Is this the youngest Habs team you have seen in your lifetime?

[The Gr8 Dane]

When you expect young players like this to never get better in the next 3 years....

Worst center depth in the league. But Ryan Poehling will be a first line C and drouin will score 75 points on his wing in 3 years duuuuh

 

[Habs Halifax]

Exactly. It's easy to have a young roster. It's a lot harder to have a young, competitive roster.

We clearly don't have young elite level superstars at any level. Heck, Only Subban and Price apply over the last how many years? If only we had a young Subban and Price with the young assets we have today!

 

[Habs Halifax]

Worst center depth in the league. But Ryan Poehling will be a first line C and drouin will score 75 points on his wing in 3 years duuuuh

Nope. If you had been paying attention, I had Poehling as our #2C and I think Drouin is a 20+ goals and 60 pts (+/-) top 6 forward for us in the future. I'm not afraid to say it how it is.

We have holes to fill but this does not mean our team is old or we should tear it apart.

 

[WinterLion]

Well we obviously need to get better. I don't think it's fair to call the young players garbage either. In theory most forwards hit their prime at age 26 and stay there until about 30. For D it's later.

The team definitely needs some of the young players to take the next step AND ALSO they need to add some high end players.

 

[Lebowski]

We clearly don't have young elite level superstars at any level. Heck, Only Subban and Price apply over the last how many years? If only we had a young Subban and Price with the young assets we have today!

I'm really not sure what it is that you're trying to prove here. Yes, we're icing a young team right now. We're also icing a shit team.

As for comparing it to previous editions, our core as Bergevin walked in was 10 times better than what we have right now, so you don't have to look all that far to see a better young core than we have at the moment.

You say we don't have to blow it up, and it the same breath you say we lack superstar level talent. How do you propose we acquire such talent, if not with lottery picks?

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

I'm really not sure what it is that you're trying to prove here. Yes, we're icing a young team right now. We're also icing a **** team.

As for comparing it to previous editions, our core as Bergevin walked in was 10 times better than what we have right now, so you don't have to look all that far to see a better young core than we have at the moment.

You say we don't have to blow it up, and it the same breath you say we lack superstar level talent. How do you propose we acquire such talent, if not with lottery picks?

Tavares/Dahlin bro

 

[lamp9post]

When Jo drouin and Alex Galchenyuk are your core forward pieces.........

Agreed, we're not winning anything when our top offensive guys are unable to matchup against the best players on the other team. This is the reason Plekanec gets played so much (to shelter Drouin/Galchenyuk) and look where it has got us.

That said, with a high pick in the draft this year along with the return in a Pacioretty deal, I can see the foundation of a pretty solid young core beginning to develop. If we get lucky with a prospect or two, we could be in good shape in a couple years.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

Agreed, we're not winning anything when our top offensive guys are unable to matchup against the best players on the other team. This is the reason Plekanec gets played so much (to shelter Drouin/Galchenyuk) and look where it has got us.

That said, with a high pick in the draft this year along with the return in a Pacioretty deal, I can see the foundation of a pretty solid young core beginning to develop. If we get lucky with a prospect or two, we could be in good shape in a couple years.

It would be easy to get back into shape and have a plan in place and have a team of youngsters develop together playing a speed and skill game. The problem is and will always be management unless a purge is made

 

[WinterLion]

I'm really not sure what it is that you're trying to prove here. Yes, we're icing a young team right now. We're also icing a **** team.

As for comparing it to previous editions, our core as Bergevin walked in was 10 times better than what we have right now, so you don't have to look all that far to see a better young core than we have at the moment.

You say we don't have to blow it up, and it the same breath you say we lack superstar level talent. How do you propose we acquire such talent, if not with lottery picks?

What do you mean by blow it up though? I mean isn't that what is happening? I guess you mean trading Price & Weber? The team is young and we are about to trade away the captain and draft 5 times in the first 2 rounds. What would you suggest doing instead?

 

[lamp9post]

Well we obviously need to get better. I don't think it's fair to call the young players garbage either. In theory most forwards hit their prime at age 26 and stay there until about 30. For D it's later.

The team definitely needs some of the young players to take the next step AND ALSO they need to add some high end players.

That may have been true back in the 90s, but the league has gotten younger and I think it is reasonable to expect forwards to be at or close to their peak by 23-24 nowadays. Some even earlier if they are highly talented.

 

[WinterLion]

It would be easy to get back into shape and have a plan in place and have a team of youngsters develop together playing a speed and skill game. The problem is and will always be management unless a purge is made

So how would that plan be different than what is going on now? I'm just curious.

 

[WinterLion]

That may have been true back in the 90s, but the league has gotten younger and I think it is reasonable to expect forwards to be at or close to their peak by 23-24 nowadays. Some even earlier if they are highly talented.

Yes you might be right. It definitely seems like some do.

 

[Lebowski]

What do you mean by blow it up though? I mean isn't that what is happening? I guess you mean trading Price & Weber? The team is young and we are about to trade away the captain and draft 5 times in the first 2 rounds. What would you suggest doing instead?

I'll believe it when I see it when it comes to Pacioretty. Same goes for the draft picks. A Shaw 2.0 kind of trade could very well be on its way. You never have enough grit and character I suppose.

