Can you believe it has already been 15 years?

[Habs Halifax]

He's both an excellent pick and a miserable pick.

His ability during his peak really buoyed this team above their station and kept us from being shitty enough to get talent in the draft. Combine that with Bergevin wasting his prime and not getting him scoring help.. ridiculous.

Therrien with his defensive first system where we kept dumping pucks out of our own zone didn't help either. Quite the difference between Therrien and Julien system.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

Remember Cherry pumping up Brule and saying he is just as good as Crosby? . Thank god Gainey didn't fall for that! lol.

A lot of busts or disappointments in that top 10... Pouliot, Brule, Skille, Lee. Also, Wonder how good Bourdon would have been?

He was good as a rookie

 

[abo9]

15 years of not going anywhere. Not because Price isn't good, but because we would have been a better team with Kopitar and Halak than with Price and Desharnais/Danault/Plekanec...

Oh well.

True that Kopitar would have been better in hindsight, but again, they could have picked Marek Zagrapan instead. Loads of busts and disapointments in that draft. I believe Price was a great selection given all the players around him (and even later in the draft). I'm much more disapointed by the Andrei K. pick with Carter selected right after, and Brown and Seabrook and Getzlaf and Perry and ...

I remember when 15 years was the time since the last Cup and everyone was FREAKING out because it was so long. How have our expectations changed

 

[OldCraig71]

Holy shit, I watched that draft and all I was thinking was, can we possibly get Crosby? We haven't really built anything around Price, we have more or less been on cruise control during his best years here and we have the results to prove it.

 

[ahmedou]

The McGuire's Day.

 

[Habs Halifax]

He was good as a rookie

I'm from the area he grew up in. He got his first pay check and bought a motorbike... Just starting his NHL career and living life in the summer. Sad sorry

 

[The Real Timo]

Therrien with his defensive first system where we kept dumping pucks out of our own zone didn't help either. Quite the difference between Therrien and Julien system.

Pains to say it but Therrien actually did better than Julien. Although I hate both of them just as much.

 

[Habs Halifax]

Pains to say it but Therrien actually did better than Julien. Although I hate both of them just as much.

Agreed. Julien is more respected cause Therrien was an asshole but he got more out of his players than Julien has. Therrien's defense first system worked in front of Price... Boring and annoying but it worked to some degree.

I actually dislike Julien more than Bergevin at this point and I'm not the type to hate. Julien's methods are too old and all it's doing is blocking young players from learning on the job... something other teams do all the time... especially teams in the bottom half. Too much focus on assignments and the little things and not enough focus on attacking and living/learning with some mistakes on the job.

Bouchard and Ducharme would bring in a whole new level of energy and strategy that the younger core would grab onto. Right now, our team is to complacent on the Julien train. He's not a horrible coach but not so sure he is right for us.

 

[Seb]

I'll never get people trashing Price. He had up and downs in his career so far but he's one of the most technically sound and efficient goalie I've ever seen. His calm and "chill" attitude has grinded many gears but I'm convinced it has helped him thrive under the surreal pressure of being a Habs goalie.

It's an absolute tragedy that Bergevin wasted his talent.

 

[WeThreeKings]

I'll never get people trashing Price. He had up and downs in his career so far but he's one of the most technically sound and efficient goalie I've ever seen. His calm and "chill" attitude has grinded many gears but I'm convinced it has helped him thrive under the surreal pressure of being a Habs goalie.

It's an absolute tragedy that Bergevin wasted his talent.

Price has never been an issue. Gainey handed him the reins too soon, and Bergevin never gave him any talent.

What a waste.

 

[The Real Timo]

Agreed. Julien is more respected cause Therrien was an asshole but he got more out of his players than Julien has. Therrien's defense first system worked in front of Price... Boring and annoying but it worked to some degree.

I actually dislike Julien more than Bergevin at this point and I'm not the type to hate. Julien's methods are too old and all it's doing is blocking young players from learning on the job... something other teams do all the time... especially teams in the bottom half. Too much focus on assignments and the little things and not enough focus on attacking and living/learning with some mistakes on the job.

Bouchard and Ducharme would bring in a whole new level of energy and strategy that the younger core would grab onto. Right now, our team is to complacent on the Julien train. He's not a horrible coach but not so sure he is right for us.

I really begin to wonder about Ducharme's role as part of the coaching stuff. What does he do? Conventional wisdom has it that Muller coaches the attack and PP, whoever else there (Richardson) does the D, and Julien oversees it all.. If Ducharme is as good as people rave about him perhaps he is shoved aside and is there just as a figure head... or perhaps he is just as good as the rest of past century coaches running this team.

 

[Habs Halifax]

I really begin to wonder about Ducharme's role as part of the coaching stuff. What does he do? Conventional wisdom has it that Muller coaches the attack and PP, whoever else there (Richardson) does the D, and Julien oversees it all.. If Ducharme is as good as people rave about him perhaps he is shoved aside and is there just as a figure head... or perhaps he is just as good as the rest of past century coaches running this team.

What do you expect him to do? Be a bully and try to push Julien and Muller aside? He's not dumb and he is buying his time and being a sponge in terms of gaining NHL coaching experience.

Just cause he is not vocal and on the front lines, it don't mean he's not doing things behind the scenes

 

[Kwikwi]

Wonder how he would react to the habs drafting Askarov.

Primeau would then be traded i guess.

 

[Habs Halifax]

I'll never get people trashing Price. He had up and downs in his career so far but he's one of the most technically sound and efficient goalie I've ever seen. His calm and "chill" attitude has grinded many gears but I'm convinced it has helped him thrive under the surreal pressure of being a Habs goalie.

It's an absolute tragedy that Bergevin wasted his talent.

