Speculation: Buffalo is the real danger on the horizon!

[NobleSix]

People been saying this shit for 15 years.

They're on their 3rd rebuild in a row ffs.

 

[Naslundforever]

I remember how Hasek was so entertaining. Good times. Nowadays I have them confused with the Blues for some reason.

 

[Gravity]

I guess no teams' fans should be scared by our inferior prospect pool then.

Agreed.

 

[ZUKI]

I think Buffalo takes a big step next season. My prediction is Dahlin wins a Norris. Also the Atlantic division has a lot of really good teams right now, it’s going to be tough for Montreal to climb the standings in the next few years.

Come on ! Dhalin wins a Norris ?!?! No way !

It will be between Sergachev and Subban

 

[Boss Man Hughes]

Agreed.

They should be afraid unless they are clueless.

 

[ChesterNimitz]

Thompson/Cozens vs Suzuki/Dach: Edge to the Sabres today but I don't think it's massive. Not really scared of the differences on this one.

Dahlin is the one we don't have. He's good in all areas. Guhle or Reinbacher are the only two we can try to measure up but it falls short by a big margin. I guess we will see how much better Guhle gets in his 2nd season and Reinbacher down the road.

Power needs to get more nasty IMO. His hits and blocks are not good at all. Big boy that skates very well but T Myers was like that too. Most say Power will be much better but will he? If he don't become more physical, I'm not so sure about that. I think he will be good but I don't have him up there at the Dahlin level. What is this, his age 20/21 season coming? Guhle as well and I would have both of these guys close. Guhle is about 10 months older. Whip dee doo

They don't have a Caufield and they don't have a Slaf either. Slaf is raw so hard to say where he tops out at. When I look at the top core, maybe the edge goes to the Sabres today but that can change quickly. Habs have a few gems that are still growing or have not even played a NHL game yet.

I'm not that worried about the Sabres but I'm sure the Sabres and Sens will be in the heat of things with the Habs in that 3+ year range. They are just a bit more ahead of us in their rebuilds.

Re-builds aren’t sprints but marathons.

 

[KevSkillz4]

I'm 100% confident that Habs will compete against good future team like Buffalo. The future of Montreal is really really good aswell. Maybe not Dahlin or Power in that defensive group, but very very huge solid depth.

 

[Habs Halifax]

I think guys like Thompson, Cozens, Dahlin and Power are topping out higher than what the Canadiens' players will.
However, Buffalo's fate will be decided by some exciting young core players:
Jack Quinn, John Peterka, Mittelstadt and Levi are the guys that will decide if the Sabres are a playoff team, or a deep driving Cup competing team.

I would list the Sabres top talent in order.. Dahlin, Thompson, Cozens, and then Power. Like I said in the previous post, Dahlin is the man. Thompson is not a complete center IMO like Suzuki is but his shot is scary and he does have offensive skill. Cozens also had a good season last year. Power was meh to me but I do understand his potential. It's early but its like that with most of our guys too. Depth after the top guys will be a factor no doubt.

Suzuki vs Thompson. Edge to Thompson is goals for but after that, edge to Suzuki in pretty much everything else. I don't see this as a huge gap.

Cozens vs Dach. I think this might be a wash. Potential is close and both are still young and growing.

Dahlin vs Guhle. Dahlin for sure. We will see how much Guhle can improve after his 1st season. Could close the gap a bit but doubt he catches Dahlin.

Power vs Reinbacher. This might be another wash IMO. Easy to say Power today without Reinbacher playing 1 NHL game. Time will tell on this one.

Habs have the edge after the top 4.

 

[Kiss Under the Guy]

Two-three years ago, it was still such a clown show in Buffalo, with everyone wanting to leave ASAP... Maybe Dahlin and all of their actual core will turn out to be great leaders someday, but they missed an opportunity to display it at that time and AFAIK, they could be on the verge of a "playoff success streak" a la Leafs before they lose their best yet again on the FA market as they did in the past.

They do have star power, but Leafs and Oilers have shown it takes more than that, and Buffalo seems to be closer to this than prime TBL or Pens.

 

[Habs Halifax]

Re-builds aren’t sprints but marathons.

I agree but are you implying that I am saying it's a sprint?

 

[Bottle Rocket]

As fun as it is to have the Wings and Sabres as laughing stocks, the league is better off when their buildings are full and the fans have something to cheer about.

Besides, someone's got to dominate the Atlantic with us in a few years and I'm tired of Toronto Boston Tampa.

