Speculation: Is a possible rebuild/retool coming?

[Habs Halifax]

Thats a lineup without Québécois. Just imagine the media impact hehe.

If you win, there are no issues at all. If you loose, it gets put under the microscope

 

[Habs Halifax]

Whats you want in term of GM is flexibility. I don’t care signing Armia. But it needs to be for only one year. Those guys bottom 6 players needs to be sign for one year maximum. Lehkonen same thing. Danault you could keep him at a right salary max 4 millions a year. Those 3rd line center are useful. The problem right now he is playing too much minutes. I would get rid of Tatar. Tatar is the kind of signature you will regret, cause you will miss a better UFA on the market. Looks the market for Weber. His cap hit remain high and his salary low, so maybe a team like ottawa/arizona could be interessting. Thats the kind of management I would do if I would be GM.

We should let Armia and Tatar walk. I'd even hesitate on 1 year deals cause they would block younger players.

 

[MM425]

Bergy certainly seems like a guy who has been managing for his job. To his credit, he made some decent moves in Anderson and Toffoli but at the end of the day, the same problems plague this team from the day he took over. It's time for a top to bottom org-wide house cleaning is long overdue. Bergy, Timmins, the entire coaching staff... time for a new start.

 

[Schwang]

Rebuild is coming. Been saying it for a while now. I don't see how a quick exit with these guys playing very uninspired hockey can be seen as a step in the right direction.

 

[Hins77]

We should let Armia and Tatar walk. I'd even hesitate on 1 year deals cause they would block younger players.

Tatar for sure. Especially cause he will ask an expensive salary for what he brings. Armia. Its depend. At low price and for one year. I could live with it, im one of the person who thinks internal competition in the organization is something good. Exemple. Poehling is coming in good shape for the pre season, there is too many players. Its pretty easy to trade a one year contract in Armia than trading tatar with his 2/3 years contracts. Victo mete, KK came too early in the league cause the lack of internal competition. So I believe this is not the right path to take. But when your signing those bottom 6 one year. Its pretty easy for the management

 

[Spring in Fialta]

I don't love the idea of continuing a rebuild/retool but I don't think we're going to have much of a choice either way considering the teams in our division.

 

[Techcoockie]

who could trust the coaching system right now. This team needs a reset with their younger core and to build around them.

Build a contender around Caufield, Suzuki and KK, not around price for other slow big boys.

 

[hvac412]

Bergy certainly seems like a guy who has been managing for his job. To his credit, he made some decent moves in Anderson and Toffoli but at the end of the day, the same problems plague this team from the day he took over. It's time for a top to bottom org-wide house cleaning is long overdue. Bergy, Timmins, the entire coaching staff... time for a new start.

Might be the reason why bouchard was not extended ,maybe Molson has finally had enough of Bergeven and will let the next GM decide who's coaching what. Either way Molson has to do something drastic because who in their right mind would pay hard-earned money to watch this pile of garbage let alone buy their merchandise. The right thing to do would be to step down as president of hockey operations but I doubt his ego will allow him to do that, rinse, repeat and fold seems to be what this franchise will always be under Magoo.

 

[Kwikwi]

If you win, there are no issues at all. If you loose, it gets put under the microscope

we are playing win the stanley cup at hard here:

French speaking management
Quebecois in the system/team
Taxes
Pressure
Weather
Cant afford to lose to rebuild anymore

 

[Doc5]

Molson is the problem as Ballard was for the Leafs.

Anyone rich enough to buy the team from Molson here?


On the bright side, it’s a good time to rebuild. 2022 and 2023 drafts seem solid.

 

[Canadiens98]

Something to note: Suzuki and Romanov become RFA's at the end of the next season.

 

[Rapala]

Here is the deal. Unless someone gets Molson's ear and doesn't sugarcoat the plain truth about his team and his current management count on the same. Who will convince him to step away from the Presidentship and concentrate on being a decent CEO which he clearly isn't. The truth is the past two seasons mean nothing and have clearly demonstrated we have no business in the playoffs. There is no clear path to the playoffs next year either. At what point do Molson et al realize they are losing significant playoff revenues and have been since 2014 when we didn't improve but actually regressed on the core Birdbrain was provided with. The damage started as early as 2015 and the net results of all his moves are on full display. I'm not sure how much more I can take and seriously question the apologists who think we are trending the right way.

