Non-Habs Fans, What would you do if you were the GM?

[winnipegger]

Trade Price, Weber and Pacioretty for a boatload of futures/prospects and start over again. Keep Plekanec for veteran presence. Become Edmonton level bad for a few years and pick high in the draft.

Option B is to trade away what's left of your assets for a real center. Kind of like Toronto did to get Kessel. That worked out great didn't it.

 

[Devonator]

I agree with the idea of trading Price and Weber and starting all over but with those contracts, can they be traded? If they can, trade them for anything and start over......

 

[Raym11]

Only way to fix the team is the same way the Leafs have.

Unfortunately its Montreal, and the people running the team are too stubborn and afraid of fan backlash to have a bottom out season or 2. It's tragic really, you'd think execs would learn from all the messes around the league over the years because teams are just not willing to suck it up and rebuild. Team just progressively gets worse anyways.


The biggest issue now is, as elite as Price is, he's probably the biggest reason Montreal is impending doom. Toronto management finally said enough is enough and brought the right guys in because we didn't have a single player at the level of Price to second guess anything. It took over 10 years to get to that point. Now think about making a decision like that when you're th Habs market and just traded your best defenseman for an older one, and signed one of the best goalies in the league to the biggest goalie contract ever.

Habs are f***ed, even if Bergevin gets kicked out, the next GM is just going to try to patchwork again because money. Imagine how embarassed the brass would be trying to rebuild with a 10 million dollar goalie? Also the whole francophone pride aspect. Jesus.


Blow it up, trade Price (probably impossible because of how other teams balance their cap), Weber, Pac,Galchenyuk, Plekanec.


Oh and the biggest piece, is to pray to the high heavens that you suck enough and win the draft lottery in a good year. Probably the most important part to all of this.

 

[99GoHabsGo99]

Thanks for the legit responses guys, I agree with most of you.

As hard as it is to swallow... Somehow we blew a Young Subban/Price/Pacioretty/Galchenyuk core, I don't even know how it happened but it did... I agree with the rebuild.

Unfortunately I don't think Molson will allow it, I also agree completely with the french thing, Absolutely Pejorative Slured.

If Babcock was willing to come here, we would of still chose Therrien for that reason alone. Horrible.

Hopefully MB gets fired before he does anymore damage although it might be too late.. I'm very scared he knows he is in the hot seat and won't care about the future as he makes a terrible trade using up all our cap and giving up what little prospects we do have..

I love Price, He's my fav player but I would of went with Lindgren who has been outstanding in his games with the Habs and looks like a great young goalie instead of 10.5m.. This would of allowed us to fill that #1C spot with the 10.5 off the books and using Price as trade bait.

I also feel like if we would of just simply re-signed Markov + Radulov in the off-season instead of giving Alzner 5.5M (Terrible contract) and using some of the extra 8.5 we would be in a MUCH better situation right now.. with an outside chance at the cup.

Hated the Subban trade from day 1.. But when it was done I said, Okay whatever, as long as we are in Win now mode and he does other moves to back that up.. but he's done nothing.. So what was the point of trading the younger, better defenseman?

Bonehead move after bonehead move has me very disinterested, Last year was the first year in my life I missed a ton of Habs games, Used to watch every single one... This year is more of the same..

 

[HaNotsri]

I would put a lot of money into scouting professionals in Europe. Lots of players that could work out in the new NHL.
Then I would assess if the high value players are willing to sign new contracts - if so I would go for it the coming two seasons since there is no point in starting a rebuild with Price/Weber on the team.
I'd offer Mete, first round pick 2018, Galchenyuk for Duchene.

If the key players aren't interested in signing long term, I'd start the rebuild now.

 

[Disclose]

learn french..

 

[bukwas]

learn french..

Not me man, i'd just shrug a lot.

 

[ChiefWiggum]

As bad as Bergevin has been in making stupid move after stupid move and claiming that the team has a "championship window" in order to validate his decision, Price made an equally boneheaded move by signing with them long term. If waited to see how things went before signing, I can guarantee that he would not have locked himself in Montreal for his prime years.

