HF Habs: Your Thoughts on the 2022 Class

[sandviper]

A day later, I’m fine with Slafkovsky despite wanting Wright. Ironically, I think I would had been mildly disappointed somehow like I was when we chose Slafkovsky, if we drafted Wright or Cooley. Looking back at the pre-draft talk, it was so close with no clear cut runaway #1, yet at the same time, no projected franchise altering player.

However, Slaf is no KK so I’m pretty happy we took him.

Glad we took Hutson and taking a swing with Mesar. Beck, he’s ok. I wanted Firkus but I can see Beck being a good fit with us. Don’t know anything about the other players so we’ll see.

 

[calder candidate]

From me it is up and down there lot of good player but not alway the sexiest pick and a few pick out of left field which most likely won’t work out…

Also the Dach trade kinda underwhelming I’m on the fence I like Dach but #13,66,98 + Romanov I don’t know if I line him that much…

Slaf - I ok with biggest up side

Mesar - isn’t has sexy of a pick Kulich or Lambert and probably had better odd of being there at 33.

Beck - also not has sexy but was in a group that I wanted Firkus, Lutz, Del bel belluz, Nyman, Trikosov, Goyette

Hutson I know everyone love him but I would have consider Odelius, Sykora…

Rohrer- I have no issues with

Engstrom- is a late raiser I’m fine with but this is also where we lost out on some higher profile name Moldenhauer, Dumais, George, Forsmark mc-Barker

Guindon great pick in this range

Davidson maybe a late bloomer… but this is where is start too get weird…

Croteau: would have pick Wagner or Filmon

Nurmi : calling it right now like I did for the C. Crips pick, this is a total waste of a pick, would have pick Gendron or Devine

Tourigny would have given him a AHL deal and again pick Gendron or Devine…

 

[kyne]

I had hoped that somehow the team would come out of the draft with a quality right shooting defenseman and/or a solid two way centre that can play top six. The addition of any of Nemec, Jiricek, Cooley or Wright filled a critical need. Instead, they added to the surplus of wingers, lost some depth of defense and paid a very high price for an underachieving centre who is no better than what they have on the team presently. I'm getting that feeling I got when Bergevin hired Therrien...

 

[sampollock]

Time will tell

 

[ginomini]

I'm really happy that they drafted a few OHL players. I think the OHL got hit hard this year because of covid. Only 2 OHL guys in the first is a rarity. I'm pretty sure in a few years we will see many of the 2nd/3rd round OHL guys jumping up the rankings.

 

[dinodebino]

The majority here are satisfied and happy (combined).

 

[malton]

I liked the Hutson pick. Would have went a different way on every other pick. But I'm not a professional, so we'll see how it turns out.

 

[MarkovsKnee]

Overall, I'm satisfied.

They took more overagers then I thought they would.

Nurmi: LD (20)
Davidson: C (20)
Tourigny: RD (20)

All must be signed within 2 years including majority of the rest of class. Only player who doesn't is Engstrom.

2024 there is going to be a lot of prospects to sign.

Happy with Slafkovsky pick. Rest of class: Mesar, Hutson, Beck, Guindon, Rohrer all bring speed, skill & work ethic.

The overall theme of the players they chose: the willingness & ability to attack the middle, compete for pucks all over the ice and score goals.

 

[blarneylad]

I don’t care about random names of players we missed on. 99% or the times they don’t amount to anything anyway.

What I do care about is that the Habs didn’t address the two cornerstone pieces the organization needs: 1C and 1D.

With three first round picks including the 1OA l, I’m genuinely surprised they didn’t draft a potential 1C or 1D. Yeah those mid to late round guys could be long shots and actually make it but odds are they won’t.

Then there is the Dach acquisition that happen at the same time as the DeBrindcat acquisition. One is a sub 30 point player and the other is a 40 goal scorer. We won’t even mention the allegedly bum wrists.

But the Habs organization insisted they were certain about both Dach and Slafkovsky, despite the statistics and odds against both.

