Montreal GM Mode - By a Leafs Fan

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Hello, welcome to my GM Mode! Never written up logs of the year by year activities so thought I'd give it a shot with a team I've never rebuilt. Feel free to recommend trades/picks/etc as I'll usually try to stop before trade deadline, draft, new season, etc. Enjoy!

2020-2021 Offseason
Expansion Draft:
To Cambridge (33rd team)
- D Josh Brook MTop4 22 years old
Notable Draft Selections 2021 Draft:
2nd Rnd (66), LW Kaiden Crowder MTop6 50 Overall
6'2" 192 playing in USA, Playmaker
3rd Rnd (90), LD/RD Dawson Pitton LElite 51 Overall
6'2" 211 playing in USA, Enforcer

Trade:
To Colorado ...
G Carey Price

From Colorado ...
2022 3rd round pick
2022 5th round pick
2023 2nd round pick
2023 3rd round pick
2023 6th round pick

2021-2022 Season:
Opening Roster:
Toffoli 85 - Suzuki 86 - Gallagher 85
Armia 80 - Dvorak 83 - Anderson 83
Byron 79 - Evans 79 - Caufield 80
Drouin 80 - Poehling 77 - Hoffman 82

Edmundson 82 - Petry 86
Zboril 78 - Savard 80
Sekera 78 - Romanov 79

Holtby 82
Allen 81

Ness 75/Fritz 75 (Scratches)

The Montreal Canadiens finish 6-4-0 in the month of October to begin the season, and sit in 4th place in the Atlantic. The team is rebuilding and may look to move players.
At the beginning of January 2022, Montreal has a record of 19-14-3, still 4th in the Atlantic 7 points behind both Boston and Toronto, 15 behind the Lightning. Colorado leads the league with 57 points in 37 games. The team is looking to facilitate a deal for D Jeff Petry.

In the new year, the New York Rangers sent an interesting offer...

To New York Rangers ...
D Jeff Petry (3x6.25)
C Oliver Kapanen HTop9 (Unsigned)

From New York Rangers ...
D Jacob Trouba (4x8.0)
2022 2nd round pick
2023 2nd round pick
2023 4th round pick

I am not sure why they wanted to trade away Trouba for Petry, they sent the offer. Petry is aging and Trouba is younger and locked up for 4 years, so with the addition of the picks this made sense for the rebuilding team.

Day of 2022 Trade Deadline:
MTL U21 Rankings:
1. Caufield 80 LElite 21yrs
2. Guhle 76 MTop4 20 yrs
3. Mysak 69 MTop6 19 yrs
4. Mailloux 67 Mtop4 18 yrs
5. Farrell 69 MTop6 20 yrs
6. Crowder 54 Mtop6 19 yrs
7. Pitton 52 LElite 18 yrs

Upcoming Picks:
2022 1st CAR
2022 2nd MTL, NYR
2022 3rd MTL, ANA, CAR, COL

Record of 30-26-7
Trade Deadline:
To Detroit...
F Josh Anderson (5x5.5)

From Detroit...
2023 1st round
2023 3rd round
F Adam Erne (1x2.1)

Upcoming: End of 2021-2022 Season​

Click to read more...

 

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End of 2021/2022 Season
The Montreal Canadiens have finished the 2021-2022 regular season with a record of 36-38-8, good for 23rd in the league (33 teams). The Carolina Hurricanes finished in 17th just missing the playoffs, so we have a rare lottery shot with our first round pick acquired from CAR.

Notable scorers for the season:

MTL
F Dvorak 82GP 23G 71P
F Suzuki 82GP 16G 68P
F Gallagher 82GP 26G 64P

Laval (AHL) Season:
57-17-8
Notable Scorers
F Farrell 47GP 17G 43P
F Mysak 82GP 21G 48P
D Guhle 82GP 7G 38P

Laval made playoffs, 1st in division and 3rd in league.
Eliminated in 3 straight games.

Stanley Cup: Detroit
Calder Cup: San Diego (Anaheim)
Arizona receives the 11th pick from Montreal
Montreal receives the 15th pick from Carolina
5>1 Dallas
2>2 Ottawa
1>3 Columbus
3>4 NYI
4>5 LA

2022 Draft:
1st round 26th ovr: RHD Elias Salomonsson (Skelleftea SHL) 17yo TWD MTop4 67 Ovr
6'2" 172 lbs. Smooth skating 2-way defenceman with the necessary tools to play in the NHL in 3-4 seasons. 5 superstar abilities

2nd round 44th ovr: LHD Tomas Hamara (Tappara Liiga) 18yo OFD MTop4 62 Ovr *gem*
5'11" 178 lbs. Excellent puck handling, passing, skating. 4 year project. 4 superstar abilities.

2nd round 55th ovr: C Neil Morrisonn (USA East) 18yo PLY MTop6 73 ovr
5'9" 172 lbs. Overall above average skill set that projects to be ready for the bottom six in the NHL in 1-2 seasons. Size/physicality is a big question mark, defense somewhat lacking, has the necessary faceoffs to play middle-six centre minutes in the future. Elite skating while handling puck. May be a big steal down the road.

3rd round 69th ovr: RHD Ludvig Edler (Vaxjo SHL) 18yo TWD MTop4 73 Ovr
6'3" 195 lbs. Edler has no weaknesses, has been good enough playing against men full-time. Extremely talented and underrated player, 1-2 years away. Zone ability back skater, and solid shooting. Defense and skating are NHL-level, with more activation/ice-time, Edler should grow.
3rd round 73rd ovr: RW Nikita Kalinin (Russia) 18yo SNP MTop6 70 Ovr
6'2" 192 lbs. Has a really broken skillset, not sure if it translates to the NHL. Does play an aggressive game, shooting power is world-class, lacking in accuracy a bit. Can be relied on defensively, faceoffs included, but offensive consistency is up in the air. Top end speed lacking with elite acceleration/agility. Questionable ETA of 3 seasons?

3rd round 77th ovr: LW Alexei Lisin (Belarus) 18yo PWF MTop6 70 Ovr
6'1" 200 lbs. Featuring another broken skillset, great defence and puck skills with a hot shot. Despite exceptional drives to the net, otherwise lacks physical abilities one would expect of a PWF. Project player, potential 3-4 years ETA.

5th round 143 ovr: RW Stephan Wolf (Mannheim DEL) 18yo TWF Mtop6 65 Ovr
6'3" 199 lbs. Questionable defence, but otherwise theres some elite puck skills and offensive creativity.

5th round 161 ovr: C Hannu Markkanen (Frolunda SHL) 17yo TWF LElite 74 ovr
6'4" 205 lbs. A hidden gem playing limited minutes in Sweden. A rare, young, combination of size and skill, he deceptively is one of the better skaters of the draft, no flaws in his game. Has elite faceoffs (zone ability), and superb back skating, puck battling and stick lifts. Could arguably become one of the strongest centers from this draft. Projects as a responsible second-line center with the upside of being an elite talent with his size/skill. Interesting prospect

7th round 208 ovr: G Kai Barkov (Vaxjo SHL) 19yo HYB MElite 64 Ovr
6'0" 186 lbs. Overager from Sweden. 3-4 year project. Well-built overall.

2022 Offseason:
Signed F Markkanen to an ELC.
Selected 5th round 161 overall in the draft that just happened. Expected to slot into middle-six centre role for Marlies next season, PK/PP.
Signed D Edler to an ELC.
Selected 3rd round 69 overall in the draft this year. Expected to play on the 3rd pairing for Marlies next season.
Signed F Morrisonn to ELC.
Selected this draft as well. Should also play middle-six minutes, PP.

The team expects to continue the tank next season as we look to draft, develop, and build around a young core. Guhle and Ylonen are expected to make the jump to the NHL.

Upcoming: 2022-2023 Season

 

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2022-2023 Season
Opening Roster:

Toffoli 86 - Suzuki 90 - Gallagher 85 (+2)
Hoffman 83 - Dvorak 86 - Caufield 82 (+1)
Malgin 79 - Evans 82 - Armia 80
Drouin 81 - Poehling 79 - Ylonen 78

Edmundson 83 - Trouba 85
Guhle 78 - Romanov 81 (+2)
Zboril 81 - Savard 81

Holtby
Allen

U21 Prospect Ranking
1. F Caufield LElite 82ovr 21 yo
2. D Guhle MTop4 78ovr 20 yo
3. F Markkanen LElite 74ovr 18 yo
4. D Edler MTop4 73ovr 18 yo
5. F Morrisonn MTop6 73ovr 19yo
6. F Farrell MTop6 72ovr 20yo
7. D Mailloux MTop4 71ovr 19 yo
8. F Mysak MTop6 71ovr 20 yo
9. D Salomonsson MTop4 67ovr 18 yo
10. G Barkov MElite 66ovr 19 yo

End of December 2022-2023 Season

Montreal Record: 19-17-1 39Pts 5thDivision
Laval Record: 17-15-5 39Pts 6thDivision

The Montreal Canadiens have agreed to a deal with the Vancouver Canucks.

