HF Habs: Official Montreal Canadiens Off-Season Thread

[Johnny31]

They’re close. It’s a small number of teams that are 1) able to afford him 2) have the pieces in place to be a contender for a long time.

Montreal meets both criteria. Montreal is the only hockey market of the teams available where a player like Tavares can be recognized as the star he is and can leave a legacy that no other team can offer. We have what the nhl players deem as the best goalie and too game changer in Price and one of the hardest to play against and most respected people in Weber. Not to mention a ton of young talent as a support cast and more than enough money to fill any gaps. Add Tavares to the equation and he makes the difference on a team who was top in the Atlantic just a year ago and had catastrophic loses to our two key players all year.

I’m not saying he will sign. No one knows. I’m saying we’re just as much a landing spot as anyone else and more than most.

The one point I disagree with you is that you put the Habs in the team that have the pieces in place to be a contender for a long time. How many team you put in this category ? 20, 25, 30 ? How many teams the Habs core can compete with right now ?

 

[Zorba]

They’re close. It’s a small number of teams that are 1) able to afford him 2) have the pieces in place to be a contender for a long time.

Montreal meets both criteria. Montreal is the only hockey market of the teams available where a player like Tavares can be recognized as the star he is and can leave a legacy that no other team can offer. We have what the nhl players deem as the best goalie and too game changer in Price and one of the hardest to play against and most respected people in Weber. Not to mention a ton of young talent as a support cast and more than enough money to fill any gaps. Add Tavares to the equation and he makes the difference on a team who was top in the Atlantic just a year ago and had catastrophic loses to our two key players all year.

I’m not saying he will sign. No one knows. I’m saying we’re just as much a landing spot as anyone else and more than most.

The other thing to look at is the front loaded money. There’s only a handful of teams the can front load a contract
I’m not sure what what the CBA allows in terms of front loading but the Habs could easily Give JT 50 million over 3 years if allowed
I think that may play a big part of it as well.

 

[Beer and Chips]

It's a valid point to assume that only flipping a few assistant coaches in and out would strictly serve as a smoke screen and provide little real change going forward. Bergevin has a much taller order to fill in order to even START turning around this team in terms of EVENTUALLY reaching the status of contender.

Petry became the #1 D because of the injury to Weber, which was expecting too much from him. The supporting cast on defense just isn't up to it which everyone except the coach and gm seems to understand. Expecting 3rd line d to play like 1/2 d, in front of a bad Price and behind forwards who are mostly defensively challenged is irrational or delusional.

 

[CauZuki]

I can reassure you, we are not drafting a Russian player in the first round with Julien as our coach.

I think CJ would love to have a potential Kucherov. I know he is a defensive minded coach but he isn't that stupid...Or is he?

 

[OldCraig71]

I think CJ would love to have a potential Kucherov. I know he is a defensive minded coach but he isn't that stupid...Or is he?

Wait and see, they are drafting character and I bet it will be Keith Tkachuk's son if he is still available. Marc was a teammate of Keith's, it's a lock.

 

[S Bah]

If the Habs can manage to sign Tavares, that signing could have the same effect on Habs fortunes, as did the Frank Mahovlich trade in 1970. The Habs having missed the playoffs the year before (1969), Sammy Pollock talked Jean Beliveau(John Ferguson also returned with Big Jean) into returning for one more year. Having both the Big M(Frank Mahovlich) & Little M(Pete Mahovlich)seemed to ignite Capt. Jean Beliveau. The Habs went on to knock out the Bobby Orr led Bruins,(Biggest upset to date IMHO in the SC Playoffs) en route to winning the Stanley Cup. Beating the Chicago Blackhawks whose team beat the Habs 10 -2 in the last regular season game, the year before to end their season.(Revenge is best served on Ice for the Habs, IMHO!!!...) Tavares could very well be the integral player this Habs team needs, to lead them to their much awaited 25th SC Championship IMHO!!!...

