Speculation: Habs 2019-2020 - RFA/UFA Thread

[Archijerej]

#1 LW: re-sign Hudon or try to get Carr, Terry, Seney or Rau
#1 C: Re-sign Blandisi or try to get Anas or Froese

Alternatively, sign an older Euro that wants to try NA or try to include a guy like Mayhew or Miele in a trade.

I'm pretty sure we've seen the last of Hudon this year.

Blandisi kind of intrigues me. They've traded for him, but I'm not sure if they like he player, or just made the deal to get rid of Varone and Barber.

Assuming Montreal's gonna go into the season with 8 defencemen (they have to keep Juulsen on the roster if they don't want to lose him), I'd like one of those forwards to be good enough to challenge Weal/Evans for the 13th forward's role. The past season showed that we need as much quality depth as we can get.

 

[Treb]

I'm pretty sure we've seen the last of Hudon this year.

Blandisi kind of intrigues me. They've traded for him, but I'm not sure if they like he player, or just made the deal to get rid of Varone and Barber.

Assuming Montreal's gonna go into the season with 8 defencemen (they have to keep Juulsen on the roster if they don't want to lose him), I'd like one of those forwards to be good enough to challenge Weal/Evans for the 13th forward's role. The past season showed that we need as much quality depth as we can get.

They are both RFA though, so if the Habs wants them back, they don't really have a choice.

 

[Archijerej]

They are both RFA though, so if the Habs wants them back, they don't really have a choice.

Indeed they are.

I could see them wanting to keep Blandisi, but I'm not sure they see much use in the NHL for Hudon and probably don't wont to make it difficult for him to find opportunities elsewhere.

We'll see.

 

[MarkovsKnee]

Perfectly fine for Armia. Good size, forechecker and pker. Should put up about 15g, 30pts a year over the next 3 years.

I mean Tanev got a 6 year, $3,5m contract from Pittsburgh and he has similar stats to Army.

 

[Skip Bayless]

Love me some Yoel. Get'er done.

 

[HabsWhiteKnightLOL]

lol Armia at 3.5m a year , size whos softer than Byron gr8

With Evans , and Byron 7m~ 4th line. great

 

[Skip Bayless]

lol Armia at 3.5m a year , size whos softer than Byron gr8

With Evans , and Byron 7m~ 4th line. great

Armia is not soft, he literally will carry 2 guys on his back and make a solid pass.

Byron is so invisible he's not even deemed as soft in my book.

 

[HabsWhiteKnightLOL]

Armia is not soft, he literally will carry 2 guys on his back and make a solid pass.

Byron is so invisible he's not even deemed as soft in my book.

is not soft? Did you watch the same 10 games as me?

 

[Skip Bayless]

is not soft? Did you watch the same 10 games as me?

Yes, I did.

Armia, with a broken back and two broken legs is still our best player along the boards and comes out with the puck 8 times out of 10 (and I'm being extremely generous) thanks to his willingness to put his body in between the forechecker and the puck. Also willing to block many shots in a row with his massive ballsack in the PK.

That's not soft to me.

 

[HabsWhiteKnightLOL]

Yes, I did.

Armia, with a broken back and two broken legs is still our best player along the boards and comes out with the puck 8 times out of 10 (and I'm being extremely generous) thanks to his willingness to put his body in between the forechecker and the puck. Also willing to block many shots in a row with his massive ballsack in the PK.

That's not soft to me.

There is a difference at getting the puck and giving hits.
That's what im saying

 

[Skip Bayless]

There is a difference at getting the puck and giving hits.
That's what im saying

To me soft is not really about hits and fights, it's about how much do you use your body to make the right play. Would love a bruiser who can play with the habs, but those are rare nowadays.

However, If I'm in a situation where I need to retrieve the puck deep in the zone in case we lose the draw, Armia is a must. Probably the only reason why he's on the PP, our midgets simply can't do what he does.

 

[Capitano]

Its a tough thought but I do agree. Gallagher is the heart and soul of this team but that style of play generally does not lead to longevity...

We should be looking to trade BGALLY rather than re-sign him...he is the perfect player for a team to add to win a cup as a depth scorer. I don't dislike him, he has great determination but unless we get some top line talent he is being played out of position, as we have seen with SO MANY habs forwards over the years. Look how good Pacioretty looks on a deeper Vegas team where he is not the only threat to score. Gallagher has to be traded imo.

 

[HabsWhiteKnightLOL]

To me soft is not really about hits and fights, it's about how much do you use your body to make the right play. Would love a bruiser who can play with the habs, but those are rare nowadays.

However, If I'm in a situation where I need to retrieve the puck deep in the zone in case we lose the draw, Armia is a must. Probably the only reason why he's on the PP, our midgets simply can't do what he does.

He can do what the midget can , retreive the puck in the board , but sure can't shoot like our midgets

 

[montreal]

Do the Canadien have the option or interest in tendering him an offer sheet and does his contract prevent him from returning once the 2020-21 NHL season starts?

there's no reason to sign him to an NHL contract, but he was a solid AHLer, good PKer. But hopefully this means they will have a deeper team next year although at this point I would just be happy if they get to play a full season.

