Could the Canadiens have iced a team with both Tom Gilbert and Cody Franson?

We saw during 'free agency frenzy' on July 1 the Canadiens trade away Josh Gorges for a second-round pick, after a deal with the Leafs in exchange for Cody Franson fell through, due to Josh refusing to waive his No Trade Clause.

I was pretty much of that opinion, that receiving Cody Franson in trade, or a second rounder and signing Tom Gilbert as a UFA on a very reasonable contract roughly evened out, and that since I prefer the short-term contract of Gilbert while Greg Pateryn, Magnus Nygren, Morgan Ellis, Darren Dietz, Dalton Thrower, etc, get their game ready, versus the investment that would be required in Cody Franson, I was happy how that deal turned out. Tack on Mike Weaver on the right side on another cheap deal, and we’re set.

So in my mind:

Tom Gilbert (short-term UFA) + 2nd rounder + Mike Weaver > Cody Franson + Mike Weaver

But it’s been pointed out that it might not have been either Cody Franson or Tom Gilbert, but maybe the plan was Cody Franson and Tom Gilbert. Only once the Cody Franson deal fell through and Marc Bergevin pulled the trigger on the Buffalo trade did he turn to Mike Weaver as a fallback option, possibly.

So the equation might have been instead:

Cody Franson + Tom Gilbert (short-term UFA) > Tom Gilbert (short-term UFA) + 2nd rounder + Mike Weaver

We’re really headed far into conjecture here, but it’s still fun to discuss. I would have preferred Cody Franson and Tom Gilbert, but I’m still very, very happy with how things turned out.