Habs Halifax
Loyal Habs Fan
No I don't. I don't think it affected MB's ability to improve the team at all. He had enough assets to package to fill in holes instead of waiting for said assets to fully demonstrate that they would not develop any further and then off-loading them for peanuts.
I also don't think he was prevented form improving the team considering the number of second round picks he inherited. He could have easily moved Beaulieu, Tinordi, Leblanc in packages while their value was still high as green 1st rounders.
MB's inability to improve the club stemmed from his unwillingness to make anything more than lateral moves, his inability to create trade packages to acquire talent he needed and by having a poor development program that resulted in almost 0 players drafted from 2012-2016 making an impact on the club.
And yes, the drafting in 2008-2011 was offset by the fact that the Habs drafted Pacioretty and Subban the year prior, traded for Eller and acquired Pateryn.
Not to mention that when MB arrived, he had Bournival, Leblanc, Beaulieu, Tinordi and Nygren in the pipeline that he could have easily used as trade bait, plus several second rounders.
Sorry, Bournival, Leblanc, Beaulieu, Tinordi, Nygren were not grade A prospects. Beaulieu was the closest thing to it but he was needed in the pipeline so trading him would of left another hole. It's weird that you think these types of prospects would get us the major pieces we needed that prevented the Habs from going on deep playoff runs.
What do you think we can get for Hudon, Lehkonen, Bitten, Ikonen, Brook, Fleury, Scherbak, DLR today? You think the Panthers are going to trade us Borgstrom for any of those players? Cause that's the equivalent to the names you mentioned. Go look at what it took to get Carter, Richards, ROR, RyJo when they were traded. Habs did not have the assets to spare to get in on those trades.
Imagine if we traded Sergachev, our 2017 1st, and more for Duchene? What a disaster trade that would of been. No Sergachev and no Poehling and we have a pending UFA in Duchene. But wait, you think players like Bornival, Leblanc, Beaulieu, Tinordi, Nygren were going to get assets like Duchene.
Lets look at Mete, Scherbak, Hudon, DLR, Juulsen, Lehkonen who are NHL ready prospects and showing some promise. Who do you think we can get for these guys in a trade for a top 6 center which is what we need?
How about Schenn... imagine if we traded our 2017 1st and 2018 1st for him. No Poehling and no Kotkaniemi. Even if the 2018 pick was protected, we would have Kotkaniemi but lose our 2019 1st round pick.
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