Player Discussion Max Pacioretty -- Part 5

[Habs100]

Those are not 3 good offensive lines...
Hudon is not a top 6 winger. Danault would be the worst 1C in the league. He is a 3C who you have at 1C and call it a good off. line. That is literally the worst 1st line in the league.
The 2nd line could be OK except for the fact Drouin is miserable at C and needs to play on the wing. Also Lehkonen wasn't good last year and may not be a top 6 player either at this stage.
The 3rd line is actually exciting.
3/6 of the top 6 in those lines are not top 6 players...

so consider the 1st line the 3rd line. I think they would do well, but I understand how most, if not all posters look at them on paper and say they wouldn't. We had a good period, when players were being used in their right positions, unlike the beginning of the year, and before Pacioretty and Danault went down, where the forwards were playing well. Chucky not being at center is a big mistake by management. It would be nice to get another center and to move Drouin to the wing.

 

[habsfan909]

so consider the 1st line the 3rd line. I think they would do well, but I understand how most, if not all posters look at them on paper and say they wouldn't. We had a good period, when players were being used in their right positions, unlike the beginning of the year, and before Pacioretty and Danault went down, where the forwards were playing well. Chucky not being at center is a big mistake by management. It would be nice to get another center and to move Drouin to the wing.

Fact is Danault is a 3C... and although a lot of us want Chuck to be a C, we don't have proof he can play there (other than a small sample). He's not great at face-offs and though he has improved on D, he's not really a top 2 C. And Drouin is not a C of any kind.
So we still have no 1C and 2C which is exactly the problem we had this year. The lineup you proposed is the same that we had this season, except you moved Chucky to C.
I don't understand how you see that as a good offensive lineup?

 

[koyvoo]

I can move on. Scared he he’ll be undersold because the organization is also ready to move on.

 

[Scriptor]

If our top 3 lines are:

Pacioretty Danault Hudon
Lehkonen/Byron Drouin Gallagher
Scherbak Galchenyuk Zadina

that would be 3 good offensive lines. The problem is management won't put Galchenyuk at center, and will instead put Plekanec or DLR in the 3 hole. That means only 2 good offensive lines which is much easier to check. With the 3 above lines, the Pacioretty line is less well defended.

Galchenyuk at C is not the cure to MON's much larger weaknesses.

 

[Habs Icing]

If our top 3 lines are:

Pacioretty Danault Hudon
Lehkonen/Byron Drouin Gallagher
Scherbak Galchenyuk Zadina

that would be 3 good offensive lines. The problem is management won't put Galchenyuk at center, and will instead put Plekanec or DLR in the 3 hole. That means only 2 good offensive lines which is much easier to check. With the 3 above lines, the Pacioretty line is less well defended.

Lines that have Danault and Drouin as top 6 centers are not good lines.

 

[Be a Hab]

I can move on. Scared he he’ll be undersold because the organization is also ready to move on.

Yeah, that’s also what I’m scared of. He still is a productive player, I’d be surprised if he doesn’t hit 60 points next year. I believe he still is our best offensive player.

If we can get a pick between 10-15 + B prospect or address a real team need like LD or C than I’m all for trading him, but if the only thing we’re going to get for him is a late 1st round pick, I think I’d rather resign him, that’s if he still wants to stay of course.

 

[HockeyDBspecialist]

Danault is still really young and shows some great 2 way defensemen trait... Mark My world but he will be a damn great 2c in 2-3 years.
He works hard, he has speed, loves to play in Mtl, loves the media, has talent. I don't see no reason to why he wouldn't be a O'reilly type of player.

Hell in 3 years he will be as good as O'reilly is right now.

 

[Runner77]

If our top 3 lines are:

Pacioretty Danault Hudon
Lehkonen/Byron Drouin Gallagher
Scherbak Galchenyuk Zadina

that would be 3 good offensive lines. The problem is management won't put Galchenyuk at center, and will instead put Plekanec or DLR in the 3 hole. That means only 2 good offensive lines which is much easier to check. With the 3 above lines, the Pacioretty line is less well defended.

The real problem is envisaging a lineup with Danault as a first line C and Byron/Drouin as 2nd line C. There is no coming back from that. Should put us in a great rank at next year's draft.

 

[le_sean]

I can’t wait until he’s gone. He perfectly represents the complacency of the team in recent years. Thanks for the production, but your inability to show emotion on or off the ice was infuriating. Worst captain in Habs history.

I get that they should have surrounded him better and he was put in a position that he shouldn’t have been, but he also literally glided on the ice and avoided corners when games were important.

 

[Habs100]

The real problem is envisaging a lineup with Danault as a first line C and Byron/Drouin as 2nd line C. There is no coming back from that. Should put us in a great rank at next year's draft.

The center position is a problem, but I'm not sure it has to keep us out of the playoffs. I'd rather not make the playoffs, to be honest, but I do think having 3 lines that can score could surprise a lot of people. When we got rid of Plekanec and took Shaw out of the top and had Scherbak and Hudon take their places in the top 9, and had the right people in the right places on the power play, and went with youth and speed on the blue line (Reilly, Mete, Juulsen, separated Alzner and Petry) we were a much better team. We took a nose dive when guys like Pacioertty, Danault, and Mete went down with injuries at the start of the year.

