Speculation: Alex Tanguay trade

[DAChampion]

Yeah, the Habs have had two legitimate SC opportunities since 1993 in my opinion:

1) 2008. The Habs were a strong team. If Gainey had either successfully acquired Sundin/Hossa, or kept Huet, or both, the Habs could have made the finals. Note that Gainey had actually put together the best trade package for Sundin, but the latter wanted to screw over Toronto's management. Gainey also put together the best trade package for Marian Hossa, but Atlanta's GM opted for an inferior package from Pittsburgh, which included the mighty Angelo Esposito.

This team did not have a chance to have another go in 2009. The following year had an improved roster on paper, but in practice it was too injured to do much. Keeping Mark Streit might have helped, he was more helpful than people thought, as demonstrated by the necessary acquisition of Schneider.

2) 2014. The Habs made the conference finals and lost in 6 games. If Therrien had managed the lines better by transferring ice time from Desharnais/Gionta to Eller/Vanek, and if Price had not been injured, or both, the Habs could have made the finals.

The team did not have a chance to compete again in 2015. It might have, but the Habs were poorly coached against the Lightning. They added Petry which was good, but they were missing Vanek who was not replaced. At the time, Habs fans on this board wrote that Vanek's contributions would be replaced by Galchenyuk's progression curve, that did not happen.

 

[Kimota]

Trading for Tanguay was fine. The problem was letting him walk at the end of the year.

For Gainey it felt almost like a slap in the face cause Tanguay couldn't play injured.

But really Tanguay whom several observers considered as soft, he was anything but when he played for us. He played with a ton of determination. I was really impressed. We've had more than a few veterans that came to play with us and somehow they gave their all and they were not treated that well by management whether it was Tanguay, Cole or Radulov. It doesn't send a good message to free agents.

In retrospect, Gainey letting everyone walk that summer was a horrible mistake and he could have gotten some elements at least for them and it would never fly today, people would be tearing it up their Habs jerseys. Assetts are so important. Bob was like pff I don't care, like a drunk on depression. Especially given you had two Habs heroes in Koivu and Kovalev. Then again, I did not hate it cause in a way Gainey saw that these guys were not what they used to and personally I was ready for a clean up(the only guys I wanted to keep were Lang and Tanguay, really). But his mistake was in demolishing the roster, he wanted to replace it by another one like magic. Sure it got us in the ECF but long term all we got were three other little guys that were not that superior to Saku and Kovy. And you cannot transform your team in free agency.

It should have been the summer to make a drastic move toward a genuine rebuild. You sign nobody, let it slide and see what it lead us.

 

[Whitesnake]

I disagree about Timmins not going for a D. McCagg used to say Carlson was his pick. Timmins confirmed it years later and it didnt stop him from drafting D in '10 and '11.

Whatever. This team traded the picks that would've been Carlson and Girard and traded Subban, Sergachev and McDonagh.

You'd think, at some point, we'd get used to it.

So easy to say that Carlson would have been our pick. Insane how we hear all those great players that were almost ours....yet....with the picks we made, we had a bad prospect pool. So Carlson and Girard were almost ours...yet, Giroux wasn't. Kreider wasn't. Kuznetsov wasn't. Or Coyle. Or Nelson. Klingberg wasn't. Rakell wasn't. See in 2008 was also that we were interested in Nicolas Deschamps. Did you hear about it when it was known he was not going to make it?

Don't understand why some of you fall in the "I would have picked that guy" trap instead just at looking at what happened and what did we REALLY missed.....No idea why fiction is bigger than facts...

Here's the report on Nicolas Deschamps back in the days...NOT 5 years later...when everything is known but in 2010...

«Une question de vitesse» pour Nicolas Deschamps | Mathias Brunet | Hockey

Les Ducks sont heureux d'avoir pu repêcher Deschamps, et surtout d'avoir résisté à la tentation de l'échanger car le Canadien a tenté agressivement de l'obtenir depuis un an.

«On ne l'a pas échangé parce qu'on l'aimait. Notre directeur général l'avait vu évoluer, on pense qu'il fait partie de notre avenir et qu'il aura un rôle avec nous bientôt, a mentionné Chainey. Pour ce qui est du repêchage, on l'avait classé très haut, en fin de première ronde. Quand le Canadien a donné son choix de première ronde pour obtenir Alex Tanguay, nous avons été soulagés. Montréal nous faisait peur parce qu'ils veulent avoir de très bons joueurs francophones. On savait qu'ils le regardaient de très près. Atlanta aussi le suivait de près avec leur recruteur québécois Normand Poisson.»

Ducks were happy to have drafted Deschamps and to not have traded him 'cause they Habs were AGGRESSIVELY looking to get him. Anaheim was scared of the Habs 'cause Habs wanted to add some franco players and they were looking at him really closely.

 

[nhlfan9191]

You mean that?

Hadn’t seen any of the highlights from that series in years but it’s good to know my memory is still good.

