Prospect Info: 2024 Montreal Canadiens Rookie Camp (September 11-17)

[DramaticGloveSave]

It's too bad there aren't any practices like that for adults playing recreational hockey. I still find it a lot of fun.

Man look at that beautiful low kick snap shot. Hoping Heineman stays healthy, he has good physical tools.

Still a believer in Heineman. Think he’ll be a quality 3rd line LW in this league- think Lehkonen. Obviously different but of that quality.

 

[Paddyjack]

If we lose to the Leafs rookies is it too early to call for Vincent to be fired and how many busts will we have by Monday?

If we are not leading by two after one period it will be appropriate methink

 

[DramaticGloveSave]

I suspect people are over-estimating Florian’s level of physicality to the same extent that they are wholly under-estimating his skill level. The kid’s a bean pole, who will have his moments of physicality and aggression. But his long term value for this team will be what he can do with puck. His ability to transport the puck; his shot; his play making and offensive vision.

Florian’s size and accompanying physical play will be an additional asset when he fills out, but it’s his surprising offensive skill set and above average straight line speed which makes the younger Xhekaj a potential 3rd line player.

I’d be very happy if he’s a mainstay on the 4th. 3rd line is a rich projection imo. But do think he can be the guy you build a 4th line around. He and Arber can be the new age bash brothers.

 

[Rapala]

I’d be very happy if he’s a mainstay on the 4th. 3rd line is a rich projection imo. But do think he can be the guy you build a 4th line around. He and Arber can be the new age bash brothers.

Both he and Tuch are looking to be able to play up and down the line up.
I think the one thing we need most are players teams hate to play against.
We are not nearly hard enough to play against and that goes beyond simply being physical.
We will know Florian has arrived when he is drawing more penalties than he is taking.
He has the perfect skill set to do just that.

From Elite Prospects
Around the net, Xhekaj looks like a professional player. He doesn't just plant himself in front; he moves his feet, presents his stick, and detaches from defenders just as the puck comes through. Tricky one-timers and high-skill deflections are his scoring tools, complemented by those off-puck reads

 

[ChesterNimitz]

I’d be very happy if he’s a mainstay on the 4th. 3rd line is a rich projection imo. But do think he can be the guy you build a 4th line around. He and Arber can be the new age bash brothers.

If Florian can only crack the line-up as a 4th liner, means our top 3 lines will be very strong. As for moving Abner to forward, I would suggest that with Savard almost certainly being moved this year, the team will need Abner's physicality on defence.

 

[Estimated_Prophet]

Almost every team that wins the cup has highly payed top players, it's much more common to win with a star player than a bunch of middling players. Ask Chicago, Pittsburgh or Washington.

The point that was being made was that you should throw all of your money at star players regardless of their lesser teammates and that is a terrible plan as it is extremely important to have your stars take less money like the teams you surprisingly just mentioned. Both Toews and Kane took less than market value as did Crosby and Malkin. The same with Bergeron, Marchand and Pastrnak in Boston.

Draisaitl was a bargain until now and he and McDavid will cripple that organization with their monster contracts imo. If Edmonton do not win before McDavid's next contract they will be doomed to failure.

Of course your best players should be your highest paid players but if they squeeze management too hard they become the reason that you can not win.

This is a prominent axiom in HuGo's plan and for good reason because this is how you win Stanley Cups and compete at the highest level for prolonged stretches.

 

[Kudo Shinichi]

I think the point being made is that a 19 year old Patric Bergeron is a better deployment than a 26 Year old Galchenyuk when trying to defend a lead.

Experience doesn't automatically make someone better than another. It helps, but there are exceptions.

As there would be when you have a talent like Demidov and you are down a goal. It doesn't matter how much experience Randulic gets, he's never gonna be a better offensive threat than a 18 year old Demidov.

It still doesn't make sense even if that's what he means. Galchenyuk doesn't get used in those situations in the first place. The choices would have to be between a rookie and a veteran who gets used in those situations often. If the choice is between a rookie Beck or Caufield, then yea Beck makes far more sense. If the choice is between Beck or Suzuki/Dvorak/Armia/Evans, then it makes sense to go with the veteran if the goal is to win the game.

I said experience isn't everything, so yes if one of the players is far more talented than the other, then that could be worth more than the difference in experience.

Because THAT was the specific point that I addressed from Vincent's press conference.

And we already went past that by point, so I'm not sure why you are going back to talking only about faceoffs.

For faceoffs, experience matters less, and technique matters more, so you'll see young players be better at faceoffs than experienced veterans, but you can't extrapolate this and apply it to all situations. There's only a few possible scenarios when taking a faceoff, whereas when playing at 5 on 5, there's a million different things that could happen. A veteran who experienced many different scenarios and has done it several times will be better equiped to handle those situations.

