Post-Game Talk: Gorton & Hughes End of Season Media Avail 9:30Am EST

[StCaufield]

Wrong

You’re not gonna last long here. Sorry kiddi

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

You think that we are in a philosophy class..........

“Do you think it’s possible that an entire world might exist inside your belly button and you just don’t know it?”

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Like Pasta, Like Shane Doan

Hopefully Lady Luck is on our side this time!!

If we drafted Dian, Therrien would’ve blown smoke in his face too.

 

[Kudo Shinichi]

I honestly don’t see Roy OR Newhook in that top 6….they are 3rd line players who will fill in in top 6 in case of injuries/suspensions/etc….

I’d rather see Slaf/Suzuki with a Necas type trade and Dach/Caufiled with let’s say Lindstrom/Demidov/Celebrini.

That’s a real top 6 and very much in the reach of realm

Roy and Newhook easily have the potential to be top 6 players. Newhook already is even. He just scored at a 51-point pace playing with middle 6 wingers.

If we add a Necas type player and a Lindstrom/Demidov/Celebrini, then sure we don't need Roy and Newhook in the top 6, but that has nothing to do with the problem I brought up. The issue I brought up was signing a veteran player who won't be part of the core that blocks our young player. Necas and our top pick will be part of the core and of the habs long-term future, so there's no problem with them blocking Roy and Newhook.

 

[Runner77]

You have a very sharp eye if you managed to notice either of those guys during a game.

Only thing I remember Pearson for.

 

[AlexGretzchenvid]

agreed MB screwed the habs, give MSL a chance oh ya, but fire Burrows

Actually, HuGo is lucky Bergevin gave him:

Suzuki
Hutson
Roy
Mailloux
Guhle
Caufield
Jakeye
Primeau
Dobes
Barron
Struble
Montembault
Harris

That is an INSANE pool to play with. I’m 100% missing a few other good stories.


Plus the unique position to draft in a good spot.

HuGo has done an excellent job with those players PLUS drafting

Slaf
Rein
Engstrom
Mesar
Fowler
And much more.

 

[Canadienna]

Actually, HuGo is lucky Bergevin gave him:

Suzuki
Hutson
Roy
Mailloux
Guhle
Caufield
Jakeye
Primeau
Dobes
Barron
Struble
Montembault
Harris

That is an INSANE pool to play with. I’m 100% missing a few other good stories.


Plus the unique position to draft in a good spot.

HuGo has done an excellent job with those players PLUS drafting

Slaf
Rein
Engstrom
Mesar
Fowler
And much more.

Hutson was drafted by Hughes/Gorton and Barron was drafted by Colorado and traded for by Hughes/Gorton.

And that pool wouldn't look so insane if we didn't change our player development philosophy.

Plus HuGo got two 1sts for (and) Monahan after Bergevin threw away a 1st and 2nd for Dvorak.

 

[Hostile Offer]

You know what? I'm just ecstatic that we won't ever see more of Pearson and Colin White in a Habs jersey.

Colin White was on the team?

 

[Bobby Holik agent]

Colin White was on the team?

Thou shalt not possess weapons of mass wins in regulation.

Colin ''White'' Powell was of the highest order, the wisest of man among us in our militant assault toward the tank. A true hero and a true leader. Point stats and other selfish behavior didn't matter to him, only loss.

 

[therocket9]

You’re not gonna last long here. Sorry kiddi

Sorry junior u will not last long especially when u are always wrong

Roy and Newhook easily have the potential to be top 6 players. Newhook already is even. He just scored at a 51-point pace playing with middle 6 wingers.

If we add a Necas type player and a Lindstrom/Demidov/Celebrini, then sure we don't need Roy and Newhook in the top 6, but that has nothing to do with the problem I brought up. The issue I brought up was signing a veteran player who won't be part of the core that blocks our young player. Necas and our top pick will be part of the core and of the habs long-term future, so there's no problem with them blocking Roy and Newhook.

Have u not heard Hughes is not buying anybody out so there are no roster spots to bring in any player in a trade free agency or young players who play well out of training camp.

 

[therocket9]

A lot of people on this website who are praising Hughes are the same sheep who were praising Bergevin....Hughes so far has done nothing hired a coach who is a nice guy with ZERO coaching experience....still does not have a #1 goalie and has a 0% chance to make the playoffs if u do not fix the roster...Montreal is currently better than 1 team that is Columbus if u do not believe me check the standings.

