Speculation: Shaping the core 18 to 23

[MasterD]

Y'all need to go back 5, 10, 15, 20 years on this board and look at the projected lineups. And what actually happened.

Plenty of unknowns still. One surprise development here, one bad injury there, one trade here and this whole thread becomes meaningless.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Y'all need to go back 5, 10, 15, 20 years on this board and look at the projected lineups. And what actually happened.

Plenty of unknowns still. One surprise development here, one bad injury there, one trade here and this whole thread becomes meaningless.

Yeah but it's always fun, so harmless really.

 

[Miller Time]

Slaf - Suzuki - Mesar
CC - Dach - Heineman
Roy - Beck - Farrell
Pitlick - Evans - Rohrer

Guhle - Norlinder
Harris - Mailloux
Hutson - Barron

Primeau
Dichow

 

[ChesterNimitz]

Certainly a candidate. I see him as a #4 d. Time will tell.

If he’s not then we didn’t receive fair value for lehkonen.

 

[SwiftyHab]

Here's the dept chart I have. I try to be realistic and not too much optimistic. As we see, we have no reasons to pay top 9 and top 12 players more than 1-1.5m$. We have dept coming. That way, we'll be able to pay to sign elite talent and a top pairing RD.

	LW	C	RW
Top 3	Slafkovsky	Suzuki	Caufield
Top 6	Farrell Roy	Dach
Top 9	Pitlick Heineman Mysak	Evans Kidney Beck	Ylonen Mesar
Top 12	RHP Pezzetta Tuch	Hillis Kapanen Biondi Rohrer
	LD	RD
Top 2	Guhle
Top 4	Harris Hutson	Barron Mailloux
Top 6	Struble Xhekaj Norlinder Fairbrother Trudeau	Brooks Tourigny

This makes sense to me. Notice no No 1 d-man though. That’s our big missing piece and I don’t think we have that in the prospect pool.

 

[Naslundforever]

Y'all need to go back 5, 10, 15, 20 years on this board and look at the projected lineups. And what actually happened.

Plenty of unknowns still. One surprise development here, one bad injury there, one trade here and this whole thread becomes meaningless.

I always figured habs would pad with a few vets off waivers, on D especially. I don’t know in what order and exactly which things need to happen for that. They did not move money…

1st dibs off waivers with LTIR money?

 

[Naslundforever]

Here's the dept chart I have. I try to be realistic and not too much optimistic. As we see, we have no reasons to pay top 9 and top 12 players more than 1-1.5m$. We have dept coming. That way, we'll be able to pay to sign elite talent and a top pairing RD.

	LW	C	RW
Top 3	Slafkovsky	Suzuki	Caufield
Top 6	Farrell Roy	Dach
Top 9	Pitlick Heineman Mysak	Evans Kidney Beck	Ylonen Mesar
Top 12	RHP Pezzetta Tuch	Hillis Kapanen Biondi Rohrer
	LD	RD
Top 2	Guhle
Top 4	Harris Hutson	Barron Mailloux
Top 6	Struble Xhekaj Norlinder Fairbrother Trudeau	Brooks Tourigny

I like where you have the prospects; however if this becomes a winning lineup I feel it means the stars really aligned and everyone exeeded expectations. Which is unlikely, but you slotted everyone where it makes sense for me with my limited knowledge.

Realistically for this to be a future top 10 nhl team, even at full maturity I feel it’s missing 2 big time star players top 6 and top 2 D.

 

[Playmaker09]

Here's the dept chart I have. I try to be realistic and not too much optimistic. As we see, we have no reasons to pay top 9 and top 12 players more than 1-1.5m$. We have dept coming. That way, we'll be able to pay to sign elite talent and a top pairing RD.

	LW	C	RW
Top 3	Slafkovsky	Suzuki	Caufield
Top 6	Farrell Roy	Dach
Top 9	Pitlick Heineman Mysak	Evans Kidney Beck	Ylonen Mesar
Top 12	RHP Pezzetta Tuch	Hillis Kapanen Biondi Rohrer
	LD	RD
Top 2	Guhle
Top 4	Harris Hutson	Barron Mailloux
Top 6	Struble Xhekaj Norlinder Fairbrother Trudeau	Brooks Tourigny

Still generous.

Caufield is the only legit 1st line talent up front (capable of 40G or above 1.0 PPG). Hopefully we can land Huberdeau + our 2023 1st develops into one as well. Slaf gets a bump for rarity but is more of a Landeskog type - should be your 3rd/4th best forward ideally.

