Actually pretty interesting (to me, anyway) ... but only if the Habs would retain 50% of Anderson's contract. Even then though, is the guy selected at 5th OA going to be so much better than the guy selected at 10th OA that a swap of Holtz and a 3rd for Anderson makes sense? Probably not.

Holtz > Anderson
5th > 10th
3rd > Harris

Gotta admit, this isn't a stupid trade. I don't think the Habs would do it, but they could really like a player like Eiserman or maybe Catton (who's probably taken beforehand, but not guaranteed) and feel they can get a really good forward in a trade down...

But on their side, they're getting a young forward who can certainly score at a potentially elite level who just needs to not suck defensively, and they'd be getting a similar quality player at 10OA as they would at 5OA.

On NJ's side, they don't need Harris whatsoever... but Anderson they'll certainly want (and then they'll glue him to Jack Hughes, whom, I think, he would have fantastic chemistry with), and at 5OA, well if they really like someone and they think he can be an elite player, I'm sure they'd look at it carefully. As it stands, I think they'd really like Helenius or MBN and they can get those guys at 10, probably.

At 5.5 mill Anderson is a massive cap dump. 10th+Anderson for 5th might be considered. Not adding holtz

Anderson is a righty Miles Wood. No more, no less. Big, fast, goes in straight lines. He is where possession goes to die.

Devils could have interest in Anderson at $2.75m for fourth line…but there little chance he is playing with Hughes or Hischier. Especially when both Bratt and Meier prefer the right side….and Mercer has gotten comfortable there too.

Further, it’s just hard to stomach Anderson-to-NJ trades after all the nonsense from a couple of years ago (completely fabricated story from Tony Marinaro…that was later beat down as Devils never spoke to MTL about Anderson, as LeBrun and others have corrected).

As it stands, our best player is getting rocked every year, head hunted, challenged at the blue line. He can't carry it through the blue line all year because he never lasts 82 games, regardless of the circumstances of his injuries (he plays dangerously... if one hasn't happened, it's bound to happen). Anderson gets it deep. I don't care whether or not the Devils get Anderson, but they need to get a winger that takes the load off of Hughes to break the zone. Anderson, it just so happens, is big, mean, and skates like the wind. Playing with Hughes, he'd probably be a 50-60 pt player because all Hughes needs him to do is park out front and dig in the corners while he half-walls.

Anderson is an option, but this MUST be addressed in the offseason... we need Hughes for a full season, we need him protected.

I agree on overall approach, just not that guy.

I think the solution is make a team responsibility. All 19 guys dressed should know by now, if Hughes is out, season is not going to go well.

Right now, Jesper Bratt is the only guy who night in and night out would stand up to bigger guys. And that’s the last thing we want. But we need that level of compete from everyone.

Grab a Bertuzzi, Barbashev, Domi, whomever…maybe a heavier dman. Can get there without sacrificing a ton of skill. I think adding Anderson would not make him a 50-60 pt player. It would just make Hughes less productive. Styles don’t mix. Hughes is east-west, possession player that is one of best transition players in league. Anderson is straight lines, north-south, dump-and-chase, dig it out of corners.

I was gonna hate on the deal but tbh it is not so bad from Habs perspective either. Think maybe swapping Harris for Struble and adding like Heineman and dropping the 3rd from the Devils balances out the deal quite a bit.

Struble is a slightly bigger but significantly heavier defensive D man with good skating and physical style of play. I would rather keep Struble over Harris but for this deal it would be worth the price.

Heineman is a good top 6 prospect that has aboutthe same upside as Holtz, so the net loss of Holtz is virtually negligible.

If the net loss from Heineman and Holtz is negligble let's just take them both out then.

5th overall+Anderson+Struble for 10th overall