Are We Headed in the Right Direction?

[BaseballCoach]

Adding two of those five to Matheson might make for a very strong group.

 

[Paddyjack]

I like where we are going, but I also understand what people are saying about the missing star on offense. So I guess the idea will be to trade for one with multiple D prospects, or UFA. Is there any UFAs of note coming up in the next two years?

 

[Gustave]

It’s a hard question to answer…

I feel like it’s going ok. D looks good and has room for a couple of failures. If some miss, some will take the spot. Our strength. You can see that no matter what this group will come out on top and be the driver of the Habs.

G looks too soon to be determined. The gap between what we have in the NHL and the prospects is gigantic maturity wise. We kinda have to hope that Monty continues his very surprising uptrend. As a side note, I wish him all the best, he’s a solid kid and person. Not a fan of said gap.

F gets tricky. We have two waves here. The Suzuki Caufield Dach and dare I say it Newhook, + good fillers like RHP Ylo and the likes. Slaf Beck Roy Farrell Heiny is the next wave. Let’s be honest here; these two waves aren’t alike. Our F prospects are not what I would’ve hoped for. What we have in the first one is very good and will be/are NHL quality. The next one is a question mark. This is where I feel like we are going to miss out.

My biggest pet peeve is this. We are too stretched out between our waves. Our next draft picks (UNLESS a Celebrini ou Eiserman etc) will be too far behind to build a long term core. I feel like it’s going to be what happened with Bergy; Suzuki and Caufield came in « too late » to be added to Price/Weber sorta core. The primes won’t be in sync for a long period of time.

I have to rate our filler too; Dvo Armia Hoff Gally etc. I don’t like it. That value is minimal. Not Hugo’s fault but as value they don’t bring a lot. I like Andy and Matheson. Fingers crossed for a Monahan revival.

So, I’ll say « yes », but I’m cautious on it. Don’t like Bobrov at all, don’t like Lapointe, I appreciate the MSL Nicolas dev dream team of magic and Hugo’s contracts. This is not a bad canvas all things considered.

 

[HABitual Fan]

Goalie from the CHL barely reach the NHL. Just draft the best goalie from Russia.

I think you missed the point. It wasn't about drafting goalies, it was about not drafting any CHL players besides him. They deliberately avoided drafting players who only have a two year window to be signed or you lose their rights. This makes sense since most drafted after the 3rd round require more development time before you can see what you have.

 

[Andy]

The way I see it right now is that the direction of the team will depend on the development of the following players:

Fowards:
Suzuki
Caufield
Dach
Slafkovsky
Newhook

Defense:
Guhle
Barron
Harris
Xhekaj
*Hutson (starred bc he's not yet an nhler)

There are still a lot of question marks on the group, but I honestly can't remember a time where the habs had this much young potential on the club.

How close to their potential they end up playing is still an unknown, but the talent is undeniably there. If several of these players hit, then Hughes & Co only need to worry about adding support talent to round out the roster (and goaltending needs an upgrade).

The good part is that Hughes & Co have enough assets to be able to make trades to round out the roster.

It's hard for me not to say that the habs are heading in the right direction, especially when you consider all the bloated contracts that will eventually come off the cap.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

All I know is that these are better times than when DD was our first line center. I rather tank suck and acquire talent and go forward with a plan than go into every season with a mediocre roster on paper with 0 chance to win a cup for 10 years just spinning the wheels and *anything can happen* lol all while the entire city overate the team and think we have a chance , its embarrassing. We never had a chance , even the covid cup run we didn't even come close did you see Tampa bay humiliate us like they were playing a AHL team it wasn't even close , not interested in a participation covid cup finals trophy sorry.

Like sure we won more games when we were semi-competing before but were we more entertained? Debatable to say the least. The product has been borderline unwatchable for a while offensively. Having Suzuki Caufield and Dach out there is alot more fun than alot of what we've been watching for a while even if the results are bad. We had like 13 games of Paciorrety Galchenyuk Radulov which were pretty fun I guess

ENTERTAIN ME! Its also why alot of us wanted to draft Michkov, its exhausting being forced to watch other teams if you want to have a little glimpse of all world hockey talent that teams have. I mean us being bad made me become a die hard hockey fan so its cool but it would be fun if my own team could entertain me and wow me a bit. Maybe some day

 

[JianYang]

There was nowhere to go but up, so heading in the right direction is not a high bar.

There is still a ton of work left to do for cup contest tion purposes.

 

[rahad]

We need to draft a good or elite forward next draft. Our D core is stacked. Our upcoming forward prospect are average at best. Hope, we get lucky in the draft 2024-2025.

 

[Milhouse40]

At least it's already a lot better than last management.

