HF Habs: Current Standings Thread: Going the Wright Way - Top 7 pick Clinched!

[MarkovsKnee]

This is it! Season is almost done. Final 10 games. Last game is Friday, April 29th vs Florida at home.

The Standings as of April 20th:

Ground Rules for this thread:
• This is the thread where you can cheer against your Habs to improve their draft position. Want to tank? This is your sanctuary.

• If you root against the Habs in GDTs or other threads on the Habs board, you may be warned for trolling.

• Don't bring your anti-tank arguments here or you may be warned for trolling.

• Tank you for your support.

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[Colezuki]

I'm expecting us to pick 3rd or 4th, based on the numbers.

Hopefully we get lucky and it will be 1 or 2.

If you go in and treat it like we're 4th with a chance at 1, 2 or 3 it feels a lot better as your going up not down

 

[Harry Kakalovich]

Sure. Nobody does offer sheets for years and years because they're sure that other teams would match and retaliate at an inconvenient time. Bergevin does a rash offer sheet more to look like he's trying to get a center and get the press off his back than because he actually thinks it will work, or, worse, because he's dumb enough to think it will work. Surprise, the 'Canes do what everyone expected, match the offer and exploit Bergevin's bad relationship with a player to take the guy with an overpay. How could anyone ever have expected such a thing.

Look, Kotkaniemi may bust, but that doesn't make the whole mess something Bergevin can be proud of. I suppose best case Dvorak breaks out and Kotkaniemi busts, but, more likely, Dvorak ends up as a C who can play top 2 lines or succeed at shutdown, and KK eventually becomes a reasonable 2C or 3C. As with most of Bergevin's move each individual part isn't so bad, but the whole is pretty bad. Reaching with a 3OA is risky, but it could work out if he develops, but then you yoyo the project and kill his development. Ooh destroy the relationship, he's an RFA so it doesn't hurt, well, unless you also annoy another team into offer sheeting him, but that could be OK if he busts, you get a pick, unless you trade that pick for a player who doesn't fit your team. Yet another reason they are capped out and bottom 3 in the league.

Most of the individual steps are bad and dumb but excusable. The whole snowball effect from lack of foresight and poor management lets the consistently bad and ill fitting moves add up to a huge mess. Out of the five or six steps in the process Bergevin probably just had to get one or two right, but he messed up each step pretty impressively.

I don't like stories. The offer sheet cost the Habs nothing. Aho is a good player and would have helped the Habs. Kotkaniemi may score enough to be a 2 C - if he doesn't I think he'll be a LW, or honestly I don't know what will happen to him, but that's no longer the Habs problem.

All the rest is spin. Like I said, Bergevin made mistakes that are way more obvious. I don't even think any of these dealings with Carolina will end up being mistakes. Why root around looking and inventing mistakes when the obvious ones are right in front of your eyes? Drouin. Price. Gallagher etc.

But absolutely to your point about lack of direction - that's a valid shortcoming of Bergevin's. But @Nicko999 keeps saying he doesn't like Kotkaniemi but that it was a mistake not to sign him to a 9 years 5M dollar deal. That's nonsensical.

Also relationships go both ways, just to say, and if someone doesn't want a relationship with you, you are best to move on.

 

[Harry Kakalovich]

The original mistake was drafting poorly. Had our scouts not screwed up a 3OA pick, we'd have a player who would be part of a future core and (hopefully) signed. The Habs desperately need cap space; the last thing we need is another longterm contract for a depth player.

Markov wasn't close to the worst move, although I'd agree it was the worst PR move.

As to the playoffs, last year was as legit as any. There have been many configurations of divisions/teams/matchups over the decades. Unless you want to rewrite history, the Habs earned it like every team in every division in every season.

Totally agree.

 

[admiralcadillac]

Tonight is our last remaining chance to have a chance to pick last. However, Chicago can put itself out of the loser running.

 

[Redux91]

At 1 you're debating Wright vs. Cooley
At 2 you're debating Cooley vs. Slaf
At 3 you're debating Slaf vs. Jiricek
At 4 you're debating Jiricek vs. Nemec
At 5 you're debating Nemec vs. Nazar

Imo of course. Obviously that's just a rudimentary thought exercise on which range do you consider the next guy.

I.e. I'm not picking Nazar earlier than 5, Nemec earlier than 4.

Pretty much this, almost an /thread lol

 

[donghabs98]

I'm expecting us to pick 3rd or 4th, based on the numbers.

Hopefully we get lucky and it will be 1 or 2.