 

[ThaDevilGirl]

A lot of people on this website who are praising Hughes are the same sheep who were praising Bergevin....Hughes so far has done nothing hired a coach who is a nice guy with ZERO coaching experience....still does not have a #1 goalie and has a 0% chance to make the playoffs if u do not fix the roster...Montreal is currently better than 1 team that is Columbus if u do not believe me check the standings.

Habs were better than 4 other teams if you check the standings

Also MSL now has two years of experience!
Goaltending isn't an issue, and we don't need a goalie to play 60+ games per season. Monty and Primeau can share the load.

Habs do need to get better if they want to make the playoffs. The Atlantic division is a tough division and it'll be pretty hard to get in the middle of the top 4 teams. Our team will keep gaining valuable experience in the meantime and when HuGo feel they're ready to contend for a playoff spot I'm confident they'll make the necessary moves to improve the Habs.

 

[26Mats]

Habs were better than 4 other teams if you check the standings

Also MSL now has two years of experience!
Goaltending isn't an issue, and we don't need a goalie to play 60+ games per season. Monty and Primeau can share the load.

Habs do need to get better if they want to make the playoffs. The Atlantic division is a tough division and it'll be pretty hard to get in the middle of the top 4 teams. Our team will keep gaining valuable experience in the meantime and when HuGo feel they're ready to contend for a playoff spot I'm confident they'll make the necessary moves to improve the Habs.

I'm fine with going Monty and Primes next season.

But Primeau may not be an NHL goalie. It's like he's either lights out or a disaster. It's not often we see a goalie give up 3 goals as bad as 3 of the goals he gave up in the last game of the season, let alone giving up 3 like that in one game.

 

[Egresch]

I'm fine with going Monty and Primes next season.

But Primeau may not be an NHL goalie. It's like he's either lights out or a disaster. It's not often we see a goalie give up 3 goals as bad as 3 of the goals he gave up in the last game of the season, let alone giving up 3 like that in one game.

Dobeš might replace Primeau pretty quickly. His 2nd part of AHL season was very good. Give him one more year in AHL and he will be ready. Fowler will step up to AHL, timeline is fine and will put a lot of pressure on Primeau.

 

[CDN24]

False.

True

One of you is right.

 

[ThaDevilGirl]

I'm fine with going Monty and Primes next season.

But Primeau may not be an NHL goalie. It's like he's either lights out or a disaster. It's not often we see a goalie give up 3 goals as bad as 3 of the goals he gave up in the last game of the season, let alone giving up 3 like that in one game.

I still have trouble gauging if Primeau is a future starter in the league. He's had pretty good games and pretty bad games... He needs to find consistency, which may happen next season as the goaltending situation remains stable. So yeah, I'd give him next year and see how he performs. Meanwhile Dobes will be the #1 goalie in Laval and hopefully keeps improving.

 

[Rapala]

HuGo gonna spend the rest of the off season all the way into camp playing down the P word.
We have far too much garbage on board and way too many players in the wrong chairs.
It's going to have to be one hell of a summer to balance the D, upgrade the top 6, and revamp the bottom 6.
One injury to the wrong player will probably still be able to down us and that on it's own will be hard to fix.
We will need numbers like the Islanders have this season that's a steep slope to climb.
40 wins and 14-16 OTL.

Good Luck

 

[ReHabs]

HuGo gonna spend the rest of the off season all the way into camp playing down the P word.
We have far too much garbage on board and way too many players in the wrong chairs.
It's going to have to be one hell of a summer to balance the D, upgrade the top 6, and revamp the bottom 6.
One injury to the wrong player will probably still be able to down us and that on it's own will be hard to fix.
We will need numbers like the Islanders have this season that's a steep slope to climb.
40 wins and 14-16 OTL.

Good Luck

Look at the trend line. We’ve improved. If the team learns to close out games, we would already be closer to the playoffs.

I also think Hughes has a lot to do before he deserves actual praise but the team *has* been trending the right way and endured an obnoxious amount of injuries in the process.

Of course we don’t have sufficient depth to cover a long injury to one of our four or five prime players but I think everybody is aware of this fact.

Funny enough, while I wouldn’t begrudge a top6 forward addition but I think shoring up the bottom6 would do a world of good too. We basically had fifth liners all season. If we bring in better depth, we will achieve much better results.

 

[therocket9]

Habs were better than 4 other teams if you check the standings

Also MSL now has two years of experience!
Goaltending isn't an issue, and we don't need a goalie to play 60+ games per season. Monty and Primeau can share the load.