Honestly, its probably too late to win a championship with Price now. The current team just isnt good enough and it take years to build a championship calibre team

 

[Karl Eriksson]

Sign Chris Neil

 

[Howie Hodge]

Not sure what exactly you guys have in the pipeline, but unless it's very promising, you'll need to move parts for prospects and picks. Here's what The Hockey News shows for 2020. This is useful only because it shows the future based on current assets. (Obviously it can't reflect potential trades or 2018/2019 draft picks or free agent signings.

Not much of a "WOW" factor from where I view it....

 

[Aladyyn]

Throw all the money at Tavares on July 1st.

 

[pomx]

The right way would be to blow it up. But then, who in the hell is going to take Weber and Price's contract? Habs are in for some long seasons..

 

[Bedards Dad]

I would start over. Sell off Price and Weber for a bunch of 1st round picks. It would be bad for 1 or 2 years, but they would come back strong. I would also look for some Emtop young euro FAs to help build a deep lineup.

As the President I would fire the GM since he is horrible and would ruin a rebuild.

 

[bobholly39]

Wow everyone is so negative...it's only been 4 games. Relax?

 

[Bedards Dad]

Wow everyone is so negative...it's only been 4 games. Relax?

They have been riding a hot goalie for years. It will end at some point, and it's better to start future planning before it's too late. This comes from a fan of a team that didn't plan well and was shit for years

 

[Brock Radunske]

Curious what people from the outside would do if they became the Habs GM today to turn the team around and become a contender, Would you blow it up? Make a few trades? etc?

Hopefully get some serious answers out of this, I'd like to see the outside opinion and what you think would be the best route to go from here.

Honestly, you need to trade Patches for max (no pun intended) value and give Weber the C. He's an elite winger but he isn't a leader and is absolutely a complimentary player.
Using the return from Patches should do one of the following things;

1. Inject some talent into your prospect pool for quality depth at forward (currently non-existent)
2. Gives you assets to add a center.

If they could score some damn goals, everyone wouldn't think the defense is so horrible.

 

[al secord]

For starters, don't trade Subban or Serga...do'h!

 

[QcFlames12]

Pretty much trade anything with value. Patches, Gallagher, Weber, Price, etc. Aim for young players and hope Galchenyuk and Drouin become great players.

Patches for Dubois
Gallagher for a 2nd
Weber for a 1st and a cap dump
Price for a 1st and youngish struggling forward.

Draft well and take it slow, and teams on the rise go through rebuilds.

 

[Paris in Flames]

Assuming I can't go back in time to before the Subban trade....I guess I'd let this season play out and pray Tavares hits free agency and has an interest. Adding him to the mix can turn things around but realistically the team needs a lot more than that to be a true contender....

I....don't know if there's a realistic way to approach that roster. I would want to bottom out and embrace a full rebuild but I don't think anybody is trading for Weber and the return on Price won't be what his value is as a player....and while those two guys are still on the team there's gonna be too many wins to draft well.

Guess I'd start drinking and hope for some crazy luck in the draft lottery.

 

[Cousin Eddie]

Trade Mete for an old defenseman on a bad contract.

 

[BruinLVGA]

Curious what people from the outside would do if they became the Habs GM today to turn the team around and become a contender, Would you blow it up? Make a few trades? etc?

Hopefully get some serious answers out of this, I'd like to see the outside opinion and what you think would be the best route to go from here.

Make a long term plan that involves drafting well for a few years or abandon all hope.

 

[JoemAvs]

Depends on ownership....

Is Molson really willing to sit through 4-5 of suckage to properly rebuild the club (and that is realistically how long it will take given how little young, quality talent the Habs have in the pipeline)?

I heard that the Habs opener wasn't even sold out so I somewhat doubt that..

You would also have the problem to basically have to trade Price in the near future before his NMC kicks in.
If you really want to rebuild, you need high lottery picks. At least a few of them.
Carey Price alone can ruin that plan.

But who would take on that contract right now?

Same for Weber. These guys won't fetch anywhere near what they should get you in return thanks to their ugly contracts. I am not even sure what they could get you. But probably not all that much.
Pacioretty needs to be traded asap.
Galchenyuk looks like he desperately wants to get the hell out of there as well. But I haven't liked his play since his last injury at all.
I wonder if that had an impact on his game overall...