 

[Bacchus1]

Before you rebuild a house you need to build up your disposable assets. What disposable assets do we have for said rebuild? I don’t see many players we could trade for 1st round picks. We are also up against the cap.

Our best bet for now is to keep developing what we have and keep drafting away.

 

[conFABulator]

Even if we try to rebuild, we won't get the upper hand in trading Price, Weber and what not. At best, we will be at the same place. They are not young enough to get real value out of it.

But we do need to go in a different direction as much as possible.
Next year, it's the kids for me + those we can't get rid of.....everyone else must go.

Forwards
Toffoli - Suzuki - Caufield
Anderson - Kotkaniemi - Gallagher
XXXXXX - Evans - XXXXXX
XXXXXX - Poehling - XXXXX

Adios Danault, Tatar, Armia, Perry...I don't resign any of them.
Drouin, Lehkonen, Byron....I trade all of them and use Seattle as a dumpster even if picks is needed for one of them.

Defense
Romanov - Weber
Edmundson - Petry
XXXXXX - XXXXX

It's impossible to trade Weber and get anything of value, if that opportunity comes, then I'll take it but I doubt it's possible. I keep only one of Chiarot or Edmunsdon but I think it's easier to get rid of Chiarot.

So Chiarot, Kulak, Merrill.....Bye bye!

We're set in goal.

That would leave the Habs with around 24 millions of empty cap space.
All picks are tradeable and start working from there.

That is the makings of a plan. When you strip out the dead weight and pencil in a line-up of keepers and xxxxx you can actually see what you build around. Here are a few thoughts...

I would add Drouin to the list of immovables (or it would cost retention and assets)...maybe he LTIRs, but otherwise you may be stuck with his 5.5m and probably Byron's 3.4 as well. He makes too much for what he brings and cleared waivers a few times already.

Both Chiarot and Edmundson have marginal value elsewhere (in a flat cap world, with fast paced hockey being the trend) and both have M-NTC, but let's say you can move one of them...this leaves you with closer to $15m to spend, rather than $24m...if you can't move one of the two aforementioned D-men you are at $12m.

Goaltending? Price is Price, but that also means not playing him 60 games a year so you might need a back up if you lose Allen to Seattle. A replacement would cost what you are paying Allen, so that's a wash...but might be a need (a Bernier type?).

So, you add Drouin and Byron back and have $15m to start filling in the xxxx. Who do you viably target? A better question is what GM do you have making those decisions? That's where the re-tool/re-build discussion should start.

 

[417]

Beyond a rebuild/retool...this organization needs a complete shift in culture and ideology.

 

[Schooner Guy]

Who do you see as a difference maker in our prospect pool?

I always thought they should have gone all out on the Aho offer sheet. The offer they made was definitely going to be matched by the Canes. That was our best chance at that #1 center we've coveted for decades. Already developed and in his early 20's.

 

[CHwest]

You are looking it the wrong way. It's a very strong prospect pool and we need a few more pieces added to it. What would you rather? To draft a star like McDavid before you have a strong pool like ours? Well, look up the Oilers! That's not a great situation either. Sabres? Same situation.

The best formula is to get that star after you have a strong young core IMO. We have that. The real issue is we are still addicted to vets and middle of the pack in the standings. Now it not the time to move up and this is where I support Bergevin criticism

Well we finally found something to agree on. I am surprised, you have championed that we are trending up for a few years. Yes we have a nice pool of second line players, yes we need to unload the vets, yes we need to position ourselves to draft high for the next few years. Will it happen, I doubt it.

 

[Habs Halifax]

Well we finally found something to agree on. I am surprised, you have championed that we are trending up for a few years. Yes we have a nice pool of second line players, yes we need to unload the vets, yes we need to position ourselves to draft high for the next few years. Will it happen, I doubt it.

