Which one is the best fit for the Habs?

[Habaneros]

I've seen a lot of posts here provide links and convincing arguments as to why the taxes are not a big issue. There are creative accounting methods to deal with them.

Players who don't like the scrutiny of a hockey-mad city and/or the weather, won't even consider Montreal and that's just the way it goes. Up to management to find other ways to sell the city to them.

Montreal is on the upswing...the whole league sees it ...the team is attractive again just like Toronto got good and all the players want to come there.....Montreal is full of good vibes now and they got a team that other players will want to play with ...IMHO

We just seen the Leafs pay Matthews in 90+% bonuses...example 15 million a year , he only needs to pay 2,5 million in tax....yeah now that's attractive vs make 15 million pay$ 6.25 million in taxes without "creative accounting"..

Same will work for Montreal...use the "creative accounting"...and the team is selling itself this season ..other teams play us ,they can see it ..hard working exciting bunch that doesn't try to win 2-1 (grinders)no more..and we got a good coach (Julien)who cares about his players on a 1 on 1 personal level....Martin and Therrien wasnt that type,and there was top UFA's who wouldnt come to Montreal because of who was coaching...that's a fact...

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

We don't have a particularly great record when it comes to signing prime UFAs.

The question might more appropriately be: Which of these young UFA forwards have the Habs as their best fit?

Pahty poopah

 

[Scintillating10]

Yep, same here. I want Suzuki and Poehling to make the team next season. I think getting younger is the way to go.

I still think a top 4 LD is what we need more. But there's not even one available that I actually like (Browse - CapFriendly - NHL Salary Caps)

Romanov probably be the LD we will be adding. Habs have given up 11 goals in last 8 games. Not like it is an emergency.

 

[Tourist]

Head = Stone. Perfect Julien-type player and a great fit for us.
Heart = Panarin. A natural goal scorer with swagger to match.

Actually landing either of them would take things up a serious notch.

That's actually exactly how I feel.

When I'm sober my head usually wins so if I was the GM I would make Stone a serious offer. Then again if I was the GM I'd be a multi millionnaire and have access to the best scotches on the planet so I would probably have some alcohol in my system when making deals...So I guess maybe it would be Panarin?

Speaking of scotch...

 

[Habaneros]

 

[Miller Time]

Stone is the only one on that list of any interest seeing us land as a UFA.

Panarin is the best player, but unless one or both of Drouin/Tatar are moved out to shore up other areas, the ~22M (or more than 1/4 of the cap) that would be tied up in three smallish skilled wingers would not make much sense.

 

[Kudo Shinichi]

In your scenario, that cap space will be more than taken up by raises to Gallagher, Danault, Kotkaniemi and Domi. I mean, Kotkaniemi is playing this well now, in 2 years...

Then on top of that you've just lost a #2/3D, a top 6 winger, and a bottom 6 C. And we still haven't freed up enough cap space to sign an 8m+ guy this summer.

It's the Price we pay for having some bad contracts on the team (AHLzner), and having a disproportionately high number of guys approaching new deals - who happen to be peaking production wise.

Please, anyone that doubts what I'm saying, go to capfriendly, and see if you can find a way to make it work.

What happens in 3 years shouldn't prevent you from signing an elite player.
Tampa knew they were going to be a cap trouble, and they still re-signed Miller and McDonagh.
Toronto still signed Tavares.
Nashville don't have the cap space for Duchene, but will still try to sign him.
etc.

Tampa signed those guys and now are in cap trouble, but they could just trade Johnson, Palat, Killorn or Johnson and get cap space + ASSETS back. Same for Toronto, they could just trade Nylander and get assets back.
There is no cons to signing an elite player...

We have one of the most cap space in the league. If we can't sign Duchene/Stone/Panarin, then no other team should be able to...

Also, you talked about having cap trouble in 3 years:
Its not easy to predict how good the players will be in 3 year and what contract they will sign, but here's a possibility:

Assuming, the cap goes up to 86 M in 3 years (low estimate):

Petry, Tatar, Byron and Shaw traded/not re-signed
Alzner (1 year left) bought out or traded

Domi (8 M) - Duchene (8.5 M) - Gallagher (6.5 M)
Drouin (5.5 M) - Kotkaniemi (9 M) - Suzuki (900k)
Lehkonen (2.7 M) - Danault (5 M) - Poehling (900k)
Teasdale (700k) - Evans (1.5 M) - Armia (2.7 M)

Mete (4 M) - Weber (7.8 M)
Romanov (900k) - Juulsen (3 M)
Fleury (1 M) - Brook (900k)

Price (10.5 M)
Lindgren (1 M)

Total: 81 M
5 M left

Not to mention Seattle will have an nhl team in 3 years, and after their 1st season the cap might go up by 5 M like it happened with Vegas. So thats 10 M to re-sign the rookies the next year.

Might also have Ylonen or Ikonen in the lineup instead of Armia/Lehkonen

 

[voyageur]

I say Duchene. The Habs get a guy who will boost the PP, and the PK, taking guys like Chaput out of the starting lineup. He has the speed to match the rest up front.

Duchy-Byron
Danault-Lehkonen
Armia as the 5th wheel.

Then 5 on 5

Duchy-Domi-Tatar
Drouin-Danault-Gallagher
Lehkonen-Kotkaniemi-Armia
Byron-Peca-Shaw

PP
Duchy-Domi-Gallagher
Drouin-Weber

1st, Brook, Alzner, Pick your forward prospect.

