Where would you rather finish at the end of the regular season?

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

10.5 is absolutely not worth it, no denying that. But retaining 2 million makes him an 8.5 goalie, which is pretty much worth his play.

Right now, retaining 2 mil would indeed put his cap hit at 8.5, but the actual salary cost would be 7 mil per as he has already been paid 13 mil in bonus.

 

[mariolemieux66]

If you compare most other teams players signed to contracts and the ones drafted without contracts to the Canadiens, its night and day. We need to rebuild with proper management.

 

[TheBuriedHab]

We need a true superstar still. We will have a very good core of players like Kotkaniemi, Poehling, Lehkonen, Gallagher, Drouin, Danault, Domi but it's missing that 1 star. While the leafs did well in getting young talent like Marner, Nylander and Kadri over the years they needed Auston Matthews to take it to the next level. We need that still. Whether it be Hughes or Kakko or somebody else in this draft class emerges like a Turcotte, we still need the true gamebreaker. I pray that we tank this year because we are so close.

 

[mariolemieux66]

We need a true superstar still. We will have a very good core of players like Kotkaniemi, Poehling, Lehkonen, Gallagher, Drouin, Danault, Domi but it's missing that 1 star. While the leafs did well in getting young talent like Marner, Nylander and Kadri over the years they needed Auston Matthews to take it to the next level. We need that still. Whether it be Hughes or Kakko or somebody else in this draft class emerges like a Turcotte, we still need the true gamebreaker. I pray that we tank this year because we are so close.

We don't have enough stars and the one we have, other than Price , are not game changers. We will need to 5 picks for another 3 years at least where our sole focus should be on acquiring prospects and draft picks. If you go look at the rest of the league 50 contracts list and drafted players without a contract you will see how bad we are. This summer was a step, but not nearly enough.

 

[ECWHSWI]

He was told early that Stastny and Tavares wouldn’t come here. That’s why he went the way of the rebuild. If he wasn’t rebuilding he’d have taken ROR for the 3rd overall pick, which he didn’t. He wanted ROR because he’s a #1 or #2 center and he was trying to acquire him for players he wanted to get rid of, not trade draft picks. While building through the draft and retooling you still have to acquire important players through player transactions.

Your only argument showing MB is thinking rebuilding is His assumed refusal of giving the 3OA ??

Thats damn weak

 

[Lshap]

Accumulation of single event...

The event Pacioretty has accumulated more than anything else is goals. Lots of goals. Since 2011 he's scored the 9th most in the league. Before last season he was 4th, behind only Ovechkin, Stamkos, and Pavelski (who played 18 more games). I'm pretty sure GMs will be factoring in that over other isolated events.

 

[Simarino]

We don't have enough stars and the one we have, other than Price , are not game changers. We will need to 5 picks for another 3 years at least where our sole focus should be on acquiring prospects and draft picks. If you go look at the rest of the league 50 contracts list and drafted players without a contract you will see how bad we are. This summer was a step, but not nearly enough.

Im with you on that one, we have a good deep prospect pool with solid players like Poehling,Brook,Hillis and cie, but only Kotkaniemi got a chance to be close to an elite player if he's developing properly.

We need to tank at least 2 more years to acquire these elite players and 2-3 more years till they become elite in the nhl.. That should be the plan if they really want to commit on winning a stanley cup

 

[montreal]

2 years of getting a top 5 pick if done right and a little luck in terms of the strength of the draft class and we could be in great shape if we get a true star player and a top pairing blueline prospect.

I really like the D prospects but we need a big time top LD prospect still. Brook, Mete, Juulsen, Romanov, Fleury, Harris gives us a nice group to work with at least.

At center we are clearly much better off with Kota/Poehling but to be a top team if we can land a true star that forces Kota and Poehling down to the 2nd and 3rd lines means we would have the quality center depth to be a contender down the road if things worked out as planned which of course is a big if. We'll still need to fill out the ranks with some quality wingers but who knows what moves the next GM will make. Weber, Price, Pac, Domi, Drouin, these guys could yield us some quality picks/prospects at some point especially if we retain 50% where needed or so.