That’s the thing with the Geoff Molson era Habs. They’re always the smartest, cleverest people in the room — or so they think.

I dunno. I’m not impressed at the risks they took, particularly with the 1OA. Slafkovsky is a statistical outlier. Would would you gamble with the 1OA? If you get burned, it seems awfully like a waste of an entire god damn year to me.

I think the risk for drafting Slaf is that he amounts to a big dude who commands the play down low and contributes in the top 6. That is his floor ie 20 goal 50 point winger. Similar to the year Nuke just put up.

His top end is ppg domination. So not sure sky is falling is the right tone.

Wright didn't project to be a can't miss 1c but rather a 2way good 1a/1b style that likely would of complimented Suzuki well.

The 2019 draft is way too early to tell.

Is Caufield a 40 point winger because thats all he has done thus far?

Dach is a darkhorse. But drafted 3rd overall same draft as Caufield. 6'4" center. Not the type I was hoping for as I want a legit one not a project. Projects seem to be what Bergevin tried year over year. Stack is in on Dach now. Let's watch how he turns out.

Hughes certainly picked a direction, and after 20 years of being a small talentless team we just got infused with two 6/4" skilled players.

 

[Mayday1980]

I'm satisfied with the draft as it seemed to me that this year the "Big Boi who can skate" mentality prevailed again. (Kemmel at 16 WTF?). My only concern as an "Armchair GM" is that I'd like to come back to this draft say 4 years from now and compare Dach, Slafkovsky and Mesar to Wright, Nazar and Lambert who we could have gotten if we just drafted for skill and not "Character" which also seemed to be more on the minds of NHL teams this year.

It kind of feels like players that were Big, could skate and had the "Hockey Mentality" that NHL teams like all got boosted this year. The only other noticeable trend was a "recency bias" for most recent play heavily in force, particularly around tall offensive/puck moving Dmen who can't really play defense yet. (See Korchenski and Rinzel)

I do wish we took a flyer on Trikozov, Orlov, Perevalov or Grudinen who all seemed available to be picked. The "Russia" factor seemed to really take hold on many teams. Carolina looks like they got great value while first picking at 60 where they go Trikozov, Perevalov and Grudinen. For what its worth....

 

[dinodebino]

So this forum will be liveable until the next HuGo move/gaffe!

Bwahahahahahahaha!

Maybe the Colorado model is gaining traction : quick-striking forwards with size. I dunno. Maybe this is why size seems to have regained the attention of GMs. The Avs have speed to kill, but their talented forwards aren't midgets. Their big-3 is no small change.

 

[Player 61]

It's OK a Splash.?. No. I still would have went with Wright, but MGMT deceided to go faster Route with Slav-Dach.( all ???.s no Gaurentees. BTW I Was a-OK with trading Romanov for 13th(Perhaps?) they should have kept the Pick and Drafted. Chances of Bedard next Year are very Un-Likely. At least they got Hutson.... R.

 

[WeThreeKings]

I'm satisfied.. there's a lot of risk involved here but its much better than drafting athletes who can't play hockey which is what happened for most of the Bergevin regime.

Love moves:
Dach trade
Filip Mesar
Lane Hutson
Cedrick Guindon

Cautiously optimistic:
Juraj Slafkovsky
Vinzenz Rohrer
Adam Engstrom
Owen Beck

Understand why:
Davidson
Tourigny

Need more info:
Groteau
Nummi

 

[Habby4Life]

Wasn’t happy about 1ova until the Dach trade went down. Now I like it a lot. I like Dach as well.

What I liked about this draft is that they took chances and were proactive.

 

[marvelousmotion]

In a few years the Bergevin/Timmins era will seem like the 'good old days.'

I have zero confidence in this management team.

Dach is a freaking bust.

We still need a 1C. STILL!!!!

Just a reminder, what's popular may not necessarily be wright and what's wright may not necessarily be popular.

In 2018, KK was the popular choice around here and Tkachuk was supposed to be a "bottom six grinder" with "no skills". Same draft, Romanov, one of the most unpopular picks at that time turned out to be a great selection.