To Vancouver...
D Mailloux (Unsigned) MTop4 72 ovr 19yo
F Devine (Unsigned) MTop9 66ovr 19yo

To Montreal...
2024 1st round pick

The Habs are able to get a 1st round back for the Mailloux pick from a team potentially facing cap trouble as of next year. Wasn't growing too much, and we now have a plethora of talented upcoming dman. Vancouver was interested in Mailloux, and looking to pawn off a draft pick. Also wanted Devine and was a throw in for the trade.

Prior to 2022-2023 Trade Deadline:
Montreal: 30-28-4 (Tied 4th in Division)
Laval: 33-23-6 (5th in Division)

Montreal enters the trade deadline in 21st in the league. We also have Detroit's upcoming first round pick, and they are 27th in the league currently. The team will likely be stagnant at the deadline, but could offload a player or two for future picks.

Upcoming: 2022-2023 Trade Deadline and End of Season

 

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Trade Deadline

To New York Islanders (31-22-9) ...
RW Maddox Fleming (Unsigned) HTop9 66ovr 19yo PLY
*Longshot for NHL role, great skating, good puck skills, otherwise lacking*
LW Mike Hoffman (1x4.71) 83ovr 33yo SNP

To Montreal...
LW Matt Martin (1x1.5) 77ovr 33yo GRN
2023 4th round pick
2024 2nd round pick
2024 3rd round pick
2025 5th round pick

After Trade Deadline
Montreal looks ahead to the draft where they will likely have two top-15 selections, as well as three second round picks. These selections can be important in deciding the future of the club.
20 games remain in the regular season.

F Tyler Toffoli resigns on a 2 year deal worth $5.55M per year

D Kaiden Guhle resigns on a 3 year deal worth $2.0M per year

End of Season
Montreal finishes with a record of 38-38-6, Detroit finishes 38-37-7. We will be entering the lottery with picks #10 and #11.
Laval finishes with a record of 45-29-8, 12th in the league.

Laval knocked out first round in 4 games.

Now thinking about what we need out of this draft, positionally. Usually select best player available though.

 

[FerrisRox]

Too late now, but the draft picks are mixed up for the Arizona/Dvorak deal.

The Canadiens are sending the Coyotes the Hurricanes 1st rounder, not their own.

 

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Too late now, but the draft picks are mixed up for the Arizona/Dvorak deal.

The Canadiens are sending the Coyotes the Hurricanes 1st rounder, not their own.

Didn't even think of that, I thought it was already accounted for as best as it could be in the game. The stipulation on Dvorak deal is Arizona gets the best of the two first rounders (MTL or CAR) unless one is in top 10 then they get the worst pick. We had pick 11 and 15 and we forfeited pick 11, so it worked out relatively well I'd say. I don't write out every small transaction, but I moved back from pick 15 to 26 anyway for 2022 draft too. Appreciate you pointing that out though, didn't even consider the condition! Cheers

 

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2023 Draft Day

Trade to CHI...
Round 2 #63
RW S. Wolf Mtop6 67ovr 19yo TWF

From CHI...
Round 1 #25

To WSH..
RW N Kalinin MTop6 71 ovr
RW K Dolzhenkov HTop9 69ovr

From WSH..
Round 1 #24
2024 Round 3

Notable Draft Picks!
1st round #11
LW Zachary Pan (Timra SHL) MElite 6'4" 215lbs PWF 17yo 79ovr
Elite shot, great puck skills, skating for size. Great hitting, strength, screens. NHL ready
1st round #12
RD Mazden Leslie (WHL) MElite 6'2" 194lbs TWD 18yo 67ovr
Solid skating, decent puck skills and shot. Defensive awareness needs work. Long term project with elite upside. Returning to WHL for likely 2 seasons.
1st round #24
RD Pavel Semyonov (Russia) MElite 6'2" 199lbs TWD 17yo 77ovr
At #24 we find what we believe to be the best defenceman in the draft. Top pairing upside. Elite back skating, great physicals and awareness already. Next year or the year after we will see Semyonov make his debut.
1st round #25
LW Maxim Nazarov (Russia) MTop6 6'4" 214lbs PWF 18yo 75ovr
Power forward great in tight. Elite NHL shot, solid speed for a big frame. Should have the tools to make it in a bottom six role in the NHL.
2nd round #43
C Timofei Kaminsky (Russia) Mtop6 5'9" 176lbs PLY 17yo 74ovr
Playmaking/creativity is the name of the game. A known ankle breaker, Kaminsky projects as a middle six center capable of winning draws that can inject some offense in to the lineup.
2nd round #61
LD/RD Kelly Wozniewski (Swiss) MTop4 6'2" 203lbs TWD 18yo 72ovr
Swiss defenceman had a quiet year in NLA. Plays a two-way game, has a well-built skillset that could allow him to be a #5/#6 dman. Solid passer, awareness.
3rd round #96
LW Jorgen Enroth (SHL) MTop6 6'0" 188lbs PLY 18yo 72ovr
Well built, 2-3 year project. Creative passer, smooth skating.
4th round #109
RW Oleg Kondratiev (Russia) MTop6 6'3" 200 lbs TWF 19yo 72ovr
200 ft game, no flaws in his skill set. Size and skill, could be a solid shutdown bottom-six forward in 3ish years.

Draft of the Russians I suppose. Some minor deals were made to move around in the draft as we scouted heavy for this draft especially for late value. We unfortunately missed out on a complete steal that we had our eyes on, who the Islanders grabbed with the 23rd pick unexpectedly (we had him pegged around 26). An NHL ready center playmaker with elite abilities from the USA. Moving on now with the draft complete, we have signed a wave of prospects and will be continuing to develop and build around a young core.

Opening Roster
Toffoli 86 - Suzuki 90 - Gallagher 85
Drouin 83 - Dvorak 87 - Caufield 85
Armia 80 - Evans 83 - Malgin 81
Pan 79 - Poehling 79 - Ylonen 81

Brodie 85 - Trouba 85
Zboril 82 - Romanov 80
Guhle 80 - Savard 80

Allen 83
Holtby 82

Norlinder 79/Sobolev 77

Team has loose expectations for season. Ideally, still looking to rebuild and hit on some gems in the draft. Hoping for some growth from our youth in Laval. Only concern at the moment is that prospect pool is somewhat oversaturated with RHD. May be time to look for a shutdown, defensive LHD. Will keep an eye on upcoming draft/prospects for elite size/skill.

Right Before Trade Deadline:
Montreal: 35-22-6
Laval: 36-21-5
Montreal is doing extremely well this year, surpassing expectations, so we have been chugging along. Suzuki leads the way with 21G, 79P, in 63GP.
Updated Montreal System U21 Rankings
1. RD Semyonov 18yo 80ovr MElite (MTL)
2. LW Pan 18yo 83ovr MElite (MTL)
3. C Markkanen 19yo 80ovr LElite (MTL)
4. RD Edler 19yo 77ovr MTop4 (LAV)
5. C/RW Kaminsky 18yo 78ovr MTop6 (LAV)
6. C Morrisonn 20yo 77ovr MTop6 (LAV)
7. LW Nazarov 18yo 76ovr MTop6 (LAV)
8. G Barkov 21yo 75ovr MElite (LAV)
9. RD Salomonsson 19yo 73ovr MTop4 (SHL)
10. RD Leslie 18yo 70ovr MElite (WHL)
HM. RD Hamara 19yo 70ovr MTop4 (Liiga)

We have a large selection of RHD. May keep Hamara (8 goals 30 points 41 games +11 Liiga), the OFD from Finland, and consider moving Salomonsson for a LD as we have a lot of TWD. Upcoming draft looks to be weak on Dman.

Zach Pan has shown growth already this season, putting up 24 goals and 37 points in 63 games with a +10 rating. Semyonov and Markkanen have made the transition to the NHL.
Semyonov has 2 goals and 4 points in 16 games with a +3 rating on the 3rd pair, and Markkanen has 2 goals and 3 points with a -5 rating on the 4th line, both have played 16 games.

