Well,
some sort of significant change is necessary - maybe not a full rebuild, but at the least a retool. You need really good pro and amateur scouts to pull off the latter, but it can be done - and the Habs can afford to hire well, so it's at least worth considering. (Of course, recognize how that worked with Toronto). Nevertheless, the opening moves for both are pretty similar.
When doing a rebuild or retool, it's important to identify not just the youngsters you're going to want to keep long-term and/or build around and the prospects you have hopes for, but also the vets you're going to use to shelter those guys as they grow.
Essentially, you're going to go through two "generations" of prospects - the first one will be mostly your depth guys and they will be developing in hell conditions, and the second will hopefully be the rest of your future core. Superstars optional but they can emerge.
There is, at present, only four proven young players to build around, and they're all forwards - Drouin, Galchenyuk, Danault, and Gallagher. That's ugly. The prospect situation isn't much better in terms of sheer numbers, but there's a little more diversity - guys like Poehling and Hudon and Lehkonen at forward, and Mete and Juulsen on the blueline. So our priorities have to be younger depth blueliners, futures, and keeping enough vets so that only the one generation goes through that trial by fire.
So, with all that in mind...
- Trade Plekanec and Hemsky at the deadline for whatever futures we can get.
- Start shopping MaxPac. Our goal is young depth blueliners and/or futures to fill out that First Generation of youth. He will not get us top-end core players because he's a winger approaching his 30s; what we want is youngish guys who will fill in while our draft picks develop and then move down the depth chart once those guys come into their own.
- Consider shopping Price. There is, of course, the cynical "he's too good to let us tank properly" argument, but the real reason is that his contract at his age is potentially an albatross. If we can get an unusually good return, go for it. Otherwise, keep him.
- Similarly, take a look at the market for guys like Shaw, Weber, and Petry. They have value as buffers between our developing kids and the hard minutes, so don't sell unless we're significantly bolstering our First Generation youngster supply. (In the case of Weber, tho, this is very unlikely, unfortunately.)
- Fire
Therrien Julien in favor of someone who will let players take risks, and put Galchenyuk in the #1C role. The Habs don't have the assets to pick up someone else's #1C and won't for some time, so Chucky is going to have to take on that role. Keep in mind that he's in that First Generation, so he may not be there by the time the Habs are competitive - he doesn't need to be a star, he just needs to be competent.
- Play the games as they come. No tanking allowed.
- At the draft, prioritize blueliners this year and next, and forwards afterward. This is partly the old "blueliners take longer to develop" canard, but mostly due to where we have depth and where we need it.
- Hire good scouts and coaches to take care of the above.
- Cross fingers and hope, enduring the braying and jeering of Leafs fans in the interim. This doesn't always work as planned. and your rivals are always going to have some folks who will be jerks about it.
Eventually, you should be able to develop a competent team. If you're lucky, it can even be a Cup contender - but that requires good fortune with your draft choices. Keep funding that scouting department!