2nd line talent is abundant. I consider Dach a RW long-term, he's played his best there with Hockey Canada. Dubois would be excessive, but if we can get him for free and flip Dach for another asset I'm OK with it. Trading for him would be egregious asset management considering our state on D. Anderson needs to go for help on D.

Bottom 6 is really small outside Heinemen. Beck may bulk up as well.

Defense as a whole is a tragedy, a legit #1 is sorely needed and I'm not sure how we plan to get one. Drafting one in 2024 just so he can be ready to carry the load in 2029 can't be the plan. I expect another Trouba type trade from Gorton somewhere in the next couple of years, but who do we give up to fetch that type of player?

Outside of Guhle and Barron only Xhekaj is a longshot for top 4. A lot needs to go right in these three players' development for this situation just to not be a complete disaster. Edmundson might be worth renewing if his level of play holds up.

Harris/Hutson too small, Mailloux too poor defensively to be relied upon for 20+ minutes a night against all levels of competition, which is the minimum standard for a top 4 D. Ditto Matheson; prop his value playing 25 mins a night and dump ASAP.

	LW	C	RW
Top 3	Slafkovsky		Caufield
Top 6	Farrell Roy	Suzuki	Dach Mesar
Top 9	Heineman	Beck Kidney	Ylonen
4th Line/Depth	RHP Pitlick	Evans Mysak	Rohrer
	LD	RD
Top 2	Guhle
Top 4	Xhekaj	Barron
Bottom Pair/PP Specialist	Harris Hutson	Mailloux
Depth	Struble Norlinder Fairbrother Trudeau	Brook Tourigny

 

[ChesterNimitz]

Fine. It means that everything turned out perfectly.

But with that defense and the division we play in, I don’t think it’s realistic to expect drafting out of the top 10, probably not realistic to expect drafting out pf the top 5.

But sure, if Slaf looks like a sure 1st liner, Caufield and Suzuki are PPG players, Guhle, Barron and Harris are studs and we get Dubois for cheap, I won’t complain

When does anything turn out perfectly? I would opine that even if everything does turn out favorably, we still won't be a legitimate contender. I see no long term benefit in falling out of the top 5 (or even top 10) and losing out on drafting a player that may have a profound positive impact on the team's fortunes. The improbable scenario that is being described will only mire us in mediocrity for a continuing, interminable period.

 

[CaptainKirk]

Y'all need to go back 5, 10, 15, 20 years on this board and look at the projected lineups. And what actually happened.

Plenty of unknowns still. One surprise development here, one bad injury there, one trade here and this whole thread becomes meaningless.

What do you mean? There’s till time for Latendresse to develop! He still has potential!!!! YOU DON’T KNOW!1!

 

[ChesterNimitz]

Still generous.

Caufield is the only legit 1st line talent up front (capable of 40G or above 1.0 PPG). Hopefully we can land Huberdeau + our 2023 1st develops into one as well. Slaf gets a bump for rarity but is more of a Landeskog type - should be your 3rd/4th best forward ideally.

2nd line talent is abundant. I consider Dach a RW long-term, he's played his best there with Hockey Canada. Dubois would be excessive, but if we can get him for free and flip Dach for another asset I'm OK with it. Trading for him would be egregious asset management considering our state on D. Anderson needs to go for help on D.

Bottom 6 is really small outside Heinemen. Beck may bulk up as well.

Defense as a whole is a tragedy, a legit #1 is sorely needed and I'm not sure how we plan to get one. Drafting one in 2024 just so he can be ready to carry the load in 2029 can't be the plan. I expect another Trouba type trade from Gorton somewhere in the next couple of years, but who do we give up to fetch that type of player?

Outside of Guhle and Barron only Xhekaj is a longshot for top 4. A lot needs to go right in these three players' development for this situation just to not be a complete disaster. Edmundson might be worth renewing if his level of play holds up.

Harris/Hutson too small, Mailloux too poor defensively to be relied upon for 20+ minutes a night against all levels of competition, which is the minimum standard for a top 4 D. Ditto Matheson; prop his value playing 25 mins a night and dump ASAP.