 

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Trade Deadline:

To CHI...
D Mattias Norlinder 23yo HTop6D 79ovr (1x0.825)
RW Stephan Wolf 20yo MTop6 69ovr (Unsigned)
- TWF prospect with 21P in 44GP in DEL. Flawed skillset

From CHI...
D Jake McCabe 30yo 82ovr (1x4.0)


To NJD...
G Braden Holtby 34yo 82 ovr (1x1.475)
D Dawson Pitton 20yo LElite 66ovr (3x0.95)
D Elias Salomonsson 20yo MTop4 73ovr (Unsigned)
2022 2nd round pick
From NJD...
G Mackenzie Blackwood 27yo 86ovr (1x1.225)

We decided to reward the teams play of 8 straight wins, and 10 in the last 11 games, by going out and acquiring a true starting goalie from the Devils who have Blackwood as a backup to Kuemper. They were looking to move him, and we give up top prospect LD Salomonsson in the process. The lines following the trade deadline:

Toffoli 87 - Suzuki 91 - Gallagher 86
Drouin 84 - Dvorak 87 - Caufield 86
Pan 83 - Evans 83 - Malgin 82
Armia 81 - Markkanen 80 - Ylonen 82

Brodie 84 - Trouba 85
Zboril 82 - McCabe 82
Guhle 80 - Semyonov 80

Blackwood 86
Allen 83
*Romanov80/Savard80/Poehling79*

The Canadiens entered the trade deadline on a heater with 8 straight wins and 10 in 11, and continue the streak with 4 more wins before being shutout by the Stars 3-0 in Dallas. The 12 game win streak has almost solidified Montreal's spot in the Atlantic playoff picture, with the Leafs running away with the President's Trophy, and Florida, Tampa, and Montreal fighting for the next three positions in the Atlantic.

End of Season: Before Playoffs

Montreal: 45-29-8 4th in Atlantic, 1st wild card position. 98pts.

Laval: 53-24-5 1st in North. 111 pts.

Notable Statlines:

MTL

C Nick Suzuki 24yo 92ovr PLY 5'11" 208 (MTL)
82GP 27G 103P +19 20:14
RW Gallagher 31yo 87ovr TWF 5'9" 183 (MTL)
82GP 38G 79P +25 19:43
RW Cole Caufield 23yo 86ovr SNP 5'7" 174 (MTL)
82GP 37G 67P +12 16:29
LW Zachary Pan 19yo 84ovr PWF 6'4" 215 (MTL)
82GP 21G 51P +3 11:47

LAV

LW Maxim Nazarov 18yo 77ovr PWF 6'4" 214 (Laval AHL)
82GP 49G 72P +15 17:04TOI
Avg 4 shots/game most on team, 10 PPG 18 PPP
RD Ludvig Edler 20yo 77ovr TWD 6'4" 202 (Laval AHL)
82GP 9G 63P +37 23:28TOI
Elite/superstar abilities, now starting to generate offence and is a shot blocking machine. Could be more physical, less giveaways. Massive growth since 36 points and -6 last season, in similar minutes/role. Probably ready for Depth role in NHL next season.
LW Jorgen Enroth 18yo 73ovr PLY 6'0" 188 (Laval AHL)
82 GP 30G 54P +1 13:18TOI!
Overshadowed by other young talent.. Still gets nearly 3 shots a game, grabbed 9 game winners, and only 9 of 30 goals were on PP. More takeaways then giveaways.
G Kai Barkov 21yo 78ovr HYB 6'0" 186 (Laval AHL)
64GP 38W .915%Sv 2.42GAA 8SO
NHL ready next year because of superb athleticism and good enough reflexes. Lacks poise, though. Consistency questionable?

Prospects

LW Alexei Lisin 19yo 75ovr PWF 6'2" 208 (Russia)
49GP 22G 46P +10 19:22TOI
World class shot, excellent penalty killer/defensive specialist, acceleration lacking but solid top end speed, physical game big question mark at next level.
LD/RD Kelly Wozniewski 19yo 74ovr TWD 6'2" 203 (NLA)
39GP 5G 6P +4 16:53TOI
Defensive game and physical has improved, which were glaring weaknesses when drafted. Relatively slow growth, but still some despite relatively limited usage in NLA. May be signed to ELC to play for Laval next season depending on depth.
LD Tomas Hamara 20yo 70ovr OFD 6'0" 187 (Liiga)
52GP 10G 34P +13 23:15TOI
Great puck skills, skating. Needs to work on physical game still.

Playoffs
Montreal gets the Carolina Hurricanes in the first round, who finished with a record of 44-30-8. Ryan vs Nick Suzuki. Jesperi Kotkaniemi.
Laval gets Syracuse in the first round, who finished with a record of 50-30-2

First Round Pl'offs:
Montreal has a chance to clinch the first round in game 5 in Carolina with a 3-1 series lead. If not, we head back to Montreal the next day for game 6.
First Period
Toffoli, Brodie, Evans. 3-0 MTL with one penalty kill no powerplays.
Second Period
Caufield. 4-1 MTL after Jarvis gets one back for CAR from the hashmarks.
Third Period
Malgin. 5-1 MTL, and we say farewell to the Hurricanes!!

Toffoli lead the way with 3G 3A in 5 GP, Malgin put up 4P in 5GP. Blackwood with a .938%SV and 2.00GAA

Laval needs to win a game 5 showdown with Syracuse to move on to the next round.
First Period
0-0, outshot 12-4 by Syracuse
Second Period
1-1, goal by Biondi.
Third Period
3-1 LAV wins! Mysak pots the game winner 3 minutes into the third and top defensive prospect Edler grabs the empty netter to put the series away.

Top 2 lines looking good, bottom 6 somewhat struggling.

Second Round Pl'offs for MTL and LAV: Upcoming!

 

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Second Round:
Laval beats Rochester in 6 games.
Montreal faces Ovechkin and the Caps, and the Habs find themselves leading the series 3-2 with a chance to clinch at home.
Game 6
First Period
Suzuki and Oshie 1-1.
Second Period
Ovechkin. 2-1 WSH
Third Period
Gallagher, Drouin, then WSH strikes twice to regain the lead. Suzuki scores with 0:58 remaining to tie the game 4-4. WSH leads shots 36-21
Overtime
Oshie scores two minutes in to OT and we are heading back to Washington for game 7.
Game 7
First
0-0
Second
Milano 1-0 WSH
Third
Evans 1-1, then 3-1 WSH lead with 13:00 remaining.
4-1 game.

Laval Third Round:
C Markkanen and RD Semyonov have been reassigned to Laval who currently lead Lehigh Valley 1-0 in the Conference Finals

Series is going to game 7.
First Period
Farrell, Markkanen, and Kaminsky score. 3-1 LAV
Second Period
3-3
Third Period
Markkanen again and Nazarov to finish off the Phantoms.

Laval is going to the Calder Cup Final against the Henderson Silver Knights!

Game 1: 4-1 L
Game 2: 8-3 W
Game 3: 5-2 W
Game 4: 3-1 L
Game 5: 6-0 L
Game 6: 6-2 L

Came up short, many impressive performances from our prospects.

Stanley Cup: Vegas
Calder Cup: Henderson

Draft upcoming, with two first rounders and one second round pick.

 

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Before Draft Day 2024
LW Zachary Pan (86ovr, 18yo) has grown tremendously this year and is ready for a top 6 role next season (79ovr to 86ovr, 18 years old still). We grabbed him at #11 overall in the 2022 draft.
G Kai Barkov (79ovr, 21yo) also has shown significant growth and should be ready to get some starts in the NHL next season.
C Hannu Markkanen (80 ovr, 19yo) has offensively struggled at the NHL level (2G 3P in 12GP playoffs) but tore up the Calder Cup Playoffs (4 G 14P in 12 GP playoffs) after being sent back down. May top out as a really solid third line center for us, still has that second line upside with some more growth.

As for drafting, we will most likely be selecting the best player available with our picks, but we would like to be able to grab a goalie if we get the chance, and more forwards then defence. We have two late first round picks (#24, #26) as well as pick #44 in the second round.

We have a few options for our picks in the first round:

C/RW Alexei Dontsov 5'11" 188 (18yo) PLY Russia
About a year away from NHL. Magic hands and offensive creativity, loyalty concern. Style: Patrick Kane
C Oskar Vuollet 5'11" 176 (18yo) TWF SHL
Also a year away. Leader, great hands, skating. No weaknesses, similar style to Selanne.
LW Sylvain Delorme 5'11" 180 (18yo) PLY QMJHL
About a year away. Pro release, hands. One on one skill. Similar style to nobody. Pro mentality.
RD Salvador Tripp 5'11" 184 (17yo) TWD SHL
1 year away, similar style to Hedman. Shutdown ability, puck mover. Potentially has zone ability.

These are the best players available in the region (late first round/early second) we are selecting. We can realistically get two of them, or three if we make a move down from pick #44 to snag an extra prospect. All appear to be just about a year away from being ready for NHL minutes. Really weak draft for goalies, so we may not worry about it, but we have our eyes on 17yo Italian goalie Sean Nesbitt playing in Fribourg-Gotteron in NLA. Ranked somewhere in the 4th round, potentially elite upside.

