A Plan for the Deadline, and Remainder of the Habs season

[Chili]

The reality is that picks will be asked for and offered. The better the player the greater the likelihood of getting a good 1st rounder. It will occasionally also be a lottery pick.

Considering how poor our prospect pool is, there needs to be an influx of skill, and most of that will come through the draft.

For sure, there will be trades for draft picks.

My own priority would be trying to get young talent in return, where possible.

The draft is a crapshoot, look at the second round where Subban was taken. I believe only one other pick of the 30 is even still in the league (Simmonds).

If someone like Pacioretty is traded for draft picks, it will be a very poor trade in my opinion.

 

[habsgirl5000]

habs have 4 goalies in the system i like as prospects.

and all of them will be a big waste with our 10 million dollar man around

 

[LastWordArmy]

and all of them will be a big waste with our 10 million dollar man around

Why?

Is the NHL making a new rule that prospects can't be traded to fill other needs?

 

[groovejuice]

For sure, there will be trades for draft picks.

My own priority would be trying to get young talent in return, where possible.

The draft is a crapshoot, look at the second round where Subban was taken. I believe only one other pick of the 30 is even still in the league (Simmonds).

If someone like Pacioretty is traded for draft picks, it will be a very poor trade in my opinion.

There's not a chance Pacioretty is traded solely for picks. Expect pick(s), roster player(s), and prospect(s).

 

[Chili]

There's not a chance Pacioretty is traded solely for picks. Expect pick(s), roster player(s), and prospect(s).

And that`s the rule of thumb logic, established young players and top prospects are a better return then draft picks.

 

[Omar]

A system is more than an AHL team

habs have 4 goalies in the system i like as prospects.

Mete I still consider a prospect

Brook, Fleury, Tyzska, Walford have all had nice seasons.

Juulsen is a legit prospect

Bitten has had a great stretch.

Vejdemo went from a nothing to a maybe.

Scherbak took a big step forward.

Evans is a must sign right now.

Poehling is everything we could have asked for.

Of that group, only 4 are in the AHL (2 g, 1d, 1fwd)... but the system depth is better than it looked a year ago.

Again its not great, but its not worst in the league either. There is more to work with than most give credit for.

Exactly. There are two guys coming in the next 2 years. Most of those guys are 3-5 years out.

 

[De Montreal]

Pacioretty, Plekanec, Benn, Schlemko and one of Byron or Andrew Shaw for picks / prospects.

Sign Evans at the end of the season. Call up McCarron and Scherbak.

Drouin - Galchenyuk - Gallagher
Lehkonen - Danault - Hudon
Carr - Shaw/Evans/Byron/Scherbak
Deslauriers - McCarron - De La Rose

Mete - Weber
Alzner - Petry
Morrow - Jerabek

Play Niemi lot of games. Finnish bottom 5. Give a taste of NHL to Evans, Lernout, Nuulsen, Scherbak, McCarron. See which one can play in the NHL next year.

 

[Habby4Life]

Between now and the deadline Molson should replace MB and then the following should happen.

#1 - Gut this team right down to the studs by moving Plekanec, Galchenyuk, Patch, Byron, Weber, Petry, Price, for picks and prospects.
#2 - Up front keep Gally, AShaw, Lek, Droiun, Hudon, and Deslauriers
#3 - On D keep Mete, Schelmko, Jarubek

This team needs to restock its team with young players so it is neccessary to suck bad for a couple of years until the there is organizational depth.

 

[smarties 1]

Plan:
Win lottery and draft Dahlin.
Sign Tavares
???
Win

Wait, do nothing and plan, on things you don’t control !
Marc it’s you ?

 

[LaP]

His plan should be to retire.

Solid plan. The best i've read here.

 

[groovejuice]

Between now and the deadline Molson should replace MB and then the following should happen.

#1 - Gut this team right down to the studs by moving Plekanec, Galchenyuk, Patch, Byron, Weber, Petry, Price, for picks and prospects.
#2 - Up front keep Gally, AShaw, Lek, Droiun, Hudon, and Deslauriers
#3 - On D keep Mete, Schelmko, Jarubek

This team needs to restock its team with young players so it is neccessary to suck bad for a couple of years until the there is organizational depth.

How long do you think it would take to rebuild after losing those players? Not a first line winger nor a top 6 centre among them. By looking at your keepers, I assume you meant to keep Danault. You've left virtually no skill players, and the D is garbage. No NHL level goalie. The forwards wear a small or medium uniform. Nothing to build on, at all.

This core would suck in the AHL. Although you might have inadvertently hit on what Bergevin may do.

 

[badbrains]

Plan:
Win lottery and draft Dahlin. - Then trade him for Pierre Luc Dubois
Sign Tavares. - Then play him as a checking winger
??? - New pants
Win - Lose

I think the bolded parts are the more likely outcomes...