Unfortunately, we will be forced to make that decision later vs sooner and then your youth core is spread out. I do like our youth core but we all agree it needs a star mixed in it. I'm not going to loose much sleep over it. And yeah, I've gone back and forth with the direction but I have also spoken to the different types of direction we can head towards. I don't have a problem with picking up vets but placing them ahead of the youth is something I don't support.

For example, you pick up Staal thinking he could have some gas left in the tank and he would do better cause he was uninspired with the Sabres but once you see him for 10+ games, you know he's toast but they still kept trying him in a key role. Nonsense! Playing Merrill ahead of Romanov is another bunch of BS

This management is too afraid to target underperforming vets and sit them. They tend to be too late to make that decision

 

[Habs Halifax]

I always thought they should have gone all out on the Aho offer sheet. The offer they made was definitely going to be matched by the Canes. That was our best chance at that #1 center we've coveted for decades. Already developed and in his early 20's.

I would like to see more warriors like Anderson mixed in. Big boys that can skate. Then there is the lack of puck moving ability on the back end. Only Petry can move the puck via skating with it to escape pressure. The rest of them are forced to pass it to another player who is pretty much covered. We added some grit this past off season but it's not enough. KK having a meh season after his last playoffs is disappointing. We needed him to improve in the intangible areas. KK needs to turn into a puck possession center for us but it's not going to happen fast enough

This team is in the middle of the transition of vets to youth and they are slow at making that transition. Painful to watch

 

[Schooner Guy]

I would like to see more warriors like Anderson mixed in. Big boys that can skate. Then there is the lack of puck moving ability on the back end. Only Petry can move the puck via skating with it to escape pressure. The rest of them are forced to pass it to another player who is pretty much covered. We added some grit this past off season but it's not enough. KK having a meh season after his last playoffs is disappointing. We needed him to improve in the intangible areas. KK needs to turn into a puck possession center for us but it's not going to happen fast enough

This team is in the middle of the transition of vets to youth and they are slow at making that transition. Painful to watch

Expectations are too high for KK at age 20 at a demanding position. This should have been his rookie season.

Molson should mandate Bergie (or whoever our next GM is) to not trade any 1st round picks in the seemingly strong 2022 and 2023 drafts which right now are heavy with high end center prospects. There's no way we make the playoffs in a division with Toronto, Boston, TB and Florida especially if we can't beat Detroit and Ottawa. If we somehow do, that will likely mean that Suzuki and KK took huge steps.

 

[BigBoyNoise87]

Bergy certainly seems like a guy who has been managing for his job. To his credit, he made some decent moves in Anderson and Toffoli but at the end of the day, the same problems plague this team from the day he took over. It's time for a top to bottom org-wide house cleaning is long overdue. Bergy, Timmins, the entire coaching staff... time for a new start.

LOL who are we kidding man. The guy is going to get extended. The Canadiens will not unload and rebuild. Bergy is going to stick by his ridiculous theory “get in and anything can happen” it would take a mini miracle if we won this series, and a full blown “Miracle on ice” if we won the cup. He’s done great things but at this point everyone in that organization is confused. The oilers have arguably two of the 5 best players in the league and just got bounced out the playoffs in 4. Building an NHL team that is a consistent threat to win a cup is one of the most difficult jobs in sports.

 

[Kwikwi]

Beyond a rebuild/retool...this organization needs a complete shift in culture and ideology.

We just did that... like 5 months ago

 

[JoelWarlord]

It's pretty incredible that Anderson, Edmundson, and Allen did exactly what the Habs paid them for and Toffoli was better than anyone could have possibly imagined and it just means nothing. Zero cohesive vision for the team, the Tatar Danault Gallagher line is more than the sum of their parts, and the entire rest of the roster is less than.

 

[417]

We just did that... like 5 months ago

That's news to me

 

[JoelWarlord]

That's news to me

The Habs have broken with the tradition of having no stars and a team full of average players paid average salaries by going out and acquiring 4 new average players paid average salaries, except this time 2 of them are BIG.