Need to decide which one is worth taking. System rankings are the same for now so we won't do an update until after the draft and offseason.

Upcoming: Draft Day/Offseason 2024

 

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Montreal Selections
1st round(24): LW Sylvain Delorme PLY MTop6F 72ovr [QMJHL]
One of the better players from QMJHL, Delorme has well built skillset overall. Maybe NHL ready in 2-3 years.
1st round(26): RD Salvador Tripp TWD MTop4 74ovr [Liiga]
Somewhat broken, yet possibly effective skillset, no zone ability but the scouting report was relatively accurate. Great awareness, puck skills, plays an aggressive game and is exceptional defensively. Awful shooting mechanics and skating is lacking, but top end speed is good. 5'11" 184, needs a bit of weight and strength to perhaps be a 5th/6th shutdown D with good enough puck movement and awareness.
3rd round(77): LW Bernard Fortin TWF MElite 49ovr [QMJHL]
5 year project from Moncton. Hope to see increase in ice time.
4th round(123): RD/LD Peter Bliznak DFD LElite 51ovr [Extraliga]
Right handed Czech D, didn't see alot of ice time. 6'1" 201lbs at 18 and decent skating/physical. Project
4th round(124): LW Garrett Boyle SNP LElite 48ovr [USA]
Project from USA.
5th round (133): LW Yury Kaigorodov SNP LElite 54ovr [Russia]
Also project.

Contracts
Resign RW Brendan Gallagher 2 x 6.775M (82GP 38G 79P)
Resign LW Jonathan Drouin 1 x 5.850M (78GP 21G 63P)
Resign LD/RD Alexander Romanov 3 x 2.475M (58GP 9G 20P)

Free Agency
Signed LW/RW Jonathan Marchessault to a 1 year 6.225M deal. 86 ovr PLY at 33 yo.

Decided to go for a forward we scouted to be great in locker rooms and a great fit for our top 6 in Montreal. We were not satisfied with the defenseman available, and also believe Semyonov will be taking a big step next season for us. As the season begins, we will monitor the performance of our defense and see what needs to be done. We may move a forward out for a Top 2 or Top 4 dman if we struggle, or to bolster the lineup in general as deadline approaches later on.

Lines as of Preseason...

Pan 87 - Suzuki 92 - Caufield 87
Toffoli 86 - Dvorak 88 - Gallagher 86
Drouin 85 - Evans 82 - Marchessault 86
Armia 80 - Markkanen 81 - Kaminsky 79
Malgin80/Poehling79

Brodie 84 - Trouba 86
Guhle 83 - Semyonov 83
Romanov 81 - Savard 79
Edler78

Blackwood85/Allen80

Pan and Caufield both make their debuts on the top line. We have young guys in Markkanen and Kaminsky on the 4th line, and will be giving games to Edler in place of Savard on the 3rd pairing, especially in preseason. Edler may be sent back down for big minutes in Laval.

In Laval, we have young guys in Alexei Lisin (77ovr, 20), Sean Farrell (77ovr,22), Maxim Nazarov (77ovr, 19), Jorgen Enroth (75ovr, 19) leading the way in our top 6. Highly skilled forwards.

The D-corps features newly drafted RD Salvador Tripp (74ovr, 18) from Finland as well as the debuting LD Tomas Hamara (73ovr, 20) from Czechia. Daniil Dobolev (2021 5th round, 142) sits at a 77ovr at 21yo. DFD who came out of nowhere (MTop6D), leading the defense. Barkov back in net, just not quite ready to take the backup spot. Will get starts in Laval.

2024-2025 Season Start

As the season begins, the Montreal Canadiens expect to be in the playoff picture come April. If injecting our young prospects into the lineup proves to be a bad decision, I will move players down where needed, make trades.

Updated MTL U22 Rankings
1. LW Zach Pan 87ovr 19 MElite
2. RD Pavel Semyonov 83ovr 19 MElite
3. C Hannu Markkanen 81ovr 20 LElite
4. G Kai Barkov 80ovr 22 MElite
5. C/RW Timofei Kaminsky 79ovr 19 MTop6F
6. RD Ludvig Edler 78ovr 20 MTop4D
7. LW Maxim Nazarov 77ovr 19 MTop6F
8. LW Alexei Lisin 77ovr 20 MTop6F
9. C Neil Morrisonn 77ovr 21 MTop6F
10. RW Oleg Kondratiev 75ovr 19 MTop6F

The lines to open the season are as depicted as above.

We have reassigned RD Ludvig Edler to the Laval Rocket following a 3-0 start to the season. Not a terrible start for him but still not ready for NHL minutes, and would benefit from another year in the AHL.

 

[mistaclick]

At the Trade Deadline

Montreal sits in 1st in the league with 90 points and a record of 43-16-4.
Laval is sitting outside of the playoff picture with 64 points and a record of 30-28-4.

Our third line of Drouin/Evans/Marchessault has a combined 115 points with a combined +52 through roughly ~60 games together.
Blackwood has a record of 31-11-3 with a .921 and 2.63GAA

Laval is struggling to score, and goalie prospect Kai Barkov is really struggling in what was supposed to be his last season before making the jump to the NHL. 17-21-2 with a .905 and 3.03GAA.

LW Yury Kaigorodov, (2024 5th round, #133) SNP LElite, is solidifying his presence as a legit prospect in the organization, so far grabbing 5G 16P +11 13:27TOI in 41GP in Russia. Drafted as a long-term project, Yury has had a breakout year and jumped from 54ovr to 70ovr at the young age of 18. Skating projects good enough for bottom-six, with a heavy shot already. May be ready for North American pro hockey next season.

LW Oleg Goldobin, (2023 6th round, #195) PLY LElite, has also skyrocketed up this year to a 72 ovr, although he is already 21 years old. Has great puck skills, awareness already. Will be signed to ELC this offseason.

LD/RD Kelly Wozniewski, (2023 2nd round, #61) TWD MTop4D, is an all situations defender for his team this year logging 6G 17P +11 and 23:03 TOI with only 6 penalties through 37 games in the NLA. Sitting at 75ovr at 20yo, the 6'2" Swiss defender has been dominating all year and will be signed to an ELC following the completion of their season.

Trade Deadline

To PIT...
LD Brenden Hickman (Unsigned)
A 2024 3rd round pick of ours at 58ovr MTop4D potential.

From PIT...
LD Jon Merrill (2 x 1.775M)

With a deep prospect pool we felt comfortable moving away Hickman to acquire Merrill to bolster our line up, especially with Edler back in Laval. Savard will now be our 7th man and Merrill will step in to the third pairing with Romanov. Pittsburgh had 8 or 9 NHL dman and had Merrill scratched for most of the season. This move made the most sense while trying to hold on to as many assets as possible. Still need to retool/rebuild for future, and we may look to make a huge splash at the draft this year. Really interesting 6'1" 196lb LD DFD from Sweden that we may look into grabbing in the top 5 with our own first, a top prospect, mid prospect, and maybe Guhle/Romanov? Always worth considering trading up for a heavy DVD that can skate too and has some superstar abilities (puck battling, back skating, truculent, shot blocking) and great leadership. Our forwards will remain the same heading into the playoffs.

Updated Lines
Pan 89 - Suzuki 92 - Caufield 88
Gallagher 87 - Dvorak 88 - Toffoli 86
Drouin 85 - Evans 83 - Malgin 80*+*
Armia 81 - Markkanen 82 - Kaminsky 81

Brodie 83 - Trouba 85
Guhle 83 - Semyonov 85
Merrill 81 - Romanov 81

Blackwood 85/Allen 81

Marchessault86*+*/Savard80/Poehling79

Rest of Season
Following the trade deadline the Montreal Canadiens kick off the last month streaking with 6 straight wins before being bested in overtime by Colorado. The Canadiens hit 100 points in their 68th game of the regular season and have clinched a playoff spot. The New York Rangers sit in second in the league behind Montreal with 47-20-4 and 98 points. For now it looks like Montreal will be playing the Sabres, Flyers, or Islanders in the first round, all fighting for a wild card spot. We are leading the Atlantic division by 15 points with around 10 games remaining for all teams.

Following scouting meeting we have identified a gem we will pursue in heavily underrated offensive defenseman RD Spike Heard from USA West. Rated at the end of 2nd/early 3rd and the scouts believe he has elite upside. Lacks size but is a fantastic puck mover and has great character/work ethic. Someone we will be targeting come draft day.


End of Season
Montreal finishes the regular season with a record of 55-21-6 and 116 points to take the President's Trophy!
First line combining for roughly a PPG each, third line tallying 40-50 points each, and Semyonov surprising with 11G 31A +40 in 82GP this year playing mostly on the second pair. Really growing into a top pairing defenseman. Only defenseman from the 2023 draft to play in NHL still.