As for trading either Weber or Price, I mean, maybe, yes. A GM with a long term plan would have to consider those options. Thing is, Bergevin never seemed like the kind of guy with a long term plan. He just wings it every off season, takes one step forward, follows it up with two steps backwards, and we get stuck in the same cycle of mediocrity we've been in for decades. I think we're allowed to be growing a little impatient at this point, and drastic measures to right this ship should be on the table.

That being said, if we somehow manage to lure a guy like Tavares in Montréal this summer, well then, by all means, milk this core to the end. Although, if there's one thing we should have learned from the Leafs over the decade they spent as the laughing stock of the league, it's that you shouldn't really hope to build a contender out of FAs and wishful thinking.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

Not sure, but it's definitely among the crappiest

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

Not sure, but it's definitely among the crappiest

At least they are our crap <3

 

[Non Player Canadiens]

When you expect young players like this to never get better in the next 3 years....

Galchenyuk's in his 6th NHL season

 

[Andy]

I just find these projected lineup exercises completely useless in isolation to other teams. Other teams have similar type of prospects in their pool and lineup as well. The difference is that compared to the top teams, the habs don't balance those type of prospects and that type of youth with high end stars.

The habs are young, okay so what? Where is the top end, gamebreaking, ice tilting talent? Even if the talent existed, it doesn't guarentee anything. Look at the production of the Islanders forward group. They have two high end players and still struggle.

Drouin, Galchenyuk, Gallagher followed by a bunch of ??? really doesn't inspire anything. Yeah, Mete and Juuslen have talent, but it took even someone like PK Subban two years to round out his game.

 

[WinterLion]

I'll believe it when I see it when it comes to Pacioretty. Same goes for the draft picks. A Shaw 2.0 kind of trade could very well be on its way. You never have enough grit and character I suppose.

As for trading either Weber or Price, I mean, maybe, yes. A GM with a long term plan would have to consider those options. Thing is, Bergevin never seemed like the kind of guy with a long term plan. He just wings it every off season, takes one step forward, follows it up with two steps backwards, and we get stuck in the same cycle of mediocrity we've been in for decades. I think we're allowed to be growing a little impatient at this point, and drastic measures to right this ship should be on the table.

That being said, if we somehow manage to lure a guy like Tavares in Montréal this summer, well then, by all means, milk this core to the end. Although, if there's one thing we should have learned from the Leafs over the decade they spent as the laughing stock of the league, it's that you shouldn't really hope to build a contender out of FAs and wishful thinking.

OK, but what would those drastic measures be? I think trading Price would be drastic, but I'm not sure it would be wise.

 

[kgboomer]

No, we were maybe the youngest team in the entire NHL after the lockout of 2005 under Gainey. We had guys like Plek and Higgins at only 23, Tender at 19, Lapierre, the Kosts bros, Komisarek, and more.

 

[WinterLion]

I just find these projected lineup exercises completely useless in isolation to other teams. Other teams have similar type of prospects in their pool and lineup as well. The difference is that compared to the top teams, the habs don't balance those type of prospects and that type of youth with high end stars.

The habs are young, okay so what? Where is the top end, gamebreaking, ice tilting talent?

Yeah I agree, for sure. They need to add a few gamebreakers.... and it will be very hard to do. This might take 3 or 4 years no matter who is running the team... even then we will need some luck.

 

[Wats]

2011-2012: You forgot Spacek (37), Gill (36), Cole (33), Gionta (33), Kaberle (33)

2012-2013: You forgot Bouillon (37), Cole (34), Gionta (34), Kaberle (34).

Oldest part of our team today is Weber (32). But hey, I'm sure your comeback will be Hemsky (34) and Niemi (34) and they are huge parts of our team today

Yep you're right. I'd say Hemsky/Niemi/Schlemko/Benn/Plekanec played just about as important role in 2017/2018 as Spacek, Boullion, Cole, Kaberle, Gionta did in 2012/2013

Bergevin was so smart not signing Markov to 1 year, he almost ruined the precious team age average.

 

[WinterLion]

No, we were maybe the youngest team in the entire NHL after the lockout of 2005 under Gainey. We had guys like Plek and Higgins at only 23, Tender at 19, Lapierre, the Kosts bros, Komisarek, and more.

Yeah just had a look. That was a young team it's true! I still think this team is younger but it's close. That was Koivu's 30 year old season. There were quite a few guys in their prime years... but alas it still wasn't great. Theo & Huet as Goalies!

Montreal Canadiens 2005-06 roster and scoring statistics at hockeydb.com

 

[Wats]

Yeah just had a look. That was a young team it's true! I still think this team is younger but it's close. That was Koivu's 30 year old season. There were quite a few guys in their prime years... but alas it still wasn't great. Theo & Huet as Goalies!

Montreal Canadiens 2005-06 roster and scoring statistics at hockeydb.com

How is this team younger? Are you just interested in overall average or actually interested in the core that actually have an impact whether team wins/loses?

 

[WinterLion]

At least they are our crap QUOTE]

Our YOUNG crap!!

 

[WinterLion]

How is this team younger? Are you just interested in overall average or actually interested in the core that actually have an impact whether team wins/loses?

I wasn't defining it really... tell me what you think