Line Combos: Montreal Future

[Marc Bergevin]

We are into the 2019 WJC and the Habs prospects are looking incredible, so I wonder what the lineup will look in 3 - 4 years.
My opinion:

1: Domi-Kotkaniemi-Suzuki
2: Drouin-Poehling-???
3: Tatar-Danault-Gallagher
4: Lehkonen-Evans-Armia

1: ???-Weber
2: Romanov-Juulsen
3: Mete-Brook
Extra: Fleury

1: Price
2: Primeau

We could trade Byron, Shaw, Petry, Peca, Hudon or Benn for a good 2nd line RW and z good and YOUNG 1rst LHD

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[waitin425]

Brook?

 

[Marc Bergevin]

Brook?

Edited !

 

[Scriptor]

We are into the 2019 WJC and the Habs prospects are looking incredible, so I wonder what the lineup will look in 3 - 4 years.
My opinion:

1: Domi-Kotkaniemi-Suzuki
2: Drouin-Poehling-???
3: Tatar-Danault-Gallagher
4: Lehkonen-Evans-Armia

1: ???-Weber
2: Romanov-Juulsen
3: Mete-Fleury

1: Price
2: Primeau

We could trade Byron, Shaw, Petry, Peca, Hudon or Benn for a good 2nd line RW and z good and YOUNG 1rst LHD

I don't see the C-line the way you do, not in the medium term at least (three or four years from now). I still see Domi at C with Drouin:

1. Drouin (26,27) - Domi (26,27) - Ylonen (22, 23)
2. Poehling (22,23) - Kotkaniemi (21,22) - Suzuki (22-23)
3. Tatar (31,32) - Danault (28,29) - Gallagher (29,30)
4. Lehkonen (26,27) - Evans (25,26) - Byron (32,33)

Armia (28,29)

I'd have traded Petry for help on LD, a Brodie or someone else. We'll use brodie for illustration purposes:

Brodie (31,32) - Brook (22,23)
Romanov (21,22) - Weber (36,37)
Mete (23,24) - Juulsen (24,25)

Harris (21,22), Fleury (23,24)

1. Price (34,35)
2. Lindgren (28, 29)

Primeau (22,23) in the wings.

1. I like the speed of this lie and the skills to execute at that speed.
2. I like the puck-possession from Poehling, the sniper skills of Suzuki and the double threat from Kotkaniemi with the heavy wrist shot and the off the charts vision and hockey IQ. The puck distribution skills of all three members of this line are also sick.
3. Love the chemistry and complementary skills on this line.
4. I like the two way skills of this line and the secondary scoring potential it has.

As an aside, I love the two-way skills of every line meaning that the head coach won't need to shelter anyone on any given night, even for away games.

 

[Marc Bergevin]

I don't see the C-line the way you do, not in the medium term at least (three or four years from now). I still see Domi at C with Drouin:

1. Drouin (26,27) - Domi (26,27) - Ylonen (22, 23)
2. Poehling (22,23) - Kotkaniemi (21,22) - Suzuki (22-23)
3. Tatar (31,32) - Danault (28,29) - Gallagher (29,30)
4. Lehkonen (26,27) - Evans (25,26) - Byron (32,33)

Armia (28,29)

I'd have traded Petry for help on LD, a Brodie or someone else. We'll use brodie for illustration purposes:

Brodie (31,32) - Brook (22,23)
Romanov (21,22) - Weber (36,37)
Mete (23,24) - Juulsen (24,25)

Harris (21,22), Fleury (23,24)

1. Price (34,35)
2. Lindgren (28, 29)

Primeau (22,23) in the wings.

1. I like the speed of this lie and the skills to execute at that speed.
2. I like the puck-possession from Poehling, the sniper skills of Suzuki and the double threat from Kotkaniemi with the heavy wrist shot and the off the charts vision and hockey IQ. The puck distribution skills of all three members of this line are also sick.
3. Love the chemistry and complementary skills on this line.
4. I like the two way skills of this line and the secondary scoring potential it has.

As an aside, I love the two-way skills of every line meaning that the head coach won't need to shelter anyone on any given night, even for away games.

You are overrating Ylonen...

 

[Kriss E]

Lol..Is this meant to be a contending team?...Or still a rebuilding team?
If this is the line up in 3 years, I think we will be bottom tier.

 

[FormerLurker]

Lol..Is this meant to be a contending team?...Or still a rebuilding team?
If this is the line up in 3 years, I think we will be bottom tier.

That lineup is better than our current lineup, and our current lineup is middle tier.

 

[Kriss E]

That lineup is better than our current lineup, and our current lineup is middle tier.

Hmmm.. not sure how you can claim that when about half of them aren't even in the NHL.

 

[FormerLurker]

Hmmm.. not sure how you can claim that when about half of them aren't even in the NHL.