Laval misses the playoffs by a mere point or two, finishing with a record of 43-34-5 good enough for 91 points.

ELC Signings
Signed RW Oleg Kondratiev (2023 4th round #109) TWF 75ovr 20yo MTop6F
Signed LD/RD Kelly Wozniewski (2023 2nd round #61) TWD 75ovr 20yo MTop4D
Signed RD Mazden Leslie (2023 1st round #12) TWD 73ovr 20yo MElite
Signed LW Oleg Goldobin (2023 6th round #195) PLY 72ovr 21yo LElite

First Round: Buffalo Sabres
Relatively average lineup except for the center depth. 87ovr Dylan Cozens as 3C pretty much sums it up. Weak goaltending and defense.

Game 1: 3-2 MTL. Markkanen and Toffoli score a minute apart with 5 remaining in the 3rd to pull ahead.
Game 2: 6-0 MTL. All lines scoring tonight. Dvorak 1A +2 6Hits, Blackwood 33 save shutout.
Game 3: 5-2 BUF. Buffalo grabs win at home despite being outshot 40-28. Rough one.
Game 4: 5-3 BUF. MTL was leading 3-2 in the 3rd before giving up 3 straight in the last 8 minutes.
Game 5: 2-1 MTL *2OT* . Drouin is the 2OT hero with a PPG after a Krebs hook. MTL with 51 shots to BUF's 41. Trouba with 33:30TOI 5Shots 4Hits. 12 players played 20:00 or more.
Game 6: 5-3 MTL. Toffoli grabs the game winner with 7 minutes remaining in the 3rd. Gallagher was doing it all tonight, logging 1G 1A 9Shots 4Hits in only 15:52TOI!

MTL beats BUF 4-2 to move on to the second round. Ticket has been booked with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Toffoli leads team with 3G 8P in 6GP

Second Round: Toronto Maple Leafs
First line is deadly, Boldy90/Matthews98/Marner94. Bottom-six is lacking, and the defense as well as goaltending are relatively similar to ours. Will probably be a tight battle this round even with our home ice advantage.

Game 1: 5-4 MTL. A third period with 6 goals sees the Canadiens come out on top following a Marchessault GWG with 3:00 remaining. Gallagher with 3A, Toffoli 2G.
Game 2: 6-1 TOR. Game slipped away from us in third period. First line all had a -4 rating on the night.
Game 3: 6-1 MTL. And Montreal pounces right back in Toronto with a 6-1 night of their own! Romanov with 2G in the first period blew open the game. Zach Pan makes up for last games -4 with a 2G 3P +2 7Shot 4Hit night in 16:32TOI. Entire first line only played around 16-17 minutes.
Game 4: 9-1 TOR. Embarrassing game to say the least. 6 goals in the first period, Marner took over with 6 assists, Blackwood .739%Sv. Everyone was bad on Montreal except for the 4th line really. Will shake up some of the D-pairings for next game in Montreal, Semyonov has looked better then Guhle this playoffs and is likely our best defenseman now anyways.
Game 5: 5-4 MTL *OT*. What a game. A Zach Pan hat trick kicks off the night right before a 4-1 lead collapse in the third period sees the Leafs/Habs head to OT at 4 apiece. One minute in and Marchessault capitalizes on a fatal error by Leaf goalie Gustavsson, scoring the OTW from center ice!!! Ridiculous end to a game almost completely fumbled by Montreal.
Game 6: 3-1 MTL. And we're off to the East finals. Suzuki and Caufield each grab 2 points and a +1 rating tonight. Solid game by everyone. Blackwood made 24/24 saves, Allen 4/5.

MTL beats TOR to move on to the East finals. First line was responsible for most of their scoring but could not outwork our forward depth as a whole. Still rough defensively but we got the job done with two straight wins after a 9-1 blowout loss (little help from a center ice OTW lmao). Good sign for us. Suzuki leads the way with 1G and 13P in 12GP.
Washington Capitals swept Philadelphia, record of 48-29-5 good for 3rd in Metro division this season.
Vegas vs Anaheim in the West finals.

Third Round: Washington Capitals
While they have similar goaltending to us and a weak D-corps, they arguably have the strongest 12 forwards in the entire league, starting with 39yo Alex Ovechkin still tallying 6G 18P in 11GP these playoffs on the first line. A fourth line of Tanev 84 - Stephenson 84 - Sprong 84 sums up their depth.

Game 1: 5-3 WSH. Our first line was clicking but it wasn't enough. Blackwood with 33/38 tonight.
Game 2: 5-2 MTL. Gallagher kinda night! 1G 1A +2 4Shots 4Hits 21:38TOI.
Game 3: 4-3 WSH *2OT*. MTL with 49 shots to WSH 47. Sheary gets OTW.
Game 4: 6-4 MTL. Three goals in the 3rd propel the Canadiens to a win. Big night for our first line combining for 7 points, and Semyonov posts 2P +2 3Shots 2Hits 26:38 TOI.
Game 5: 6-4 WSH. A late three goal push by the Canadiens isn't enough to catch up. First line combines for 6 points but not enough.
Game 6: 5-4 WSH *OT*. Semyonov ties it with 2 minutes left in the game to send it to overtime, but a McMichael PPG ends it in OT.

WSH knocks out MTL 4-2 in the East finals and will be heading on to face Anaheim for the Stanley Cup.

Overall a good playoff run considering the fact that we are a young team lacking solid defenseman. Special teams really struggled throughout and team was wildly inconsistent.
Semyonov really impressed on the back end with 2G 8A 53Shots 35Blocks and 24:59TOI in 18GP. Playing big minutes against tough opponents and stood out as our top defenseman. The 19yo RHD is poised to step in to our top pairing for the foreseeable future.
Romanov grabbed 6 goals! in 18 games. Played solid with Merrill on third pair.
Suzuki-Pan-Caufield first line lead team scoring with 21, 20, 19 points respectively. We had great depth scoring too but seemed to struggle defensively across the board.

Heading into draft we have eyes on a few players as later steals with elite upside. We may look to trade up and draft a gem shutdown defenseman with some elite abilities in the top 5 this year. May ship out a second line forward, Romanov and other assets to make it work. May have to trade up as high as 3 though, which may be out of reach. Otherwise will hold at late first round.

Upcoming: 2025 Draft/Offseason

 

[Mal Reynolds]

Nice run! Things seem to be coming together nicely I'd tend to agree, you could use a stud top pair D to pair with Semyonov (unless you have some young D with elite potential tucked away somewhere)

Your write ups are great, btw

 

[mistaclick]

Nice run! Things seem to be coming together nicely I'd tend to agree, you could use a stud top pair D to pair with Semyonov (unless you have some young D with elite potential tucked away somewhere)

Your write ups are great, btw

Thanks! Yeah no definitely not, I think(?) we only have D prospects that should fill out the third pairing (not on game right now). Also going off of that, sometimes I forget to include every prospect I get from the draft as I try to only include the noteworthy selections, so naturally I miss a few elite 4-5 year projects, but they don't usually pan out anyways so not that serious. But yeah, definitely looking into that D gem from Sweden in the top 5. I don't usually have great luck with developing star defense, but Semyonov has been a really pleasant surprise to say the least.

We did have our eyes on an elite upside OFD later in the draft, so we may make the big splash for the DFD gem in the early going of the draft.

And thanks again, I appreciate it! Just trying to have fun and keep things relatively simply. If you have any ideas/suggestions for the team or for the writeups let me know!

 

[mistaclick]

Anaheim wins Stanley Cup

Draft Day 2025

To DAL...
RW Gallagher (2 years remaining)
RD Leslie (Unsigned 73ovr MELite)
2025 1st rnd #31

From DAL...
2025 1st rnd #2
C Roope Hintz (expiring contract)
LD/RD Kale Clague (expiring)

Expensive to move up, had to give up 33yo Gallagher at 88ovr and MElite RD prospect Mazden Leslie. Leslie was 20yo and only 73ovr, will be drafting a high 70ovr MElite shutdown Dman, so this is worth it for us down the road. Will look to free agency as we continue to develop our young core.


