Speculation: What should the Habs do this offseason?

[Runner77]

New PP coach, a new backup goalie, and a top-4 LD are in order.

And not necessarily in that order.

First pairing PMD, LHD is job 1.

 

[S Bah]

Would like to see both Jordie Benn & Brent Kulak resigned for the LHD. While pursuing the chance of trading for Buffalo's Rasmus Ristolainen(LHD) as a partner for Shea Weber(RHD) making a formidable 1st pairing. Juulsen(RHD) being fully recovered will make our defence stronger, as will the healthy Mike McCarron(C/RW - PWF), having him back to the form he was before his injury(shoulder) Crashing, hitting, enforcing his will on the opposition whilst keeping the puck. Hopefully he will be the PWF the Habs have lacked since John Leclair was traded after our last SCC in 1993.

 

[26Mats]

Would like to see both Jordie Benn & Brent Kulak resigned for the LHD. While pursuing the chance of trading for Buffalo's Rasmus Ristolainen(LHD) as a partner for Shea Weber(RHD) making a formidable 1st pairing. Juulsen(RHD) being fully recovered will make our defence stronger, as will the healthy Mike McCarron(C/RW - PWF), having him back to the form he was before his injury(shoulder) Crashing, hitting, enforcing his will on the opposition whilst keeping the puck. Hopefully he will be the PWF the Habs have lacked since John Leclair was traded after our last SCC in 1993.

Based on MB's final season presser, he basically sees Kulak as a fixture. He'll be back unless at least 2 big moves come up and he's pushed out of the top 6. That would be a surprise.

 

[Tyson]

Would like to see both Jordie Benn & Brent Kulak resigned for the LHD. While pursuing the chance of trading for Buffalo's Rasmus Ristolainen(LHD) as a partner for Shea Weber(RHD) making a formidable 1st pairing. Juulsen(RHD) being fully recovered will make our defence stronger, as will the healthy Mike McCarron(C/RW - PWF), having him back to the form he was before his injury(shoulder) Crashing, hitting, enforcing his will on the opposition whilst keeping the puck. Hopefully he will be the PWF the Habs have lacked since John Leclair was traded after our last SCC in 1993.

Ristolainen is a RHD

 

[Tyson]

Based on MB's final season presser, he basically sees Kulak as a fixture. He'll be back unless at least 2 big moves come up and he's pushed out of the top 6. That would be a surprise.

Kulak makes a great 3rd pairing LD

 

[Belial]

You re-sign Kulak and Benn and go from there! If you can get something better later they can easily be tossed.

 

[26Mats]

Ristolainen is a RHD

At this point, if there are no LHD available, just sign a RHD that has the balls to play the left side. If Benn can play his off side...

 

[peate]

I think the PP was more a question of chemistry than system. Most teams use the same, and it was producing more regularly toward the end of the season. It will be on thin ice, that's for sure.

 

[26Mats]

I think the PP was more a question of chemistry than system. Most teams use the same, and it was producing more regularly toward the end of the season. It will be on thin ice, that's for sure.

I think they need to move the puck quicker. More one-touch passes and more one-timers.

There's only 4 opponents on the ice. Someone has to be open. But if you move the puck too slowly, the defense can reset. It seemed to work for the Armia-Danault-Weal trio that had success down the stretch.

 

[HuGo Sham]

benn: fare thee well

 

[Chili]

There will be a wants list and a reality list, at some point they'll intersect.

Would be nice to add some size up front and at least one left dman.

 

[MSLs absurd thighs]

High probability this is the roster to start next year. I see it this way too. I'm hoping we are able to sign Skinner and Edler though

If we start next year with this roster, we're bottom-5 in the league. These guys aren't repeating their career years.

 

[Habs Halifax]

If we start next year with this roster, we're bottom-5 in the league. These guys aren't repeating their career years.

haha... Another bottom 5 finish prediction he? When you going to learn? When Price is healthy, we don't finish in the bottom 10. Also, we have a young roster that plays a speed game and this past season was no fluke. Take your bottom 5 finish doomsday glasses off. The only concern is health and we can't predict this. When this roster is healthy, we are not a bottom 5 team. Come on man.

 

[MSLs absurd thighs]

haha... Another bottom 5 finish prediction he? When you going to learn? When Price is healthy, we don't finish in the bottom 10. Also, we have a young roster that plays a speed game and this past season was no fluke. Take your bottom 5 finish doomsday glasses off. The only concern is health and we can't predict this. When this roster is healthy, we are not a bottom 5 team. Come on man.

