Speculation: Is a possible rebuild/retool coming?

[BigHabs]

This is all speculation. Even depends on what management looks like also.

But I've seen on here and on the trade forum that Montreal has a higher chance of letting all UFAs walk Tatar and Danault. There is Staal / Armia / Perry outside the top 6.

If all those players were to walk plus lose a player to Seattle let's say it is Allen. The roster could look very young next season. This is part of where I think when Elliott Friedman reported 3 weeks ago that Bergevins future was being discussed. Because signs are pointing to a rebuild or retool. Outside of Toffoli. Montreal doesn't have that great odds of signing marquee guys in the offseason. Anderson and Edmundson were basically Montreal acquired their rights and negotiated right away.

With all that in mind and again say Allen goes to Seattle, the roster would look like this:

Toffoli Suzuki Caufield
Anderson Kotkaniemi Gallagher
Byron Evans Drouin
???? Poehling ????
Ylonen

Edmundson Petry
Romanov Weber
Kulak Chiarot
Brook Fleury

Price
Primeau

Again all depends on who is in management come this offseason. Also depends again the odds seem to say they let all the UFAs walk based on their asking price and needing to also bring in more scoring.

Do you guys see a re-tool/rebuild?

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[Tyson]

We need a GM that understands where the game is headed and builds a team accordingly. Having Ken Daneyko clones on D in 2021 is comical

 

[Habs13]

Given the treatment the kids were given in this series, I'd say not a chance! Not with these morons in charge

 

[Kudo Shinichi]

Pointless to talk about this right now when we don't even know where the habs will end up finishing in the playoffs

 

[Hins77]

We gonna have a young team and thats allright. The League contain a lot of young player. We need veterent like toffoli and edmundson paid for what they bring and thats allright. In a cap era. The major mistake would be to resign Tatar 5 millions on 4 years because he made 30 points. This guys doesnt move a needle at all and produce because of his quality icetime. Thats it. I prefer to overpay a guy like douggie hamilton on ufa market than signing those player.

 

[NeptunesTrident]

Does this team need to rebuild? Absolutely. Will it happen? I don't see Molson doing a rebuild when they haven't played in front of fans for a year and a half. Geoff will want the cash haul from playoffs once fans can return in full.

 

[MarkovsKnee]

Does this team need to rebuild? Absolutely. Will it happen? I don't see Molson doing a rebuild when they haven't played in front of fans for a year and a half. Geoff will want the cash haul from playoffs once fans can return in full.

We're not making the playoffs in the Atlantic next season not unless both Suzuki and KK take absolutely huge leaps in development over the summer.

We might as well rebuild/retool and get a great prospect in a great draft in 2022.

 

[Dirby Kach]

Pointless to talk about this right now when we don't even know where the habs will end up finishing in the playoffs

ur right, they could win the cup lol

 

[NeptunesTrident]

We're not making the playoffs in the Atlantic next season not unless both Suzuki and KK take absolutely huge leaps in development over the summer.

We might as well rebuild/retool and get a great prospect in a great draft in 2022.

I'm not the one you need to convince. Molson nixed a rebuild before and I have no confidence that he would agree to it now. Even if it is obvious.

 

[CoopersFalls]

We need a GM that understands where the game is headed and builds a team accordingly. Having Ken Daneyko clones on D in 2021 is comical

This x 1000

I cringe every time I hear a media member say how we have a good group of defensemen

 

[cujo1117]

No way! We’re winning this serie

 

[Miller Time]

We're not making the playoffs in the Atlantic next season not unless both Suzuki and KK take absolutely huge leaps in development over the summer.

We might as well rebuild/retool and get a great prospect in a great draft in 2022.

Take a look at our cap situation for fall 2022...
Not. Good.

Barring some astute GM manoeuvring, the likes of which MB has never shown capable of, we are in a very tough spot... Unless cap goes up massively.

 

[Sam of Montreal]

Bergevin usually gets a few older players to fill the gaps unless a youngster blows the doors down.

You forgot Lehkonen on your 4th line. He will certainly be there. You did put Caufield twice though. That will certainly help his production. Drouin isn't there. It's a strong possibility he won't be back given what happened this year, but he might.

I personnally like this lineup enough to be willing to go into it this way if it comes to that. It gives some cap flexibility and lets the kids grow into their potential. KK will need to get much better, Suzuki a little bit too. Caufield has enough swagger that I expect him to progress well. Poehling was trending well this year. I feel they are all ready-ish. Ready enough.

I wouldn't mind re-signing Danault, he is a crazy good shutdown guy. It would push Poehling to the wing, but may bump him up a line for some added TOI. Pros and cons there.

Otherwise, I'd like to see Armia back. He is the perfect 4th liner and can play up a line easily. With his lack of production, I don't think he would be too expensive either.

 

[Number 57]

You could argue we would do better with the kids in the line-up so even if we re-tool, we could still make the playoffs

For exemple, the 3 vets Bergevin has acquired at the deadline (Staal, Gustafsson, Merrill) are not better than players like Romanov, Mete, Juulsen, Caufield, Kotkaniemi, Evans

Brook/Fleury would be interesting to watch in the NHL and I'm certainly down to try them. They can't do any worse than Chiarot/Kulak/Merrill/Gustafsson. Ottawa did fairly well in the 2nd half with only Chabot on D and a bunch of kids who can skate and are smart like Zub, Brannstrom, Mete. Why not us?

