Dylan Larkin to the Canadiens now has a price tag, and Pierre McGuire says it starts with Michael Hage.
Speaking on The Sick Podcast Wednesday, McGuire was blunt about what a Larkin deal would cost Montreal. "Michael Hage has to be in it," he said.
That's the whole debate in one sentence. Detroit isn't moving a 29-year-old captain coming off a 34-goal season for picks and spare parts.
Larkin would solve Montreal's most obvious roster problem. Nick Suzuki just put up 101 points, but the center depth behind him drops off fast.
Oliver Kapanen handled second-line minutes at 22. He's promising. He's also not a proven top-six pivot on a team that finished sixth overall with 106 points and wants more.
So why is everyone hesitating? Because Hage is exactly the kind of asset Kent Hughes has refused to move since taking the job.
McGuire doesn't dance around it in the clip, leaning into the mic and delivering the Hage demand flat, like it's not even up for discussion.
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Kent Hughes faces the toughest call of his rebuild
Here's where it gets uncomfortable for Montreal. Larkin carries an $8.7 million cap hit, and Detroit's leverage just dropped with the ESPN report confirming the relationship soured years ago.
A motivated seller usually means a discount. Hughes knows that. Steve Yzerman knows Hughes knows that.
But Yzerman trading his captain inside the division, to a team that just won 48 games, would take a massive return to justify. Hage is that return.
There's also the head-to-head history. Detroit took two of three from Montreal this season, including a 4-0 road win at the Bell Centre in January. Larkin has seen this team up close.
Slotting him behind Suzuki gives Martin St-Louis a one-two punch at center that almost nobody in the East can match. With Cole Caufield coming off 51 goals, the window isn't approaching. It's open.
The question Hughes has to answer is simple and brutal. Is a 29-year-old Larkin worth more than whatever Hage becomes?
Get that one wrong in either direction and it follows you for a decade.
Should the Canadiens give up Michael Hage to get Dylan Larkin?
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