For f*** sake. Literally all of our skaters (except Weber) had career years and it wasn't even enough to make the playoffs, in a year where we had very little injury issues. You're the one who needs to get a grip. For someone who's been following this team for as long as you did you sure don't learn very quick. This exact scenario has played out again and again and again in the past few decades, and every single time the return to reality is brutal. If the idiot falls in love with his team one more time and does nothing this summer, the exact same scenario will play out... again.

This team is not as far as some people make it out to be. But it's definitely not as close as you think.
Tatar is not a 60 points guy. Domi is not a 70 points guy. Gallagher is not a 35 goals scorer. Danault is not getting almost 55 points every single season. Petry is not going to be a 40 points D much longer. And you can bet your ass a guy like Kulak is not anything more than a #7 D. Then you have a guy like Kotkaniemi who might get a sophomore slump, and Drouin who's an enigma on his own.

Great! Now tell me this is a playoffs team. Everything went perfectly this season, other teams took the Habs lightly, we played against #2 goalies an incredible amount of times, and we still didn't make it to the postseason. The definition of insanity is trying the same thing again and again, expecting different results.

 

[Habs Halifax]

For **** sake. Literally all of our skaters (except Weber) had career years and it wasn't even enough to make the playoffs, in a year where we had very little injury issues. You're the one who needs to get a grip. For someone who's been following this team for as long as you did you sure don't learn very quick. This exact scenario has played out again and again and again in the past few decades, and every single time the return to reality is brutal. If the idiot falls in love with his team one more time and does nothing this summer, the exact same scenario will play out... again.

This team is not as far as some people make it out to be. But it's definitely not as close as you think.
Tatar is not a 60 points guy. Domi is not a 70 points guy. Gallagher is not a 35 goals scorer. Danault is not getting almost 55 points every single season. Petry is not going to be a 40 points D much longer. And you can bet your ass a guy like Kulak is not anything more than a #7 D.

Bottom 5 finish only happens if we have another season with long term injuries to key players. We are too legit to be a bottom 10 team and our youth is improving so if we are healthy and finish bottom 5, it would be a drastic change in direction.

The key to our success is a stable D and we had this from Dec to end of the year. We don't have a top 10 D in the league but the D we have right now is better than most realize and we do have a top 5 goalie. Not worried about the forward group cause nobody is on the wrong side of 30

 

[FrankMTL]

For **** sake. Literally all of our skaters (except Weber) had career years and it wasn't even enough to make the playoffs, in a year where we had very little injury issues. You're the one who needs to get a grip. For someone who's been following this team for as long as you did you sure don't learn very quick. This exact scenario has played out again and again and again in the past few decades, and every single time the return to reality is brutal. If the idiot falls in love with his team one more time and does nothing this summer, the exact same scenario will play out... again.

This team is not as far as some people make it out to be. But it's definitely not as close as you think.
Tatar is not a 60 points guy. Domi is not a 70 points guy. Gallagher is not a 35 goals scorer. Danault is not getting almost 55 points every single season. Petry is not going to be a 40 points D much longer. And you can bet your ass a guy like Kulak is not anything more than a #7 D. Then you have a guy like Kotkaniemi who might get a sophomore slump, and Drouin who's an enigma on his own.

Great! Now tell me this is a playoffs team. Everything went perfectly this season, other teams took the Habs lightly, we played against #2 goalies an incredible amount of times, and we still didn't make it to the postseason. The definition of insanity is trying the same thing again and again, expecting different results.

Not sure I agree with all of this. How come Domi can't be a 70 point player again? He has all the skills to do it again. He racked up huge amounts of points pretty much everywhere he's played. He started in the NHL at a young age and it's taking some time, but he's showing the potential that everybody knew he had. I wouldn't be surprised at all if he hits 65-75 points next year.

For Gallagher, we said the same thing at the end of the 2017-2018, and he hit over 30 goals again. I'm not betting against this guy anymore.

Tatar I can see regressing to 45-50 points

Petry I think can put up another 40 points as he's done it the last two seasons. Seems to have more and more confidence in his offence.

Anyways, for sure not everything will go right, but I wouldn't bet against Gallagher, Domi and Petry having great seasons again.

 

[MSLs absurd thighs]

Not sure I agree with all of this. How come Domi can't be a 70 point player again? He has all the skills to do it again. He racked up huge amounts of points pretty much everywhere he's played. He started in the NHL at a young age and it's taking some time, but he's showing the potential that everybody knew he had. I wouldn't be surprised at all if he hits 65-75 points next year.

For Gallagher, we said the same thing at the end of the 2017-2018, and he hit over 30 goals again. I'm not betting against this guy anymore.

Tatar I can see regressing to 45-50 points

Petry I think can put up another 40 points as he's done it the last two seasons. Seems to have more and more confidence in his offence.

Anyways, for sure not everything will go right, but I wouldn't bet against Gallagher, Domi and Petry having great seasons again.