Agreed but his talent is not done yet. Elite level goalies don't decline at rapid rates in their 30's and many of them have very good seasons past 35. Price is fit and in shape and as long as he continues to do that, he will be fine. He's got many more good years left but how fast will the kids reach their ceiling?

 

[Habs Halifax]

Primeau would then be traded i guess.

Not right away and maybe not at all. Think about what age Askarov would be when Price is 37/38?

Price: Age 37/38
Primeau: Age 25/26
Askarov: Age 22/23

Primeau and Askarov would be a deadly 1/2 combo. Primeau gets to play with Price for a while first.

Not saying we should draft Askarov but he might be the BPA at 9 in the end when we look back. Dreaming here but imagine trading Price with retention to the Avs for Girard, Newhook, and Grubauer drafting Askarov?

 

[Koivu11]

The McGuire's Day.

 

[Kwikwi]

Not right away and maybe not at all. Think about what age Askarov would be when Price is 37/38?

Price: Age 37/38
Primeau: Age 25/26
Askarov: Age 22/23

Primeau and Askarov would be a deadly 1/2 combo. Primeau gets to play with Price for a while first.

Not saying we should draft Askarov but he might be the BPA at 9 in the end when we look back. Dreaming here but imagine trading Price with retention to the Avs for Girard, Newhook, and Grubauer drafting Askarov?

too much from avs. Or that retention need to be insanely high 3+
More like Girard Grubauer Jost and a bunch a later picks

 

[Habs Halifax]

too much from avs. Or that retention need to be insanely high 3+
More like Girard Grubauer Jost and a bunch a later picks

Price trade packages will cause huge debates. And yes, I would consider retention if the plan is to also trade Weber after the Price trade goes down. Basically, we retain on both but ensure we get the right pieces coming our way. Then you also trade some of Tatar, Gallagher, Petry... maybe all of them. Cap space won't be needed for several years so the risks to retaining on Price and Weber for many years is there but likely don't burn us.

If the best you can get by trading Price is Girard, Grubauer, Jost.. you keep Price. Trading him like the Roy package bud? Seriously? Retention is on the table but so is Newhook. No way you trade Price and rebuild and not get futures coming back.

If the Avs are open to Price (retention down to $7.5M), they have to be open to Newhook and Girard. Girard is not worth Price at $7.5M bud... even if Price is 33 next season. Grubauer is a cap dump and we can possibly send Mete the other way. If the Avs are open to this kind of base in trade negotiation, I would certainly go down that road.

Selling assets and doing a 100% rebuild starts with Price first. Not Weber, Not Gallagher, not anybody else.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Agreed. Julien is more respected cause Therrien was an asshole but he got more out of his players than Julien has. Therrien's defense first system worked in front of Price... Boring and annoying but it worked to some degree.

I actually dislike Julien more than Bergevin at this point and I'm not the type to hate. Julien's methods are too old and all it's doing is blocking young players from learning on the job... something other teams do all the time... especially teams in the bottom half. Too much focus on assignments and the little things and not enough focus on attacking and living/learning with some mistakes on the job.

Bouchard and Ducharme would bring in a whole new level of energy and strategy that the younger core would grab onto. Right now, our team is to complacent on the Julien train. He's not a horrible coach but not so sure he is right for us.

Therrien got the least out of this team that any coach possibly could have. He threw everything onto Price despite having a really promising young roster. He was absolute poison for us. Hiring him was the single worst decision of MB's career.

This has been widely supported through all kinds of analysis and stats over the years. MT is objectively one of the worst coaches in the league (I'd put him at the very bottom.)

 

[Runner77]

could have drafted Kopitar and one of Letang, Quick, Yandle

An argument can be made about not drafting a goalie that high, as good as Price has been.

 

[The Real Timo]

What do you expect him to do? Be a bully and try to push Julien and Muller aside? He's not dumb and he is buying his time and being a sponge in terms of gaining NHL coaching experience.

Just cause he is not vocal and on the front lines, it don't mean he's not doing things behind the scenes

I was wondering what his role was... that's all. At this point I don't expect any of them to do very much.

 

[Habs Halifax]

Therrien got the least out of this team that any coach possibly could have. He threw everything onto Price despite having a really promising young roster. He was absolute poison for us. Hiring him was the single worst decision of MB's career.

This has been widely supported through all kinds of analysis and stats over the years. MT is objectively one of the worst coaches in the league (I'd put him at the very bottom.)

Therrien being a jerk vs Habs winning divisions and playing D first system in front of Price are two different things. It's easy to throw Therrien under the bus when he was an asshole to the players.

 

[Habs Halifax]

I was wondering what his role was... that's all. At this point I don't expect any of them to do very much.

Ducharme has a lot to prove down the road but at this stage, he is support staff and buying his time. Not much he can do other than follow Julien and Muller's lead. For all we know, he might think Julien and Muller are idiots and he would have a completely different plan or style in terms of strategy

 

[The Real Timo]

Ducharme has a lot to prove down the road but at this stage, he is support staff and buying his time. Not much he can do other than follow Julien and Muller's lead. For all we know, he might think Julien and Muller are idiots and he would have a completely different plan or style in terms of strategy

We can only hope. (that he has a completely different plan).

 

[cactusjack]

The more I think about the last 15 years, the more questions pop up. Have the habs been "close" to a cup. Maybe we beat the Rangers go to the finals against LA Kings. Probability we won at least, 25% . But the reasons why Montreal didnt get closer more often: coaching/ choice of coaches (only francophone)/ drafting/ development/ GM/ weather/ taxes/ media pressure.

Because let's be honest, it's been hard for Canadian teams lately. Seems that taxes means they have to overpay to keep/sign good players. And more and more players prefer to stay away from media/presssure/taxes.