Things just heated up to ANOTHER LEVEL...

Things have just heated up to another level as we have another report from Frank Saravalli on the Sydney Crosby front indicating that Montreal would do quite a lot to land the star. We have to dive into the recent reports about Sydney Crosby and also some talks about what Kyle Dubas is up to in Pittsburgh. But not just that, there is a huge update out of Minnesota as star Kirill Kaprizov has reportedly turned down the biggest extension in NHL history and the top Minnesota insiders are now speculating that this could potentially lead to a trade and naturally with us having a certain Russian it links Montreal to it to some extent. We got to dive into both of those things plus much more all coming up on this episode of Habs Digest. But we're going to start with a little PTO action. You know PTO is player professional tryouts here heading into rookie camp now but this is more for training camp and the Habs did make one. Goaltender Kevin Mandelise and Kevin Mandelise is not you know your superstar goalie. Former sixth round pick but Jesse you know we do have a need for maybe some insurance as there's been talks going around that Kapokakinen he'll probably be waived at some point in training camp to go back down to the minors. This could very well serve in one case as Jacob Fowler's backup in Laval if Kapokakinen gets claimed or could be an amazing ECHL goalie. A little sneaky move but again I think it just goes to that grander theme of Montreal just really making all the right moves to ensure that their depth isn't you know completely destroyed at any level. And really reminds me of the acquisition of Connor Hughes last year which kind of seemed like a little bit of a depth move till he ended up playing really well in the EHL and really giving us a lot of the support that we need. So you know making sure that we have a strong tandem in Laval it for me is a very very good decision and it's really the question of I think like who's going to be Fowler's backup. I think that's really what it comes to. They want to put Fowler in a position to succeed but they also want to have him with somebody there who has a little bit of experience considering what such a young goalie is. What's a promise he really has. So I feel like that's got some of the greater context here in bringing Mandelise in. The Blainville Quebec native. It went 11-6-0 last year in the EHL Josh. A 9-0-3 save percentage. You know so at least at the EHL you know some pretty serviceable numbers there but again just making sure like Fowler's like kind of in a position to succeed and kind of having him supported there I think it's a very strong move for the Laval Rocket. Also for the Montreal Canadiens. Yeah always like and even these little small moves they always mean something right. So really cool and hey for all we know maybe Capocatkinen will end up clearing and just being fine to go down there but you never want to it's never a certainty. So just love that every move from the front office is calculated. Makes a ton of sense and hey like you said Jesse this guy could very well come in and be a very serviceable player in the AHL or like Marco Duane pointed out could be one of the best in the ECHL. So you never really know. Wanted to give a shout out to that down below but we're getting into the exciting stuff now. Things are heating up with training camp just around the corner. The rookie camp coming up now. It started officially but there is a huge report out of Minnesota that Kirill Kaprizov has turned down the largest contract in NHL history. It was an eight-year 16 million dollar AAV offer for his extension and Frank Saravalli but he wasn't the only one. Also Michael Russo and Joe Smith who cover the Minnesota Wild they confirmed this said yes he did turn it down. This has led to a lot of talk but the main thing here this is taken from Russo and Smith's article. If Kaprizov won't entertain a contract extension by the Wild it could be incumbent on Guerin to get a handful of teams Kaprizov would consider a trade to. And again this is far from imminent at this point and this could just be a clause in the contract that Kaprizov didn't like. It could be that he wants a shorter term deal to maximize those career earnings with the cap going up. Fair enough but Jesse the fact that we're even talking about a guy like this being on the market. The fact that Habs fans, ourselves included, have said look if he makes it to UFA next year he is one of those top targets right? Like a McDavid, Kirill Kaprizov is one of the best players in the world. I mean I don't know. I don't think it's too crazy to say that Montreal should at least be keeping an eye on this because we do have another Russian star here in Ivan but right now I mean what was your thought when you read this this morning? Do you think there's any path forward where Montreal could make sense for him? It's very interesting and I get a little bit shocked that somebody's kind of maybe turning down 128 million. You have to feel like the first thought it's like okay it's not about the money it's about winning and