Domi's projected output is probably right between the 52 points he did as a rookie and the 72 points he did last season. I'd say he's a 60 points guy.
What about Shaw? You expect him to be on a 60 points pace year in and year out?

As for the rest, just Tatar, Shaw and Danault regressing to their career averages, what do you think will happen? Who will make up for it? You say you have confidence in Gallgher, Domi and Petry? How better can they be compared to last season?

If we ice the same team next season, this team is CLEARLY bottom-10.

 

[jaffy27]

Well we can't expect our team to go from bubble team to contender after drafting 15th overall and realistically not likely acquiring any star forwards or D...

Hence why we need trades and UFA signings or it’ll all be déjà vu

 

[FrankMTL]

Domi's projected output is probably right between the 52 points he did as a rookie and the 72 points he did last season. I'd say he's a 60 points guy.
What about Shaw? You expect him to be on a 60 points pace year in and year out?

As for the rest, just Tatar, Shaw and Danault regressing to their career averages, what do you think will happen? Who will make up for it? You say you have confidence in Gallgher, Domi and Petry? How better can they be compared to last season?

If we ice the same team next season, this team is CLEARLY bottom-10.

Domi's projected output is according to who? Let's agree to disagree.

I didn't mention Shaw...but no, I don't think he will be scoring 60 points. He's a 35-40 point guy in a normal "good year".

Again, didn't mention Danault either...I mentioned Domi, Petry and Gallagher.

I don't know what will happen next year, nobody does. We very well might finish in the bottom 10. All I said was that I didn't agree with your assessment of the three players mentioned above.

 

[Lshap]

Domi's projected output is probably right between the 52 points he did as a rookie and the 72 points he did last season. I'd say he's a 60 points guy.
What about Shaw? You expect him to be on a 60 points pace year in and year out?

As for the rest, just Tatar, Shaw and Danault regressing to their career averages, what do you think will happen? Who will make up for it? You say you have confidence in Gallgher, Domi and Petry? How better can they be compared to last season?

If we ice the same team next season, this team is CLEARLY bottom-10.

Tampa, Toronto, Boston, Columbus, Carolina, Florida -- every team in front and behind us had multiple players with career years. So did most teams in the league. If you believe the Habs will regress, those other teams will regress as well.

 

[MSLs absurd thighs]

Tampa, Toronto, Boston, Columbus, Carolina, Florida -- every team in front and behind us had multiple players with career years. So did most teams in the league. If you believe the Habs will regress, those other teams will regress as well.

Thing is, other teams severely underachieved last season as well. NYR and NJ will improve. You can bet your ass Philly will sign a couple of high profiles UFAs, after finishing last season strong. Buffalo has several young guys bound to progress, who haven't showed their true colours yet.

 

[NotProkofievian]

Tampa, Toronto, Boston, Columbus, Carolina, Florida -- every team in front and behind us had multiple players with career years. So did most teams in the league. If you believe the Habs will regress, those other teams will regress as well.

Wat? Das not how regression works lol.

 

[Lshap]

Wat? Das not how regression works lol.

When every teams' players had career years, it makes no sense to claim only one team's players will regress.

 

[Habs Halifax]

Not sure I agree with all of this. How come Domi can't be a 70 point player again? He has all the skills to do it again. He racked up huge amounts of points pretty much everywhere he's played. He started in the NHL at a young age and it's taking some time, but he's showing the potential that everybody knew he had. I wouldn't be surprised at all if he hits 65-75 points next year.

For Gallagher, we said the same thing at the end of the 2017-2018, and he hit over 30 goals again. I'm not betting against this guy anymore.

Tatar I can see regressing to 45-50 points

Petry I think can put up another 40 points as he's done it the last two seasons. Seems to have more and more confidence in his offence.

Anyways, for sure not everything will go right, but I wouldn't bet against Gallagher, Domi and Petry having great seasons again.

What's been pretty clear is when Price is healthy, we don't finish in the bottom 10. People just don't see it and I think the dislike of Bergevin has a lot to do with it.

After Price, it starts with a stable D and we have it. If Kulak plays like he did in the last 30 games, we got a good one here people.

There is nobody in the forward group on the wrong side of 30 so why should we expect them to take steps back?

 

[Lshap]

Thing is, other teams severely underachieved last season as well. NYR and NJ will improve. You can bet your ass Philly will sign a couple of high profiles UFAs, after finishing last season strong. Buffalo has several young guys bound to progress, who haven't showed their true colours yet.

I agree some bad teams will improve. Meanwhile, some good teams will get worse. Happens every year. It has nothing to do with a league-wide spike in scoring that saw tons of players have career-best point totals.