Line Combos: What the lineup should be next game

[Miller Time]

What we should do:

Drouin - Galchenyuk - Gallagher
Lekhonen - Danault - Sherback
Byron - Plekanec - Hudon
Deslauriers - JDL - UFA

Mete/Reilly/UFA - Weber
Mete/Reilly/UFA - Petry
Alzner - Juulsen

Price
Lindgren

UFA's are reclamation projects on 1 year deals that, if they make the squad, are used to flip for picks in-season.

Shaw, Benn & Pacioretty traded in the summer for picks/prospects

What we will do:
Pacioretty - Drouin- Gallagher
Drouin - Danault - Shaw
Byron - Overpaid/Bad Term UFA - Hudon
Deslauriers - JDL - Sherback

Overpaid/Bad Term UFA - Weber
Alzner - Petry
Benn - Juulsen
Mete

Price
Lindgren

Galch & lekhonen traded for pennies on the dollar

 

[Captain Mountain]

You really don't know. I wonder how many people had Scheifele picked as a top 10 centre in the league. I know he was listed by everyone behind Couturier. Brayden Point wasn't on anyone's radar as a game breaker. It's sometimes a question of development and having other pieces in place. It's also still not out of the realm of possibility that Drouin emerges as a top centre. 22-23 is when most centres have their breakthrough seasons. He may have been stunted by immaturity, improper development, and the wrong personnel.

Neither do you. That's my point. But odds are more likely that he wont be a #1 C than he will be. And I'm not sure why you think the current front office can develop him into a #1C, when they haven't developed anybody into a true top-line/pair player.

I am really high on Stastny. He is a fitness freak. I think that translates well to 35.

Plekanec is a fitness freak too. Didn't stop his decline.

I see Tavares as being equally risky, given his penchant for injuries. Or you could look at Jonathan Toews, who has taken a lot of wear and tear. Lost his best winger Hossa. And found a beautiful wife. He has not been the same since. It's really I think a lot of homework, putting pieces in place, and some luck.

Tavares has missed significant time (more than 5 games) in exactly one of his NHL seasons. How does he have a penchant for injuries?

Toews is a fitness freak too, but wont be traded by Chicago for the same reason Montreal wont move Price or Weber this offseason.

I see Price as being a very tradeable asset, if Primeau emerges, at the 19 draft in Vancouver. A chance to come home. Vancouver won't have a goalie by then. They are doomed to Richard Brodeur/Kirk Mc Lean mediocrity. Or when they do get a good one, they trade him.

Price makes eight figures until he's 38, has a full NMC and has a buyout-proof contract. Even if he's elite, that's an incredibly hard contract to move. It was designed that way as well. Vancouver should know, it took them years to move Luongo.

I am not as pessimistic as others about the future. This year's draft though is the Habs golden opportunity to put the right pieces in place. And next season is conceivably the last chance for Bergevin's core.

Its not pessimistic to be aware of probabilities.

 

[voyageur]

What I actually think Montreal will do is trade Patches to another division. I'll say Columbus because of Tortorella. 1st round pick and Jenner.

Then sign Perron to a huge contract.

Re-sign Plekanec at around $3 million.

Going off current line-up

Lehkonen-Drouin-Perron
Galchenyuk-Danault-Scherbak
Byron-Jenner-Gallagher
Hudon-Plekanec-Shaw

Deslauriers, DeLaRose or Strawberry fields forever

Defense ends up

Mete-Weber
Reilly-Petry
Alzner-Juulsen

Benn gets to come back as 7. Valiev hangs around too.

Price
Lindgren

Not what I would do, but what I expect.

 

[mariolemieux66]

You know what's crazy
Watched him closely again last night
But is Tavares really worth that 11-12 million per year?
That's 2 good players at 6 million each

He is most definitely not worth 11+mil. Same with Price, not worth 10.5mil. Both will/are overpaid by at least 2mil. Can you imagine paying 8 millions more than Price, Tavares, Weber, Alzner and Shaw are worth for!?

 

[xNogaitx]

Assuming we select like 3rd or 4th overall and pick up Brady Tkachuk and, as a result, we bring up Poehling to make them play together just like at the WJC.

Galchenyuk Danault Scherbak
Drouin Poehling Tkachuk
Lekhonen Plecanek Gallagher
Deslauriers De La Rose Hudon
Rychel Froese (Extras)


That means we will have to trade:

Pacioretty ideally for a young top 4 potential LD, and the 11-17th overall selection (Veleno).
Shaw, Byron, and Carr should be packaged for 2nds and prospects.
Logan Shaw & Hemsky should be let go.
No FA forward signing in the summer (Unless somehow Tavares is eligible and wants to come here, but that's highly unlikely).