 

[Intangir]

If Panarin could play RW as efficiently as he plays LW he would be first on my wish list as he is fast and productive while fitting our team's identity better than Stone could. Since Panarin is much better as a LW, I went with Stone because he's just plain good, tall, strong, and oozes hockey sense (which I really like). If Tatar or Lehkonen were willing and able to play RW without a dropoff, Panarin would be a really nice option for us still.

Other guys that I think could be nice fits for us at forward, but are lesser talents, are Dzingel (really fast and competitive, would be an upgrade on our #2 RW), Toffoli (would do well in a change of scenery, might not be that expensive to acquire also), Williams (pure rental but is still the same clutch performer he's always been), Janmark (would be a really good depth option for the fourth line), Puljujarvi (not a direct upgrade per se, but with elevated minutes on a line with Domi he could be a much better player for us than he is for Edmonton, won't come cheap though).

That said, I'd rather we stayed the course and avoided trading valuable assets for rentals. If it was to acquire a good LHD with term left, that'd be another story, but as it stands, I'd rather we be onlookers at the deadline than being buyers.

Fully healthy with Panarin and Tatar on the right side our lineup would look something like this :

Panarin-Domi-Tatar
Drouin-Danault-Gallagher
Byron-Kotkaniemi-Armia
Hudon-Shaw-Lehkonen
Deslauriers, Peca, Chaput

Mete-Weber
Reilly-Petry
Kulak-Benn

Price
Niemi

The forward group would be deep and talented, but the defense still needs major work.

 

[Canadienna]

What happens in 3 years shouldn't prevent you from signing an elite player.
Tampa knew they were going to be a cap trouble, and they still re-signed Miller and McDonagh.
Toronto still signed Tavares.
Nashville don't have the cap space for Duchene, but will still try to sign him.
etc.

Tampa signed those guys and now are in cap trouble, but they could just trade Johnson, Palat, Killorn or Johnson and get cap space + ASSETS back. Same for Toronto, they could just trade Nylander and get assets back.
There is no cons to signing an elite player...

We have one of the most cap space in the league. If we can't sign Duchene/Stone/Panarin, then no other team should be able to...

Also, you talked about having cap trouble in 3 years:
Its not easy to predict how good the players will be in 3 year and what contract they will sign, but here's a possibility:

Assuming, the cap goes up to 86 M in 3 years (low estimate):

Petry, Tatar, Byron and Shaw traded/not re-signed
Alzner (1 year left) bought out or traded

Domi (8 M) - Duchene (8.5 M) - Gallagher (6.5 M)
Drouin (5.5 M) - Kotkaniemi (9 M) - Suzuki (900k)
Lehkonen (2.7 M) - Danault (5 M) - Poehling (900k)
Teasdale (700k) - Evans (1.5 M) - Armia (2.7 M)

Mete (4 M) - Weber (7.8 M)
Romanov (900k) - Juulsen (3 M)
Fleury (1 M) - Brook (900k)

Price (10.5 M)
Lindgren (1 M)

Total: 81 M
5 M left

Not to mention Seattle will have an nhl team in 3 years, and after their 1st season the cap might go up by 5 M like it happened with Vegas. So thats 10 M to re-sign the rookies the next year.

Might also have Ylonen or Ikonen in the lineup instead of Armia/Lehkonen

Good points,

I still think it's important to weigh the guys you will be losing in the future, with the immediate desires - but maybe we could fit someone.

 

[THE HOFF]

The correct answer was panarin.

 

[Runner77]

... there was top UFA's who wouldnt come to Montreal because of who was coaching...that's a fact...

What didn't help is how MB handled Pacioretty last year and the whole Radulov/Markov public ultimatums and crass carnival barker epithets that MB unfortunately resorted to.

I hope he's learned from that, esp. the Pacioretty episode. MB was particularly cast in a negative light by a JdM piece we have quoted here before on several occasions where it was stated that MB gets on the backs of players who underperform, he makes it a personal thing, which poisons his relationship with them. He can't do this and then not expect his behavior to have an impact when he's trying to sweet-talk UFAs into signing.

Anyways, I don't want the thread to become about MB.

I'll just reiterate a point I made elsewhere. Take anyone of the 4 that wants to sign. It's a free asset at the end of the day and allows us to trade someone else who may have become redundant as a result, for picks and whatnot. The idea is not to go into another season with so much cap room in the books.

 

[HABitual Fan]

As a pure hockey move, Panarin or Stone are the only two that interest me. However given the contracts and length required to sign them, I would prefer the capspace be kept handy for signing our guys down the road. Use it to get an Armia or Tatar from a team that wants to make cap space to sign one of them, and us not be tied down with long term deals with guys who will be in their mid thirties by the time the contract expires. Give me more draft picks and guys needing a change of scenery type deals, like Domi or Strome in Chicago. The age group we need to be targeting are guys that are 23 -26 which is where we have am organizational hole to fill, until the prospects we have start graduating, not guys who are "the final piece" for a team that has the depth to go for a cup run. Better to take a chance on a LD version of Danault than give up salary and talent to get a Muzzin or Fowler who are not the difference maker to winning a cup with the current line-up now.

 

[26Mats]

Montreal needs a guy who can score. Skinner is the guy!

All are good. Skinner gets no love because of his size. But it should be about production, not size. We'd be lucky to get a 50 goal pace scorer like Skinner at the right price.

At any rate, unless we make a deep playoff run, I don't see us attracting any of the above 4 - that actually make it to the UFA market.