns it. I still think he has some good hockey left in him, but given that he is likely to get overpaid on his next deal, I'd rather another team do that.

If we can get another valuable asset, in addition to potentially solving our #1C dilemma with a 21 year old talent that still has plenty of time to emerge as a superstar, I would be burning up MB's phone to get this deal done. With $8.675M going to the Habs, we likely have to take P-A Parenteau as a cap dump, but if we can get a pick or a pick upgrade out of the deal as well as dumping Bergy for a 2nd, I would be ecstatic.

Steen-Stastny-Tarasenko
Schwartz-Galchenyuk-Fabbri
Jaskin-Lehtera-Parenteau

Yes, please!

I started a thread about a month ago that Montreal could be a trade partner IF we were willing to move Backes. All you read about the Canadiens is that their biggest need is a big center. So even though Backes might be better on the wing, he would certainly fill a big need for the Canadiens. Also, don't forget that Mellanby is there as the assistant GM......and Mellanby was behind the Backes offer sheet back when he was in the Vancouver front office.

So a Backes-to-Montreal deal makes a lot more sense than a lot of rumors. I don't know if the Blues are willing to move him, but he is going in to the last year of his contract, so it wouldn't shock me at all.