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

[sincerity0]

I didn’t read all the comments but glanced over the first few pages...

To those suggesting trade price, MTL can’t. They will eat so much salary it’s not possible. Weber can’t be moved.

The poster who mentioned building a time machine to not trade Subban made me chuckle... but seriously.

MTL might be a bottom three team to take over at the moment. Price will keep them from bottoming out, and he’s unmovable. Weber solid d, completely untradable contract. I believe they get hit with a major cap charge too if he retires early. That could be one of, if not the worst, contracts in the league... right next to Price.

MTL needs a legitimate 1c with nobody in the pipeline to hope for. I don’t see Drouin developing into a bonifide 1c needed to be a consistent cup contender. I would definitely consider going after Tavares as he is likely the only chance at getting a true 1C soon.

MTL is kinda screwed because Price/Weber are 30+ so the window is limited, but they need arguably the most important position in the game.

 

[MacDonald4MVP]

Collect my paycheck and watch Habs spiral into purgatory. The longer I would prolong current status quo the longer I could blame former regime, then I would use coach as a scapegoat and then I would start rebuild which should buy me even more time of poor results before it would cost me my job.
To summarize:

1. nothing
2. fire hc
3. rebuild
4. profit

 

[Ken Wreggets revenge]

You're wrong on this, it's ridiculous to act as if Price isn't an elite goalie. Having a great playoff record doesn't make you elite, it just means you have better support in most cases. Since results are apparently all that matters I assume since Price won gold in the Olympics against Quick that makes him the better goalie?

Team Canada won gold because they had an all star team to end all all star teams in front of him and they were heavily favored. Nobody was beating that team. You could have taken Peter Sidorkiewicz (circa 1992-93) and still won gold with that team. No, you could have taken a cardboard cutout of Peter Sidorkiewicz (circa 1992-93) and still won gold with that team.

It's not ridiculous to act as if Price isn't an elite goalie because he isn't. His track record speaks for itself, no matter what anyone says.

 

[MetalheadPenguinsFan]

Blow it up

 

[Advanced stats]

Imo you can't tank...there's just too much there to work with.
If I'm the gm, I have 3 goals.

1. Get younger
2. Ditch some of the complacent core
3. Start over and give this group a chance.( Drouin, Galch, Petry, Mete, Gally)

I'd get the most I could for Price, Patches, Weber, and anyone else that can move.

Trade them to desperate contenders for almost anything. Ideally for players aged 22-25 who need an opportunity.

Only problem is, I'm not sure who those players are...

 

[Uncle Scrooge]

I have this weird feeling McPhee has something in the works with Bergevin and that includes Shipachyov. Doesn't want to play him to risk him getting hurt.

 

[ottawa]

I don't think that's so easy. Price is an elite goalie but he's paid like an elite forward. Weber's contract is not good if he retires early or begins to decline in play. While I think both players are great talents I'm not sure a lot of teams bite at those contracts right now.

Him retiring early is the habs way out, we're off the hook from him and his albatross cap hit.

 

[ottawa]

There's a 0% chance Tavares signs in Montreal, he's not a masochist. The Canadiens right now are where the Leafs were when they fired Nonis, with the exception that the Leafs already had Nylander in the pipeline and picked Marner a few months later. Shanahan was smart to bring in Mark Hunter before cleaning house, going along with dropping a truckload of money into European scouting. Then they were fortunate to get Matthews in 2016, which accelerated their rebuild by a few years.

The Leafs had their Weber-lite, it was Phaneuf at $7m/year. It's still surprising he was moved without the Leafs eating salary, but there's no way the same happens with Weber. Kessel and his $8m was moved with the Leafs having to eat salary. Price isn't going anywhere unless the Habs are willing to retain $3m or more per year. He's not going to get you anything close to a #1C, let alone a young #1, right now his value is neutral or negative because of that extension. Last year Price's save % was .923 – Frederik Andersen's was .917. Those extra six saves per 1,000 shots is going to cost Montreal $5.5m more per season than Toronto's paying for Andersen. If Price were at an astronomical .950+ save percentage, maybe then he'd be worth an extra $5.5m per year. But as it stands, just getting him off your books is the biggest thing you can expect in a trade.

Nothing respectable will happen in Montreal until they burn it to the ground, spend five years in the ashes, AND have the ability to draft well. Edmonton did a good job proving you can screw up even top five picks.

Price isn't a better goalie because he makes an extra 6 saves, he's a better goalie because he can carry the weight of the entire team on his back. How many other goalies can and have been doing that for quite some time now? None

 

[Knave]

Pick up my paycheck and party it up.