Two of the top nine forwards and one of the top four D are not in the NHL. That's not even close to half, it's less than a quarter. And these 3 players are arguably our best prospects, slotted into current positions of weakness. The bar is not very high for them to be better than what we currently have. So yes, I'm pretty confident that this roster would be better than our current roster.

But that's not really relevant anyway, since the roster in 3-4 years will look nothing like this. It's unlikely there will be this little turnover in the roster in that time. It's impossible to predict what any NHL roster will look like in 3-4 years given the number of trades and free agent signings.

 

[26Mats]

Lol..Is this meant to be a contending team?...Or still a rebuilding team?
If this is the line up in 3 years, I think we will be bottom tier.

The development of Domi and Kotkaniemi as centers is a huge factor in determining how good that lineup will be. In theory kotkaniemi could be an elite 2 way center in the kopitar mold and domi could be close to a point per game player. When you look at a li NJ eup of young players bow 3 - 4 years from now, theres a huge variation in how good or mediocre they can be.

 

[Habs Halifax]

FORWARDS

Tatar / Kotkaniemi / Suzuki: I like the Kotkaniemi/Suzuki combo. Both have great vision and can score. I have Tatar with them but could easily be one of Tatar, Byron, or Lehkonen. When you look at all 4 potential lines, you realize two of Tatar, Byron, Shaw, need to go.

Domi / Poehling / Drouin: Keep Domi and Drouin together as they work well together. Add a big center in the middle of them. Many will flip out that Domi is on wing and Poehling is listed as the "2nd line" center but don't realize the Habs have 3 #2 lines and Domi can do exactly what he is doing at LW. Poehling takes the face offs and is defensive aware while Domi and Drouin handle the puck possession. If it's upsets you that much, show it like this... Poehling / Domi / Drouin. Same thing in the end.

Lehkonen / Danault / Gallagher: A solid line that can be trusted in all situations. Lehkonen and Tatar can swap spots on different lines depending on chemistry.

Agostino / Chaput / Armia: A great 4th line that can produce.

- Depth: Ikonen, Ylonen, Evans, Vejdemo.
- Who didn't make the cut: Byron and Shaw. Two of Byron, Shaw, Tatar will have to go at some point, to make room for younger players. A problem to reevaluate once Suzuki and Poehling crack the line-up.

DEFENSE

Mete / Weber: Mete has stepped up his game and it's nice to see. He needs to keep playing like this if he wants to stick with Weber. If he don't, Romanov will be knocking on the door.

Romanov / Petry: Depending on what Petry wants for his next contract, I consider keeping him. If he ask for too much Term/AAV when we can start to negotiate with him with less than 12 months left in term, trade him. Brook or Juulsen can fill in his spot and we will know how good they are in 2/3 years. Petry is the bridge to Brook and Juulsen

Brook / Juulsen: I consider moving Brook to the left side to play with Juulsen. If he can't and struggles to reach his potential, Reilly or Kulak can slot in.

- Depth: Kulak, Reilly, Fleury

GOALIES:

Price

- Depth: Lindgren, Primeau, McNiven

 

[Habs Halifax]

Lol..Is this meant to be a contending team?...Or still a rebuilding team?
If this is the line up in 3 years, I think we will be bottom tier.

I don't know how you can predict how bad our age 25 and under players will develop in 2/3 years from now? I get your point but do you get mine? We can wine about not having a Crosby type in our line-up all we want. The key here is development and how the young players improve. Yeah, there will be disappointments but it's weird how you project all of our younger players to not turn into impact players?

Let me ask you this. What's the probability of the Habs having back to back drafts (Crosby/Malkin, Marner/Matthews, McDavid/Drai, Towes/Kane)? Were talking about 15 draft years here with the players I showed you. Waiting around for this situation is silly. The timing of tanking, getting solid top 5 picks, and snagging franchise talent when you do is rare. Especially in back to back drafts or in a short span of drafting. It's possible the Habs can have another 2007 draft and get McDonaugh, Patch, Subban with the 12, 22, and 43 picks. There is more than one way to build a contender. Pretty sure you would of called that draft year meh in 2008

Price/Weber leading a very good young core has the potential to be a cup contending team. It just depends how good Kotkaniemi, Suzuki, Poehling, Romanov, Brook, Mete, Juulsen, Ylonen, etc become. None of us know the future

 

[Adam Michaels]

I'm not sure Tatar and Armia will be here in 3-4 years.

 

[Habs Halifax]

I'm not sure Tatar and Armia will be here in 3-4 years.

Petry, Tatar, Byron, Shaw, Armia. Hard to predict how the young kids behind them develop and show ability to replace them.