Didn't much care for him to be honest.

Loved Lynch though, but don't see him being signed with all the players already under contract.

Any idea what they might do concerning #1C and #1LW positions?

Sadly Jevpalovs was one of our highest scoring forwards, good speed but not skilled enough as he had a good year but left you wanting more as he struggled to convert on his chances. I would have had no problem bringing him back as a 4th liner, spare forward. I would bring Lynch back as he is a hard working player for sure.

Who knows what their plans are for vets, Hudon could be one. I really want to see this team make the playoffs so they will badly need 2 scoring vets so if not Hudon then MB better find better ones they he got last summer since they should have been good but turned to shit. If they have Hudon and Belzile that's a start but we need someone to get them the puck, if Evans is up and Kotka then we got Poehling and Hillis if they want him at center. I would hope for better but we'll see.

 

[CapSpace]

lol Armia at 3.5m a year , size whos softer than Byron gr8

With Evans , and Byron 7m~ 4th line. great

Are you high son?

 

[MarkovsKnee]

lol Armia at 3.5m a year , size whos softer than Byron gr8

With Evans , and Byron 7m~ 4th line. great

Armia is a top 9 forward and plays up and down the lineup when needed. He's a far, far better player than Byron. Just because he doesn't fight doesn't make him soft. He's a beast on the forecheck and we need him.

 

[Habs Halifax]

is not soft? Did you watch the same 10 games as me?

You talking about Armia as just a 4th line player again? .

 

[MSLs absurd thighs]

Armia is a top 9 forward and plays up and down the lineup when needed. He's a far, far better player than Byron. Just because he doesn't fight doesn't make him soft. He's a beast on the forecheck and we need him.

Giving 3.5M to Byron is possibly the worst waste of money on the roster after Alzner's 5 years deal.

 

[Beer and Chips]

Lucchini and Blandisi definitely get resigned, hoping Bouchard can perform miracles and cure them of bad habits.

 

[montreal]

Lucchini and Blandisi definitely get resigned, hoping Bouchard can perform miracles and cure them of bad habits.

with all the incoming rookies they have, not sure if Lucchini will be brought back or not. I wouldn't mind it depending on how the roster shapes up.

say the roster looks something like, not so much about the lines but to show how tight the roster could be,

Hudon Hillis Belzile
Poehling Blandisi Ylonen
Veilleux Dauphin Alain
Teasdale Vigneault Hawel
Pezzetta Verbeek Khisamutdinov
RHP

so there isn't a lot of room there. Now the questions would be Hudon, Blandisi will they be re-signed, Belzile, Blandisi, Dauphin, Hudon if not on the Habs would need to clear waivers.

 

[Archijerej]

with all the incoming rookies they have, not sure if Lucchini will be brought back or not. I wouldn't mind it depending on how the roster shapes up.

say the roster looks something like, not so much about the lines but to show how tight the roster could be,

Hudon Hillis Belzile
Poehling Blandisi Ylonen
Veilleux Dauphin Alain
Teasdale Vigneault Hawel
Pezzetta Verbeek Khisamutdinov
RHP

so there isn't a lot of room there. Now the questions would be Hudon, Blandisi will they be re-signed, Belzile, Blandisi, Dauphin, Hudon if not on the Habs would need to clear waivers.

I've got my depth chart for Laval/ECHL to be something like this:

G:
Primeau
Demchenko
Lindgren

LD:
Ouellet/Romanov
Olofsson
Leskinen
xxx
----------
Halbert

RD:
Fleury
Brook
Shueneman
xxx
----------
xxx

C:
Blandisi (?)
Poehling
Vigneault
Hillis
Verbeek

LW:
xxx
Dauphin
Vejdemo/Lucchini (?)
Khisamutdinov
Pezzetta
-----------
Teasdale
Harvey-Pinard

RW:
Belzile
Ylonen
Veilleux
Alain
-----------
Hawel

Obviously, the bottom of the lineup is going to be very fluid. I have guys like Hillis, Teasdale or RHP lower on the depth chart until they prove themselves at professional level. I expect some younger players to circulate between the AHL and ECHL, hopefully keeping Verbeek and Pezzetta permanently out of the lineup.

If we can sign good veteran forwards this should be a deep team with good amount of talent.

 

[salbutera]

is not soft? Did you watch the same 10 games as me?

Byron was quite noticeable in Pens series IMO which gave me hope the player pre-KO was back.....but then came the Philly series , agree he was totally ineffective & invisible.

 

[ahmedou]

A comprehensive look at Montreal Canadiens’ contract situation

 

[Montreality]

lol Armia at 3.5m a year , size whos softer than Byron gr8

With Evans , and Byron 7m~ 4th line. great

The guys litterally puts on a puck protection clinic every game and consistently creates turnovers. He's really useful to me and 3.5 for the 3-4 more years is fine too me and ive done the math for the next two years considering everyone that has to be resigned.

 

[Adam Michaels]