	LW	C	RW
Top 3	Slafkovsky		Caufield
Top 6	Farrell Roy	Suzuki	Dach Mesar
Top 9	Heineman	Beck Kidney	Ylonen
4th Line/Depth	RHP Pitlick	Evans Mysak	Rohrer
	LD	RD
Top 2	Guhle
Top 4	Xhekaj	Barron
Bottom Pair/PP Specialist	Harris Hutson	Mailloux
Depth	Struble Norlinder Fairbrother Trudeau	Brook Tourigny

It is a bold prediction to place Xhekaj above Mailloux in the team's depth chart.

 

[LaP]

No matter how i look at it even if our prospects pan out (realistically) i think we must tank another year. And hopefully KH stay the course. Looking at our defense and goalie i'd say the plan is to tank next season. Only way we do not finish bottom 3 in the east is if 2-3 kids not named Suzuki and Caufield take the next step. But looking at our vets depth chart i think those kids wont have the chance to do so before the deadline and at this point it'll be too late to salvage the season. We have two first round picks again next draft. After that i think our pool might be good enough to at least try to be a competitive team trying to make the playoffs. But currently when i look at our pool i see at lack top surefire top 6 talents and top 3 dmen. Adding 2-3 next draft would help a lot.

 

[Zilo44]

When does anything turn out perfectly? I would opine that even if everything does turn out favorably, we still won't be a legitimate contender. I see no long term benefit in falling out of the top 5 (or even top 10) and losing out on drafting a player that may have a profound positive impact on the team's fortunes. The improbable scenario that is being described will only mire us in mediocrity for a continuing, interminable period.

I totally agree with you. I believe we’ll be bad even if we try to be good

 

[Goal Caufield50]

It is a bold prediction to place Xhekaj above Mailloux in the team's depth chart.

X is described a physical and mean. Menacing is also a word used to describe him. 6'4" and 225 lbs and he can skate. OHL all star, Memorial cup all star. Absolutely, he can become a top 4 D in the NHL.

 

[Goal Caufield50]

Still generous.

Caufield is the only legit 1st line talent up front (capable of 40G or above 1.0 PPG). Hopefully we can land Huberdeau + our 2023 1st develops into one as well. Slaf gets a bump for rarity but is more of a Landeskog type - should be your 3rd/4th best forward ideally.

2nd line talent is abundant. I consider Dach a RW long-term, he's played his best there with Hockey Canada. Dubois would be excessive, but if we can get him for free and flip Dach for another asset I'm OK with it. Trading for him would be egregious asset management considering our state on D. Anderson needs to go for help on D.

Bottom 6 is really small outside Heinemen. Beck may bulk up as well.

Defense as a whole is a tragedy, a legit #1 is sorely needed and I'm not sure how we plan to get one. Drafting one in 2024 just so he can be ready to carry the load in 2029 can't be the plan. I expect another Trouba type trade from Gorton somewhere in the next couple of years, but who do we give up to fetch that type of player?

Outside of Guhle and Barron only Xhekaj is a longshot for top 4. A lot needs to go right in these three players' development for this situation just to not be a complete disaster. Edmundson might be worth renewing if his level of play holds up.

Harris/Hutson too small, Mailloux too poor defensively to be relied upon for 20+ minutes a night against all levels of competition, which is the minimum standard for a top 4 D. Ditto Matheson; prop his value playing 25 mins a night and dump ASAP.

	LW	C	RW
Top 3	Slafkovsky		Caufield
Top 6	Farrell Roy	Suzuki	Dach Mesar
Top 9	Heineman	Beck Kidney	Ylonen
4th Line/Depth	RHP Pitlick	Evans Mysak	Rohrer
	LD	RD
Top 2	Guhle
Top 4	Xhekaj	Barron
Bottom Pair/PP Specialist	Harris Hutson	Mailloux
Depth	Struble Norlinder Fairbrother Trudeau	Brook Tourigny

The is a very respectable outline. The core of a club is 5 to 7 players. Think of McDavid, dra, Kane, rnh and nurse in Edmonton. Riley, Marner, Matthews, Nylander and Tarvas in Toronto.

Montreal is "developing" a core of Slaf, Suzuki, cc, and Guhle. A top five pick in 2023 is possible given the apparent depth of the top 5. Montreal is a long way away from Edmonton and Toronto for core players.

 

[BuildOnDiamonds]

The is a very respectable outline. The core of a club is 5 to 7 players. Think of McDavid, dra, Kane, rnh and nurse in Edmonton. Riley, Marner, Matthews, Nylander and Tarvas in Toronto.