1st rnd, #2: LD Jesper Nilsson MElite 78ovr DFD 6'1" 197
Shutdown D, will start next season in Laval top 4.
2nd round, #45: RD Spike Heard MElite 54ovr OFD 5'10" 176
Offensive player from USA. The skating projects to be good enough for the NHL if he can grow considerably overall in 2-3 years. Boom/bust.
2nd round, #64: LW Par Sylvegard MElite 62ovr GRN 6'3" 192
Best grinder style since we drafted Pitton the enforcer in 2021. Only got into 11 games in Sweden. Can be a really solid bottom-six forward for us in future.
3rd round, #83: LD Gene Langfeld MElite 54ovr TWD 6'5" 210
Huge overager (19 yo) TWD out of USA, wasn't really scouted and was a blindish pick. Skating skills already around 74/75, with good growth can become a solid prospect.
4th round, #130: G Georges Bordeleau MElite 48ovr HYB 6'3" 209
The 18 year old goalie out of Baie-Comeau didn't see much icetime last season. Plays a non-aggressive style.
5th round, #144: LD Jonathon Dal Colle LElite 54ovr DFD 6'4" 204
Blind pick from Norway. Long term project, skating projects to not be good enough for NHL
5th round, #163: G Nicklas Ottosson MElite 48ovr HYB 6'3" 206
17 year old playing in Finland. Got a few games last season.

Talk about a draft, we hit on 7 elite potential players (two were drafted blind). This could be a draft that shapes our future. Nilsson will be signed while the rest return to their clubs and we hope to see a gem develop from this list.

Offseason
Marchessault pitched in 29G and 29A in 78GP in 11:54TOI for us last year. 34 yo turning 35 this upcoming season, letting walk in free agency. We need to allocate money to Caufield extension this year, Semyonov and Pan next year.

Sign C Hintz 2 x 5.85M
Sign LW Drouin 2 x 3.85M
Sign LW Toffoli 1 x 9.5M
Sign LW Delorme to ELC. 2024 1st rnd pick with 139P in 130GP in QMJHL, 19yo. Will head to Laval.
Sign G Blackwood to 1 x 7.5M

Free Agency
Sign D Forbort to 1 x 1.75M

Extensions Signed July 1st
Sign Zach Pan to a 8 x 7.525M (87ovr, 19yo)
Sign Pavel Semyonov to a 8 x 6.075M (86ovr, 19yo)
Sign Kaiden Guhle to a 4 x 5.2M (84ovr, 23yo)

Opening Lineup
Pan88 - Suzuki91 - Caufield89
Toffoli89 - Dvorak89 - Hintz87
Drouin83 - Markkanen84 - Evans84
Lisin80 - Morrisonn80 - Kaminsky82

Guhle84 - Semyonov87
Brodie81 - Trouba83
Romanov81 - Edler81

Blackwood87/Barkov85

Malgin80/Armia81/Forbort80

Starting the NHL regular season we have legitimate top prospect Yury Kaigorodov 73ovr 19yo in his D+2 season already off to a hot start. 6GP 5G 9A 14P +6 7PPP 19:00TOI.

Tons of young prospects to keep an eye on heading in to our season opener, including the likes of Lisin, Morrisonn, Edler, and Barkov, all entering their rookie seasons. Brodie has taken a step back this year, may need to pursue a top 4 D later on.

Upcoming: 2025-2025 Season

 

[Readytostart]

These are fun to read. Keep it up.
If I were you I'd try my damndest to bolster that d-core. Either a bonafide #1 D or another 86-87 that would allow Guhle to slide down to that second pair.
Those forwards are Cup-worthy. Good group.

 

[mistaclick]

(Was a bit lazy this season and am doing the writeup a bit late)

2025-2026 Regular Season
The team began the season struggling, the entire backend was playing subpar and our depth scoring was lacking. Through the first 20 games of the season the Canadiens sat in the bottom 10 teams in the league, had to shift some lines around. It was a complete turn around by middle-end December though, and the team was back to playing well above .500 and pushing towards the playoff picture. Throughout January, the Canadiens are sitting just in the wild card/5th Atlantic spot. Struggling to stay afloat in a playoff berth but this roster is relatively strong.

Lost both Dvorak and Markkanen to injuries, second and third line centers respectively. Markkanen was back for most of Dvorak's 11 game absence.

Just before reaching the trade deadline it was decided that it was time to call up top defensive prospect 19 year old DFD Jesper Nilsson (2025 1st, #2). He may have what it takes to be on the top pair with Semyonov down the road, as the MElite Swede has already jumped up to an 83 overall ready for a top 4 pairing role from a 78 overall after half a season in Laval. In his 51 GP he registered just 9A with a -7 rating playing 22:02 a night on a struggling Laval squad, but also had 113Hits and 91Blocks. Already shows signs of improving offensive awareness, skating, along with a plethora of elite defensive abilities, this guy can be a stud for us in a few years.

He will slide directly in to the second pairing with Trouba, and Romanov-Edler will remain as the bottom pairing with Brodie scratched. D Forbort clears waivers and is reassigned to Laval.

LW Alexei Lisin has had a few games on the 4th line but still struggles with the broken skill set he was drafted with. May try to use as trade bait as we approach the trade deadline. For now, Joel Armia has secured a role on the 4th line with Morrisonn and Kaminsky.

Trade Deadline
The Montreal Canadiens have decided that with the 7 games played by young LD Jesper Nilsson that we would not pursue another top 4 defenseman heading into the trade deadline. The team looks to address the poor performance by the third line of Drouin-Markkanen-Evans. They are scoring, each sitting between 27-35 points in the roughly 60 games played, but all sit around a -10 rating and seem to be struggling morale wise. We may look to upgrade, add, or do whatever to this group to give them the best opportunity to make a playoff push.

We have a lot of great prospects, so the top trade bait as of now is one of the many MElite project prospects; RD Spike Heard, LD Gene Langfeld, F Bernard Fortin. Also depth LW Alexei Lisin may be used as trade bait, a young MTop6F forward at 80ovr.

Guhle 84 - Semyonov 87
Nilsson 83 - Trouba 83
Romanov 81 - Edler 81

The Montreal Canadiens have made a splash at the deadline after looking to find a trade for F Bernard Fortin (MElite, 20yo).

To WSH...
F Bernard Fortin (Unsigned TWF MElite, 68ovr 20yo) *About PPG in the QMJHL in D+2 season*
LW Alexei Lisin (2 x 0.975) (MTop6F 80 ovr 22yo)

From WSH...
2026 2nd round pick
2027 2nd round pick
LW Alex Ovechkin (1 x 6.4M) (86ovr 40yo)

Washington looks to get some return for an aging Ovechkin, who we plan to deploy in the middle-six, mostly to bolster the third line and inject some scoring. We make room by shipping out a depth role prospect in Lisin, and will now be scratching Armia from the lineup and dropping Drouin to the fourth line.

It is possible that acquiring a Dman was the best choice here but we feel it is important that Nilsson gets tough minutes now, as we think he has huge upside. The lineup now:

Pan 88 - Suzuki 91 - Caufield 89
Toffoli 89 - Dvorak 88 - Hintz 87
Ovechkin 86 - Markkanen 83 - Evans 83
Drouin 83 - Morrisonn 80 - Kaminsky 82

Guhle 84 - Semyonov 87
Nilsson 83 - Trouba 83
Romanov 81 - Edler 81

Malgin/Armia

End of 2025/2026 Regular Season

Injuries and a strong Atlantic division kill the team's playoff chances.
LW Alex Ovechkin posts 18G and 23P in 19GP for Montreal playing on the third line and PP2, but the acquisition isn't enough to get the boys into the playoffs.

Although in hindsight acquiring a defenseman may have been the best, LD Jesper Nilsson did have a really solid debut for Montreal, suiting up for 27 games and registering 1G 7P +12 19:15TOI and 38Hits 31Blocks. Now listed as 6'2" 206 still just a 19 year old. Will turn 20 sometime next season, and the Canadiens are hoping the early experience will benefit him.

Both Laval and Montreal miss playoffs by a few wins. Disappointing end, but we are continuing to move forward with our approach, still have a lot of young players here.

It is time to reassess and maybe shift some players around. We are happy with the top 6 forwards and top 4 defense for now, the depth needs to be altered somehow. A lot of youth coming up from Laval that can fill a depth role next season. LD Tomas Hamara ready for NHL minutes, we will be moving on from Brodie/Forbort. Semyonov, Guhle, Trouba, Nilsson, Edler, Romanov, Hamara will make up our 7 NHL D-man next year. All possess some form of superstar abilities, we are making strides in the right direction. Kelly Wozniewski from Laval (77ovr MTop4, 21yo) is a sleeper who could jump into an NHL role.

We look to let Barkov take the starter role, and Blackwood will be walking in free agency.

2026 Draft
Montreal is looking for best player available at every selection, or most ready for NHL minutes. Prospects aren't really well scouted this year, but we have eyes on a few players with our three second round picks and 16th overall selection. Two eye-catching D sitting early 2nd we like, one LD and one RD, and a forward late 1st we think could play in the NHL right now.