 

[mariolemieux66]

If the Habs can manage to sign Tavares, that signing could have the same effect on Habs fortunes, as did the Frank Mahovlich trade in 1970. The Habs having missed the playoffs the year before (1969), Sammy Pollock talked Jean Beliveau(John Ferguson also returned with Big Jean) into returning for one more year. Having both the Big M(Frank Mahovlich) & Little M(Pete Mahovlich)seemed to ignite Capt. Jean Beliveau. The Habs went on to knock out the Bobby Orr led Bruins,(Biggest upset to date IMHO in the SC Playoffs) en route to winning the Stanley Cup. Beating the Chicago Blackhawks whose team beat the Habs 10 -2 in the last regular season game, the year before to end their season.(Revenge is best served on Ice for the Habs, IMHO!!!...) Tavares could very well be the integral player this Habs team needs, to lead them to their much awaited 25th SC Championship IMHO!!!...

 

[Pacciosoftie]

Wait and see, they are drafting character and I bet it will be Keith Tkachuk's son if he is still available. Marc was a teammate of Keith's, it's a lock.

They are drafting attitude.

 

[OldCraig71]

They are drafting attitude.

Oh, I thought they said there was bad attitude in the current locker room and they were looking for speed and character at the draft.

 

[CauZuki]

If the Habs can manage to sign Tavares, that signing could have the same effect on Habs fortunes, as did the Frank Mahovlich trade in 1970. The Habs having missed the playoffs the year before (1969), Sammy Pollock talked Jean Beliveau(John Ferguson also returned with Big Jean) into returning for one more year. Having both the Big M(Frank Mahovlich) & Little M(Pete Mahovlich)seemed to ignite Capt. Jean Beliveau. The Habs went on to knock out the Bobby Orr led Bruins,(Biggest upset to date IMHO in the SC Playoffs) en route to winning the Stanley Cup. Beating the Chicago Blackhawks whose team beat the Habs 10 -2 in the last regular season game, the year before to end their season.(Revenge is best served on Ice for the Habs, IMHO!!!...) Tavares could very well be the integral player this Habs team needs, to lead them to their much awaited 25th SC Championship IMHO!!!...

Denial
Anger
Bargaining
Depression
Acceptance

 

[Sterling Archer]

The one point I disagree with you is that you put the Habs in the team that have the pieces in place to be a contender for a long time. How many team you put in this category ? 20, 25, 30 ? How many teams the Habs core can compete with right now ?

Price and Weber are all world and offer Tavares something he’s never had. Defensive anchor and All World goalie.
Patches (if he stays) is a top 10 goal scorer and he’s never had a centre.
Chucky and Drouin are top 3 picks under 24 and have tons of talent.
Gally, Shaw have proven grit and playoff performance.
Lots of young talent like Lehkonen, Juulsen, Mete, Hudon with more in the tube and more coming.

Absent a top tier LD for Weber and Tavares himself, we have all the pieces a contender needs.

 

[Milhouse40]

Price and Weber are all world and offer Tavares something he’s never had. Defensive anchor and All World goalie.
Patches (if he stays) is a top 10 goal scorer and he’s never had a centre.
Chucky and Drouin are top 3 picks under 24 and have tons of talent.
Gally, Shaw have proven grit and playoff performance.
Lots of young talent like Lehkonen, Juulsen, Mete, Hudon with more in the tube and more coming.

Absent a top tier LD for Weber and Tavares himself, we have all the pieces a contender needs.

If Price just had a bad season and if Weber doesn't decline rapidly...you have what's needed to start for a couple of years.

If either slow down, it's game over and we're dead.
Eric Staal or Mike Richards showed a lot of poeple that you can't predict this.

The Habs have holes to fix.
Their needs are really obvious and simple.

- Offensive LHD to play with Weber
- 2 Top 6 centers

Bergevin got 3 valuable assets in his hands:

- 2018 Top 7 pick
- Max Pacioretty
- Around $11M-$12M for one open roster spot

Get what this team need, at least 2 out of 3, cause if he don't, it's game over and we're dead.

It's a long shot from my point of view...especially for Bergevin.

 

[Scriptor]

The other thing to look at is the front loaded money. There’s only a handful of teams the can front load a contract
I’m not sure what what the CBA allows in terms of front loading but the Habs could easily Give JT 50 million over 3 years if allowed
I think that may play a big part of it as well.