But if you add Zadina, and players like Chucky, Drouin, Hudon and Scherbak are a notch better becuase they're older, more mature, closer to their prime, etc... I could see a scenario where we have a pretty good offense by committee, as in 3 lines with pace and skill that can pester the other team. In fact it could really be four lines, as a 4th line with Carr and Deslauriers on the wings can create scoring chances off of a good forecheck. And Carr and Deslauriers can finish and make plays. They need the right center.

It's a lot of ifs, but I'm one of the few that likes our young players, and think they may be able to do something even with Danault and Drouin as the top 2 centers. But we'll see if Bergevin can get a center this summer. For me, ideally our top 3 centers are "new guy", Galchenyuk, Danault.

 

[Adam Michaels]

Hope it's a sign and trade.

 

[Runner77]

Hope it's a sign and trade.

Pat Brisson who fleeced MB on the DD 4-year contract.

 

[The Great Weal]

Hope it's a sign and trade.

Wouldn't it make more sense if they just gave the other team permission to talk first?

 

[WeThreeKings]

They are actually going to extend him

LULZ

Get ready for a Summer somehow worse than last years.

 

[No More Subban]

They are actually going to extend him

LULZ

Get ready for a Summer somehow worse than last years.

Source?

I may have to get stress pills for next season if they extend him.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Source?

I may have to get stress pills for next season if they extend him.

 

[G0bias]

I mean it makes sense if you look at it through Bergevin's eyes.
He thinks this was just a bad year(s), pretty much put the blame on Price, refused to call this off-season anything more than a "reset" and talked about Colorado making the playoffs after a terrible year so he clearly thinks this team can bounce back and compete. Now his ass is on the line, selling Pacioretty off for futures is probably the last thing on his mind. woof

 

[mariolemieux66]

f*** this shit!!!!

 

[HOPE]

oh dear lord. if we actually extend our only decent trade chip im gonna flip. It was going well for once, a decent pick this year, trade patch, get a decent return, 4x 2nd with a bunch of talent, suck this year, Hope petry has an other nice season, Trade him at the deadline while his value is good, Profit, Juulsen take his top 4 spot, unless one of fleury or brooks realy stand out at the camp!

If we actually trade Pacioretty, im confident le future is looking bright even if we don't have a 1C yet.

If we extend him, well im done.

 

[MD thaivuN]

I have tremendous doubt Patch is a 30-goal scorer with the D we have. Patch relies on quick breakouts and rushes for his offense and that requires a really good modern NHL D group that excels at moving the puck.

 

[Locks]

MaxPac will not be extended. MB is doing what any GM should be doing - one should check out all the options.
There are at least two possible benefits for doing so:
1) See what his salary demands are to communicate it to potential trading partners. A player with a real possibility of signing with a new club would have more value.
2) Send a message to other clubs that if the offers are not good enough Habs might as well resign him - a ploy to force better offers.

In fact Friedman said today that he believes that Max will be traded and that Kane's 7x7 deal is good for the Habs as it will scare some teams off JVR towards trading for Max instead.

Last year the board freaked out when MB had a talk with Flynn's agent. My suspicion he was interested in Flynn playing in Laval on a two-way contract.

Friedman thinks Pacioretty still likely getting dealt

 

[The Great Weal]

Pacioretty looks like Bergevin slaughtered his family. I've never seen someone so uncomfortable and awkward, it's like an introvert going to a party for the first time.

 

[Whitesnake]

It just can't be. It has to be a sign and trade. Yet, you will have to convince him to sign a contract with no NTC or NMC clause. And at this point, it would say a lot about Pacioretty too. If he signs with us, means that he couldn't care less of winning. And it means that he knows his value isn't that great. Pacioretty should use that UFA period, if he reaches it, to go to a place and proove how valuable he can be outside of this market.

Let just hope that we are not going to re-sign him. Incredible to hear reports about us wanting to resign him and Bergevin trying to get a centerman....with what if you don't trade Pacioretty?

 

[JuicyHam]

I wouldn't mind signing him just take his captaincy away and leave him alone. Let him go out there and play with no worries. We always complain about losing the players who love Montreal and although he doesn't show it outwardly and is really a whiny bitch at times but you can tell he loves Montreal.

Now I also wouldn't mind getting another first or great prospect for him either so really whatever happens happens.

Regardless of what I think of him now(not highly) I'd definitely miss seeing him no matter what I've said in the moment this season I really would. No matter how many times he's dissapointed, when he was on his game he is just so good at putting the puck in the net. You could expect a breakaway from him almost every game and he was exciting. This season was just attrocious and his playoffs woes definitely always stick around but yeah I'd miss him. And I think there's no shame in saying that.

 

[Locks]

It just can't be. It has to be a sign and trade. Yet, you will have to convince him to sign a contract with no NTC or NMC clause. And at this point, it would say a lot about Pacioretty too. If he signs with us, means that he couldn't care less of winning. And it means that he knows his value isn't that great. Pacioretty should use that UFA period, if he reaches it, to go to a place and proove how valuable he can be outside of this market.

Let just hope that we are not going to re-sign him. Incredible to hear reports about us wanting to resign him and Bergevin trying to get a centerman....with what if you don't trade Pacioretty?

The insiders did not say the Habs want to resign Max. Only that their was a preliminary discussion. Nothing more. And as was pointed out above, it makes total sense for a GM to have such a discussion, if nothing else just out of respect for the captain.

Where they said there is interest to resign - or bring back - is in the case of Plek.