To BUF...
1st round #16 (acquires a MTop6F sniper 66ovr solid skillset)

From BUF...
1st round #25
3rd round #73
4th round #124

We move back and acquire some extra picks that we may need to further use to move around. The two D-man we have our eyes on are going to be gone before we even get to use our first 2nd round pick, so we are looking to move up in the second round now.

From FLA...
2nd round #34

To FLA...
2nd round #49
4th round #124 (originally BUF)

Get the chance to select first in the second round now with a trade we needed badly to get our guy. We feel confident that we will be able to get one of our defense prospects here, and there is still the possibility of jumping up in spots again to get both D we were interested in. We have the assets to do so.

1st round #25: LW Maxim Moroza PLY Latvia MTop6F 76ovr 18yo 5'11" 179
Really strong puck skills and skating. NHL calibre shooting and awareness already. 48GP and 12G 19P in Russia. Superstar passer within vision or not, peripheral passing is elite. 1-2 years in AHL or Russia before NHL.
2nd round #34: RD Brett Schneider DFD OHL LElite 62ovr 18yo 6'1" 192
Plays a throwback, aggressive game. Truculent, hits hitters back, great net front battles, puck battles. Really weak skillset. Hopefully gets lots of minutes in Niagara.
*Toronto takes the other guy we wanted a few spots earlier based on positional need. Should have saw that as a possibility. And he was the solid one and we drafted the rough skillset one. Oof. Still truculent zone ability tho*
3rd round #82: C Dallas Barnett SNP USA MTop6F 71ovr 19yo 6'3" 201 19yo turning 20yo
A bit of a late bloomer, but PPG in his D+2 season. The sniper has an NHL depth role package, including 80+ skating but has abysmal puck skills. Destined to be a goal scoring winger, not sure what his role would be though. 2-3 year project. Also is a puck magnet and snappy shooter.

That's it for the 2026 draft, a lot of busts this year.
Upcoming: Resigning/Free Agency leading into 2026/2027 season

 

[AlexGretzchenvid]

Just wanted to stop by and say thanks for the entertainment value this thread has given me.

The last year when you said you got "lazy", It really showed. Drouin on the 4th line? Ouch. Especially with the skilled youngsters your team has, that was a recipe for disaster. Trading Drouin now for someone similar aged but built for the third/4th line will help insulate those youngsters..

Also, what type of coaches do you have? Are they utilizing your fourth line correctly?

Keep the content coming!

 

[mistaclick]

Been pretty busy and didn't get much time to play so I just didn't do the write up for the last while(I usually play a few games, do scouting, slowly get through seasons really). Team struggled anyways for what I haven't written up, so not a crazy amount of content but we got a top 5 pick to recap, a decent draft, disgruntled star getting a fresh start elsewhere, some new faces, more mediocre regular season results, and promising prospect growth. We got us a Pablo and a Spike, just some world class hockey names. Gonna be a fun one.

We are now in the 2027/2028 Regular Season at present time but I'll briefly touch on the failure that was 2026/2027 .

2026/2027 Recap
We finished in the bottom 3 of the league, coaching change and some depth moves did not fix any issues. Nothing really explains it, we had a solid lineup which was similar to 2025/2026 end of season with some minor growth here and there. Third line and goaltending was the easily detectable issue, though. Some bad morale on 4-5 guys by the end of the bad season and Suzuki was the only one to drop in overall but his was significant. 86 overall as a 1st line forward, and our 1st line was the only thing working that entire season. Rough times in Montreal after 2026/2027.

Finishing in the bottom 3 we fell to the 4th pick in the 2027 draft. 5 of the top 6 prospects were defenseman with a single sniper ranked about 3rd overall. We wanted to move up to ensure we get the forward as we have two elite D-man already in Semyonov and Nilsson and some other solid D developing in Heard, Langfeld, Hamara, etc.

Trades were made to move around in the draft and I unfortunately don't have all of the details from these but there was nothing major. Minor moves while retaining noteworthy prospects and roster players.

2027 Draft Notables:
1st rnd #3: RW Pablo MacIntyre SNP USA MElite 77ovr 18yo 5'10" 172
Your typical elite sniper with top-tier skating/shooting. Sufficient awareness and puck skills. Defense/physicality obviously weak points now. Will be signed to play top 6/9 in Laval after recording 51G and 109P in 68GP in USA. We hope he can be a 1st line talent in a few years, hopefully NHL ready after 1 year in AHL.
1st rnd #27: LW Riley Rankin SNP WHL LElite 65 ovr 18yo 5'9" 169
A small sniper with a really broken skillset (superstar abilities though), recorded 45G 102P in 67GP in Spokane, so great value at end of first round. World class shooting and skating(minus agility), great defensive awareness and stick checks but awful offensive instincts. Abysmal puck handling/passing
2nd rnd #35: LW Blake Primeau PLY OHL LElite 63ovr 18yo 5'9" 171
Another small winger, this time hitting on a really well-built prospect. Superstar playmaking/puck control abilities, dangling is his zone ability. Had a quiet season for Guelph (37P in 63GP) but has the complete package to be a top-6 winger in NHL in 3-4 years.
2nd rnd #52: G Torsten Backstrom HYB Liiga MStarter 75ovr 19yo 6'1" 189
Plays aggressive and loves to keep puck in play. Just an overall well built goaltender, should be able to make it to the NHL at some point.
6th rnd #167: LW Chandler Komisarek PWF OHL LElite 71ovr 19yo 6'2" 192
Might be our steal of the draft. Passed over in his draft year now playing in his D+1 year, recorded 34P in 67GP. No idea how he is back here in the 6th. Has a well built skillset and size, likely tops out as a middle-six winger. Already high 70 skating is a great sign for a PWF like Komisarek.
7th rnd #200: LW Richard Mojzis PLY Czechia LElite 61ovr 19yo 5'10" 184
Another overager, long term project. Skating is actually not bad already, terrible physical/defense.

2027 Offseason
Let Drouin walk in free agency, his morale was low and struggled on 3rd line, demoted to 4th line and struggled there too with whole team. We expect our young depth to continue to fill out our bottom six moving forward.
Let Hintz walk as well he stuck out like a sore thumb in the top six as a bad fit.

Signed LW Clayton Keller (2 x 9.075) 88 ovr PLY 29yo
Under PPG last year for Arizona.
Signed RW Vlad Tarasenko (1 x 8.85) 87 ovr SNP 36yo
PPG last year in Philadelphia. 36 years old but we are hoping to get a top-6 sniper out of him.

Top six addition and we rely on youth to step in to bigger roles.

2027/2028 Regular Season
In the offseason we had to begin to consider moving Nick Suzuki after he dropped to an 86 after our poor performance in 2026/2027. Sometimes these players bounce back so I wanted to give it a fresh start with new coaches and some new depth/faces and if the team struggles we'll pull the trigger on a Suzuki deal. It took about 10 games and I think we went 2-8-0 or something along those lines. It was the easiest solution to making a change, although the likely issue is that our team relies too heavily on young talent.

To MIN...
C Nick Suzuki 86ovr (2 x 8.19)
G Justus Annunen 83ovr (2 x 0.9)
(I think I threw in a minor prospect as well. LTop6F or something similar, low tier)

From MIN...
C Marco Rossi 90ovr (2 x 8.25)
G Jesper Wallstedt 85ovr (2 x 4.6)

We have no concerns for cap space (still looking at 7-8mil available). Spent a little time hunting down the right deal and this was about as good as it was going to get for what we needed to do.
Minnesota in a similar boat (I think they were actually below us in standings), so these players had lost a lot of value, similarly to Suzuki who was more then both. Annunen a really affordable backup option but was struggling for us obviously. Our starter Kai Barkov, despite being signed to a 7 x 5.925 still, has really struggled too and can't be the main guy on his own with a backup like Annunen. Overall we get a slightly younger center for the first line (comparable contracts) in a swap and an upgrade in goal, hopefully taking pressure off of Barkov without giving up any other assets.

Where we are at now in 2027/2028:
MTL (26-27-4) sits in 5th in the Atlantic, about 6 points back of a wild card spot. Not expecting to make a big push for the playoffs really so it is likely some moves will be made at 2028 Deadline. Tons of assets that I am happy sitting with here. If we were in the wild card spot now I'd make a splash but honestly I'd rather look to sell Tarasenko/Dumba both expiring 34yo+ vets. There are no character issues in the room yet, we've traditionally achieved high 70's for locker room chemistry apart from 2026/2027, so I'm looking to keep this young group together as best as possible.
May need to ship out some youth next year and experiment with more experienced players.