That's not a negligible point, especially with the looming lockout. Price and recent contracts for star players were all signed with heavily front-loaded contracts providing for huge bonus payouts that bypass a team's ability to not pay the amounts during a lockout year (the bonus is paid out before the lockout can be declared, I believe).

 

[Scriptor]

Petry became the #1 D because of the injury to Weber, which was expecting too much from him. The supporting cast on defense just isn't up to it which everyone except the coach and gm seems to understand. Expecting 3rd line d to play like 1/2 d, in front of a bad Price and behind forwards who are mostly defensively challenged is irrational or delusional.

It was what it was without other options (a fail for the GM as it's abnormal for a defensive squad to rely strictly on one D -- Weber).

Personally, I'd sell high on Petry while we still might be able to (he comes off a 12G, 30A career season offensively) and make a bid for Carlson in the offseason. That way, we'd insulate the D against losing a #1D and having nobody to fill in for him. Those two Ds could almost play the entire 60 minutes between them and might be able to play together on the PP to maximize Weber's possible shooting lanes on his 'off' side.

Otherwise, I'd consider Juulsen for second pairing duties as a bit of a baptism by fire (if we couldn't attract and sign Carlson). Who knows, maybe that's how Alzner is actually useful for us going forward

 

[Runner77]

Didn't feel like starting a thread about this, but I thought I'd bring up ex-Hab Dick Gamble's passing.

Was born in New Brunswick, died at age 89, had a 21 year pro career and got his name engraved on a Stanley Cup.

But, what's most fascinating about him is how his likeness was used to produce tin hockey players for a table top hockey game from the 1950s, produced by "Eagle Toys": "... the model for the defencemen and forwards was Mr. Gamble, who was rendered on competing teams of identical quintets as a brunette with Montreal and a strawberry blond with Toronto."

Those of you who played with an old time table hockey game, will remember his face.

Here's the image that was replicated and his tin player version:

Dick Gamble, 89, was the model for the tin players in a famous table-top hockey game

Just found a tweet about the table hockey game he was featured in:

 

[Tyson]

Didn't feel like starting a thread about this, but I thought I'd bring up ex-Hab Dick Gamble's passing.

Was born in New Brunswick, died at age 89, had a 21 year pro career and got his name engraved on a Stanley Cup.

But, what's most fascinating about him is how his likeness was used to produce tin hockey players for a table top hockey game from the 1950s, produced by "Eagle Toys": "... the model for the defencemen and forwards was Mr. Gamble, who was rendered on competing teams of identical quintets as a brunette with Montreal and a strawberry blond with Toronto."

Those of you who played with an old time table hockey game, will remember his face.

Here's the image that was replicated and his tin player version:

Dick Gamble, 89, was the model for the tin players in a famous table-top hockey game

Just found a tweet about the table hockey game he was featured in:

It is said that we learn something new everyday. Thanks for sharing this information and may Mr. Gamble Rest In Peace.

 

[BLONG7]

The other thing to look at is the front loaded money. There’s only a handful of teams the can front load a contract
I’m not sure what what the CBA allows in terms of front loading but the Habs could easily Give JT 50 million over 3 years if allowed
I think that may play a big part of it as well.

This is what they can do, and if they choose, similar to Price, they can make huge bonus payments, every July...if the Habs land JT it will be because of the $$$ and how the deal gets presented. His agent will play a large role in where he lands...

 

[Yoshidas Island]

So there's a thread on main NHL board asking to rank your players.
So I did that, and I put them where I'm most comfortable each player playing:

1st line forward - Max Pacioretty
2nd line forward - Alex Galchenyuk, Brendan Gallagher, Jonathan Drouin
3rd line forward - Philip Danault, Charles Hudon, Artturi Lehkonen, Paul Byron, Andrew Shaw (He's still a 30 pt forward, I know I'll get hate for this), Nikita Scherbak(Potential for more, but I think he's fine on the 3rd right now)
4th line forward - Daniel Carr, Jacob De La Rose, Kerby Rychel, Nicolas Deslauriers
Extra: Byron Froese

1st pair defender - Shea Weber
2nd pair defender - Jeff Petry, Victor Mete
3rd pair defender - Noah Juulsen (Truthfully a 4/5 RIGHT NOW, but could be a 3/4 in the future), Mike Reilly, Jordie Benn, Karl Alzner
Extra: Brett Lernout (Still young)

Starting goalie - Carey Price
Backup goalie - Charlie Lindgren, Antti Niemi



Since Scherbak, Mete and Juulsen are likely fulltime NHLers now, I'm not going to include them here...

