HF Habs: Expansion Draft 2021

[BaseballCoach]

Not saying it goes this way for sure but it's a possibility and depends on player performances in the next two years.

1) Price

2) Weber or Petry (don't think we protect both) and 2 from (Mete, Juulsen, Fleury, Kulak). Leaves a open spot for that LD if we acquire one.

3) Domi, Kotkaniemi, Gallagher (UFA), Drouin

Exposed players:
- Lindgren (UFA), McNiven
- One of Weber or Petry (UFA) and 2 from (Mete, Juulsen, Fleury, Kulak).
- Tatar (UFA), Danault (UFA), Lehkonen, Shaw, Byron, Armia, Evans

We are very lucky Poehling, Suzuki, Primeau, Brook are exempt

The UFA status is pretty meaningless. We will probably re-sign at least three of these four players long before the end of season, or we will have traded them and replaced them with other players.

Protecting four forwards means probably your first line and your best defensive forward. Exposing your entire second line and/or your 3C in order to protect ONE more defenceman seems unlikely.

 

[Habs Halifax]

The UFA status is pretty meaningless. We will probably re-sign at least three of these four players long before the end of season, or we will have traded them and replaced them with other players.

Protecting four forwards means probably your first line and your best defensive forward. Exposing your entire second line and/or your 3C in order to protect ONE more defenceman seems unlikely.

Meaninless or not, it's a list of what we have projected forward. Could change yes, but it's how I see it today. Would you be happier if I didn't list them at all or didn't say they were pending UFA's?

We can either let them all go, sign all 4, sign 1, 2, 3. Neither you or I can predict this accurately.

Protecting four forwards does not mean we lose our fist line and best Defensive forward cause you said this to me like 100 times now... we only lose 1 player. Plus, this is about how our grade A guys that are automatically protected and our D is more exposed.

 

[angusyoung]

Meaninless or not, it's a list of what we have projected forward. Could change yes, but it's how I see it today. Would you be happier if I didn't list them at all or didn't say they were pending UFA's?

We can either let them all go, sign all 4, sign 1, 2, 3. Neither you or I can predict this accurately.

Protecting four forwards does not mean we lose our fist line and best Defensive forward cause you said this to me like 100 times now... we only lose 1 player. Plus, this is about how our grade A guys that are automatically protected and our D is more exposed.

All teams lose a cog,unless they can maneuver around it yet again. Though to be a GM now a days.

 

[BaseballCoach]

Meaninless or not, it's a list of what we have projected forward. Could change yes, but it's how I see it today. Would you be happier if I didn't list them at all or didn't say they were pending UFA's?

We can either let them all go, sign all 4, sign 1, 2, 3. Neither you or I can predict this accurately.

Protecting four forwards does not mean we lose our fist line and best Defensive forward cause you said this to me like 100 times now... we only lose 1 player. Plus, this is about how our grade A guys that are automatically protected and our D is more exposed.

YEs, they are pending UFAs, but you are assuming we won't protect them because of that, and I am saying we can't be sure.

Of course we only lose one player, but I would still it rather be Juulsen or Fleury than Danault or Tatar.

 

[Habs Halifax]

YEs, they are pending UFAs, but you are assuming we won't protect them because of that, and I am saying we can't be sure.

Of course we only lose one player, but I would still it rather be Juulsen or Fleury than Danault or Tatar.

I protected one of them an possibly two in the list you saw. Gallagher and maybe Petry. Tatar might get picked but doubt Danault gets picked cause he likely wants to stay in Montreal and Seattle would have to give him a contract he can't refuse.

We don't have room in the cap for all 4 of Gallagher, Petry, Tatar, and Danault. 2 yes, and maybe 3. Hard to predict. But all 4? I doubt it. Tatar is likely the one gone unless we can extend him on a team friendly AAV.

You rather it be Juulsen or Fleury than Danault and Tatar and that is a fair statement today but we have two seasons to evaluate in terms of vets and youth. A lot can change in two seasons. I'm assuming you are projecting Juulsen and Fleury to not be top 4D quality in two years?

 

[BaseballCoach]

. I'm assuming you are projecting Juulsen and Fleury to not be top 4D quality in two years?

Correct. I would have Weber, Petry, Brook and Romanov ahead of Juulsen and Fleury. And that does not count a new LD we might get. So if we can protect 3 D, that means five safe really and I see no need to protect the 6th.

 

[Habs Halifax]

Correct. I would have Weber, Petry, Brook and Romanov ahead of Juulsen and Fleury. And that does not count a new LD we might get. So if we can protect 3 D, that means five safe really and I see no need to protect the 6th.

Lets re-visit this closer to the draft. It will be interesting to see how our opinions have changed in two years.

 

[Number 57]

One of the reasons we'll be in great position is our UFAs (namely Gallagher, Tatar, Danault). Last time around I don't even think Vegas picked a single UFA-to-be. They were allowed to discuss and I remember being worried they would try to sign Radulov. They didn't get anybody.