Pan (A) 91 - Rossi 90 - Tarasenko 86
Keller 88 - Dvorak (A) 89 - Caufield 87
Kaigorodov 83 - Markkanen 84 - Goldobin 83
Evans 82 - Morrisonn 80 - Kaminsky 82

Nilsson 89 - Semyonov 88
Hamara 83 - Dumba (A) 84
Guhle 82 - Heard 80

Edler 81/Wozniewski 80/ Farrell 78

Wallstedt 85 - Barkov 83


A lot of young defenseman that we want to be giving ice time to so our hands are tied a bit. RD OFD Spike Heard taken in the 2025 draft has shot up our depth charts, after posting 49GP 8G 31P +23 for Laval this year so far. He is a 21yo MElite potential that has no right being in AHL anymore. The team may look to move on from Swiss LD/RD Wozniewski, 23yo MTop4D potential, as Edler has zone/superstar ability and is a really solid built third pairing defender with size and speed we'd like to keep long term. Guhle as well looking like a super solid bottom pairing PK defenseman long term. Many options moving forward on D.

Wingers Kaigorodov/Goldobin shot up as LElite forward prospects from Russia who both earned a spot on the third line out of camp. We've been rotating our bottom six though, as they have been struggling at times.
LD Nilsson exceptional growth so far to an 89 overall has solidified our back end. Hamara stepped into top 4 role as well.
Barkov struggles continue in net with him signed long term.

Little pipeline update here let's go with U23 and we'll rank by trade value, not just current skill level.

Updated Prospects before 2027/2028 Trade Deadline:
1. Zach Pan 91 ovr 22yo MElite
2. Pavel Semyonov 88ovr 22yo MElite
3. Jesper Nilsson 89ovr 20yo MElite
4. Pablo MacIntyre 79ovr 18yo MElite
5. Hannu Markkanen 84ovr 23yo LElite
6. Spike Heard 80ovr 21yo MElite
7. Par Sylvegard 76ovr 21yo MElite
8. Gene Langfeld 72ovr 22yo MElite
9. Tomas Hamara 83ovr 23yo MTop4D
10. Brett Schneider 75ovr 20yo LElite

I personally am excited for offensive left shot RD Spike Heard. Skyrocketed from a 54ovr 2nd round pick project in 2025 to an 80ovr offensive spark plug now in January of 2028. Only being dragged down by some 77-78 physical stats, otherwise all other stats are mid-high 80s (87+ puck skills and skating across the board, 90 passing 90 offensive awareness). Heard should become a great offensive talent for us that can play top 4 minutes in another year/two.

For the prospect enthusiasts: we have a steal in LW Komisarek from 2027 draft 6th round. He is sitting at an absurd pace of 52G and 104P in 44GP with a +12 rating for Hamilton in the OHL prior to the 2027/2028 trade deadline. Sitting at a 74ovr as a 19yo LElite player, expect the power forward to be making an impact in the NHL sooner rather then later. Probably next year but if not will be a top 6 winger in Laval. Really strange but exciting prospect, being an overager PWF with great skating in the 6th round.

This more or less covers it all up to 2027/2028 Trade Deadline. We are not a playoff team, so I may sell an expiring player for any return. Tarasenko dropped to 86 but has 23G 46P in 57GP on a (1 x 8.8). Matt Dumba at 84ovr 33yo is on an expiring deal as well (1 x 5.58).

NHL Coaches:
Head (B-) Forwards
Assoc (B-) Dman
Ast (C) General
Goal (C-) Goalie
We will be holding on to this coaching team next season as well and re evaluate then as we already brought on a new team after 2026/2027 embarrassment. We've turned it around relatively since Suzuki deal so the team has been making improvements.

Sorta committed to the youth here but I'm willing to make moves for experience for next season. Still unsure though. Eyes on moving a young center in Morrisonn or Kaminsky maybe for third line vet? I'm willing to move on from Hamara and Dumba this offseason or sooner, maybe acquire an 85+ top 4 pillar for next year to hopefully be paired with a top 4 ready Spike Heard? Hamara is a decent top 4 defender today but I see more offensive upside in Heard down the road, something we somewhat lack in our two star Dman on first pairing.

I hope to have more time moving forward to get detailed write ups done while going through the sim. Cheers, enjoy!
Upcoming: 2027/2028 Trade Deadline and End of Season

 

[mistaclick]

2027/2028 Before TDL
Standings(62/63 GP)
1. Washington 85Pts
2. San Jose 80Pts
3. Toronto 79Pts
4. Carolina 77Pts
5. Arizona 77Pts
6. NYI 76Pts
7. Edmonton 76Pts
8. Tampa 75Pts
9. Winnipeg 75Pts
10. Chicago 74Pts

Tight playoff race in many divisions right now, Montreal sits in 22nd in the league, 5th in the Atlantic with 64Pts (30-29-4). We are scoring 3.38 goals per game, 3.59 goals against per game which is really high even compared to teams low in the standings. It's evident bringing in Wallstedt didn't work much. 20.2% PP and 81.3% PK is about average PP and slightly above average for PK compared to contending teams league wide.

We have signed LW Chandler Komisarek, G Torsten Backstrom, and RD Brett Schneider to ELC's.

Schneider is a DFD that plays a mean defensive game. 11G 54P in 65GP in D+2 year, 77ovr 20yo with elite abilities. 2nd rounder in 2026 LElite

Komisarek is a PWF with a well built game. 65G 138P in 67GP in D+2 year, 2027 6th rounder. 74ovr 20yo LElite

Backstrom is a HYB goalie with a record of 25-8-2 in Liiga this year, .880%Sv and 3.56GAA isn't pretty but we want to bring the young goalie over right away. 76ovr at 20yo MStarter potential.

Montreal sits with the 12th pick in the first round of 2028 draft. Many options for us, mainly:
- Move up to pick 10/11 for an elite PWF center with superstar abilities, about 3 years away who plays in Quebec.
- Stay at 12 and select an NHL-ready 6'5" monster C with excellent faceoffs. Upside is pretty much third line with MTop6F. (Also some other 1-2 year options we could hold our pick for but nothing stands out).
- Move back to 20ish for elite abilities 19yo goaltender from QMJHL who is 1-2 years away.

NHL ready RW at 6'3" at start of 2nd round may move up for from our own second rounder. Otherwise, not a lot of gems scouted this year, may be a quiet draft.


Toronto Stanley Cup winners, Providence wins the Calder.

Crosby, Tavares, Stamkos, Hedman all retire in same offseason. Two of our coaches retire.

We are looking to sign a big name defenseman this free agency, probably going to look to move Hamara to free up about 2.0M space with Guhle costing over 5M on the third pairing. It's expensive but we can manage it for now with Heard on ELC growing well for us. May also need to move on from G Barkov this offseason or give him the start of next season to see what we should do. Wallstedt expiring next year who is better then Barkov at same age, still both show signs of inconsistency.

Upcoming 2027/2028 Draft

 

[mistaclick]

C Hannu Markkanen since being drafted in 2022 5th round (161): *NHL Career* 359GP 62G 176P (-51) 53.56%Faceoff 426Hits
But last season 2027/2028 posted 20G 53P in 82GP with 15PPP, 2SHP, and team best 7GWG in 15:47TOI. The plus/minus rating hasn't always been the best but he's been stuck on third line that has underperformed for a few years as the best player on it. 6'4" 211 with faceoff zone ability, were hoping he's a long term Canadien that can grow into the second line center role.

LW Zachary Pan is another notable Canadien youngster. The 22yo PWF taken 2023 1st round (11) is now a 91ovr HElite dynamo that has taken the league by storm, the lone bright spot on this team every year. Last year posting career bests across the board with: 82GP 54G 88P 182Hits +18 shooting at a 16.5% clip but a really high 73PIM compared to usual years. Career numbers: 406GP 222G 364P +65 761Hits 371TK 254GV
Another long-term Canadien hopefully.

C Marco Rossi played in Minnesota for 6 seasons and a bit of a 7th, never recording over a PPG with minus ratings each year. Since being moved to Montreal this season playing on our first line he has recorded:
50GP 14G 58P +23 54.81%Faceoff 92Hits 86Tk 37Gv
Looks like he's playing great so far with Zach Pan and a sniper in Tarasenko/Caufield, someone we will look to extend early on this offseason. The PLY/PWF connection is really good and Montreal may be just needing that RW sniper to go along with it. Caufield fell to a MTop6F potential and has topped out as a really solid second line scoring winger for us. We have him signed on a sub 5M contract as a scoring option long term. Need a first line RW.

RW Pablo MacIntyre struggled a lot in Laval this year, couldn't really gain traction regardless of position in lineup. The 1st rounder 3rd overall pick from 2027 posted 23G 44P -3 in 78GP, shooting at a really low 8.6% despite a team high 269 shots. 74 takeaways compared to 30 giveaways is a good sign though. Young American has time to figure it out, might be ready for 4th line next year.