18 months on the job:

- Dach
- Newhook
- Monahan
- Matheson
- Barron
- Reinbacher
- Slafkovsky
- Hutson
- Beck
- Heineman
- Reinbacher
- Engstrom
- Mesar

+ Cap structure is getting healthier, mostly all good contracts from HuGo
+ Many new positive stuff around the team like analytics, development coach, Chefs....
+ Development of prospects is going well and encouraging. MSL is doing a good job on this.
+ More enterntaining type of hockey.
+ Lack of noise is also appreciated. Not a whole lot of drama coming out of the organization.
+ Seems to have a more positive vibe about Montreal around the league

Overall, I think we can say we're going in the right direction......but it's only been 18 months, so it doesn't mean we'll get to the destination

 

[schwang26]

2 yrs ago. Last place. 1 year ago. 5th last. This year should be at worst 10th last. No longer relying on a high priced goalie. Embracing a rebuild with young talent.

The answer is very simple. YES

 

[Kudo Shinichi]

Reading through this thread, I picked up on a common subtext. Many on this board don't see Suzuki as a #1 center and/or a star. Considering most of last year he was the only one with any kind of talent on his line, this surprises me. I think many are underrating him. If the team is moderately healthy, he'll surprise many doubters.

Yea he's underrated now.
He scored 66 pts on a team that has the 4th worst pp in the league and he played half the season with middle 6 wingers.

Give him a legit top-line winger like Caufield for a full season, and he'll be ~ppg.

I think people also forgot that Suzuki was looking elite in the first 1/3 of the season.
People were using the words "superstar" and "100 pt player" when describing him at that time.

 

[Jamaican Patty]

The only direction is up but I will only get excited once we get 2 forwards better than Suzuki & Caufield. Habs desperately need a superstar (preferably a C and not small).

 

[BLONG7]

Yea he's underrated now.
He scored 66 pts on a team that has the 4th worst pp in the league and he played half the season with middle 6 wingers.

Give him a legit top-line winger like Caufield for a full season, and he'll be ~ppg.

I think people also forgot that Suzuki was looking elite in the first 1/3 of the season.
People were using the words "superstar" and "100 pt player" when describing him at that time.

And then.............most of the team got hurt.
Crazy how Suzuki gets under valued by our own fan base. The sweet moves and dangles making NHL goalies look like 9 year olds in the shoot outs!! LOL

66 pts and almost no help............Armia and Drouin were his wingers at the end of the season....LOL

 

[Rapala]

We are definitely adding more value to the roster with every move HuGo makes. The very first thing we need to establish is sustainability. Once we have a steady flow of talent only then can we start pinpointing areas to upgrade and actally have assets that can help us acquire those upgrades. So anyone worried about not having the gamebreaking talent to put us over the top needs to relax. Vegas and Seattle are two examples of teams who started with B level depth across the board and have already vaulted over a number of teams with supposed stars on their rosters. We are still working on the across the board part of the equation. Not to mention we do have some young B+ and potentially A talents already locked in.

 

[MolleSon]

At least it's already a lot better than last management.

18 months on the job:

- Dach
- Newhook
- Monahan
- Matheson
- Barron
- Reinbacher
- Slafkovsky
- Hutson
- Beck
- Heineman
- Reinbacher
- Engstrom
- Mesar

+ Cap structure is getting healthier, mostly all good contracts from HuGo
+ Many new positive stuff around the team like analytics, development coach, Chefs....
+ Development of prospects is going well and encouraging. MSL is doing a good job on this.
+ More enterntaining type of hockey.
+ Lack of noise is also appreciated. Not a whole lot of drama coming out of the organization.
+ Seems to have a more positive vibe about Montreal around the league

Overall, I think we can say we're going in the right direction......but it's only been 18 months, so it doesn't mean we'll get to the destination

This says it all... One thing to add IMO... There's a salary structure in place now and thats really positive.

 

[AHShadow]

I'm still concerned of missing a star player, but still voted yes.

We ARE headed in the right direction, our prospect pool has amazing depth and our defense is pretty much covered for the next 5+ years.

The biggest issue is that none of our prospects or even younger players are a home-run star. We're all hoping that this year, a lot of them show progress in becoming that (Suzuki, Dach, Slaf, Hutson and Caufield), but that's super risky.

I'm happy that our division is so strong, so even if we have a better team this year, it's very likely we stick at the bottom. We need 1 or 2 more offensive forwards to start competing IMO. We have 2-3 years to get there, so even if I'm worried, we still have time.

 

[Ezpz]

I voted no. The pieces we have say to me that we could be a playoff team for a long time, but in the vein that the Rangers were a consistent playoff team that didn't have a real chance at the cup. I don't see the forward core being good enough. I feel we could have a very good defense in a few years but again we have no goalies.

I am pessimistic because of the past few regimes but the truth is free agents do not want to come here. Even locals use the team to get better deals elsewhere. Because I don't think we have the pieces in the system, I find it hard to believe we will be able to find them via free agency or trade. I think Molson will get the playoff revenue he wants and we will go out first or second round every year with a conference final sprinkled in there. I don't think we have what it takes to finish bottom 5 again so we're essentially done with free top prospects and don't trust our scouts to find the next star at 11.