Thankfully this year is the top 4 is filled with good options. Its not like 2018 where there was a clear drop from the first 2 picks (I remember being bunmed out at missing on getting the 2nd pick).

I prefer getting the first pick but at least its not like next year's draft when missing out on the first pick would really hurt

 

[LaP]

I don't like stories. The offer sheet cost the Habs nothing. Aho is a good player and would have helped the Habs. Kotkaniemi may score enough to be a 2 C - if he doesn't I think he'll be a LW, or honestly I don't know what will happen to him, but that's no longer the Habs problem.

All the rest is spin. Like I said, Bergevin made mistakes that are way more obvious. I don't even think any of these dealings with Carolina will end up being mistakes. Why root around looking and inventing mistakes when the obvious ones are right in front of your eyes? Drouin. Price. Gallagher etc.

But absolutely to your point about lack of direction - that's a valid shortcoming of Bergevin's. But @Nicko999 keeps saying he doesn't like Kotkaniemi but that it was a mistake not to sign him to a 9 years 5M dollar deal. That's nonsensical.

Also relationships go both ways, just to say, and if someone doesn't want a relationship with you, you are best to move on.

I disagree with that. The offer sheet did cost something. As an organization we lost a lot of credibility that day. We were the laughing stock of the NHL for a good week. If you gonna make an offer sheet make a serious one not one where you pretend to try but really you're not.

 

[Sterling Archer]

May 10 is the day. Break out the lucky charms and good vibes!

 

[Schooner Guy]

May 10 is the day. Break out the lucky charms and good vibes!

We're less than 3 weeks from knowing when we'll be drafting in the 1st.

 

[nhlfan9191]

Yep i still think this lottery shit % is the dumbest shit ever.

Lottery should be bottom 5 teams only.

That’s the way I feel this year. When we finish 5-10 next year, my opinion on that will likely change. Lol

 

[KevSkillz4]

Happy to see that Habs are pretty close to clinch a top 5 pick this year.

Detroit, Ottawa and Buffalo are ahead of us on rebuild... but Habs have some great talents who will coming too... Joshua Roy, Sean Farrell, Emil Heineman, Jesse Ylonen, Logan Mailloux, Justin Barron, Kaiden Guhle... adding a top 5 pick this year and maybe a top 10 pick next year... that's huge.

One thing for sure... Habs team are going to be fun to watch for many years with already talent like Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Alexander Romanov, Jordan Harris in the system!!

Great time to be a Habs fan!!

 

[KevSkillz4]

At 1 you're debating Wright vs. Cooley
At 2 you're debating Cooley vs. Slaf
At 3 you're debating Slaf vs. Jiricek
At 4 you're debating Jiricek vs. Nemec
At 5 you're debating Nemec vs. Nazar

Imo of course. Obviously that's just a rudimentary thought exercise on which range do you consider the next guy.

I.e. I'm not picking Nazar earlier than 5, Nemec earlier than 4.

That's pretty these only players I want with that top 5 pick.

 

[McGees]

May 10 is the day. Break out the lucky charms and good vibes!

Get the beer and popcorn ready.

 

[McGees]

I have a feeling Philly wins the lottery.

 

[McGees]

Happy to see that Habs are pretty close to clinch a top 5 pick this year.

Detroit, Ottawa and Buffalo are ahead of us on rebuild... but Habs have some great talents who will coming too... Joshua Roy, Sean Farrell, Emil Heineman, Jesse Ylonen, Logan Mailloux, Justin Barron, Kaiden Guhle... adding a top 5 pick this year and maybe a top 10 pick next year... that's huge.

One thing for sure... Habs team are going to be fun to watch for many years with already talent like Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Alexander Romanov, Jordan Harris in the system!!

Great time to be a Habs fan!!

And if the whole Florida team gets mono next year, maybe another lottery pick.

 

[dcyhabs]

I don't like stories. The offer sheet cost the Habs nothing. Aho is a good player and would have helped the Habs. Kotkaniemi may score enough to be a 2 C - if he doesn't I think he'll be a LW, or honestly I don't know what will happen to him, but that's no longer the Habs problem.

All the rest is spin. Like I said, Bergevin made mistakes that are way more obvious. I don't even think any of these dealings with Carolina will end up being mistakes. Why root around looking and inventing mistakes when the obvious ones are right in front of your eyes? Drouin. Price. Gallagher etc.

But absolutely to your point about lack of direction - that's a valid shortcoming of Bergevin's. But @Nicko999 keeps saying he doesn't like Kotkaniemi but that it was a mistake not to sign him to a 9 years 5M dollar deal. That's nonsensical.