Montreal is "developing" a core of Slaf, Suzuki, cc, and Guhle. A top five pick in 2023 is possible given the apparent depth of the top 5. Montreal is a long way away from Edmonton and Toronto for core players.

Yes, and those core haven't even won anything yet despite their offensive superstars.

Hopefully Habs can draft Norris caliber defenseman and Vezina caliber goaltending in the next few drafts, on top of the usual suspect developing into PPG players.

 

[SOLR]

Yes, and those core haven't even won anything yet despite their offensive superstas.

Hopefully Habs can draft Norris caliber defenseman and Vezina caliber goaltending in the next few drafts, on top of the usual suspect developing into PPG players.

Edmonton reached the semi-finals last year. If your bar for not winning anything is the Stanley cup you are making the wrong argument.

 

[BuildOnDiamonds]

Edmonton reached the semi-finals last year. If your bar for not winning anything is the Stanley cup you are making the wrong argument.

Thanks for letting me in on the scoop.

What kind of argument do you think I'm making? Just stating facts: Despite their offensive horses, these teams couldn't achieve what every NHL teams are trying to achieve. My point is that Montreal will still need elite player at D and in net if they want to reach the Stanley Cup final in the next 10 years.

Which just goes to show how having some potential first liner and a potential top pairing defenseman is far from being enough to consider it a potential winning core. I'm not even arguing with the comment of the other guy, since he himself pointed that Montreal was a long way away from being Toronto and Edmonton, who themselves still have a long way to go before achieving the ultimate goal.

 

[SOLR]

Thanks for letting me in on the scoop.

What kind of argument do you think I'm making? Just stating facts: Despite their offensive horses, these teams couldn't achieve what every NHL teams are trying to achieve. My point is that Montreal will still need elite player at D and in net if they want to reach the Stanley Cup final in the next 10 years.

Which just goes to show how having some potential first liner and a potential top pairing defenseman is far from being enough to consider it a potential winning core. I'm not even arguing with the comment of the other guy, since he himself pointed that Montreal was a long way away from being Toronto and Edmonton, who themselves still have a long way to go before achieving the ultimate goal.

I think it's apparent you were trying to attack the notion that these cores everybody else wants are any good. Winning the cup, while the goal, doesn't mean that X core isn't good - it often just means that the core might be taking a too large % of the cap for those teams to have good depth. That's what Colorado and Tampa have in common - a strong core with a small % of the cap. So they have good 3rd lines that make them win against the Edmonton/Toronto of the world.

 

[David Suzuki]

But this top six have many, many questions marks still.

Well yeah they're building blocks not the entire building. Throw in any number of the high end forwards for this draft, and we're getting somewhere.

 

[MasterD]

X is described a physical and mean. Menacing is also a word used to describe him. 6'4" and 225 lbs and he can skate. OHL all star, Memorial cup all star. Absolutely, he can become a top 4 D in the NHL.

At 21. A man amongst kids. Means nothing, at this stage.

 

[jaffy27]

Until we actually see how the prospects do at the NHL level, the only building blocks are Suzuki and Caufield currently. That is why having as much depth as the team has is important. Nothing is guaranteed, so the more shots you get at finding the right players, the better.

Just think as the Slaf’s, Guhle, Farrell and Dach’s as items you buy on Amazon which have great reviews…..you don’t know if they are actually good as you haven’t tried them but the overall feel is that it’s good!!

 

[frapp10]

We badly need an offensive right side dman 50+ points with top 2 potential

 

[MasterD]

We badly need an offensive right side dman 50+ points with top 2 potential

That's Mailloux.

His development has been halted by COVID, his suspension and then injury, but the potential to be a very good #2 with no glaring weakness is 100% there.

 

[jaffy27]

Agreed..............both of the big boys seem like they are not going for a top 5 pick next year.
We have ours, and FLA's so be it.
There seems to be too much temptation to come out of this quicker..................my take is we need to be a top 10 pick again, and have one more tough year.

I’m just wondering who in the East will be worst then us?

Especially if we leave Slaf in Laval, we added Dach who’s trying to find his game (I believe he will)…..and that’s it!!

Caufield and Suzuki should amass higher point totals but gone are Toffoli’s and Lehkonen’s production.

Matheson will bring more offense then Romy

Price will more then likely be on LTIR

I’m expecting Armia and Dvorak to find their game, good trade bait candidates.

Gone is Petry

I see us finishing bottom 5 again, probably end up with one of Yager, Benson or Carlsson.