What is the team's biggest roadblock to make the playoffs next season?

[Runner77]

The loss of Dach and Newhook ended any chance they had. Hopefully the defense will be improved and a forward or 2 is added and they can survive another Dach injury.

Or Dach becomes a Stone-like yearly LTIR miracle playoff returnee, an essential asset for an eventual Cup-contending team.

Now Dach doesn’t have a chronic injury but only the propensity to get injured — that could still work.

 

[Mrb1p]

Nope. Good but not great. Need a PPG+ player.

He'd be PPG+ if he wasn't on this team. Just like Keller would be too, and Thompson, and so many others. Context matters.

He's also one of the best defensive 1C in the league.

 

[EXPOS123]

Need to revamp and replace our 2, 3 and 4 centers

Cannot continue with border line NHL vanilla guys like Dvorak Evans and Pezzetta

At this point with all his injuries I don’t think Dach can be a number 2 - but rather very good #3

That leaves finding a skilled # 2 with physicality as the biggest need in my opinion.

Yes, I know, it’s a unicorn, but as I said in another post we finally have the trade capital to pull off something huge

 

[Le Barron de HF]

Need to revamp and replace our 2, 3 and 4 centers

Cannot continue with border line NHL vanilla guys like Dvorak Evans and Pezzetta

At this point with all his injuries I don’t think Dach can be a number 2 - but rather very good #3

That leaves finding a skilled # 2 with physicality as the biggest need in my opinion.

Yes, I know, it’s a unicorn, but as I said in another post we finally have the trade capital to pull off something huge

Evans is a serviceable NHLer.

 

[CrAzYNiNe]

Excellent thread. I wish you had let us pick multiple options because this team, albeit in the up and up, has many flaws. The special teams did get better as the season went on, but the beginning of the season has the numbers looking horrible. Secondary scoring picked up at the end of the season after being carried by the first time since end of December. Consistency on D and goaltending would go a long way. Too many bodies in nets was a problem. Now if they can focus on the 2 left and see which one, if either is the #1. On D a similar problem. Too many bodies, not enough top end quality. That’s a lot of pressure on a kid like Hutson and Mailloux if he comes up. I think they have wood men for next season?

Overall consistency and Suzuki being the top scorer in the 2000s (eclipsing Kovalevs 84) would be nice for next year to get them in on the bubble. As far as the division goes, you need to wonder how Florida will do if they can’t re-sign their top goal scorer. Boston is always looking better than we think. Toronto… if they lose first round they are going to have to make major changes… right? tab can lose Stamkos, they may be a bubble team. Detroit, Buffalo, Ottawa… who knows.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Excellent thread. I wish you had let us pick multiple options because this team, albeit in the up and up, has many flaws. The special teams did get better as the season went on, but the beginning of the season has the numbers looking horrible. Secondary scoring picked up at the end of the season after being carried by the first time since end of December. Consistency on D and goaltending would go a long way. Too many bodies in nets was a problem. Now if they can focus on the 2 left and see which one, if either is the #1. On D a similar problem. Too many bodies, not enough top end quality. That’s a lot of pressure on a kid like Hutson and Mailloux if he comes up. I think they have wood men for next season?

Overall consistency and Suzuki being the top scorer in the 2000s (eclipsing Kovalevs 84) would be nice for next year to get them in on the bubble. As far as the division goes, you need to wonder how Florida will do if they can’t re-sign their top goal scorer. Boston is always looking better than we think. Toronto… if they lose first round they are going to have to make major changes… right? tab can lose Stamkos, they may be a bubble team. Detroit, Buffalo, Ottawa… who knows.

Honestly they could just keep the first line together. I think all three players will have great seasons next year. But putting CC with Dach could give us a 1A and 1B line. I’d political Roy with Dach and Newhook with Suzuki. Two really solid lines.

 

[Harry Kakalovich]

It's difficult to answer without knowing the results of the off-season, but IMO the Canadiens are missing top end forwards, top end defenders, depth at forward, and probably several solid veterans. I don't think they will look to patch these holes for next season, but it will be much easier to assess their strategy after the off-season. Internal development will probably help them a bit.