 

[Le Barron de HF]

If MB could pull off this off, I would be a happy camper:

1) Trade Pacioretty for a similar package to Rick Nash or Evander Kane. (1st + 2nd/B level prospect)
2) Let all the pro kids play an extra year in the AHL (Evans, Mac, Mete, Juulsen, Lindgren).
3) Give favorable matchups to the likes of Armia & Reilly.
4) At the deadline, trade Armia (2nd round pick), Reilly (2nd round pick), Byron (late 1st/2nd round pick) and Benn/Plekanec/Schlemko/Niemi for anything.

We'd be looking at this with the following moves: 2-3 first round picks, 4-5 second round picks, plus a bunch of picks in the 4-5-6 range while making sure that none of the kids are rushed AND we finish in the bottom.

 

[ECWHSWI]

The event Pacioretty has accumulated more than anything else is goals. Lots of goals. Since 2011 he's scored the 9th most in the league. Before last season he was 4th, behind only Ovechkin, Stamkos, and Pavelski (who played 18 more games). I'm pretty sure GMs will be factoring in that over other isolated events.

accumulation of isolated events.

they'll remember a lot of them when talking trade with Habs GM... they won't sound that isolated.

 

[Spearmint Rhino]

1. Have an Owner who isn't also the President
2. Have a President who has a clue about hockey
3. Hire the best management team money can buy
4. Rebuild

 

[NotProkofievian]

We need a true superstar still. We will have a very good core of players like Kotkaniemi, Poehling, Lehkonen, Gallagher, Drouin, Danault, Domi but it's missing that 1 star. While the leafs did well in getting young talent like Marner, Nylander and Kadri over the years they needed Auston Matthews to take it to the next level. We need that still. Whether it be Hughes or Kakko or somebody else in this draft class emerges like a Turcotte, we still need the true gamebreaker. I pray that we tank this year because we are so close.

Must our true superstar also be legit? Just tryna be specific here.

 

[BLONG7]

1. Have an Owner who isn't also the President
2. Have a President who has a clue about hockey
3. Hire the best management team money can buy
4. Rebuild

Would love to see this...it's the Leafs model if you can imagine........

 

[Omar]

Your only argument showing MB is thinking rebuilding is His assumed refusal of giving the 3OA ??

Thats damn weak

Molson has said they are now focusing on youth.

Bergevin has said the goal is to go with young players except Weber and Price. He even called it a reset because in his mind a rebuild means you trade absolutely everyone.

So we are rebuilding.

 

[417]

The event Pacioretty has accumulated more than anything else is goals. Lots of goals. Since 2011 he's scored the 9th most in the league. Before last season he was 4th, behind only Ovechkin, Stamkos, and Pavelski (who played 18 more games). I'm pretty sure GMs will be factoring in that over other isolated events.

Great post!

 

[TheBuriedHab]

Depends how real his legitness is.

In recent years and moving forward we have and will add significantly more young prospects into the pool. This is the main focus right now. Seeing as we already have a lot of depth of prospects at wing and on D, the only place we are, have been and likely will continue to have a lack of is at center. I was very glad we drafted 7 of them this year and Poehling last year. With any luck we can add even more, better one(s) next year. Center is a position the exacts the most value by far and it’s not even close. If Patches was a center he’d set this franchise up for years with what he’d fetch but alas, wingers and bottom 4 D are a dime a dozen.

I would go so far as to say if we only had centers in the farm and no other position, I’d be fine with that. You can always trade a center for a kings ransom to address any other need but you can’t trade wingers and most D for quality centers.

So if next year we draft Hughes, Dach, Newhook etc and not draft a winger or a D, I’m perfectly fine with that. Just like I’d rather Kotkaniemi over Boqvist every day of the week.

They still need to be good, we drafted several centers in the past like Urquhart, Chipchura, Vail, Nattinen, Bradley, Fortier, etc... and look at the return we got for them. And a top blueliner will cost you and arm and a leg as well. Just look at what happened to this team whenever we didn't have Markov in the lineup. You have to have a top blueliner and good goaltending. So while a center is very important, if you don't have a good defensemen or two you are f***ed unless you have a Price that can stand on his head.

My point is I don't see us getting a Hughes, Dach, Newhook because they didn't sell off assets like they should have and I got to think Price rebounds and if they can't trade Pac he's got to be better if he wants to get paid next summer.

Guess we'll see who ends up better between Boqvist and Kotka, but my point was you get Boqivst and something else like say Berggren.

Yes he’s my favourite player as he puts effort in every shift but would you rather have him on another team?

