Edmonton Oilers acquire Brett Kulak from the Canadiens in exchange for William Laggeson, a conditional 2022 second round pick, and a 2024 seventh round pick. Montreal retains 50% of Kulak’s cap hit ($925,000) and the condition to the second round pick is if the Oilers reach the Cup Final this year that pick reverts to a 2023 second round pick.
Now for me personally, I take no exception whatsoever to the names in this trade. Kulak is a solid third pairing dman and a valuable rental for the playoffs. I also don’t object to Laggeson being the name exported, seeing as how he was slated to be third in line for the third pairing left D spot next season, the Edmonton Oilers could afford to part with him. Laggeson will have more opportunity in Montreal, where the team is starting on full-on rebuild and where there isn’t such a logjam of prospects for his spot.
I’m a bit perplexed as to why a seventh round pick was thrown in as I don’t think it was a necessary sweetener, but I’ll excuse it as either way it’s not worth very much to us.
What I do object to in this trade is sending over a second round pick for a third pairing d-man. What is Holland thinking here? I can’t figure this out. Yeah the guy played on the top pairing for awhile in Montreal, but let’s not forget this is a team that’s last in the Atlantic division this season. Playing on the top pairing for a bottom feeding team isn’t much to write home about.
Why was it necessary to part with a second rounder for a bottom pairing blueliner? That’s way too big an over payment. Furthermore, we can see why Kulak is largely a third pairing rental when you look closer at his stats. He’s got 13 points right now, only four off his career pace, but is riding a career worst -10 right now. He’s also set a career best in PIMs with 33.
In Kulak I see a more veteran version of Markus Niemelainen only worse defensively and with slightly better hands.
Even if Montreal GM Kent Hughes insisted on a second round pick, I’d have insisted on more rigid conditions to the pick – for example it should be a fourth round pick at best, but if Kulak ends up playing on the Oilers’ top pairing for more than half the remaining regular season and playoffs – and the Oilers reach the Cup Finals – NOW Montreal can have our second round pick.
After all, it’s one thing to play on the top pairing on a rebuilding team, it’s quite another to play in the top pairing on a team with actual depth like the Oilers.
If Hughes balks at that point, then the trade falls apart. After all, you really think Kulak is one of a kind as a d-man? Guys like him are a dime a dozen around the NHL – and most GMs wouldn’t have asked for a second round pick for a third pairing guy.
I’m starting to think that Holland’s penchant for negotiation is both a blessing and a curse. He seems so laser focused on one or two guys he doesn’t seem to realize he’s getting hosed in a trade. It’s great that he does his due diligence on pickups, that’s all well and good, but if the opposing GM is obviously asking for too much then he needs to say no more. I mean, Steve Yzerman is a tough negotiator but you don’t see any other GMs shying away from doing business with him.
Holland had a very short and sweet media availability post deadline yesterday, and I’m starting to think perhaps he doesn’t like the hard questions that inevitably come afterwards. He didn’t really address this much yesterday, or at least didn’t give the full story as to why the second round pick.