 

[BruinsBtn]

Decide what kind of culture you want.
Decide who you want to build around.
Get rid of everyone who isn't on the list.

I think right now Colorado and Montreal are in an insane game of chicken, where both Duschene and Gally have falling values and they're both hoping/believing the other guy will blink first. There's got to be a match there. Montreal should add but I'm not sure how much. My inclination would be to find a way to get it done, so what if you overpay.

 

[JoemAvs]

Decide what kind of culture you want.
Decide who you want to build around.
Get rid of everyone who isn't on the list.

I think right now Colorado and Montreal are in an insane game of chicken, where both Duschene and Gally have falling values and they're both hoping/believing the other guy will blink first. There's got to be a match there. Montreal should add but I'm not sure how much. My inclination would be to find a way to get it done, so what if you overpay.

According to Dreger and the Montreal media, the Habs are not even in the hunt for Duchene.

McKenzie said it best. Habs obviously have interest. But they don't have the pieces needed to make it work unless they really overpay which they probably won't be willing to do...
Also Sakic seems to be rather dug in when it comes to getting that D he has been searching for so long in return for Duchene...

Its not a game of chicken. Its just one team really needing the player the other team wants to trade without having whats needed to reallistically get a deal done..

Also Duchenes value is not falling. Atleast for now. If anything his great start to the season should have helped quashing some concerns about his game. Hopefully he keeps it up for a bit.
Don't think Duchenes value will decrease all that much from now till the deadline.
Teams interested want to make the playoff and go far there if possible.

Unless they completely drop out of the race by December, their offers probably won't get much worse just because Duchene did not play 30 regular seasons for them...

 

[rent free]

resign

 

[MinimaMoralia]

I would have taken that top five pick and Klefbom from the Oilers for Subban instead of Weber.
Allllllll kinds of flexibility from there. Dubois is looking solid so far this year.

 

[12345678910]

Weber absolutely can be moved. David Clarkson was moved. Phaneuf was moved.

100% Weber can be moved. You may have to retain some but not a debilitating amount.

 

[Karma Police]

MTL might be a bottom three team to take over at the moment. Price will keep them from bottoming out, and he’s unmovable. Weber solid d, completely untradable contract. I believe they get hit with a major cap charge too if he retires early. That could be one of, if not the worst, contracts in the league... right next to Price.

Nashville takes the cap charge if Weber retires early since Weber contract was signed with Nashville. That right there put a huge value on Weber as a trade asset since Nashville won't want Montreal to force Weber to retire.

 

[Bixby Snyder]

Get rid of the French guys including the coach and replace them with good Ontario boys and Americans.

 

[Terrible GM]

If I'm the GM ...I clean house.

Unfortunately the Habs are locked into 1 long contract with Price, which guarantees them as a playoff'ish team. If the Habs are to have any chance to become contenders, the have to have 3 or 4 really good drafts.

I liked the players they drafted last year, but the past few years of drafting have been horrendous. Which has put them into the current situation with a weak line up of forward and defense.

 

[LeafFever]

Montreal might be in the worst situation in the entire NHL. They can't blow it up. Price's deal starts next season and is for 8 years. Weber's contract can't be moved imo. So they're are stuck in the worst situation possible.

 

[ijuka]

I'd go back in time, not re-sign Price but sell him instead for futures and top grade prospects, and then do a full rebuild.

 

[luthar]

So many rebuild advocates here... I guess it could be done but the real problem is drafting and development. Fixing this solves many problems in a 2-3 year window.

This can be fixed easily in MTL if the scouts/recruiters are re-positioned / fired / hired. Development is an issue but I'd say the result depends 50% on the staff and 50% on the pick.

 

[204hockey]

trade price and galchenyek to winnipeg and retain 2 million for myers roslovic mason 1st rd pick for next 2 years and 2nd rd pick in 2019 then i wld kick bergiven down a flight of stairs quit and go back to being a jets fan

 

[canuckslover10]

Pray to the lords tavares signs with us

 

[Gnashville]

Weber for Subban (Jordan not PK)

 

[Pierre from Orleans]

If I was MB I'd probably fire myself

 

[biturbo19]

Find a way to make the Duchene trade happen already. There's gotta be some way to get it done. It'd totally change the complexion of the team. It's not surprising that a team with no real Top-6 Centers to speak of, is going to have some offensive struggles. Though if the Avs continue to outperform expectations, the window has probably closed on getting that deal done. So you're probably just twiddling thumbs waiting for John Tavares to hit the market and throw all of the money at him and hope that coming to a market like Montreal is appealing to him.