Confirmed with Link: Ilya Kovalchuk signs with Habs (1-year, 2-way deal, 700k AAV)

[Phil Parent]

Nevermind.

 

[LaP]

Some people want to draft Lafreniere so badly that they think there is a good chance. The truth is that we have a better chance at advancing to the second round of the playoffs than of drafting in the top 3.

2020 NHL Draft Lottery Odds | Tankathon has our current odds at 5.0% for drafting 1st overall and 16.0% for drafting top 3.
NHL Playoff Odds -MoneyPuck 2020 Playoff & Cup Odds has our current odds at 32.2% for making the playoffs and 16.8% for advancing to the second round.

Most people seem to understand that the playoffs are slipping away and a first round exit is likely even if we make it. But it seems many people don't understand or refuse to acknowledge that drafting Lafreniere or Byfield is an irrational pipe dream.

We could try to improve our draft position by trading away Petry, Tatar, and other veterans for picks and prospects. A realistic scenario is that we end up with the 5th pick, while in a few years the developed picks and prospects amount to less than the outgoing vets.

Instead we could try to improve our chances at the playoffs by making low cost moves like acquiring Scandella and Kovalchuk. A realistic scenario is that we miss the playoffs and end up with the 15th pick.

For me, the difference between the 5th and 15th pick isn't significant enough to justify tanking and may not make us better in the long run anyway. I'd rather fight to the end, and I'm sure this is what the players also want.

If you finish 9th worst your chance to draft first are 5%. I think our chances to advance the the 2nd round are lower than that. 5% is pretty good odds actually. We are actually 8th worst team in the league so our chances would be 6%. I take that way before anything is poshible.

 

[Milhouse40]

We're not going to tank. The only hope of drafting high is the injured take a long time to get back and/or there are more injuries. Mb will not be changing philosophy over night.

So if you really want that top 5 pick, you better hope Gallagher has a really severe concussion amd post concussion symptoms, for example. Cause hoping MB will change philosophy is hopeless.

Or you can just accept that we'll be competing until we're basically all but mathematically out of it.

No problem with competing…..but not to rain on your thought process…..but we won 7 games in the last 21 games with Gallagher in. It's okay wanting to compete and all, but it wouldn't take a lot to flip the boat upside down.

 

[jaffy27]

No problem with competing…..but not to rain on your thought process…..but we won 7 games in the last 21 games with Gallagher in. It's okay wanting to compete and all, but it wouldn't take a lot to flip the boat upside down.

Drouin
Byron
Armia
Gallagher
KK was out for a while

it adds up......and it does effect the standings no matter what.
I get injuries are part of the game....now we are where we are.

players will compete....we’ll have a better idea of where we stand in a month from now....then The real decisions will be made

 

[Habaneros]

Bergevin doesn't like his players wearing a high number.

i'll bet anyone ...if Sidney Crosby was to come to Montreal he wont be asked to change his number....


Trust me , if you're ANY GOOD and ya wanna wear a high number in Montreal , he aint goona say nothing...

Sorry McDavid since you dont want to change your 97 , we don't want you in Montreal?.lol ya ...ok


if we get first overall pick this year and he wants to wear 95 ....he'll wear 95...

if Romanov wants to wear 84 ,he will wear it ..

If Kovalchuk wanted to wear 91 ...he'd wear it ..

 

[Pickles]

Bargain bin strikes again. This is Semin and Briere all over again. I hope I'm wrong and Kovalchuck has some gas left the tank but I don't think this is enough to get into the playoffs.

 

[salbutera]

Bargain bin strikes again. This is Semin and Briere all over again. I hope I'm wrong and Kovalchuck has some gas left the tank but I don't think this is enough to get into the playoffs.

What would you propose MB do other than Hall which would’ve cost a 1st?

List of trades this season: 2019-20 NHL Trade Tracker

 

[Adriatic]

Holy crap this thread is still going strong lol.

 

[Toastman]

Bargain bin strikes again. This is Semin and Briere all over again. I hope I'm wrong and Kovalchuck has some gas left the tank but I don't think this is enough to get into the playoffs.

Agreed. Lets at least hope he can play good enough to get us a decent pick at the trade deadline from someone looking for a rental.

 

[Tyson]

Bargain bin strikes again. This is Semin and Briere all over again. I hope I'm wrong and Kovalchuck has some gas left the tank but I don't think this is enough to get into the playoffs.

Don't forget Hemsky

 

[Habaneros]

Holy crap this thread is still going strong lol.

it's Kovy not Shaw...Prust...etc..

 

[Pickles]

What would you propose MB do other than Hall which would’ve cost a 1st?

List of trades this season: 2019-20 NHL Trade Tracker

Sell off some the vets for more picks and prospects.

 

[Rosso Scuderia]

Still crazy to think that we had Kovalev, Radulov and Kovalchuk playing for the Habs. The first 2 did pretty well, let's hope it will be the same for Kovalchuk.

 

[Treb]

i'll bet anyone ...if Sidney Crosby was to come to Montreal he wont be asked to change his number....


Trust me , if you're ANY GOOD and ya wanna wear a high number in Montreal , he aint goona say nothing...

Sorry McDavid since you dont want to change your 97 , we don't want you in Montreal?.lol ya ...ok


if we get first overall pick this year and he wants to wear 95 ....he'll wear 95...

if Romanov wants to wear 84 ,he will wear it ..

If Kovalchuk wanted to wear 91 ...he'd wear it ..

We're talking Kulak here though...