 

[NekkiChiconey]

I'm actually wondering if the starpower in Buffalo and New Jersey has an influence on how HuGo are building the team. If they don't want to tear it down completely and don't think they can afford to be terrible for 5+ years, then it's highly probable that they can't assemble a team with the same skill-level that these 2 have. I'm pretty sure that they're aware of that. Then, maybe they're thinking that they can build their team some other way, with potentially less skill but more depth and more focus on two-way play I guess. Rather than try to match their stars, build a team that can beat them in the playoffs?

 

[Gravity]

They should be afraid unless they are clueless.

Other than possibly Hutson, who should they be afraid of?

 

[Beer and Chips]

Paper comparisons don't mean much in the playoffs and worrying about what another team is doing is silly imo, just try and build the best team you can to compete.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Well,

At least it's not diabetes.

 

[Scriptor]

I would list the Sabres top talent in order.. Dahlin, Thompson, Cozens, and then Power. Like I said in the previous post, Dahlin is the man. Thompson is not a complete center IMO like Suzuki is but his shot is scary and he does have offensive skill. Cozens also had a good season last year. Power was meh to me but I do understand his potential. It's early but its like that with most of our guys too. Depth after the top guys will be a factor no doubt.

Suzuki vs Thompson. Edge to Thompson is goals for but after that, edge to Suzuki in pretty much everything else. I don't see this as a huge gap.

Cozens vs Dach. I think this might be a wash. Potential is close and both are still young and growing.

Dahlin vs Guhle. Dahlin for sure. We will see how much Guhle can improve after his 1st season. Could close the gap a bit but doubt he catches Dahlin.

Power vs Reinbacher. This might be another wash IMO. Easy to say Power today without Reinbacher playing 1 NHL game. Time will tell on this one.

Habs have the edge after the top 4.

It will be hard to match the goal production of the Skinner (35) - Thompson (47) - Tuch (36) line in the future, but not impossible, especially if Caufield ends scoring between 40 and 50 goals regularly, matching the totals put up by Thompson, only from the wing instead of from the C position.

IMO, with a healthy, productive winger like Caufield, Suzuki can easily reach the 30-goal range as seen by his early goal-scoring pace last season when Caufield was producing at his side. The threat that pass for a deadly one-timer from Caufield, inevitably makes the opposing G hesitate when Suzuki has the puck and increases his goal-scoring opportunities and, likewise, Suzuki being a double threat also increases Caufield's effectiveness.

The key will be the other winger on that line, whom, eventually, I would hope would be a player with the skill set (shot, IQ, playmaking and puck possession) of a Joshua Roy. Speed isn't really required forRoy to keep up with Caufield and Suzuki since their game is more about positioning and hockey IQ.

Roy being able to dig out pucks and keep possession as Caufield darts in and out of open ice will be more essential to the strength of this line's makeup.

Roy's own ability to score will help spread out defensive coverage from our opponents and allow his line mates to produce to their full potential. His own defensive acumen will also enable this line to play closer their offensive strengths while still matching up well to the opponents' better players which they face-off against.

If Roy or another winger already in the system isn't the solution, Hughes will have the assets to acquire such a winger, IMO, if he can't do as much on the UFA front. Wingers areaways easier to acquire and playing with Suzuki and Caufield should be a decent incentive for a UFA.

Caufield (45) - Suzuki (30) - ??? (30)

This would be 13 goals short from last season's production when outcomes to Skinner - Thompson -Tuch, but, in a matchup against BUF, where the 6'4" Dach could face-off against the 6'6" Thompson, freeing Suzuki's line to play against the remaining depth beyond BUF's Skinner - Thompson - Tuch line, the match-up could/should be beneficial fort he Habs.

How Montreal lines units depth chart for the top-9 will be instrumental determining how they face-off against the stronger teams their own division and throughout the league in the future.

As a team, though, we have be honest. BUF's goal-scoring is quite impressive, with four 30+ goal scorers (including one who scored 47) and a 28th goal scorer as well.

Five players were good for 177 goals when all of Montreal's 23-man roster scored 227 and their 5 best goal-scorers were only good for 101 goals (injuries were a factor, but never enough to come close to catching up with BUF best five goal scorers).

I doubt Dach, as a 2nd line C, can ever become a 30+ goal-scorer, but he can play a solid, two-way, shutdown role to help the team, as a whole curtail the offensive production of teams like BUF, EDM, TOR...

At that point, the match-up has been decently evened out.

 

[Habs Halifax]

It will be hard to match the goal production of the Skinner (35) - Thompson (47) - Tuch (36) line in the future, but not impossible, especially if Caufield ends scoring between 40 and 50 goals regularly, matching the totals put up by Thompson, only from the wing instead of from the C position.