Up front I think Ylonen should be left in Laval for now

Overall we could mix in some solid vets with 8-9 young players

Anderson-Suzuki-Caufield
Toffoli-Kotkaniemi-Gallagher
Lehkonen-Danault-Armia or FA signing
Poehling-Evans-Byron
Vejdemo/Belzile

Romanov-Weber
Edmundson-Petry
Kulak-Fleury
Brook

Price-Allen or sign backup

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

This is all speculation. Even depends on what management looks like also.

But I've seen on here and on the trade forum that Montreal has a higher chance of letting all UFAs walk Tatar and Danault. There is Staal / Armia / Perry outside the top 6.

This will also be compounded by Price, Weber and Petry getting older by another year.

It ain't gonna be pretty the next two seasons, hopefully, just when there two strong drafts incoming.

 

[angusyoung]

You make changes every year, some more expansive than others. A bold, brilliant Gm would know how to go about this, Habs should get one.

 

[BLONG7]

We need a GM that understands where the game is headed and builds a team accordingly. Having Ken Daneyko clones on D in 2021 is comical

This..........................no matter what happens, MB's gig is up. We need a real GM.
Maybe MB could work for the league, video review judge??

 

[WeThreeKings]

Bergevin does his best work trying to compete. It's how we get our highest picks.

Just hope it's bad enough that we get Bedard in 2023

 

[CaptainKirk]

This will also be compounded by Price, Weber and Petry getting older by another year.

MB: “But we’re so CLOSE! If I can just find the right combination of 4 liners to add next season, the cup is ours!”

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

Bergevin does his best work trying to compete. It's how we get our highest picks.

Just hope it's bad enough that we get Bedard in 2023

Me thinks Bergevin has had enough miracles that he's gonna run out of them at some point. Covid has been a pure save-your-butt bonanza for Bergevin personally. If the miracles continue, something else will happen to save him from himself and keep the mediocrity, bubble team mindset alive

 

[sandviper]

We're not making the playoffs in the Atlantic next season not unless both Suzuki and KK take absolutely huge leaps in development over the summer.

We might as well rebuild/retool and get a great prospect in a great draft in 2022.

Agreed! Suzuki, while he had a good year overall, needs to take another step forward. Maybe a small bump in production, but more importantly, he absolutely cannot disappear for stretches.

Kotkaniemi needs to take an even bigger step compared to Suzuki. I’d also add Romanov needs progression (consistency more than offence since I’m not expecting much for the latter).

Otherwise, Toffoli and Anderson absolutely cannot regress. Caufield has to have a Calder-caliber performance, Gallagher and Petry to remain their usual selves. Finally, Price has to not decline any further for another couple years...

Basically, another season of “ifs”.

 

[CHwest]

Twenty years from now, this will be known as the Molson era, where the team was shit but the owner was happy. Leafs have the Ballard years, we will have the Molson era.

 

[BargainBinSpecial]

There is a solid group of young guys to build around : Suzuki, KK, Romanov and Caufield. You have a few good young veterans, Toffoli and Anderson, to support the youngsters. Otherwise, Petry and Gallagher are the leaders of this team. Anderson, Toffoli, Gallagher and Petry cannot regress if the young guys are to become dominant one day. The contracts of Anderson, Petry and Gallagher can bite the Habs long-term if they don't keep up.

The team's drafting is mediocre at best. There is nothing really to put your teeth under. Harris, Guhle, Ylonen, Fleury and Brook will get a legitimate chance to prove their worth. Off course, he might change course and trade them all for french players to keep at bay.

There are lots of dead weight contracts including Drouin, Byron and Weber. Price's contract is also lengthy and hard to manage. And then, the contracts of Edmundson, Chiarot and Kulak are over-inflated as well. Hopefully, the Kraken can alleviate some pain by snatching one of these guys up. Tatar, Armia and Danault are gone, so at least they are off the books. The only player, the Habs really need is Tatar but I don't see him back.

Would be interesting to see what the Bozovin will do to get a number 1C and 2 top LWs. But, he never makes moves based on needs, so I expect nothing more than Toffoli moving on the left. Off course, the LD will never be addressed. The bottom 6 needs fine tuning. Lots of holes again for the clown to fill. They will plug them with Poehling, Harvey Pinard, Ouellet and some fringe NHLers, he will snatch up at a bargain. Evans and Lek have become more valuable than ever. Many prospects will be mishandled by the coaching staff and they will be lost to waivers forever. Typical Bergerien.

 

[abo9]

We needed to trade Tatar/Gallagher when they were at the peak of their value in last season's TDL, but of course we wanted to "contend" somehow.

 

[EXPOS123]

We needed to trade Tatar/Gallagher when they were at the peak of their value in last season's TDL, but of course we wanted to "contend" somehow.

You could even add Byron’s name the year or two before

But Bozovin does what Bozovin does -fail to see when a player played above his head and not cash in

Instead he double downs on them and slowly watches their value whittle to nothing while also paying them a ridiculous salary