No one is gonna take on Shaw, Alzner or Petry and their ugly deals...

Yeah. Honestly aside from Pacioretty you won't even be able to get the pieces needed to restart your rebuild.

I did not even realize the terrible position MB has put you in...

Honestly looking at these contracts, I am not even sure if a full rebuild is the way to go...


Might be smarter to call the Avs for Duchene AND Soderberg (who has looked great since he got scratched on opening night. He apparantely wants out as well and since he got scratched on opening night has been great for the Avs the last 2 games and knows Julien very well and could get to his usual 40+ point pace under him) and try to make it work. That will cost you way more than you would be comfortable with but its not like the other options are that much better.
Probably would cost you Galchenyuk, your 1st, and one of your top prospects (atleast thats whats rumored to be the price according to your Campbell guy IIRC). Throw in Lindgren and send a big expiring contract (Plekanec?) to balance salaries and make room for the D you also need to acquire...

See what defender you can get from Vegas for cheap.

Use one of your 2nd round picks (or both) to get a good LD at the deadline from somewhere.


Lehkonen- Duchene - Drouin
Pacioretty - Soderberg - Gallagher
Hudon - Danault - Shaw
Mitchell - Byron - Hemsky

X (Mete for now till you make a trade. Maybe DeHaan if the Isles falter)- Weber
Davidson (or Vegas D) - Petry
Alzner - Schlemko

Price
Montoya

Will that team win the cup?
Probably not.

Will it make the playoffs?
Probably if Price can stay healthy...

It really depends on the kind of Dman you could get for your 2 2nd round picks...


Is it a good plan?
Hell no. But I am not sure the Habs can do much better.

 

[Holymakinaw]

Curious what people from the outside would do if they became the Habs GM today to turn the team around and become a contender, Would you blow it up? Make a few trades? etc?

Hopefully get some serious answers out of this, I'd like to see the outside opinion and what you think would be the best route to go from here.

Yes, I'd seriously blow it all up and start a proper rebuild. No offence, but this current Hab team is NOT built to win Cups. No legit Centres(after maybe Drouin and even he's not a sure thing there).....an aging D that lacks puck-moving defencemen.........a lack of quality wingers.......there is LOTS wrong with the team, IMO.

I would trade Price and Weber. I know that guts the franchise, but imagine the haul of TOP prospects and picks you could get for those two. You won't be winning with them anyway, so why keep them? I'd target some legit top pairing D prospects and get ready for the draft, with multiple 1sts and 2nds in hand. Also, dump Plekanec and Hemsky, as they are worthless. And a 5'9", 40 point winger on yourtop line is a joke. SOOOO much to fix with this team.

 

[JoemAvs]

Yes, I'd seriously blow it all up and start a proper rebuild. No offence, but this current Hab team is NOT built to win Cups. No legit Centres(after maybe Drouin and even he's not a sure thing there).....an aging D that lacks puck-moving defencemen.........a lack of quality wingers.......there is LOTS wrong with the team, IMO.

I would trade Price and Weber. I know that guts the franchise, but imagine the haul of TOP prospects and picks you could get for those two. You won't be winning with them anyway, so why keep them? I'd target some legit top pairing D prospects and get ready for the draft, with multiple 1sts and 2nds in hand. Also, dump Plekanec and Hemsky, as they are worthless. And a 5'9", 40 point winger on your
top line is a joke. SOOOO much to fix with this team.

th

Problem is you won't get that for Price and Weber...
Name the teams that are willing to give up top tier assets for these two, please.

You would probably start your rebuild with Drouin, Lehkonen,whatever decent assets you can get for Galchenyuk, Mete, and the bad prospect pool the Habs have.

Thats not really a good place to start a rebuild with..

 

[Warden of the North]

Move Weber at anything approaching a reasonable deal.

Trade any other asset over the age of 25 for futures.

Put Galchenyuk at C and keep him there. The Leafs had a similar situation with Kadri and he has blossomed now in his prime.

If a lockout and compliance buyot happens in 2021 buy out Price no matter what hes playing like.