IMO, with a healthy, productive winger like Caufield, Suzuki can easily reach the 30-goal range as seen by his early goal-scoring pace last season when Caufield was producing at his side. The threat that pass for a deadly one-timer from Caufield, inevitably makes the opposing G hesitate when Suzuki has the puck and increases his goal-scoring opportunities and, likewise, Suzuki being a double threat also increases Caufield's effectiveness.

The key will be the other winger on that line, whom, eventually, I would hope would be a player with the skill set (shot, IQ, playmaking and puck possession) of a Joshua Roy. Speed isn't really required forRoy to keep up with Caufield and Suzuki since their game is more about positioning and hockey IQ.

Roy being able to dig out pucks and keep possession as Caufield darts in and out of open ice will be more essential to the strength of this line's makeup.

Roy's own ability to score will help spread out defensive coverage from our opponents and allow his line mates to produce to their full potential. His own defensive acumen will also enable this line to play closer their offensive strengths while still matching up well to the opponents' better players which they face-off against.

If Roy or another winger already in the system isn't the solution, Hughes will have the assets to acquire such a winger, IMO, if he can't do as much on the UFA front. Wingers areaways easier to acquire and playing with Suzuki and Caufield should be a decent incentive for a UFA.

Caufield (45) - Suzuki (30) - ??? (30)

This would be 13 goals short from last season's production when outcomes to Skinner - Thompson -Tuch, but, in a matchup against BUF, where the 6'4" Dach could face-off against the 6'6" Thompson, freeing Suzuki's line to play against the remaining depth beyond BUF's Skinner - Thompson - Tuch line, the match-up could/should be beneficial fort he Habs.

How Montreal lines units depth chart for the top-9 will be instrumental determining how they face-off against the stronger teams their own division and throughout the league in the future.

As a team, though, we have be honest. BUF's goal-scoring is quite impressive, with four 30+ goal scorers (including one who scored 47) and a 28th goal scorer as well.

Five players were good for 177 goals when all of Montreal's 23-man roster scored 227 and their 5 best goal-scorers were only good for 101 goals (injuries were a factor, but never enough to come close to catching up with BUF best five goal scorers).

I doubt Dach, as a 2nd line C, can ever become a 30+ goal-scorer, but he can play a solid, two-way, shutdown role to help the team, as a whole curtail the offensive production of teams like BUF, EDM, TOR...

At that point, the match-up has been decently evened out.

I think goals come and go but Defense is the stable part if you have it. A team with offensive fire power can be contained with a team that has a top 5D and lets say top 10 or top 12 offense. Look no further than the Leafs and Oilers.

Even someone like Skinner is not potting 35 goals every season. However, guys like Caufield and Thompson are likely to be 30+ each and every season if they play full seasons. Some guys are just top notch and can do it every season and others benefit from circumstance where they have great season and then meh seasons. Look at Debrincat on the Sens after Norris went down. Centers are huge factors to wingers like Debrincat and Skinner.

Personally, I rather focus on the team depth vs goals and like I said, D wins championships. I do think we have the right mix today but it's premature because so many of them are either in their first season or two or have not played NHL yet.

The Devils scare me more than the Sabres. Devils have better depth on D. Sabres are thin after Dahlin and Power and I'm not that sure how good Power is. It's early but I think he is the gentil giant type that skates well. Kind of like T Myers in his prime but maybe Power is better. We will see.

Personally, I think we are missing grit in the top 6. Guys with grit but can produce. For now, those guys are Monahan and Anderson and hopefully they are around for a while and Slaf becomes a bit more nasty. I also think Roy can provide some goal scoring/grit as well. Maybe Anderson is offloaded when Roy is ready for top 6. Timing could be good.

 

[DiglettDangles]

I think the future on D is overstated for Buffalo.
And I mean that beyond the fact that they were pretty bad at keeping the puck out of their net last year, even when UPL was on fire.

Yes, they have Dahlin and Power in the NHL already, everyone mentions them, I expect them to be way above average.
Otherwise they have Samuelsson who's a decent defensive D.
All 3 are LHS Ds and the two best have been "forced" on the RD at times as the best alternative.
The rest of the depth chart, including AHL and juniors, is hella lame. Look it up, for real.

Looks like in the near future they'll have two 8-9M Ds and then will have to scrape the bottom of the barrel to complete 2 pairs for peanuts, as their star forwards take most of the cap space. We know how the Toronto-built teams fare in the playoffs, don't we? Buffalo has basically been on NTCs and in UFAs' spam folder for 15 years, that won't change quickly.