 

[CrAzYNiNe]

Honestly they could just keep the first line together. I think all three players will have great seasons next year. But putting CC with Dach could give us a 1A and 1B line. I’d political Roy with Dach and Newhook with Suzuki. Two really solid lines.

It’s been a weird end of the season with me referencing cap friendly for UFA and RFAs to be. A few interesting names pop up. However the Habs have too many expensive supporting cast (Gallagher, Dvorak, Armia) that are bottom pairing guys at this point in their career. Dach scares me, but looking at Monahan, if Dach was able to rehab correctly maybe he can be that top6 forward if not out #2 center. A lot to be excited about.

 

[Sorinth]

It's difficult to answer without knowing the results of the off-season, but IMO the Canadiens are missing top end forwards, top end defenders, depth at forward, and probably several solid veterans. I don't think they will look to patch these holes for next season, but it will be much easier to assess their strategy after the off-season. Internal development will probably help them a bit.

Relative to contenders sure, but relative to the teams that fight/just made the playoffs I'm not so sure that's true. Like do we really lack top end forwards/defenders relative to Washington? They had two 60 point playes, one 50 point player and were bailed out by Lindgren. The threshold for playoffs isn't all that high when you look at it.

 

[WatchfulElm]

Gallagher + Anderson + Dvorak + retained salary of Petry + Allen taking 23,3% of the cap space.

I'm sure we could do much better with $20+ millions if we had the freedom to do so.

 

[Runner77]

Gallagher + Anderson + Dvorak + retained salary of Petry + Allen taking 23,3% of the cap space.

I'm sure we could do much better with $20+ millions if we had the freedom to do so.

Will be nice to see some of that deadweight depart by the summer of 2025, when most are saying the biggest moves will happen.

 

[CrAzYNiNe]

I forgot about Anderson in my post. It’s the only way to move forward is by forgetting he’s around. 5.5M for a guy that averages 15g/30p a season

 

[Habs13]

Talent.

 

[ChesterNimitz]

Gallagher + Anderson + Dvorak + retained salary of Petry + Allen taking 23,3% of the cap space.

I'm sure we could do much better with $20+ millions if we had the freedom to do so.

Let’s hope everyone remembers those sobering numbers before they start clamouring for the team to sign other fading free agents.

They’re no quick fixes.

 

[26Mats]

Dach isn’t some huge game changer. Hes got a career high pace in the 50s. People need to stop pretending that he’s our savior.

You can't go bu pace when projecting a young player. Newhook never had 50 point pace season - until this year. And that may not be his limit.

Hard to say what Dach's ceiling is. He looked like our best player heading into the season and to start the season. But that was a small sample size.

 

[Canadiens Ghost]

If things go somewhat the way I believe this summer, the biggest road block will be injuries.

 

[Rapala]

Evans is a serviceable NHLer.

I wish he would go service some other team.
I'm not a huge fan and I don't see him in the bottom six of a good to a very good club.
PK still running at 76.4% horrible and Evans is the mainstay...

 

[Naslundforever]

I wish he would go service some other team.
I'm not a huge fan and I don't see him in the bottom six of a good to a very good club.
PK still running at 76.4% horrible and Evans is the mainstay...

He’s a center so there are worse players on the team; but “is serviceable” “there are bigger problems” “is good all around” are things you say about a casual tinder date, not the girl you want to marry.

A team full of “serviceable good guys” picks top 5. You need specialists bottom 6, guys who bring something unique the coach can use in a given situation.

He’s a center enrering his prime and probably has no value on the market, so I suspect he sticks for a bit. Who needs goals, right?

 

[JRichard]

Biggest roadblock looks like number of teams (7) to overtake to get in. No control over that part. Not catching any of the 6 100pt teams so that leaves 2 spots for 10 teams, low odds.

NJ should rebound: Hughes bros, Nemec, Mercer, Holtz, Hischier.
Ott-Buf better on paper but used to choking.
Even Columbus has decent young players in Fantilli, Jiricek, Johnson, Chinakhov, Mateychuy, Sillinger, Brindley, this year’s first (likely 4th oa but decent odds for Celebrini).