100% yes, he must be traded but our GM sucks at his job. Love the way he plays but I look at him as a guy you want to win with over say the next 3-4 years. He's on a great contract, coming off a career year, it should have been a slam dunk to trade him and Petry to get a high end prospect/pick as they are guys with the highest trade value since both just had career years.

Don't get me wrong, I'd rather have him then trade him, but what good does keeping him do for us, as we'll win more games but still suck and likely miss the playoffs over the next several years. The problem is we never seem to trade players when they are at peak value, it's much tougher when you are a contender as you don't want to lose what they bring to the team but when you suck and it looks like you are going to suck for years to come, the smarter move is to trade assets at their peak value imo.

 

[ECWHSWI]

Molson has said they are now focusing on youth.

Bergevin has said the goal is to go with young players except Weber and Price. He even called it a reset because in his mind a rebuild means you trade absolutely everyone.

So we are rebuilding.

They acquired Armia who, while not old, is probably older than guys he'll push out of the lineup at forward.
He was interested in acquiring Stastny, who isnt much younger than Plekanec.
He got Plekanec back, who isnt young anymore
Showed interest in ROR, who isnt really "old" but still, is a veteran

so yeah, Bergevin is SAYING the Habs are rebuilding.... although he doesnt want to use the word, and his actions are NOT showing any kind of retool or rebuild...

but hey! he said youth, so all is good with this greast GM...

 

[DAChampion]

I worry that Bergevin will try to show Pacioretty who is the boss by burying him on the 4th line. That would be good for the Habs' tank, but bad for the Habs' reputation and for Pacioretty's trade value.

 

[montreal]

Why not just draft Kotkaniemi and get two chances at a top C?

My guess would be that you could get a better C prospect in '19, so you would fill both holes that we need, the missing top D and top C prospects while having Brook/Mete/Juulsen/Fleury to round out our D prospects and Poehling/Olofsson plus use the extra picks next year and another top pick in '20 on more centers.

That's if say the Wings offered 6th and 33rd for 3rd. So Kotka vs Boqvist/Berggren and in my thinking, if you are taking Boqvist perhaps they wouldn't have gone for Romanov at 38 so say they go with Thomas. Geting Boqvist, Berggren, Ylonen, Thomas, Olofsson, Hillis at least looks like it would have been a better drat then Kotka, Ylonen, Romanov, Olofsson, Hillis. Granted there's a lot of if's and who knows what they would have actually done but had it gone that way I don't see the problem at least. Plus I'm always worried about picking someone with skating issues in today's NHL.

What does any of this have to do with picking Kotkaniemi at 3 this year? Seems like your whole plan is for sucking again next year.

Why not have Kotkaniemi this year as the presumptive best center in the draft and still suck again to get more young assets next year?

Seems unproductive to move down in a draft when you already have a top 3 pick while you’re trying to rebuild.

Next year's draft is said to be very deep in quality center prospects. So for me getting the top center prospect this year at 3 isn't the best way to go. So if you trade down you can still get as good of a prospect in Boqvist and you add say the 33rd pick that means another high quality asset.

I don't think it's unproductive to move down from 3 when it's said that from 3 to say 8 or so are very closely matched. Yes we badly needed a center prospect like Kotka but the same can be said for Boqvist so you get you top D prospect now and get you top center prospect next year and the following.

 

[Mrb1p]

My guess would be that you could get a better C prospect in '19, so you would fill both holes that we need, the missing top D and top C prospects while having Brook/Mete/Juulsen/Fleury to round out our D prospects and Poehling/Olofsson plus use the extra picks next year and another top pick in '20 on more centers.

That's if say the Wings offered 6th and 33rd for 3rd. So Kotka vs Boqvist/Berggren and in my thinking, if you are taking Boqvist perhaps they wouldn't have gone for Romanov at 38 so say they go with Thomas. Geting Boqvist, Berggren, Ylonen, Thomas, Olofsson, Hillis at least looks like it would have been a better drat then Kotka, Ylonen, Romanov, Olofsson, Hillis. Granted there's a lot of if's and who knows what they would have actually done but had it gone that way I don't see the problem at least. Plus I'm always worried about picking someone with skating issues in today's NHL.



Next year's draft is said to be very deep in quality center prospects. So for me getting the top center prospect this year at 3 isn't the best way to go. So if you trade down you can still get as good of a prospect in Boqvist and you add say the 33rd pick that means another high quality asset.