 

[Habby4Life]

How long do you think it would take to rebuild after losing those players? Not a first line winger nor a top 6 centre among them. By looking at your keepers, I assume you meant to keep Danault. You've left virtually no skill players, and the D is garbage. No NHL level goalie. The forwards wear a small or medium uniform. Nothing to build on, at all.

This core would suck in the AHL. Although you might have inadvertently hit on what Bergevin may do.

The point is there needs to be some really bad years to stockpile talent. If we are going to lose than lets do it properly and restock. Of course there will be some players needed to be kept but my point it is time to rebuild this team. Calgary waited too long to move Kiprusoff and Ignila and they payed for it for years

 

[dackelljuneaubulis02]

The current situation is just absolutely mind-boggling.

If I ever had a really horrible Habs nightmare 6 years ago, it would be what we are currently witnessing.

We've actually reached close to worst case scenario.

oh god no. Tons of cap room. Hopefully hopefully a high pick. 3 2nd rounders. I will contend to the death that the prospect pool isn't as bad as most people think it is. Fantastic goalie depth. Good D prospects. We're lacking at forward but we do have some guys that can be decent upgrades on what we already have. It's not drool worthy but the cupboards are not bare. A few good tradeable assets. Especially at wing.

Seriously if we get a #1 C we could be back in business fairly quickly.

I don't know about trading Weber. That's a huge hole. You trade him then you're pretty much going in full rebuild. I'd definitely try a 2 year quick re-build. If we're still stuck in mediocrity (or worked our way back up there) then tear the sucker down.

We have the position to draft a border line elite to elite player and we have the cap space to attain one. If we can add two elite players to this roster in the right spots and a few upgrades here and there then we could have ourselves a team.

 

[mariolemieux66]

We need to trade Pacioretty, Byron and Benn since they are on good contract with an extra year increasing their value a little. Plekanec needs to go as well. I believe we could get at least one very good prospects, a good prospect, 1st, 2×2nd and a 3rd. Would be nice to draft 6+ times in the first 3 rounds.

And if teams are interested in any other players and the return is good do it. But i believe the 4 players i mentionned need to go soon.

 

[Milhouse40]

There's many way to do this...but my plan would have a lot of options.
Really early to say at this point.

(Pacioretty/Galchenyuk) - Spot #1 - Gallagher
Drouin - Danault - Scherback
Hudon - Spot #2 - Byron
Deslauriers - Froese - Carr

Spot #3 - Weber
Mete - Petry
Alzner - Juulsen

Price
Lindgren


Spot #1: Won't be filled throught this year's draft, that we know. There's not really a center worth mentionning before pick #9-#10 and won't be NHL ready . I'm looking for a trade for a top 6 center, not really a 1st line center. Pacioretty or Galchenyuk have to be dealt to get that even if it's a prospect. That's a priority.

Spot #2: Danault could be back on the 3rd line if the Habs are lucky and get a Statsny, Backlund or Sedin, that would be plan A. But as of now, lots of options in the UFA. So i'm looking to filled that hole with the Cap Space available which would be around $27M depending on the return from Galchenyuk or Pacioretty's trade

Spot #3: There's a chance that void can be fill at this year's draft year. Drafting Dahlin is a long shot, but Hugues is a possibility and i would hope for it a lot since there's nothing on the UFA market to filled this hole. It's either that of a trade, or a plaster signing.

Andrew Shaw
Arturri Lehkonen
Tomas Plekanec
David Schlemko
Jordie Benn
Micheal McCarron

All can be used for either :
- Complete the trade for Spot #1
- Make a trade for spot #3 or at least help
- Add picks and prospect to the pool.

After letting go of many players. This team should fall to the ground and insure a top 6 pick which would add probably an NHL ready prospect. As of now one of:

Dahlin LHD
Zadina RW
Svechnikov RW
Hugues LHD
Boqvist RHD
Tkachuk LW

With a lot of luck:

Spot #1: Dubois, Thomas, Vilardi, RNH, Coyle
Spot #2: Eller, Bozak, Stastny, Plekanec, Brodziak, Nash.
Spot #3: Hugues, De Haan or try to do something for one of Hurricane's D.

That would also leave the Habs with tons of cap space to improve and another 3 to 5 draft pick this year.

 

[LastWordArmy]

Spots 1 and 3 are the big problems.

#2 is easy enough to fill in free agency. I'm not too worried about it... but 1 and 3 have been issues for so long.

As for 3, I wonder if the Isles would be interested in Benn or Schlemko for Brock Nelson... you could slot him into line 2, and danault on line 3.... maybe.

I'd also keep Lehkonen, he is one of our best defensive wingers, and i think he's got more offence than he's doing right now.

 

[nhlfan9191]

A system is more than an AHL team

habs have 4 goalies in the system i like as prospects.