Give it a few years and you'll have Danault sliding down to the 3rd line and Poehling / Veleno taking care of the top two lines with Plecanek retiring.

 

[justafan22]

What I actually think Montreal will do is trade Patches to another division. I'll say Columbus because of Tortorella. 1st round pick and Jenner.

Then sign Perron to a huge contract.

Re-sign Plekanec at around $3 million.

Going off current line-up

Lehkonen-Drouin-Perron
Galchenyuk-Danault-Scherbak
Byron-Jenner-Gallagher
Hudon-Plekanec-Shaw

Deslauriers, DeLaRose or Strawberry fields forever

Defense ends up

Mete-Weber
Reilly-Petry
Alzner-Juulsen

Benn gets to come back as 7. Valiev hangs around too.

Price
Lindgren

Not what I would do, but what I expect.

I think that's reasonable for what he'd do this offseason. Whether it's perron or neal or someone like that I could see them doing that. That lineup still is lacking a 1C and the defense is putrid after the first pair

 

[habsgirl5000]

Before we worry about the lineup.....we need to get rid of these two guys.....Molson and MB.....

 

[Dannyhab]

Guys......we need to have a conversation. Phillip Danault is a nice player and should have a place on this team but should never be in the top 6 if you want the slimmest chance at winning anything. He's small and not skilled enough. Please stop putting him in wither the 1C or 2C position.

 

[Wats]

1) Trade Pacioretty/Weber/Byron/Shaw/Benn/Schlemko for futures.

2) Stop acting like a small market team and go hard after UFAs. Try to get a lot of players who are willing to sign 1 year deals to show they deserve big long term deals (potential deadline move assets).

Tyler Bozak/Valtteri Filppula/Mike Green/Thomas Vanek/Jack Johnson. Give Paul Stastny extra $$$ for a short term deal. Doubt Perron will join without a mega long term deal but I'd throw he, Kane, and Neal high $ short term deals just in case. Screw character BS and jump on E.Kane. For sure he can be signed to decent contract since NHL is afraid of him.

E.Kane (5.5M) - Stastny (7.5M) - Galchenyuk
Drouin - Bozak (6.0M) - Gallagher
Hudon - Danault - Scherbak/Lehkonen
<Best three of the many 4th liners in the organization>

Alzner - Green (6.5M)
Mete - Petry
J.Johnson (4.0M) - Rielly/Valiev/Juulsen/Lernout

Price
Lindgren


Strategic rebuild is on. Regardless of how the team preforms, the UFAs will be win/win (either traded away as rentals or actually becomes pieces worth keeping).

Picks from 2018/2019 and assets from Pacioretty/Weber would hopefully give the team boost to compete again in few years. Fans get to enjoy following the organization again based on the prospects and young guys on the team getting ample icetime.

 

[Habs Icing]

Each year we try to predict what the lineup will look like and each year it seems the actual starting lineup seems to look nothing like what we thought. Can't hurt to try though. I'm assuming Pacioretty is traded at the draft because this is almost a given in my opinion. So what do we have?

Galchenyuk - 1C - Gallagher
Drouin - 2C - Sherback
Hudon - Danault - Shaw
Deslauriers - Froese - Byron

1LD - Weber
Mete - Petry
Alzner - Juulsen

Price
Lindgren

I like how this lineup looks. We have a lot of young guys int he correct positions. The problem is the three missing pieces that will make or break the team. MB is great at getting fillers but not the top tier pieces.

MB's plan should be to fill 1C and 2C via the return for Pacioretty and via free agency. The obvious targets for me are John Tavares and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. I'm starting to think Tavares is more and more likely to walk and I don't see why we can't extract RNG from the Oil with Patches. The remaining 1D would be Dahlin if we got him but if we don't pick first we'll likely be getting a forward so I don't know. A trade for a 1LD would likely have to made.

If all three factors go our way and we get a lineup that looks like this then we are immediate contenders:

Galchenyuk - Tavares - Gallagher
Drouin - Ryan Nugent-Hopkins - Sherback
Hudon - Danault - Shaw
Deslauriers - Froese - Byron

Dahlin - Weber
Mete - Petry
Alzner - Juulsen

Price
Lindgren

I see you don't have Patches in your lineup. I'm guessing that's how you got your 1c. But how did you get 2c and 1ld? You would obviously have to trade one or more players from the roster you posted.