Factors at play
- How the young prospects develop in the next 2 or 3 years
- RFA controlled assets and where they fit moving forward
- Soon to be UFA players
- Term left in their current contracts. Are they going to be UFA or RFA?
- Trade Market
- Expansion draft

 

[WinterLion]

Things happen quickly in this league now. I imagine many of these players will be playing NHL games starting next year.

 

[Habs Icing]

Lol..Is this meant to be a contending team?...Or still a rebuilding team?
If this is the line up in 3 years, I think we will be bottom tier.

If I remember correctly you said the same thing about this Habs team at the start of the season. If memory serves you called it a crap team.

 

[BaseballCoach]

If I remember correctly you said the same thing about this Habs team at the start of the season. If memory serves you called it a crap team.

Give the man some credit. We HAVE been a crap team on at least four occasions this year.

 

[BaseballCoach]

Lol..Is this meant to be a contending team?...Or still a rebuilding team?
If this is the line up in 3 years, I think we will be bottom tier.

You have a point. The OP did not take into account any UFA signings or the other asset in the Petry deal, or whatever we got for Shaw, nor any new draft picks, etc.

Just the cap space alone limits the team; if we are going to play $5-10M under the cap....

 

[beowulf]

Don't think Weber or Tatar will be here in 3-4 years from now. Playing this game is hard due to so many things being able to change fast.

 

[Habs Halifax]

Don't think Weber or Tatar will be here in 3-4 years from now. Playing this game is hard due to so many things being able to change fast.

- Weber will be here till age 36 or 37 when his salary drops to $3M at age 37. That's 4 or 5 more years. Our captain is not going anywhere.

- Tatar has 3 years left in term (including this year). Hard to predict and I think he gets moved at some point if our young prospects show ability to replace him. Expansion draft plays a factor if we re-sign him or not

 

[beowulf]

- Weber will be here till age 36 or 37 when his salary drops to $3M at age 37. That's 4 or 5 more years.

- Tatar has 3 years left in term (including this year). Hard to predict and I think he gets moved at some point if our young prospects show ability to replace him.

With Weber it's more health as he plays hard and sometimes guys like that end up having to call it a career earlier than expected.

 

[WinterLion]

I don't know how you can predict how bad our age 25 and under players will develop in 2/3 years from now? I get your point but do you get mine? We can wine about not having a Crosby type in our line-up all we want. The key here is development and how the young players improve. Yeah, there will be disappointments but it's weird how you project all of our younger players to not turn into impact players?

Let me ask you this. What's the probability of the Habs having back to back drafts (Crosby/Malkin, Marner/Matthews, McDavid/Drai, Towes/Kane)? Were talking about 15 draft years here with the players I showed you. Waiting around for this situation is silly. The timing of tanking, getting solid top 5 picks, and snagging franchise talent when you do is rare. Especially in back to back drafts or in a short span of drafting. It's possible the Habs can have another 2007 draft and get McDonaugh, Patch, Subban with the 12, 22, and 43 picks. There is more than one way to build a contender.

Price/Weber leading a very good young core has the potential to be a cup contending team. It just depends how good Kotkaniemi, Suzuki, Poehling, Romanov, Brook, Mete, Juulsen, Ylonen, etc become. None of us know the future

You are right. It's impossible to do anything to secure a "generational" talent. The best we can do is keep building with good young players. There are good teams that have been very successful with this model.

 

[Habs Halifax]

You are right. It's impossible to do anything to secure a "generational" talent. The best we can do is keep building with good young players. There are good teams that have been very successful with this model.

I understood his approach by saying is this a Stanley Cup Contender. But why be so negative towards young players that are developing very well in their draft +1 and +2 years? I just don't get it. We should be very happy with how our prospects are developing and the quantity we have. It's been a long time waiting for this situation and we can add more to it in the next few drafts.

The key to building a future cup contender is to build a solid prospect pool and we have done this. Our work is not done yet but it looks solid at this stage.

 

[Habs Halifax]

With Weber it's more health as he plays hard and sometimes guys like that end up having to call it a career earlier than expected.

I'm not worried about Weber until age 36. He's not retiring at age 36. Maybe at 37 when his salary drops from $6M to $3M but it's hard to predict.

 

[Pat Riot]

We are into the 2019 WJC and the Habs prospects are looking incredible, so I wonder what the lineup will look in 3 - 4 years.
My opinion:

1: Domi-Kotkaniemi-Suzuki
2: Drouin-Poehling-???
3: Tatar-Danault-Gallagher
4: Lehkonen-Evans-Armia

1: ???-Weber
2: Romanov-Juulsen
3: Mete-Brook
Extra: Fleury

1: Price
2: Primeau

We could trade Byron, Shaw, Petry, Peca, Hudon or Benn for a good 2nd line RW and z good and YOUNG 1rst LHD

Another 25 years of misery? This lineup is far from being a contender team. Yikes