Habs do need to get better if they want to make the playoffs. The Atlantic division is a tough division and it'll be pretty hard to get in the middle of the top 4 teams. Our team will keep gaining valuable experience in the meantime and when HuGo feel they're ready to contend for a playoff spot I'm confident they'll make the necessary moves to improve the Habs.

No they were only better than 1 team because they are not competing with the western conference teams for a playoff spot.

 

[morhilane]

It's going to have to be one hell of a summer to balance the D, upgrade the top 6, and revamp the bottom 6.

They don't need to upgrade the top 6 this summer. They might draft the missing piece this year or already have it in their prospect pool but still 1-2 years away from the NHL.

The too many NHL ready Ds and revamping the bottom 6 should be the important focus this off-season.

 

[Supersonic]

Look at the trend line. We’ve improved. If the team learns to close out games, we would already be closer to the playoffs.

I also think Hughes has a lot to do before he deserves actual praise but the team *has* been trending the right way and endured an obnoxious amount of injuries in the process.

Of course we don’t have sufficient depth to cover a long injury to one of our four or five prime players but I think everybody is aware of this fact.

Funny enough, while I wouldn’t begrudge a top6 forward addition but I think shoring up the bottom6 would do a world of good too. We basically had fifth liners all season. If we bring in better depth, we will achieve much better results.

I agree on your last point, a lot.

For years, what felt like an eternity, we suffered from “no first line”. Now with Suzuki, Caufield & Slafkovsky emerging we became a bonafide “one-line team” - I’ll ignore the last ten or so games where the Newhook like looked good.

We need some size, grit and the smallest bit of scoring touch in the bottom-6 and I think it moves the needle a lot for us. Not to mention the top-6 will be vastly improved with Dach returning, and Newhook maybe moving to his wing.

I’m okay to start with:

xx - Dvorak - Armia
xx - Evans - Gallagher
Pezzetta

BUT we need to somehow offload Anderson. Absolute must. Maybe Roy slots in on the third line. Sign a mid-tier bottom-6 LW who actually hits people and the puck doesn’t die on his stick, and Marty will find confidence in rolling all four lines.

We’ll see.

 

[ThaDevilGirl]

No they were only better than 1 team because they are not competing with the western conference teams for a playoff spot.

Ok, fair enough. I still think this year was better than last year. Here's hoping that the trend continues and improvements are reflected on the standings.

 

[Kosseca]

I see Newhook as a second line player. Anything less is a massive overpayment in the trade

Someone want to give me a quick synopsis on the presser?

I think that newhook has the tools to play on the 2nd line, but given the asset MTL has going forwar, I would hope that management is not looking at this with the view of "we are good here... dont need to add talent". So for me, my hope is that they can bring other player that can be more talented and push Newhook and Roy on the 3rd and I would be ok with having these two there because they show they can both play in that role and be a emergency support on in the top 6 in case of injury.

This is what depth looks like.

Ideally mid-term roster should look like this:

[2024 1Rdpick] - Suzuki - Slaf
Cauflield - Dach - [trade w/Win 1+]
Newhook - [Beck/Monahan] - Roy
Tuch - Evan/Beck - Xhekaj

4th line can evolve based on which guy emerge as a physical and defensive presence.

 

[HABitual Fan]

Am I the only one who would prefer acquiring a top 9 forward and have Roy start the season in Laval on a line with Beck building chemistry, as I currently see them as 2/3 of the future 3rd line? I honestly feel that Roy can benefit from more consistency and working on his 200 foot game. If it wasn't for all the injuries, I don't feel he would have been called up this season.

The top 9 forward need not be a long-term solution type, but rather someone that has a year remaining on his contract that another team might offer a sweetener with to clear cap room for their incoming signings.

This player would not be instead of the top 6 player that the team would be looking to add via trade or draft.

Laval would have to commit to playing Beck and Roy on the PK as this is the role they would have to be able to fill on the 3rd line in Montreal.

 

[schwang26]

A lot of people on this website who are praising Hughes are the same sheep who were praising Bergevin....Hughes so far has done nothing hired a coach who is a nice guy with ZERO coaching experience....still does not have a #1 goalie and has a 0% chance to make the playoffs if u do not fix the roster...Montreal is currently better than 1 team that is Columbus if u do not believe me check the standings.

Ridiculous assessment. If you can’t see we’re better off now than under MB, then you have no idea what you’re talking about.