In 2012, most people on this board thought that the organization had a "near perfect" draft with Galchenyuk, Collberg, Thrower, Bozon, Vail, Hudon and Nystrom.. Turned out to be a disappointing draft, filled with busts.

Moral of the story, everyone is entitled to their own opinion with personal preferences but it's way too early to judge how this new management is doing. To already claim that they "screwed up" or that you have "zero confidence" in them is just being negative for the sake of being negative.

I personally think that they did fine. Slafkovsky and Wright were pretty even to me as they both had some concerns to their game preventing either from standing out as the clear #1 for this draft. Thus, my preference was to go for the C. However, even if they had selected Wright, Cooley or Nazar (with the #13OA pick acquired by trading Romanov), they were all long shots from turning into a 1C. We did not miss out on a Matthews level type of prospect here.

My biggest concern was the organization skipping on the opportunity to draft a top 6 C if they picked Slafkovsky instead of Wright or Cooley, but they traded for Kirby Dach. Again, way too early to tell how the trade will turn out, but no, Dach is not a freaking bust when the kid just turned 21 and was playing for an organization that was in a total mess. In fact, Dach arguably has a more interesting upside than all the available Cs this draft. Caufield looked like a player trending into "bust" trajectory if one solely judged him based on his play under Ducharme, look at how quickly he turned it around once MSL arrived.

By the way, this team does have its 1C in Suzuki. You probably think that we've already seen the best out of him as a 22 years old, but truth is the best has yet to come...

 

[Doc McKenna]

I only really care about the 1st and 2nd round.
After that it's really bingo cards

It's wasn't my choice for 1st overall pick.
The 26th was on my list but not the first one it so it's okay.
Lane Hutson saved the day.

Just expected more, expected the Habs to move up, expected maybe get another pick in the 1st round too.

We did and got the 3OA from 2019. Its like moving up. I just hope we can do better with this 3rd OA than the other 3 that have been on the habs recently.

 

[WinterLion]

Things might not work out perfectly, but this is a great step in the right direction. Keep building the young core, get rid of contracts but keep some solid vets to show the way.

 

[Guy Larose]

Wright Nazar Firkus Hutson.

What could have been……. f***

Could of been busts for all you know...

 

[Habs Icing]

at least i didn't have to stare at stupid Timmins or Bergevin's faces

Shane Wright, why did you hijack Habs' account?

 

[Tyson]

Too early to evaluate but initial reaction is I am not impressed with the past 2 days.

 

[1909]

Wright gonna pile up points and average between 75 and 90 points per season. Slaf will be lucky to reach 60 points.

Too early to evaluate but initial reaction is I am not impressed with the past 2 days.

The trade for Dach is puzzling. Romanov had more value than him.

 

[NewEraGM]

Slafkovsky: really like it! He will be great and what a fun first line we will have. I think their styles will complement eachother very well.
Mesar: meh. Would have preferred Kulich, Firkus, Chesley.
Beck: like it. I think he’s a sure fire NHLer. He’s not going to a star or anything, but I think he’ll be a very good 3rd line player.
Hutson: love it! Don’t know if he will play but love the risk at this spot. Beck was a safe pick, Hutson is a risky pick.

Romanov trade: love it! Great value to get the 13th!!
Dach trade: meh in this one. Not the biggest Dach fan. would have rathered keep the pick I think and draft Lekkerimaki, Kemmel, Nazar. That being said, I think Martin St. Louis will do wonders for Dach so I think he can still see some upside with him. Maybe not as 1C but as a 2C

 

[Habs Icing]

Hutson is a home run at 62. Love it.

Hutson is a home run swing. We still don't know if he's a home run.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Where’s the “I’m not sure how we did” slot?

Our big moves (including the trade) are high risk/high reward moves. It’s not what I’d do with a first overall but he could be amazing so…

 

[altmeister]

Wright is not a sure #1 C and would be the boring pick. Slaf has caught up and I see the potential. . I'm very satisfied with the first 5 picks. The rest: you could have done it differently