 

[Captain Mountain]

1) Trade Pacioretty/Weber/Byron/Shaw/Benn/Schlemko for futures.

2) Stop acting like a small market team and go hard after UFAs. Try to get a lot of players who are willing to sign 1 year deals to show they deserve big long term deals (potential deadline move assets).

Tyler Bozak/Valtteri Filppula/Mike Green/Thomas Vanek/Jack Johnson. Give Paul Stastny extra $$$ for a short term deal.

Hudon - Stastny (7.5M) - Galchenyuk
Drouin - Bozak (6.0M) - Gallagher
Lehkonen - Danault - Scherbak
<Best three of the many 4th liners in the organization>

Alzner - Green (7.0M)
Mete - Petry
J.Johnson (4.0M) - Rielly/Valiev/Juulsen/Lernout

Price
Lindgren


Strategic rebuild is on. Picks from 2018/2019 and assets from Pacioretty/Weber would hopefully give the team boost to compete again in few years. Fans get to enjoy following the organization again based on the prospects and young guys on the team getting ample icetime.

I'd be shocked if any of Tyler Bozak/Valtteri Filppula/Mike Green/Thomas Vanek/Jack Johnson sign a one year deal anywhere. And those are precisely the guys you don't give term to. Maybe Vanek, but no one wants to give up picks for him as a rental.

 

[theghost1]

Each year we try to predict what the lineup will look like and each year it seems the actual starting lineup seems to look nothing like what we thought. Can't hurt to try though. I'm assuming Pacioretty is traded at the draft because this is almost a given in my opinion. So what do we have?

Galchenyuk - 1C - Gallagher
Drouin - 2C - Sherback
Hudon - Danault - Shaw
Deslauriers - Froese - Byron

1LD - Weber
Mete - Petry
Alzner - Juulsen

Price
Lindgren

I like how this lineup looks. We have a lot of young guys int he correct positions. The problem is the three missing pieces that will make or break the team. MB is great at getting fillers but not the top tier pieces.

MB's plan should be to fill 1C and 2C via the return for Pacioretty and via free agency. The obvious targets for me are John Tavares and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. I'm starting to think Tavares is more and more likely to walk and I don't see why we can't extract RNG from the Oil with Patches. The remaining 1D would be Dahlin if we got him but if we don't pick first we'll likely be getting a forward so I don't know. A trade for a 1LD would likely have to made.

If all three factors go our way and we get a lineup that looks like this then we are immediate contenders:

Galchenyuk - Tavares - Gallagher
Drouin - Ryan Nugent-Hopkins - Sherback
Hudon - Danault - Shaw
Deslauriers - Froese - Byron

Dahlin - Weber
Mete - Petry
Alzner - Juulsen

Price
Lindgren

Oilers would not give RNH for 1 year of Pacioretty he would have to agree on a 5-6 year extension,but probably has many better options where he would like to play...LHD available as UFA's CDH and Barberio.

 

[Wats]

I'd be shocked if any of Tyler Bozak/Valtteri Filppula/Mike Green/Thomas Vanek/Jack Johnson sign a one year deal anywhere. And those are precisely the guys you don't give term to. Maybe Vanek, but no one wants to give up picks for him as a rental.

That's why the salary needs to be high enough that they'd want to risk it over 3-4 years term.

 

[Habs Icing]

It depends on TRADE's performances and his abilities to play in diverse roles and positions to be honest.

Trade is Cap Space's brother from a different mother. Didn't you know.

 

[Captain Mountain]

That's why the salary needs to be high enough that they'd want to risk it over 3-4 years term.

Those aren't the kind of guys that will hurt a tank, hurt playing young guys and with high cap hits, not moveable for futures.

 

[Darkstorm]

St-Louis traded Stastny at the deadline, they have CAP space and going all in on Tavares should be a priority for them

 

[Captain Mountain]

St-Louis traded Stastny at the deadline, they have CAP space and going all in on Tavares should be a priority for them

He'd be such a great fit for them too.

Tarasenko, Schwartz and Schenn up front. Pietrangelo and Paryako on D. Useful vets like Steen and Bouwmeester. And great prospects coming too.