 

[Andrei79]

So easy to say that Carlson would have been our pick. Insane how we hear all those great players that were almost ours....yet....with the picks we made, we had a bad prospect pool. So Carlson and Girard were almost ours...yet, Giroux wasn't. Kreider wasn't. Kuznetsov wasn't. Or Coyle. Or Nelson. Klingberg wasn't. Rakell wasn't. See in 2008 was also that we were interested in Nicolas Deschamps. Did you hear about it when it was known he was not going to make it?

Don't understand why some of you fall in the "I would have picked that guy" trap instead just at looking at what happened and what did we REALLY missed.....No idea why fiction is bigger than facts...

Here's the report on Nicolas Deschamps back in the days...NOT 5 years later...when everything is known but in 2010...

«Une question de vitesse» pour Nicolas Deschamps | Mathias Brunet | Hockey

Les Ducks sont heureux d'avoir pu repêcher Deschamps, et surtout d'avoir résisté à la tentation de l'échanger car le Canadien a tenté agressivement de l'obtenir depuis un an.

«On ne l'a pas échangé parce qu'on l'aimait. Notre directeur général l'avait vu évoluer, on pense qu'il fait partie de notre avenir et qu'il aura un rôle avec nous bientôt, a mentionné Chainey. Pour ce qui est du repêchage, on l'avait classé très haut, en fin de première ronde. Quand le Canadien a donné son choix de première ronde pour obtenir Alex Tanguay, nous avons été soulagés. Montréal nous faisait peur parce qu'ils veulent avoir de très bons joueurs francophones. On savait qu'ils le regardaient de très près. Atlanta aussi le suivait de près avec leur recruteur québécois Normand Poisson.»

Ducks were happy to have drafted Deschamps and to not have traded him 'cause they Habs were AGGRESSIVELY looking to get him. Anaheim was scared of the Habs 'cause Habs wanted to add some franco players and they were looking at him really closely.

Fair point WS. I had heard a lot about Carlson, but none about Deschamps. You're right, it's easier to judge based on what actually happened. But, I think the team still needs to look at who their scouts were high on in each draft and whether the misses were a string of bad luck or bad player evaluation.

Dont get me started on missing Kuznetsov though... I was pissed at that one.

 

[montreal]

Should we consider them reliable?

Timmins makes a lot of excuses. Didn't he also claim that he was made to draft Leblanc, but really wanted Kreider?

Here's two claims that I consider reliable:
1) Marc Staal was his 2nd choice in 2005;
2) They considered Terevainen in 2012;

I can say I'm 100% sure that Timmins badly wanted McDonagh. I knew months before the draft that he was high up the list as I went out of my to watch him play for CDH in the USHS, then at the draft it was said the Habs were aggressive in trying to trade up but couldn't and still were able to get him. Now maybe the person got lucky but everything else he told me was correct up to that point.

I don't know about Kreider, it does make a lot of sense as he's a total Timmins pick, US kid from the USHS. But the only thing I remember going into the '09 draft was the source saying Timmins was high on Despres.

One that doesn't get talked about too much is I remember in '08 being told that Timmins was really high on Karlsson. I remember it well cause I said to him, who the f*** is Karlsson. I remember him saying something about his skill but since it was 10 years ago I don't remember what all was said just that this was some time before the draft and I had no clue who he was.

So easy to say that Carlson would have been our pick. Insane how we hear all those great players that were almost ours....yet....with the picks we made, we had a bad prospect pool. So Carlson and Girard were almost ours...yet, Giroux wasn't. Kreider wasn't. Kuznetsov wasn't. Or Coyle. Or Nelson. Klingberg wasn't. Rakell wasn't. See in 2008 was also that we were interested in Nicolas Deschamps. Did you hear about it when it was known he was not going to make it?

Don't understand why some of you fall in the "I would have picked that guy" trap instead just at looking at what happened and what did we REALLY missed.....No idea why fiction is bigger than facts...

Here's the report on Nicolas Deschamps back in the days...NOT 5 years later...when everything is known but in 2010...

«Une question de vitesse» pour Nicolas Deschamps | Mathias Brunet | Hockey

Les Ducks sont heureux d'avoir pu repêcher Deschamps, et surtout d'avoir résisté à la tentation de l'échanger car le Canadien a tenté agressivement de l'obtenir depuis un an.

«On ne l'a pas échangé parce qu'on l'aimait. Notre directeur général l'avait vu évoluer, on pense qu'il fait partie de notre avenir et qu'il aura un rôle avec nous bientôt, a mentionné Chainey. Pour ce qui est du repêchage, on l'avait classé très haut, en fin de première ronde. Quand le Canadien a donné son choix de première ronde pour obtenir Alex Tanguay, nous avons été soulagés. Montréal nous faisait peur parce qu'ils veulent avoir de très bons joueurs francophones. On savait qu'ils le regardaient de très près. Atlanta aussi le suivait de près avec leur recruteur québécois Normand Poisson.»

Ducks were happy to have drafted Deschamps and to not have traded him 'cause they Habs were AGGRESSIVELY looking to get him. Anaheim was scared of the Habs 'cause Habs wanted to add some franco players and they were looking at him really closely.

I do remember hearing that Timmins was interested in Deschamps.