Eastside's Hockey Elite Collide

To Pittsburgh:
Mike Richards (82)
MTL 1st 2023 (26th overall)

To Montreal:
COL 1st 2023 (11th overall)

Habs accept. I couldn't keep both Ovi and Richards, and chose Ovi. The other early offers for Richards weren't returning any asset nearly as valuable as this one.

Pittsburgh agrees.

Making Richards fit is going to be tight but I figured out a way I can do it, and he's a legit star. There is a very real chance I can only afford him for one year but after a couple playoff disappointments, let's see what we can do.

This pick falling at #11 was not great for me - I wanted a forward and the top-10 forwards seemed pretty well defined - I kept it holding out some hope that one of the top-10 might slide, but they did not. Honestly I suspect I will get someone even all the way down at 26 that I like almost as much.