 

[Habs100]

Tavares at Montreal what a joke. Why would he want to come here.....
The money ? Every team will make place for his salary. Lebrun said recently that San Jose and St Louis are very strong on him like all the teams in fact
The better fans of the league ? Yeah yeah lool, the same guys who will destroy him and his private life when he will not score in two games in a row
The media ? The same media who will destroy him because he doesn't say "Merci Montréal" when he will have the first star of a game
The GM ? The guy who during six years cannot improve his team and give a lot of bad contracts to players who not bring anything substantial... Furthermore, who destroyed his defence...
The coach ? A dinosaur who prefer players good without the puck rather than skilled players and praise for a defensive style....
The other players of the team ? An injured prone Price, an older and slower Weber in a league more and more faster and a captain who disappear when it count....

I'm agree, I push a little too far on some points especially for the fans but seriously stop dreamming with Tavares....

imo, if Tavares likes the city, the only problem coming here is management (coach/GM). If we fire them and bring in better coaches, then it comes down to how much Tavares likes the city.

The roster has been damaged by Tavares, but with him we're immediately much better:

Pacioretty Tavares Gallagher
Scherbak Galchenyuk Drouin
Lehkonen Danault Byron/Hudon
Carr Froese/De la Rose Deslaurier

+ Whatever we get for A. Shaw

UFA Weber
Mete Petry
Alzner/Valiev/Reilly Juulsen

Price
Lindgren

 

[HBDay]

St-Louis traded Stastny at the deadline, they have CAP space and going all in on Tavares should be a priority for them

The islanders have a totally disgusting 1-2 on center though. Tavares and Barzal quarter backing the top two lines? it's just gross. You don't think they are going to fight tooth and nail to keep that?

The Islanders organization will do everything in their power to keep Tavares. They aren't sitting there wondering what to do about Tavares. The ONLY way any team gets Tavares is if he CHOOSES to leave. And I find that so unlikely it's not even worth trying to fake yourself into that reality, I mean just imagine it for fun, like we've been doing for a couple months now but don't fool yourself.

 

[Wats]

Those aren't the kind of guys that will hurt a tank, hurt playing young guys and with high cap hits, not moveable for futures.

Well not hurting tank/young guys is #1 priority. Rest is low risk with potential reward depending on their season. They're the bridge players as we wait for the assets returned from Weber/Pacioretty, 2017-2019 Drafts.

When Gallagher/Drouin/Galchenyuk/Scherbak/Hudon/Lehkonen/Danault get joined with the new blood, there'll be a lot to be exited about.

 

[Kudo Shinichi]

Way too early to predict next years lineup.
-Good chance Patch gets traded, so that already affects the lineup a lot.
-NHL draft, we could have Dahlin, Svechnikov, Zadina, Tkachuk make our lineup next year
-Free agency, possibility of getting Tavares

 

[HBDay]

Way too early to predict next years lineup.
-Good chance Patch gets traded, so that already affects the lineup a lot.
-NHL draft, we could have Dahlin, Svechnikov, Zadina, Tkachuk make our lineup next year
-Free agency, possibility of getting Tavares

My prediction on your points:

- Pacioretty doesn't get traded this summer but does get traded at the deadline as a rental. Sucks for us but teams will know they can wait us out until we are desperate. His value will be down but hopefully we can get a young player in return and a pick.
- At the draft we win the second over all draft Svechnikov but choose to let him develop a year in the minors because there will be no pressure on us next year. It will be the dreaded transition year. hopefully we get another good draft pick.
-Free agency we don't get Tavares or anyone of note.

 

[voyageur]

I think that's reasonable for what he'd do this offseason. Whether it's perron or neal or someone like that I could see them doing that. That lineup still is lacking a 1C and the defense is putrid after the first pair

What's that saying, "if you put lipstick on a pig..."

That said, I don't that's as far away from bring a playoff team as most would think.

 

[CapSpace]

Galchenyuk-Tavares-Scherbak
Drouin-Wahlstrom-Gallagher
Hudon-Danault-Byron
Deslauriers-DLR-Shaw

Reilly-Weber
Mete-Petry
Valiev-Juulsen
*Alzner waived and thrown in flaming garbages*

Price
Lindgren

-Throw the money at Tavares. Whatever it costs. Then if Carlson if available go for him too.

 

[Halakitlikethat]

Pacioretty Deshairnais Gallagher
Galchenyuk Plekanec Byron
Hudon Komarov Lehkonen
Scherbak Froese Delaurises
Mccarron/DLR

Benn Weber
Alzner Petry
Schlemko Juulsen
Mete

Couple big FA signings in there at centre. Gonna compete for the east again