 

[BaseballCoach]

This says it all... One thing to add IMO... There's a salary structure in place now and thats really positive.

Absolutely!!

In the $4.5-5.0M range, who is better value: Hoffman or Matheson?

In the $3.0-3.5M range, who is better value: Armia or Dach?

Or to put it another way, what is better value for a 3rd pairing defencceman: Edmundson at $3.5M or Harris at $1.4M?

Who is better value for a support forward role - Byron at $3.4M or RHP at $1.1M?

Who is better value in a middle-six C role: Dvorak at $4.45M or Monahan at $2.0M?

Who was a better value after being traded for as an RFA: Drouin at $5.5M or Newhook at $2.9M?

 

[habdynasty]

There’s only one way to go at this point.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

Yea he's underrated now.
He scored 66 pts on a team that has the 4th worst pp in the league and he played half the season with middle 6 wingers.

Give him a legit top-line winger like Caufield for a full season, and he'll be ~ppg.

I think people also forgot that Suzuki was looking elite in the first 1/3 of the season.
People were using the words "superstar" and "100 pt player" when describing him at that time.

I believe suzuki and CC have the talent to be PPG players if we get a semblance of an ok powerplay. But until they actually do it we really can't say they are unfortunately

 

[Mario le Magnifique]

Hopefully one of our goalies become a true no.1, both Slaf and Newhook can be 20-30 goals scorers, Dach 50+ points, Caufield a perennial 40 goals scorer, possibly even hit 50, and our defense, well, lots of potential, lots of question marks but exciting to see all of these guys progress and hopefully make a championship roster in the future.

 

[ReHabs]

Reading through this thread, I picked up on a common subtext. Many on this board don't see Suzuki as a #1 center and/or a star. Considering most of last year he was the only one with any kind of talent on his line, this surprises me. I think many are underrating him. If the team is moderately healthy, he'll surprise many doubters.

This is definitely the subtext yes. Maybe this coming season will have Suzuki break 70pts.

I like where we are going, but I also understand what people are saying about the missing star on offense. So I guess the idea will be to trade for one with multiple D prospects, or UFA. Is there any UFAs of note coming up in the next two years?

With the cap going up I simply don’t see why any team that has a good (proven) forward player would give him up for our D prospects. What, like Engstrom or Barron?

How can we get a 80+ point scorer if not the draft?

Could Hughes have moved from 5 to 4 with the 5+31+37? Smith probably wasn’t worth it. Fantilli would’ve been worth it imo, but CBJ wouldn’t have accepted it I feel.

 

[Andrei79]

This is definitely the subtext yes. Maybe this coming season will have Suzuki break 70pts.

With the cap going up I simply don’t see why any team that has a good (proven) forward player would give him up for our D prospects. What, like Engstrom or Barron?

How can we get a 80+ point scorer if not the draft?

Could Hughes have moved from 5 to 4 with the 5+31+37? Smith probably wasn’t worth it. Fantilli would’ve been worth it imo, but CBJ wouldn’t have accepted it I feel.

If he could have, we would be talking about Will Smith, not Reinbacher.

 

[Redux91]

Yea he's underrated now.
He scored 66 pts on a team that has the 4th worst pp in the league and he played half the season with middle 6 wingers.

Give him a legit top-line winger like Caufield for a full season, and he'll be ~ppg.

I think people also forgot that Suzuki was looking elite in the first 1/3 of the season.
People were using the words "superstar" and "100 pt player" when describing him at that time.

The Suzuki disrespect lately has been... incredible lol

66 pts in 82 games and only 46 games with Caufield who scored 26.
So, with 35 more games with Cole, it's obviously difficult to predict how many more goals he would of scored,
But I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility to think that Suzuki could of at least grabbed an easy 10 more points in those 35 games, and all of a sudden 76 pts in 82 games looks a whole lot sexier for people inexplicably down on him. PPG for Suzuki is going to happen, its just when.

I think it's amazing nobody else on the team could even get to 40 pts so it makes his 66 look that much more impressive honestly.

 

[schwang26]

Yea he's underrated now.
He scored 66 pts on a team that has the 4th worst pp in the league and he played half the season with middle 6 wingers.

Give him a legit top-line winger like Caufield for a full season, and he'll be ~ppg.

I think people also forgot that Suzuki was looking elite in the first 1/3 of the season.
People were using the words "superstar" and "100 pt player" when describing him at that time.

He's had a lot of on ice responsibilities and garnered a lot of attention from opposing players in the last 2 years. Being one of the only healthy players, he's been relied on too heavily. Let's see what he does when there are many more talented players in the lineup. He might get freed up and surprise people with his production.