When did the Habs drafting/development turn the corner?

[Walksss]

when they fired HuGo , thats when.

Huh?

Obviously the 2 drafts they've been a part of its far too early to judge and besides, they both look really good.

Major statement and their reputation riding on Reinbacher vs Michkov obviously but that can't be judged yet either. There's a strategy there as well so I'm down with it anyways. Get your defence drafted and developed cause they take longer and then look to the forwards. Smart guys.

 

[Guess]

It's still a big one, reason why I can't say things have changed. Slafkovski was clearly not ready for the NHL in his first season. Even St-Louis admitted in the beginning of this season he now was better in cardio so now could take bigger minutes. It's the type of things I expect a team that focuses on development to take seriously. Don't bring them up to play on a fourth line. And if they can take minutes and are lost, then send them to the AHL so they can get up to speed.

I also didn't like how Mesar was handled. Bring him from Europe to play in junior. See an alternative they could have done is keep both in Europe so they can keep playing together and bring them up at the same time. It's what the Lightning did with some of their players when they won the cup. It's the type of things I would like to see.

Right now it seems more roster dependent than a focus on the player, that's what it looks to me, and it's the same we have seen in the Bergevin era. They literally said they did not take Michkov because they would not have as much control over his development, which means they could not rush him up.

Now I do like what they did with Roy. Take your time, give him a chance when there are some injuries, probably send him down after the need is over. Same with some others like Mailloux. Xhekaj, I don't like. He got demoted for no reason after having started on the roster last year. So it's those things, I am on the fence on what to think about. Some are good, some not. I would not say for sure I know they are different. All those things Bergevin did. He sent back Suzuki in junior then rushed KK.

I don't necessarily agree with you on Mesar, they wanted to have him adjust to NA size rinks, its not their fault Mesar was sulking and not playing as well, I don't know if they should have foreseen that his OHL team would not be that good.

On Michkov, I'm sure that was one of the factors but not necessarily the deciding one, the scouts seemed unanimous on Reinbacher. They seem to value reliable PMD more than risky star forwards.

Xhekaj they didn't have much choice because of the amount of LHD they have, and I think the management values him quite highly and wanted him to get as much ice time as possible. Unlike someone like Harris, Barron who I think are being showcased for an eventual trade, among others. And Xhekaj is helping our prospects in Laval which is great.

We have MB the benefit of the doubt for quite a while, I'd say Hugo deserve a bit of leash but they definitely need to fix things on the scouting end and be a bit more patient with some players.

 

[MasterD]

No, I just didn’t explain my self enough because I was at the bar and just gave up on trying to express my opinion on why Montreal never has those star star players.

It’s not that we don’t have players that couldn’t be stars but for some reason they just never break out or they are injury prone etc.

To me, Evans is a prime example of a player that can do everything. Deke, shoot, pass, block, check, skate.. at times he does everything just as well as anyone else but for some reason just doesnt take that next step.

Bro. Evans? Really? Evans can do everything?

Evans wins faceoffs and plays the PK. That's it. And we're talking about stars? Wtf

 

[Sorinth]

The day Bergevin was fired

 

[RationalExpectations]

It has not turned yet. Too soon to say. Hughes is just better at communicating about it.

 

[c3z4r]

Has the Habs drafting/development turned the corner?

Personally, I don’t believe they have done so yet.

 

[Chili]

Let me re-phrase,
How many drafted players will be part of a competitive team?

I only see 2 or 3 in that list, they are mostly short term plugs, or career AHLers

The only reason they are spending time in the NHL is because we have no better options

That`s the big question that only time can answer. It`s like this season and last have been an open audition of young players to see who will be part of the team going forward. It`s a bit of an experiment in roster building, throwing kids right into the deep end of the pool. We`ll see who progresses, would expect lots more changes in the next few seasons.

 

[schwang26]

A big part of it was accepting and acknowledging a rebuild.

 

[montreal]

Much has been written about how Habs drafting and development was subpar in the period 2008-2016 or so. It seems to be better lately, when would you say that the tide began turning and why?

In the next 2-3 years we should have a much clearer picture, until then I can't say what they have really done drafting wise good or bad.

Development, they talk a good game but it's a totally different story to back it up. I like that they didn't rush Reinbacher, I don't know why they called up Xhekaj or Roy when they did. I don't know why Ylonen isn't getting more of a look, I can't say I feel they have done a great job on Slaf but now he seems to be putting it together so maybe MSL working with him will show how much better off the development is under MSL then any Habs HC since the past 20+ years.

Next up will be interesting to see what they do with Houle and how things go with Mesar, Hutson, etc.. in Laval next year as it looks like it would be another very young team again so how they handle that since right before the start of the season Gorton made it sound like Houle being re-signed was all be done but it's almost Feb and still no contract, although with the way Laval has turned things around I don't think he's too worried as I assume he's re-signed for sure and if not he'll find a job somewhere as a HC.

 

[dcyhabs]

I said none of the above for different reasons.

For the drafting, 2007 was an exceptional year, so it's an outlier, I am not sure the period 2008-2016 was that abysmal, but it was clearly poorer.

We know the reasons for that. Bergevin more or less was drafting the first round on need and size. So he would ask "what is the best tall and gritty defenseman, or center this year?". Then he would trade the second pick for some player usually.

So the first picks failed, and not surprisingly, not much came up of three and higher because it rarely does, but there were a few exceptions and overall in the circumstances, the draft was pretty decent. What's peculiar is nobody made it into the farm. Either they made it in the NHL or they were not in the picture, so development was not existent.

There is one exception, Sergachev in 2016 who was drafted to trade. KK year was a good year and it seems Bergevin stopped trading out seconds the year before in 2017, but collecting them because he was in "retool" mode which was a variation of "the plan". So that means more players and a possibility of development.

I can't say it turned a corner, we know 2018 was a good year, 2019 is harder to tell who makes it, but Caufield and Harris already make it a good year as well. Now clearly they are not the typical draft because Caufield is small so there was a shift there in focus.

It's too early to tell for the other years, but it looks good. Maybe they now take into account things like skating ability or offensive ability more seriously. Still there is not a lot of forwards that look great except Mesar, maybe Roy.

So I am not sure about whether things really have changed. They still tend to draft big players with character and hope they will get good offensively. It's what the last two first round picks suggest, so I am not ready to claim there is a deep change, it could just be the luck of the draw, or some scout some year making a good pitch for a guy like Caufield, because he is the only true outlier and his talent was totally obvious.

As far as development, I can't tell. It's not like the young players spent much time in the AHL, so as far as I can tell, the farm team is not really doing the work it should be doing. It seems more like a place where the extras are put for roster reasons, not a place where you develop the future per say, but I could be wrong. We will see in a couple years if it becomes what it used to be and should be.

In other words, I don't see any drastic change right now to the past. Hughes still exchange good draft picks for players, seen to favor size and some sort of attitude to life and general good humor. He tends to think it's fine to rush players without development and it does not seem to be the actual focus of the AHL team to do that. There is no doubt there is more drafted players that make the team though, but I can't totally explain it outside of the trading of picks thing.

I think you are being a bit too negative about Laval. The players have improved and no one has been destroyed lately. It may not be perfect but it’s at least acceptable, that is infinitely better than with Lefebvre.

 

[BLNY]

Drafting remains to be seen and is extremely subjective.

Development? The moment Berg was shown the door. HuGo have made significant institutional changes. MSL preaching development over systems. The team pushes young players up the lineup, and doesn't punish them for a mistake. Beyond refreshing. The overhaul of the development strategy; bringing in Adam Nicholas.