Not necessarily. Even if they draft one, they probably won't be developed enough to be an elite no.1 for a number of years. There are a few options on getting that piece and I think HuGo will exercise those options rather than drafting one
I mean you can literally put that asterisk on every action on the management side so the comment is kinda redundant
Trying to trade for a Maker/Hedman tier of defenseman is near impossible. Better chance in drafting one in the next 4 draft. Is going to cost way to much to trade for one or we need to get lucky like the Ranger with Adam Fox. Very few big player sign with the habs in the summer and they are going to be overpriced.
I don't think anything you said was incorrect. Unfortunately, there needs to be a point where Habs start to load up and compete. That doesn't include drafting an 18 year old D when Suzuki is 25/26 to be that no. 1 franchise D. You can get lucky like with Fox like you said but let's be honest, you pretty much have to get those players in the top 5/10. Chances are Habs won't be in that position in a few years. While it's not the most desirable path, it's sometimes necessary to go get a veteran D around 30 via FA like Vegas and Pieterangelo for example when your players are primed to compete and your D core is already made up of guys on the better half of 25
It's not. Not when you are talking about #1C #1D and #1G. You have to be good AND lucky to get those, always.
Not necessarily. Benning is the same dude who draft juolevi 5OA but got lucky on Hughes. And everything is a try because it's not guaranteed anything to progress the way you wish. The Habs could've tried to get a goalie like Price for years and had the best management ever, but it took a lottery in the lockout to give them the opportunity to draft a near perfect goalie prospect in the top 5 which is actually that last time a goalie went in the top 5, let alone a top 10 in a draft. So it could happen if you're lucky yes. Most of the time when it happens, it's pretty much spoon fed to GMs. But it's never guaranteed which is why everything is an attempt or a GM trying
No I just agreed with one of your points:being lucky. And connected it with trying which you elided to in a previous comment which I said was redundant as all moves are in affect, trying.
It is historically much easier to find a top D in the first 3 rounds compared to top forwards. Until you see them in the NHL they are quite hard to project. We still have to see what we have with our current crop.
True but if we're being honest, with the exception of a few, to get an elite no. 1 D, which is the only piece on the backend that the Habs are missing going forward, you pretty much have to draft high. I just did a quick count and over 70% of no.1 D in the league were 1st Rd picks and just under 50% were top 10 picks and those ones tend to be the best of the best. So unless you're drafting them extremely high, it'll take a while for them to become elite no. 1 D ready to handle the load on SC competing teams. Therefore it's probably better, once your forward group has matured a bit and your young D have developed, to get a no.1 D in FA or via trade but the latter is pretty much impossible to do without giving up a significant piece which is undesirable
A lot of top defensemen come from. 2nd round or later. Fox, Josi, Weber, Chara, to name a few
True. My point is everything in the end is trying or an attempt at something because nothing is guaranteed fully
True but the chances of that are under 30% so it's better probabilistically to bet on the high pick or if you can't draft one high, acquire them by other means
Letang, Klingberg, Toews, Subban, Giordano, Slavin, Spurgeon, Keith, etc etc
Defense men generally mature later. causing scouts to make more mistakes. Just as many come from late first to 2nd round and later, than top 10 picks
