I don’t love trading a future 3rd for a player who didn’t seem to be an obvious “how is he still on the board” guy. That said, it’s not sound reasoning, but I trust so completely in Holmes that I’m like “if he sees the heir apparent to Decker, who am I to judge?” It would take a lot to get me away from that mindset.
If I was going to defend the trade, I think there are reasons to do so. For one, this is an incredibly deep team as it stands today. We don’t need filler players for spots 48-53, we need role players now who can become starters within two years.
For another, we came into today with 9 picks next year. I have a hard time imagining us having nine holes to fill. On top of that, Jonah Jackson and CJGJ are both possible compensatory candidates to get additional picks. At the end of the day I’m not going to get worked up over sending pick 90-something away. Sure that’s a possible starter but Brad clearly saw a possible starter in this Canadien beast or he wouldn’t have made the move.