2021 UFAs are basically free protected players. You sign them after the draft, and honestly if they do end up signing with Seattle, then at least you don't lose anybody else and you save some cap space. It's basically win-win. And let's be honest, would Gally or Danault really sign with Seattle? Tatar maybe, but two years from now he wouldn't be that big of a loss.

 

[Hins77]

One of the reasons we'll be in great position is our UFAs (namely Gallagher, Tatar, Danault). Last time around I don't even think Vegas picked a single UFA-to-be. They were allowed to discuss and I remember being worried they would try to sign Radulov. They didn't get anybody.

2021 UFAs are basically free protected players. You sign them after the draft, and honestly if they do end up signing with Seattle, then at least you don't lose anybody else and you save some cap space. It's basically win-win. And let's be honest, would Gally or Danault really sign with Seattle? Tatar maybe, but two years from now he wouldn't be that big of a loss.

Danaul and Petry. Pretty sure they wont sign with Seattle. Gallagher? Dont think too, but he live in vancouver during summer, could be close from his family. Im not saying he will, but he could be more willing too than the others

 

[Number 57]

Things change slightly with the emergence of Cale Fleury. There are many routes Bergevin could choose to go especially in regards to our UFAs. Last time around Vegas didn't pick any UFA-to-be, so will Bergevin risk signing them AFTER the Seattle draft in order to protect more players? It's a risky situation.

On defense we could lose one of Weber, Petry, Juulsen or Fleury (all right-handed). Our only left-handed guy worthy of being protected is Mete. Fortunately, both Romanov and Brook are exempt and should be NHL ready which should give us depth on D whatever happens.

Up front, the trio of Suzuki, Poehling and Caufield should also be in the NHL and are all exempt, same with Primeau in goal.

All in all it's good to be a Habs fan for the Seattle draft, as we only stand to lose either a huge contract (Weber, Price, Petry) or a depth player that can easily be replaced from within (Chiarot, Kulak, Armia, Byron, Lehkonen, Juulsen)

 

[Number 57]

I think the following players will 99% still be with us after the Seattle draft

Drouin-Domi-Gallagher
Poehling-Kotkaniemi-Caufield
x-Danault-x

Mete-Fleury
Romanov-Brook

Price-Primeau

It remains to be seen which of Weber, Petry, Juulsen, Lehkonen, Chiarot, Armia, Byron, Kulak, Tatar, Weal remain afterwards.

Plus all our other prospects

 

[Habs Halifax]

I think the following players will 99% still be with us after the Seattle draft

Drouin-Domi-Gallagher
Poehling-Kotkaniemi-Caufield
x-Danault-x

Mete-Fleury
Romanov-Brook

Price-Primeau

It remains to be seen which of Weber, Petry, Juulsen, Lehkonen, Chiarot, Armia, Byron, Kulak, Tatar, Weal remain afterwards.

Plus all our other prospects

I agree but there is a higher chance Gallagher could walk. I think we will want him back and likely to be our next captain but Gallagher will be asking for a hefty raise and if he continues to put up 30+ goals in the next two seasons and maybe grows his point totals to 60+, he is going to be asking for a lot. It's not 99% he is still with us. More like 75% IMO

 

[DAChampion]

I wonder who Seattle is going to pick.

 

[Treb]

I wonder who Seattle is going to pick.

Kulak, Lehkonen or Byron IMO. Alzner if we sweeten the deal.

 

[Habs Halifax]

I wonder who Seattle is going to pick.

Weber... We give them a 2nd so they take him off our hands. This season and one more season to evaluate Weber and if he is in rapid decline or is this season an off season and he rebounds next year. Regardless, if we protect Weber, it's for 1 or two more seasons and not sure that's smart.

Weber will be 35 and heading into the 21/22 season at 36. It's a nice contract for Seattle to get to the cap floor too and he is from the west coast and has no NMC.

Love Weber as our captain but his window does not fit our window that is not open yet.

 

[Habs Halifax]

Kulak, Lehkonen or Byron IMO. Alzner if we sweeten the deal.

Alzner will be bought out. If we sweeten the deal, it will have to be a very sweet deal and buying him out is the better plan cause the cap hit's are not crazy.

I hope it's Weber but if we protect Weber, Mete, and one of Fleury and Juulsen, one of Fleury and Juulsen will be taken IMO.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

Weber... We give them a 2nd so they take him off our hands. This season and one more season to evaluate Weber and if he is in rapid decline or is this season an off season and he rebounds next year. Regardless, if we protect Weber, it's for 1 or two more seasons and not sure that's smart.

Weber will be 35 and heading into the 21/22 season at 36. It's a nice contract for Seattle to get to the cap floor too and he is from the west coast and has no NMC.

Love Weber as our captain but his window does not fit our window that is not open yet.

Bergevin won't expose his prized possession.

As I said a year ago, we should've traded him before he'd decline further. Now it seems too late, unless it's just an injury.