winning long term which again you know brings up McDavid. Like two of the biggest stars in the game right now Kaprizov and McDavid for for lack of better term like they both basically refuse contract extensions here and you have to feel like not on the money if they feel like they want kind of a foundation where they can have success year over year and I think there's probably some exciting you know kind of elements with with the wild there but I think it does you know kind of perk our unit as Montreal Canadiens fans and media because we know how this team is set up grabbing that success over the long term so I think that's going to do quite a bit to generate that interest from some of the biggest stars around the league going forward whether I think that Montreal should make a play on this Josh it's like if we didn't have Yvonne Demidov I would be on this white like like white arm rights you know definitely even the 16 million like that I'm kind of okay with that um even at that point but at the same time like just not like Tampa Bay how the Tampa Bay Lightning they only have like that one Nikita Kucherov and that's all they needed to be kind of those perennial Stanley Cup contenders year after year I think we only need really one Yvonne Demidov on our team but it's just about kind of surrounding him with the right players like our top six is looking really good I feel once we're able to get that that 2C there um so again an amazing talent I'm not saying I don't want Kaprizov on the team I think you want to have those complementary talents and I also want to give the really the runway for Demidov to be as successful as he can really his minutes would get taken away of course we love Kaprizov but we're just so big on Demidov and what we feel like he can really do um for this team here so very interesting to keep an eye on but just so amazing that you know we got like we got the way that our team is building up and the players we have right now we're like okay you know like even though obviously this is an amazing player like we're good with what we have and we feel confident in it yeah 100% and I completely agree because like also like as much as I would love if I woke up tomorrow it's the same thing with the Crosby stuff that we'll get into in a minute if I woke up tomorrow and we had traded for Kirill Kaprizov awesome right you kind of deal with like okay how are we going to make this work you deal with that after but again to get him you he Montreal would need to be on his list of teams he wants to go to and you know whether the cold weather I don't think that's necessarily a problem he does seem to like Minnesota he's from Russia so I wouldn't I wouldn't imagine that's a problem but like again it's about the winning whether Montreal is on his list or not who knows but at the end of the day like it would cost something to trade for him even if he only had his list and then you also have to fork out that 16 million plus or you might only get him on a four or five year deal right like you never really know but it's worth keeping an eye on a crazy crazy update out of Minnesota today so just keep an eye on the Habs fans because you know these situations across the league even if it's not Kaprizov you never know who might pop up in the next rumor so keep your eyes and ears open as we're heading into this season and you know what we're gonna keep on that from because we've been talking a lot about a certain player out of Pittsburgh and that's Sidney Crosby and yesterday's video was nuts of course Pat Brisson talking about what's going on with Crosby himself having that quote about the city of Montreal there was a bit of doubling down here today and there was some interesting talk also yesterday from Pierre Lebrun saying look it isn't a dubious decision this is from that original article it will be Crosby and Brisson at the wheel and it's not just Montreal there's Crosby's good pal McKinnon who no doubt would love to have number 87 with him so again it is like it's not necessarily dubious but he would have to still get the package but today Frank Saravalli said there is zero doubt the Montreal Canadiens would do anything to get their hands on Sidney Crosby but the Penguins are in a spot where they're not going to approach the captain it's going to be up to Crosby so at the end of the day it really is up to Crosby but it seems like the general consensus not only among fans but among reporters as well is like Montreal would want him there were that smoke is absolutely there and I think Ken Hughes Jeff Gorton there is no doubt they would want Sidney Crosby Jesse it all comes down to the price but now that we're seeing all this doubling down we're seeing this smoke I start to wonder how much that price would maybe start to decrease if one day Crosby does do it maybe there's an offer that Kent has out there saying listen listen eventually like if you want to come to Montreal this is what we're willing to pay a dubious like and if Sid says he wants to go here here's what we can offer and they might not have a choice exactly like Kyle Dubas and Kent Hughes both of them will