Top prospect -
Above Average prospect - Ryan Poehling, Josh Brook, Cayden Primeau, Jake Evans
Average prospect - Joni Ikonen, Cale Fleury, Lukas Vejdemo, Jarret Tyszka, Will Bitten, Hayden Hawkey, Michael McNiven
Low end prospect - Michael McCarron, Daniel Audette, Brett Lernout, Scott Walford, Michael Pezzetta, Casey Staum, Arvid Henrikson, Jeremiah Addison, Simon Bourque, Zach Fucale, Nikolas Koberstein



What changes would you guys have to my list

 

[roy munson]

You already know that it will be Tkachuk.

MB probably thinks his full name is Tony Kachuk

 

[habsgirl5000]

So there's a thread on main NHL board asking to rank your players.
So I did that, and I put them where I'm most comfortable each player playing:

3rd line forward - Philip Danault, Charles Hudon, Artturi Lehkonen, Paul Byron, Andrew Shaw (He's still a 30 pt forward, I know I'll get hate for this), Nikita Scherbak(Potential for more, but I think he's fine on the 3rd right now)

NONE of these players would be third line players on a cup contending team

4th line forward

- Daniel Carr, Jacob De La Rose, Kerby Rychel, Nicolas Deslauriers

NONE of these players would have ANY PLACE on a cup contending team

 

[montreal]

So there's a thread on main NHL board asking to rank your players.
So I did that, and I put them where I'm most comfortable each player playing:

1st pair defender - Shea Weber
2nd pair defender - Jeff Petry, Victor Mete
3rd pair defender - Noah Juulsen (Truthfully a 4/5 RIGHT NOW, but could be a 3/4 in the future), Mike Reilly, Jordie Benn, Karl Alzner
Extra: Brett Lernout (Still young)

What changes would you guys have to my list

I would have Reilly on the 2nd pairing, he put up 1 more point then Mete in 30 less games. Now 19 games is too small a sample size but that does put him on pace for about 35 pts over 82 where Mete was on pace for 12 pts. I think Mete is more of a 3rd pairing D until he can produce more offense.

I think Schlemko is better then Benn and Alzner.

 

[Yoshidas Island]

I would have Reilly on the 2nd pairing, he put up 1 more point then Mete in 30 less games. Now 19 games is too small a sample size but that does put him on pace for about 35 pts over 82 where Mete was on pace for 12 pts. I think Mete is more of a 3rd pairing D until he can produce more offense.

I think Schlemko is better then Benn and Alzner.

Completely forgot about Schlemko, I'd agree with that.

I think Reilly definitely played well enough to be a #4, so I could see that argument. Honestly a top D from this draft is what this team is missing. 2 years down the line you can have something like

2018 D - Weber
Mete/Reilly-Juulsen
Mete/Reilly-Brook
Alzner

That's a solid D core. Obviously Petry could still be around, but the others should certainly all be there. However... It is quite young, which could be a concern for Julien.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Completely forgot about Schlemko, I'd agree with that.

I think Reilly definitely played well enough to be a #4, so I could see that argument. Honestly a top D from this draft is what this team is missing. 2 years down the line you can have something like

2018 D - Weber
Mete/Reilly-Juulsen
Mete/Reilly-Brook
Alzner

That's a solid D core. Obviously Petry could still be around, but the others should certainly all be there. However... It is quite young, which could be a concern for Julien.

In 2 years Weber is going to be Marc Andre Bergeron

 

[Yoshidas Island]

In 2 years Weber is going to be Marc Andre Bergeron

I knew I was going to have someone comment this

I respect your opinion and I can see where you're coming from, I just disagree

 

[gillyguzzler]

NONE of these players would be third line players on a cup contending team

Strongly disagree with this statement. Danault, Shaw, Byron and Lekhonen are solid 3rd liners that most teams would like.