 

[the]

Still crazy to think that we had Kovalev, Radulov and Kovalchuk playing for the Habs. The first 2 did pretty well, let's hope it will be the same for Kovalchuk.

And Semin

 

[admiralcadillac]

I mean..why are you being obtuse? Or do you not even understand your own words here:

Ie..''Youth Movement''. Is that so hard to get?

My point was very simple and you quoted me so not sure what you're not following.
This team is a mess, it needs to focus on rebuilding, meaning work on the transition towards the 25 under players. Our biggest need looking at that group is high end talent, for that, we need to drop down the standings.
Grabbing on to stopgaps like Kovalchuk and Scandella works directly against that. Bergevin is hoping to save his season by trying to make the POs with those guys. That is not what we should be doing.

That was my point. Not sure why you didn't understand, was pretty clear and simple.


Yes, after repeatedly failing to add older players via free agency, year after year.

I think you know full well that the contextualizing of the quotes changed how what I said would be perceived.

You can feel like the team should simply not get stopgaps at all right now but the team would probably be in the playoffs with a healthier roster this year. Bergevin is trying to justifiably keep them competing until it becomes obvious they’ll miss them. That doesn’t mean Kovalchuk was hired to replace the younger players, and I have no issue with trying to make the playoffs if our young guns are going to play significant roles on the team.

Getting major injuries, losing, then selling players off before the team gets healthy again is absurd.

 

[yianik]

I guess the thing is, if Kovalchuk cant play sound defensive hockey, his life span with CJ will go some number of periods before he is scrapped. Unless he will only play PP I guess, which would be quite the specialization.

Doesnt MB talk to CJ ?

 

[26Mats]

No problem with competing…..but not to rain on your thought process…..but we won 7 games in the last 21 games with Gallagher in. It's okay wanting to compete and all, but it wouldn't take a lot to flip the boat upside down.

The down fall started when Drouin and Byron went down. We need a fully healthy team.

 

[Nashy]

Still crazy to think that we had Kovalev, Radulov and Kovalchuk playing for the Habs. The first 2 did pretty well, let's hope it will be the same for Kovalchuk.

Kovalchuk will end up being more like Samsonov or Semin

 

[Kriss E]

I think you know full well that the contextualizing of the quotes changed how what I said would be perceived.

You can feel like the team should simply not get stopgaps at all right now but the team would probably be in the playoffs with a healthier roster this year. Bergevin is trying to justifiably keep them competing until it becomes obvious they’ll miss them. That doesn’t mean Kovalchuk was hired to replace the younger players, and I have no issue with trying to make the playoffs if our young guns are going to play significant roles on the team.

Not really no. Just like it wasn't last year, it wasn't this year even healthy and given the stature of our team while also looking at last season, there's no reason to believe they wouldn't crumble some more as the wear and tear of the season keeps piling on.

Getting major injuries, losing, then selling players off before the team gets healthy again is absurd.

They didn't have to sell players right away. Could have waited till deadline. What's absurd is not realizing what's best for the team moving forward and bringing in vets to save the team as a desperate act.

 

[Kriss E]

The down fall started when Drouin and Byron went down. We need a fully healthy team.

For what? To keep sucking and miss out on the POs as we did last year with a very healthy club?
What we need is a different team.

 

[admiralcadillac]

Not really no. Just like it wasn't last year, it wasn't this year even healthy and given the stature of our team while also looking at last season, there's no reason to believe they wouldn't crumble some more as the wear and tear of the season keeps piling on.


They didn't have to sell players right away. Could have waited till deadline. What's absurd is not realizing what's best for the team moving forward and bringing in vets to save the team as a desperate act.

Said vets can easily be repackaged at the deadline when that type of evaluation is possible.

Seems like a very, very petty thing to be this flustered about. But you know that.

 

[Per Sjoblom]

This thread has more posts that any of the last 5 (maybe even longer) GDTs! You guys love to argue.

 

[Per Sjoblom]

It's hilarious to see "Kovalchuk" pencilled into our lines. I'd go to a game just to see him in a Habs jersey, which was probably a big reason they signed him.

All we need to make this season complete is to reach out to Jaromir Jagr...

What about Ken Dryden, my favorite goalie of all time!

 

[Kriss E]

Said vets can easily be repackaged at the deadline when that type of evaluation is possible.

Seems like a very, very petty thing to be this flustered about. But you know that.

I mean, it would have helped had you followed the discussion right away as my comment on this trade was:
''It's a dumb move as we should be prioritizing dropping down the standings, not clinging on to dear life for a pointless PO run''.

This idea that the vets can be repackaged...first, I think Scandella is gonna stay here. Local guy, we need Dmen, he'll stick around.
Kovalchuk...if he sucks...well nobody will want him. If he's good...well that likely helps us stay higher in the standings=bad, and if that's the case, Bergey might just keep him on till the end as he attempts to make the POs and hope the guys come back in time to put us over the edge.
Best case scenario, both Scandella and Kovalchuk suck ass and help in no way. We keep dropping down.

Even if Kovalchuk were to produce at a ppg pace, the TDL is about 6 weeks away, no team will pay this big pay out for 6 weeks of performance from a 37yo who was waived earlier. At best, we're looking at an extra 2nd rd pick? I much rather we keep dropping down the standings to land a top 5 pick than stick around to draft around 15th again and get an extra 2nd rd pick.

All in all, it's a dumb move. Let the the team crash and burn, that would be the obvious best move. Bergevin is in desperation mode. These moves tell me he's really got some pressure to make the POs. Hopefully he fells and finally gets booted out...4 years late but better than not.