basically just need to react if Sidney Crosby does want to move on from the Penguins getting back in the playoffs I think is that biggest motivation for him and then it's really okay well where's this the best place to do that again we have to consider what makes it interesting that Crosby's probably got three to four more years left at least I reckon a good hockey like left in him the way that he's taking care of himself the advances in sports science is really through the roof right now if there's one guy that I really see still producing well at 42 43 years old which sounds wild it's Sidney Crosby but like he can absolutely do it given what he just produced this very year at 38 years old you have to feel like getting a little bit more support where he's not having to do everything himself like he has to do in Pittsburgh right now that would probably just extend his career which is really just a gift not only for the haves but I think for the Montreal Canadiens the other important facet to consider in all this though is that like Sidney Crosby would have so much fun playing in Montreal it wouldn't be lost on him he would recognize like how special is like not only competing but just the memories being made and just the environment now why is that it's because like Sidney Crosby loves hockey as much as you know Montreal loves hockey and it's very rare where like you really have players like that that can line up but that's really when something special happens like he just appreciates the environment it wouldn't be lost on him and I think you have to consider that when it's like okay it's long retirement coming up how can I really make the most of the end of my NHL career and it's hard to argue coming into Montreal the hype that would just be through the roof like it's hard to imagine this like for the implications of how wild that would be but like it's hard to say that like it'd be anywhere better for him to really finish his career given the upswing of the trajectory that we're on with the Montreal Canadiens like imagine the storyline Crosby back in the playoffs next year with the Montreal Canadiens now are we maybe getting ahead of ourselves is it you know maybe greater chance of this not happening yes but the reason we're bringing this up is obviously there's things that are pushing it in the direction just ever so slightly and it's not enough for me to feel like okay like this is really palpable and really close but like all the signs are getting there and if this continues Josh we're gonna have to start taking this like a lot more seriously and getting out our trade packages you know it's like okay Jack Eye Brothers are first let's go let's get Crosby here in Montreal I'm more of a little bit of a joke meme there for a trade for Crosby what's what's it gonna take for you what would you feel comfortable hypothetically doing I mean like you know obviously you can't give up nothing well I mean I think if Sid is like listen I want to go to either Montreal or Colorado and take the best offer Kyle you know if that's the case then I think Kent will want to give an offer that Colorado maybe couldn't match in terms of young players and I think we're in a point right now where we have so many good young players we could afford to give some pretty highly touted guys that are not our top touted guys you know again like the names in my mind like Florian Jack Eye is a very interesting name Jesse I mean as much as we want to say like he could be amazing in the future if it's Indy Crosby I you know it's hard to not include him but like names like Joshua Waugh Owen Beck like even a guy like Adam Engstrom these are kind of guys that I start to think it's like there's no guaranteed path for these guys at this point but in the right place there could be and I think those are the kind of names that I would want to go again with some kind of draft capital but I would not want to give up anything that's you know solidly certain in the future but I want to again like you made a good point he's 38 but like he could have a number of years left I mean you know I don't want to compare him to Gordie Howe and Yara Verjager which was exactly what we were doing before the show um but like there are there's a precedent in NHL history for guys playing into their 40s and being effective and guys who play the game like Sidney Crosby who think and see the game like Sidney Crosby who take care of their body like Sidney Crosby I don't think it's crazy to say he has four or five years left at a very solid level but you know who knows I mean it's just something to keep an eye on like you said there's nothing imminent but I can't help but just keep my eyes open my ears open for Capriza for Crosby for anything because at this point I trust the front office we could really get anything done but what do you guys think leave us your thoughts down below this is getting crazy because that'll do it for this episode of Habs Digest if you enjoyed leave a like comment subscribe to the channel thank you so much for tuning in every single day I'm Josh Gossam, my co-host Jesse we'll catch you in the next one