Also relationships go both ways, just to say, and if someone doesn't want a relationship with you, you are best to move on.

It's not only Bergevin, the combination of ownership and management has made the team stink for 3 decades, with a glimmer of hope after the 2007 draft. Bergevin was allowed to bumble around for 10 years with just enough good moves to keep him around.

I don't think teams have the option to sign 9 year contracts anymore. Pretty much every aspect of Kotkaniemi's time in Montreal was botched, from taking him in the draft to trading away the compensation picks. I'm not saying that every one of those items should have been done better but fixing any one of them would have made a big difference; just one thing out of five, six, seven chances. That level of failure shouldn't happen in an NHL franchise. The habs want to win, so they need a GM who can make consistently good decisions. The decisions won't always pan out but they can't boot every step of a long process.

Relationships go both ways but good GMs don't have bad relationships with many players that they need to keep around. Confrontational is fine, but they have to be able to keep them around if they want to.

I don't intend to keep bitching about Bergevin, but I want to see good management. Hughes and Gorton have said the right things, but now they have to put those things in place. Get an analytics department in place, get more scouts, get more guys to help with player logistics, just generally make it clear to players that the team cares and will do stuff to help them. Longer term we'll have to see if they can draft and develop. If they can manage assets. Hughes hasn't done this role before, so if he's good let him run, but if he fails then on to the next. So far I'm happy. This offseason will be key, not so much for player movement as for organizational development. They need to hire so many people.

Next year I hope we need another tanking thread, but I also hope that we'll have enough prospects coming up that we'll be more like this year's Senators than like this year's Coyotes, and to potentially be very competitive by 2025 with a middling 2024.

 

[Ezpz]

Ok?

I'm still not quite sure how you can possibly figure out that if they lose, it's because of that contract exclusively.

What if Freddy Anderson plays awful?

I'm not implying KK is why they lose, I'm implying they could have added a bunch of better pieces to fill their weaknesses at the deadline if they didn't have him. They're a good team but I don't think anyone has them penciled for a cup this year and they've got a bunch of good players hitting UFA so this was the year to "push" and KK prevented them from doing that. I think they'll be fighting for a wildcard spot next year after they lose all these players this offseason.

 

[Habs Halifax]

I'm expecting us to pick 3rd or 4th, based on the numbers.

Hopefully we get lucky and it will be 1 or 2.

1-3 would be totally fine with me. 3 is the sweet spot where you take whoever is left from Wright, Cooley, and Slaf. 4 would be the spot where I think we might have to take one of the D men. Unless a team from 1-3 takes one of them and then one of Cooley or Slaf are still on the board.

 

[Doc5]

Thankfully this year is the top 4 is filled with good options. Its not like 2018 where there was a clear drop from the first 2 picks (I remember being bunmed out at missing on getting the 2nd pick).

I prefer getting the first pick but at least its not like next year's draft when missing out on the first pick would really hurt

Really? From what I was reading, I thought getting a top3 or even top 4 pick next year seems like it would be a franchise player. Is that not it?

 

[Habs Halifax]

I have a feeling Philly wins the lottery.

I have the same feeling about the Kraken. They win the lottery.

Kraken
Coyotes
Habs
Sabres
Blackhawks

 

[Habs Halifax]

Really? From what I was reading, I thought getting a top3 or even top 4 pick next year seems like it would be a franchise player. Is that not it?

Aside from Bedard and Michkov, I'm not sure how the guys after them look. I recall people saying this Wright draft was deep too a few years ago. You just never know until you know.

 

[Nico Cauzuki]

Aside from Bedard and Michkov, I'm not sure how the guys after them look. I recall people saying this Wright draft was deep too a few years ago. You just never know until you know.

Adam Fantili

 

[WeThreeKings]

Adam Fantili

Leo Carlsson. Matthew Wood. Braeden Yager. Filip Dvorsky.

These guys are all pacing better than most prospects outside Wright were a year out.

 

[Koivu11]

Yep i still think this lottery shit % is the dumbest shit ever.

Lottery should be bottom 5 teams only.

Yeah there’s no reason the 11th worst team should be able to get the first overall by pure luck. What a joke.

 

[le_sean]

Yep i still think this lottery shit % is the dumbest shit ever.

Lottery should be bottom 5 teams only.

Exactly. Bottom 5 teams plus the added rule that you can’t get the 1st overall more than twice in a certain time period.

I mean it’s a farce to watch the worst Habs season in history and maybe only get the 5th or 6th pick out of it.