You can keep saying it's complete nonsense, but again, this kind of thinking only really is applied this way in hockey. In no other sport do teams prefer to use worse players simply because they're more experienced.

Well usually those veterans that are used are not much worse than that rookie player. A 25 year old Beck will likely be much better than the current Evans, but a 20 year old Beck is probably not.

"Humans get better through experience and practice".

You think rookies have never played hockey before stepping onto the ice in the NHL?

Yawn.

Do you realize there's a vast difference between the NHL and other leagues? There's a reason why many star players from other leagues are unable to become decent nhl players.

The game is a game is a mistakes and they happen all the time, thinking that just because a player is more experienced, it means they're less likely to make mistakes is ridiculous. At some point, you've got to stop believing fairytales man.

Do you make the same mistakes in life as when you were 10-20 years younger?

 

[OneSharpMarble]

The point that was being made was that you should throw all of your money at star players regardless of their lesser teammates and that is a terrible plan as it is extremely important to have your stars take less money like the teams you surprisingly just mentioned. Both Toews and Kane took less than market value as did Crosby and Malkin. The same with Bergeron, Marchand and Pastrnak in Boston.

Draisaitl was a bargain until now and he and McDavid will cripple that organization with their monster contracts imo. If Edmonton do not win before McDavid's next contract they will be doomed to failure.

Of course your best players should be your highest paid players but if they squeeze management too hard they become the reason that you can not win.

This is a prominent axiom in HuGo's plan and for good reason because this is how you win Stanley Cups and compete at the highest level for prolonged stretches.

Doomed to failure with the cap going up almost every year! The nhl max barely went up from from 07-15, times have changed. Oh those poor Oilers, doomed to have maybe the 2 best players in the NHL!

Simply having them will bring in players that will take lower offers just to play with McDavid and Drai. Any team in the NHL would make room for either of those players on their new contracts and Edmonton just being Edmonton has to pay them max to keep them because they can get that offer anywhere in the NHL.

LIke I said having a star player is something almost every winning team has, playing "money puck" just doesnt work.

 

[ReHabs]

Draisaitl was a bargain until now and he and McDavid will cripple that organization with their monster contracts imo. If Edmonton do not win before McDavid's next contract they will be doomed to failure.

Drai and McDavid were underpaid before and now they’re still underpaid.

It’s contracts of the likes of Nurse’s that cripple organizations.

 

[CHwest]

The point that was being made was that you should throw all of your money at star players regardless of their lesser teammates and that is a terrible plan as it is extremely important to have your stars take less money like the teams you surprisingly just mentioned. Both Toews and Kane took less than market value as did Crosby and Malkin. The same with Bergeron, Marchand and Pastrnak in Boston.

Draisaitl was a bargain until now and he and McDavid will cripple that organization with their monster contracts imo. If Edmonton do not win before McDavid's next contract they will be doomed to failure.

Of course your best players should be your highest paid players but if they squeeze management too hard they become the reason that you can not win.

This is a prominent axiom in HuGo's plan and for good reason because this is how you win Stanley Cups and compete at the highest level for prolonged stretches.

I have always maintained that the GM is the MVP on any team. I might be wrong on that as in not all teams are capable of winning it all. But on top tier teams the GM is most definitely the MVP of the team, and on a perennial SC contender he is an all star.

 

[Wayfarer13]

Drai and McDavid were underpaid before and now they’re still underpaid.

It’s contracts of the likes of Nurse’s that cripple organizations.

What are the metrics that set what a player is worth? Rather funny how the value of position is set on the real with some positions say a hedge manager being that they can never be paid enough while others say teachers or janitors are considered to he over paid.

 

[Rapala]

Mailloux is the most physical D they have, I think it makes sense to put him with Hutson in case there’s any shenanigan

Perhaps now that Galipeau is gone.
He has the potential to be our most physical kid in Laval let's see if he finds that happy balance.
Gotta play hard but gotta play smart.

 

[Rapala]

All the other lefties suck at it. They’ll need to clear out some players on both sides before Guhle goes back.

If we want Hutson and Xjekaj on the ice eventually that only leaves one spot, Matheson and Struble gone, and no Engstrom. Not sure habs are a better team with Xjekaj over Matheson either as much as we all have a fetish.

Struble does not suck at it.
There is plenty of footage from the NCAA showing him dominate on that right side.
We also tend to allow our Dmen to invert quite often and he impressed me with his coverage and positioning on that right side.

 

[Rapala]

The Oilers were 2 goals away from winning the cup with Skinner as their goalie, I don't think they count here.

They were also the only team that could have beat Vegas IMO. A couple of key saves and that is a different series.