Could overtake 2-3 teams with 85 pts with all loser pts some teams get many of.

 

[Sorinth]

He’s a center so there are worse players on the team; but “is serviceable” “there are bigger problems” “is good all around” are things you say about a casual tinder date, not the girl you want to marry.

A team full of “serviceable good guys” picks top 5. You need specialists bottom 6, guys who bring something unique the coach can use in a given situation.

He’s a center enrering his prime and probably has no value on the market, so I suspect he sticks for a bit. Who needs goals, right?

It's the guys at the top of lineup (Or lack thereof) that determine whether a team is picking top-5 or not. Even the best depth players can't turn a bad team good. To your analogy, there isn't any bottom-6 players that "you want to marry".

At the end of the day Evans produced pretty much what you should expect from a 3rd/4th line guy. And he did it while getting buried in defensive starts, and leading the league in SH time. So I would argue he very much is a specialist that the coach can use in a given situation. As much as people might want a crash & bang energy 4th line, those tend to require a bit of sheltering defensively putting greater stress on the other lines. Burying the 4th line in defensive starts means you can start your top lines in the offensive zone more often. That's a value added to the team that goes well beyond the 4th line's individual production, which again is pretty much inline with reasonable expectations/NHL average.

 

[Le Barron de HF]

He’s a center so there are worse players on the team; but “is serviceable” “there are bigger problems” “is good all around” are things you say about a casual tinder date, not the girl you want to marry.

A team full of “serviceable good guys” picks top 5. You need specialists bottom 6, guys who bring something unique the coach can use in a given situation.

He’s a center enrering his prime and probably has no value on the market, so I suspect he sticks for a bit. Who needs goals, right?

@Rapala

I mean, what more can be expected from him? He's hardly the biggest thing that's wrong with this team. A contender would take a Jake Evans on their team any day: reliable, smart, quick and go on Face-offs and defensively.

 

[Rapala]

@Rapala

I mean, what more can be expected from him? He's hardly the biggest thing that's wrong with this team. A contender would take a Jake Evans on their team any day: reliable, smart, quick and go on Face-offs and defensively.

Oh I agree he's not the biggest thing wrong with the team. My stance is quite simple he's one of the easier inexpensive role players to upgrade on.
If a chance or the right player comes along to do it then you have to do it. We are rebuilding so any hole or position that can be upgraded has to be upgraded. With our cap space and desire to compete next season there is nothing in his game that should prevent us from moving on from him including his contract. I firmly believe being more competitive in certain areas of our game will be worth more in the long run than any return "serviceable players" can garner us. I also believe that holding on to such players is actually lowering our bar.

 

[schwang26]

HEALTH

Yep. You add a healthy Dach and healthy Newhook, and they’re competing for playoffs this year.

 

[jaffy27]

Can be all of the above, but Secondary scoring is our biggest flaw (AKA lack of talent)

Special teams would be #2 but this will come with that extra talent (second wave of PP) and experience.

No matter what, we are adding a special player to the core….I’m expecting, without losing key players for months at a time, a 9th to 12th place finish next season with a playoff birth the next.

probably yeah.

It's highly unlikely that:
A) Dach gets injured again
B) Dach isn't good enough for 2C
C) Newhook gets injured
D) Newhook doesn't at least allow the 2nd line to be at a replacement + level
E) The 3C we'd get would get injured + not be good enough to man a 2C spot.

Knowing all this, I'd get a 3C, cheaper and I believe in Dach. It at least gives the Habs the position of strength of having another backup plan, if Dach fails again.

Either a 2B or 3A would be perfect for this roster.

I'd much rather they use the prime assets to get a top 4 RD.

Monahan would be my target. Pair him Beck, I’d rivet the 2 together and let Beck soak it all in!

 

[salbutera]

Gallagher + Anderson + Dvorak + retained salary of Petry + Allen taking 23,3% of the cap space.

I'm sure we could do much better with $20+ millions if we had the freedom to do so.

Habs hav $17M in cap space wot work with this summer and a bunch of $$ expiring consistently over next 3-years

As posted this weekend, cap space isn’t any type of roadblock for Habs over next 3-4 seasons