He did trade Shaw, another of his prizes, so who knows, but rumor has it, it was because of locker room problems.

 

[danyhabsfan]

Weber... We give them a 2nd so they take him off our hands. This season and one more season to evaluate Weber and if he is in rapid decline or is this season an off season and he rebounds next year. Regardless, if we protect Weber, it's for 1 or two more seasons and not sure that's smart.

Weber will be 35 and heading into the 21/22 season at 36. It's a nice contract for Seattle to get to the cap floor too and he is from the west coast and has no NMC.

Love Weber as our captain but his window does not fit our window that is not open yet.

Weber has to be protected (NMC)

 

[Habs Halifax]

Weber has to be protected (NMC)

Weber does not have a NMC.

 

[calder candidate]

Weber has to be protected (NMC)

Weber doesn’t have any NMC... when you match a OS you can’t trade the player for 1 year but there aren’t any NMC that need to be repected.

 

[LaP]

Not protecting Weber would be 100% dumb. Obviously if you don'T protect him he'll be taken. He still holds value in a trade.

 

[Habs Halifax]

Not protecting Weber would be 100% dumb. Obviously if you don'T protect him he'll be taken. He still holds value in a trade.

Weber will be 36 heading into the 21/22 season after the expansion draft. His contract is designed for him to retire after his age 36 or 37 season. He has clearly taken a step back and is a top 4D this year vs a top 2D. What happens in the rest of this season and next might surprise you. I'd be trading him this year. But if we don't, I'm not 100% on this idea that it dumb if we do not protect him. I rather lose Weber after his age 35 season and use that space to sign Petry similar to the Edler contract he just got.

And I like Weber too. I just am looking at the big picture and He does not help us win a cup cause his window does not fit ours. If I have to give a 2nd for Seattle to take him and we get to keep Petry, Mete, Fleury and Juulsen, that fits better for our future

Rest of this season and next will make the decisions for us

 

[CrAzYNiNe]

Weber will be 36 heading into the 21/22 season after the expansion draft. His contract is designed for him to retire after his age 36 or 37 season. He has clearly taken a step back and is a top 4D this year vs a top 2D. What happens in the rest of this season and next might surprise you. I'd be trading him this year. But if we don't, I'm not 100% on this idea that it dumb if we do not protect him. I rather lose Weber after his age 35 season and use that space to sign Petry similar to the Edler contract he just got.

And I like Weber too. I just am looking at the big picture and He does not help us win a cup cause his window does not fit ours. If I have to give a 2nd for Seattle to take him and we get to keep Petry, Mete, Fleury and Juulsen, that fits better for our future

Rest of this season and next will make the decisions for us

His contract was designed to retire around that age. But with the recapture penalty, Nashville will be smashed by cap penalties. So if he decides to retire before the 22/23 season, Nashville is smacked with $6.14M over 4 years. Anyway you slice it for Nashville, they are his with a $24.57M penalty (either in one year in 25/26 or spread out over 4 years like I previously mentioned).

Weber is not retiring early, likely headed back to Nashville and placed on LTIR or something of that nature.

 

[Habs Halifax]

His contract was designed to retire around that age. But with the recapture penalty, Nashville will be smashed by cap penalties. So if he decides to retire before the 22/23 season, Nashville is smacked with $6.14M over 4 years. Anyway you slice it for Nashville, they are his with a $24.57M penalty (either in one year in 25/26 or spread out over 4 years like I previously mentioned).

Weber is not retiring early, likely headed back to Nashville and placed on LTIR or something of that nature.

Weber's cap circumventing contract is more like Luongo vs Hossa or Zetterberg. Both Weber and Luongo were traded but Hossa and Zetterberg worked out deals to have injuries cause they were playing with the team that signed the cap circumventing contract. They still got paid and both had injuries they could justify so why not?

Luongo just retired and you better bet the Canucks tried to do something with the Panthers but it didn't work so the Canucks are now stuck with a $4M cap for 3 seasons. I disagree that Weber won't retire early. It has higher probability to be similar to Luongo cause why would the Habs or Panthers do any favors? Heck, the Panthers even have a $1.1M cap hit for 3 years with Luongo and are tight up against the cap. You don't think they tried to work a deal with the Canucks or to ask Luongo if he had any injury at all?

Finding an injury that looks legit to the doctors is not as easy as you think. You run the risk of being involved in an insurance scam and it will be investigated. Why would Weber risk that for $3M ($1M for 3 seasons) when he already earned $107M on that $110M/14 year contract? Circumstance and context matters. It's more probable that Weber would rather stick it to the Preds who traded him out of the blue in the summer of 2016 vs trying to help them out by faking an injury and possibly be investigated for insurance scam. If he has a legit injury, that is a different story.

 

[Rapala]

Not protecting Weber would be 100% dumb. Obviously if you don'T protect him he'll be taken. He still holds value in a trade.

This is the year to move him at or before the TDL. I'm good with Petry Fleury and Brook for next season.