Mete I still consider a prospect

Brook, Fleury, Tyzska, Walford have all had nice seasons.

Juulsen is a legit prospect

Bitten has had a great stretch.

Vejdemo went from a nothing to a maybe.

Scherbak took a big step forward.

Evans is a must sign right now.

Poehling is everything we could have asked for.

Of that group, only 4 are in the AHL (2 g, 1d, 1fwd)... but the system depth is better than it looked a year ago.

Again its not great, but its not worst in the league either. There is more to work with than most give credit for.

This is being as optimistic as possible. We have zero idea how any of the players you named will be in reality. We’ve been talking about Scherbak for awhile. Still nothing. Any team in the NHL can say they have what we have, it means nothing.

 

[LastWordArmy]

This is being as optimistic as possible. We have zero idea how any of the players you named will be in reality. We’ve been talking about Scherbak for awhile. Still nothing. Any team in the NHL can say they have what we have, it means nothing.

We regularly follow and write about prospects about all 31 teams and the draft. You can say its just optimism, but I'm higher on many in this group now than I was 12 months ago. As for Scherbak, its undeniable that he's shown more this season than last year. Just ask anyone who follows the AHL.

 

[mariolemieux66]

Montreal needs to trade their players on good contract with an extra year left, Pacioretty, Byron and Benn. Get prospect and draft picks. During free agency you go for guys now getting paid around 1.5mil and looking for a raise, Nick Holden, John Moore, Derek Ryan, Thomas Vanek, Michael Grabner and give a couple of them a 1 or 2 years contract between 5mil and 7 mil. Those are good 2nd and 3rd line player and 2nd pairing dmen that you trade at the deadline. You try doing this twice and it should guarantee to bring a good amount of draft picks for the next 4 years.

You also need to go for a top level D or C with free agency if the chance present itself.

 

[Milhouse40]

Spots 1 and 3 are the big problems.

#2 is easy enough to fill in free agency. I'm not too worried about it... but 1 and 3 have been issues for so long.

As for 3, I wonder if the Isles would be interested in Benn or Schlemko for Brock Nelson... you could slot him into line 2, and danault on line 3.... maybe.

I'd also keep Lehkonen, he is one of our best defensive wingers, and i think he's got more offence than he's doing right now.

I also like Lehkonen. But some wingers must be sacrifice in order to fill those spot #1 and #3.
I was hesitating between Byron, Hudon and Lehkonen. I don't think Hudon hold very good value and Byron is so useful with his speed, defensive game, PK abilities, Shootout skills, experience and offensive production.

 

[LastWordArmy]

Byron is the guy i move instead of Lehkonen, age and contract situation (he's going to need a big raise soon) means he's most expendable. Especially cause as he ages, he is going to lose a step, its inevitable and if we are moving for a C prospect or D prospect, then he might not be as good by the time that player is ready.

 

[Runner77]

We regularly follow and write about ...

As an aside, does Ben Kerr post here? If not, any chance he might? I used to read him on another site to which he's no longer contributing and was hoping to see him here as a poster and not only as a writer on your site. Hey, maybe he's already posting under some pseudonym.

 

[Scriptor]

Byron is the guy i move instead of Lehkonen, age and contract situation (he's going to need a big raise soon) means he's most expendable. Especially cause as he ages, he is going to lose a step, its inevitable and if we are moving for a C prospect or D prospect, then he might not be as good by the time that player is ready.

This. Moving Byron is a case of getting low and selling high as well. How many back to back 20-goal scorers (he's on pace again) that can play defensively and add a burst of speed to your lineup can be had for another season at only 1.167M?

That price tag might triple in a hurry once the contract is up, even if on no more than a 4-year deal. I'm not saying he wouldn't be worth it on such a deal, but his marginal value, Cap-wise, as a complementary player would seriously dip downwards.

I'd rather move him than Lehkonen if it helps (along with Pacioretty before Galchenyuk, if possible, as per the example floated around) land a confirmed youngster that is a top-6 C.

 

[Scriptor]

This. Moving Byron is a case of getting low and selling high as well. How many back to back 20-goal scorers (he's on pace again) that can play defensively and add a burst of speed to your lineup can be had for another season at only 1.167M?

That price tag might triple in a hurry once the contract is up, even if on no more than a 4-year deal. I'm not saying he wouldn't be worth it on such a deal, but his marginal value, Cap-wise, as a complementary player would seriously dip downwards.

I'd rather move him than Lehkonen if it helps (along with Pacioretty before Galchenyuk, if possible, as per the example floated around) land a confirmed youngster that is a top-6 C.

If you're building for a solid contender in 3-5 years, you won't get help from Byron to win a Cup for very long at that point. Lehkonen, on the other hand, would be falling into his prime years. Much better, IMHO.