I posted somewhere else that they should really consider a FWD for RD prospect swap to balance their team structure.
I think Montreal should investigate as we're kind of in a great position now with Reinbacher, Barron, Mailloux, and Engstrom/Xhekaj/Harris who can all play on the right side. I'm hoping both Barron and Mailloux have a strong showing this year in their leagues so that we can enter the Benson/Kulich/Savoie stratosphere, and get the star fwd prospect we missed on for Reinbacher.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

I'm 46 and they have been consistently good from my childhood to the early 2000. In the 80ies it was Perreaults, Andreychuk and Housley. Then in the 90ies it was Molgilny, Lafontaine, Hawerchuk. At the end of the 90ies and very early 2k it was Hasek winning games by himself. They have been bad for a long while but they were good for a long while before that.

Then it was Briere Drury and Miller until 07. That's when the tide turned and been shit ever since.

 

[Boss Man Hughes]

Other than possibly Hutson, who should they be afraid of?

Come on. Hutson, Maillioux, Reinbacher, Beck, Roy if they reach their potential and the depth in the pool with Heineman, Farrell Kidney, Fowler etc.

 

[rik schau]

Especially in a stampede headed right towards you!lol

 

[LaP]

Then it was Briere Drury and Miller until 07. That's when the tide turned and been shit ever since.

Yeah forgot about the MIller, Briere, Pomminville, Roy, Vanek lineup. That was a solid top 6 for sure. I think they reached the semis twice. It went downhill when Ruff was fired basically.

 

[the valiant effort]

Yeah forgot about the MIller, Briere, Pomminville, Roy, Vanek lineup. That was a solid top 6 for sure. I think they reached the semis twice. It went downhill when Ruff was fired basically.

First two years out of the lockout they went to the ECF. Took Carolina to 7 with a hobbled d corps, then kinda got steamrolled by Ottawa the next year as the Presidents' Trophy winners.

Habs/Sabres games those years were the tits

 

[dcyhabs]

Perhaps. But I look at our overall supporting roster and how they project for future success and can say with some confidence that the future has not looked brighter for our team in many decades. Particularly on defence. I have watched this team for almost seventy years and have never seen a more promising crop of defensive prospects than we have now. Will they all achieve their projected ( hoped for ) ceiling? Probably not. But if most do, this could get very interesting. I suspect other teams are starting to look at Montreal with a certain degree of wariness and unease. And it has less to do with our prospects and current roster. For the first time since the Pollack era, Montreal has a professional, consistent and insightful management team in place. And its that type of management strength that all other teams respect and fear. As they say: There’s a new sheriff in town. And its called professional competence.

I suppose it depends on how you view prospects. I'm not old enough to know how Robinson, Savard, Lapointe, and company came up as prospects, but the habs continuously had a crazy set of prospects through the '80s and early '90s such that they lost a few due to numbers. The asset management was hideous, and they didn't realize how good their defense was, but they had a pretty amazing bunch come up through the draft, Desjardins, Chelios, Schneider, Svoboda...

 

[LaP]

I suppose it depends on how you view prospects. I'm not old enough to know how Robinson, Savard, Lapointe, and company came up as prospects, but the habs continuously had a crazy set of prospects through the '80s and early '90s such that they lost a few due to numbers. The asset management was hideous, and they didn't realize how good their defense was, but they had a pretty amazing bunch come up through the draft, Desjardins, Chelios, Schneider, Svoboda...

Back then there was always new kids on the block. Drafting was a lot better.

From 1980 to 1989 they drafted : Chelios, Claude Lemieux, Svoboda, Corson, Richer, Roy, Lumme, Odelein, Cassels, Leclair, Desjardins, Schneider, Sean Hill, Brisebois
From 1990 to 1999 they drafted : Craig Conroy, Valeri Bure, Koivu, Tucker, Robidas, Ribeiro, Savage, Beauchemin, Markov, Ryder From 2000 to 2007 : Hainsey, Plekanec, Higgins, Kostisyn bros, Streit, Grabovsky, Latendress

Things started to get a bit better again in 2007. Important to note that from 80 to 89 i skipped players like Savage, Bure, Grabov etc cause back then those were kind of not important. One thing i noticed doing this list is before 90 we had more picks. Looks like the management back then was not afraid to acquire picks and draft a lot of players. In 80 we had two 2nd and two 3rd round picks. In 81 we had three 1st round picks. In 82 we had four 2nd round picks. In 83 we had three 2nd round picks. In 84 we had two 1st round picks. In 85 two 1st round picks. In 97 two 2nd round picks and two 3rd round picks. Since around the early 2k we often have 1 or 2 picks total in the first 3 rounds. In 2002, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2010, 2014, 2015, 2016 we had only 1 or 2 picks total in the first 3 rounds. Added to the fact that with 32 teams the 3rd round is not as good as it used to be ...