I don't think it's unproductive to move down from 3 when it's said that from 3 to say 8 or so are very closely matched. Yes we badly needed a center prospect like Kotka but the same can be said for Boqvist so you get you top D prospect now and get you top center prospect next year and the following.

Why not actually buils a position of strength at C and move from there?

 

[montreal]

Why not actually buils a position of strength at C and move from there?

because you can do that over the next 2 drafts while giving us a top D prospect which we also badly need and you have Poehling/Olofsson/Thomas (if going by my post) to at least give you some depth there in the meantime. My plan would have been to go after the Avs hard, do what it takes to get that Sens 1st and go into the '19 draft with hopefully 2 top 5 picks.

I like what I've seen from Kotka so it's not a big deal, just would have done things differently.

 

[Mrb1p]

because you can do that over the next 2 drafts while giving us a top D prospect which we also badly need and you have Poehling/Olofsson/Thomas (if going by my post) to at least give you some depth there in the meantime. My plan would have been to go after the Avs hard, do what it takes to get that Sens 1st and go into the '19 draft with hopefully 2 top 5 picks.

I like what I've seen from Kotka so it's not a big deal, just would have done things differently.

The C pool looks a lot stronger with Kotkaniemi than without and the wingers in Kaliyev and Kakko look like much better wingers than the ones available there, plus well probably be able to pick Honka with Patches first. People are somehow sticking to the idea of Kotkaniemi being a worse C prospect than what usually goes in the first few picks, its wrong.

 

[Sterling Archer]

My guess would be that you could get a better C prospect in '19, so you would fill both holes that we need, the missing top D and top C prospects while having Brook/Mete/Juulsen/Fleury to round out our D prospects and Poehling/Olofsson plus use the extra picks next year and another top pick in '20 on more centers.

That's if say the Wings offered 6th and 33rd for 3rd. So Kotka vs Boqvist/Berggren and in my thinking, if you are taking Boqvist perhaps they wouldn't have gone for Romanov at 38 so say they go with Thomas. Geting Boqvist, Berggren, Ylonen, Thomas, Olofsson, Hillis at least looks like it would have been a better drat then Kotka, Ylonen, Romanov, Olofsson, Hillis. Granted there's a lot of if's and who knows what they would have actually done but had it gone that way I don't see the problem at least. Plus I'm always worried about picking someone with skating issues in today's NHL.



Next year's draft is said to be very deep in quality center prospects. So for me getting the top center prospect this year at 3 isn't the best way to go. So if you trade down you can still get as good of a prospect in Boqvist and you add say the 33rd pick that means another high quality asset.

I don't think it's unproductive to move down from 3 when it's said that from 3 to say 8 or so are very closely matched. Yes we badly needed a center prospect like Kotka but the same can be said for Boqvist so you get you top D prospect now and get you top center prospect next year and the following.

The main flaws I see with your post are a) you’re assuming there was a team who would have traded to move down and b) your relying on hope that next year we’re in a position to draft a prospect who might be better than Kotkaniemi.

If we do suck again and have the opportunity to draft another blue chip center prospect than how is that a bad thing? Not all centers pan out so if we have 2,3,4 blue chip center prospects, I’ll take it. Worst comes to worse and you need to make space for the top 2 or 3 of them, you can simply trade the ones who aren’t there for a kings ransom anyways. Centers have incredible value and you can use them to get value well into their 20’s.

As for drafting Boqvist or any other D, the draft has shown time and time again that All Star caliber D can be had later in the 1st and later rounds. To use a pick on a D over a center that high would be a mistake IMO unless the talent difference is exponentially higher a la Dahlin vs the rest.

If you like you’re guy at 3, take him at 3. The fact Arizona picked Hayton at 5 says everything you need to know about the value of a center in today’s NHL. Add the fact you jay Patches should net us at least another 1st and we have been more opportunity to add to the depth of this organization next year.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

Wouldn't bet on us bottoming out for the next two years. I know this organisation too well

 

[dackelljuneaubulis02]

Wouldn't bet on us bottoming out for the next two years. I know this organisation too well

I'm worried about Price coming back to life and eeking us into the playoffs. Would be pretty disastrous.

Injuries played a part as well but I just think that we're too miserable up the middle to not be in the bottom 5. Would like to be more certain about that though. Trading Patches should help in theory but I swear he just seems like such a miserable leader that we could actually get a boost from seeing him go.