HF Habs: 2024 NHL Draft Thread

[Lafleurs Guy]

You clearly missed the point. It's about public perception. If you have many players on your team with major psychological issue like drug or alcoholic dependency but you are not aware, are they problematic only when you are aware of it? See a player like Carey Price. On the opposite, if you have somebody that you are aware has issue but he is working on improving as person and as human being by doing therapy and learning on his errors and you even guide him more before it turns for the worse is that also bad for you?

For instance. I have never heard anybody from the Habs fanbase being negative on Carey Price even though he had alcoholic abuse for many years but if he was a young NHL draft hopeful many would have huge issue about it and put him as ND, you don't want that in the locker room. I also believe many NHL player have had substance abuse over their career but nobody has said anything bad about it.

If you have a player with dependency, you support them and get them help. Life is not over, his talent is still there and if anything there are path for redemption.

I am a strong believer in rehabilitation and therapy and even more on young adults. Their life does not end at 17 years old.

Great.

But that doesn’t mean you have to draft an asshole bully. It doesn’t mean you have to draft a guy who wound up moving from team to team… shat in someone’s hockey bag and thought it would be funny to take a pic with a swazitka.

You want to say he’s young and shouldn’t be ‘canceled’? Okay. But he’s not owed anything either. No NHL team owes it to him to draft him. I sure as hell wouldn’t want him around my team. And I can tell you that if I acted like an asshole with my colleagues, then I’m not going to be working there very long.

You can blame youth for a stupid mistake. If it was just the swaztika thing then maybe it could be overlooked if he demonstrated that he was sorry. But this guy is a disaster wherever he’s gone.

Nobody owes him a career. If he’s going to be an asshole he shouldn’t be surprised if people treat him like one.

The Canadiens are building a good culture right now. They seem to be tight and I think everyone wants to maintain that momentum. MSL has told CC and Suzuki “It’s your house. Up to you how you want to build it.” I see no reason why we’d insert some jackass into the mix right now. It’s drama we don’t need and there’s no reason to go down that path.

 

[Playmaker09]

Fully agreed, I think the issue with him is that the floor is quite high and in the head of some people it means the ceiling is lower, I think he should be top 10. But I have the same issue of overvaluing D and C with good defensive play so

Helenius screams Dawson Mercer to me.

 

[WeThreeKings]

So in the end it all boils down to stuff that was even less impactful than Mailloux, who has since had a complete turnaround in character and made a better man out himself with proper guidance? Pre-draft cancel mobs are now digging up dirt on 13 year olds? 14? JFC. He may very well be a complete asshole who never gets better, but I'm far more worried about people in our society going full 2 minutes of hate on a kid because of what he did from 13-16 years old.

'He was mean'.

Well, that settles it. Ban him from the f***ing NHL now, before he really does some harm. Imagine if we had meanies.

Thats in addition to making a joke out of the holocaust.

Whatever you believe about redeeming the kid, the Habs aren't touching him.

 

[The Last Red]

Helenius screams Dawson Mercer to me.

I expect higher upside than that with a pick between 5-9. So should all of us.

 

[overlords]

Thats in addition to making a joke out of the holocaust.

Whatever you believe about redeeming the kid, the Habs aren't touching him.

A holocaust joke!??





The pretending to be offended era is over. People care about bigger things.

 

[overlords]

Great.

But that doesn’t mean you have to draft an asshole bully. It doesn’t mean you have to draft a guy who wound up moving from team to team… shat in someone’s hockey bag and thought it would be funny to take a pic with a swazitka.

You want to say he’s young and shouldn’t be ‘canceled’? Okay. But he’s not owed anything either. No NHL team owes it to him to draft him. I sure as hell wouldn’t want him around my team. And I can tell you that if I acted like an asshole with my colleagues, then I’m not going to be working there very long.

You can blame youth for a stupid mistake. If it was just the swaztika thing then maybe it could be overlooked if he demonstrated that he was sorry. But this guy is a disaster wherever he’s gone.

Nobody owes him a career. If he’s going to be an asshole he shouldn’t be surprised if people treat him like one.

The Canadiens are building a good culture right now. They seem to be tight and I think everyone wants to maintain that momentum. MSL has told CC and Suzuki “It’s your house. Up to you how you want to build it.” I see no reason why we’d insert some jackass into the mix right now. It’s drama we don’t need and there’s no reason to go down that path.

Your namesake was a habitual drunk driver.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Your namesake was a habitual drunk driver.

And probably never received a ticket. In the 70s they’d pat you on the head and send you on your way. Countless stories of cops telling people to “drive slowly” as they let people drive off smashed.

Again, I don’t expect players to be saints. And if some other team wants to draft him so be it. But that doesn’t mean I’d want him on my club. I’m not suggesting that Bettman should ban him. But I sure as f*** wouldn’t draft him.

 

[WeThreeKings]

A holocaust joke!??





The pretending to be offended era is over. People care about bigger things.

They're not drafting him so whatever your personal feelings are on the matter are irrelevant.

 

[overlords]

And probably never received a ticket. In the 70s they’d pat you on the head and send you on your way. Countless stories of cops telling people to “drive slowly” as they let people drive off smashed.

Again, I don’t expect players to be saints. And if some other team wants to draft him so be it. But that doesn’t mean I’d want him on my club. I’m not suggesting that Bettman should ban him. But I sure as f*** wouldn’t draft him.

Point being that it's somewhat odd to be so morally preachy while carrying the name of someone who has accomplished far more morally dubious acts than this kid has come close to. And what you're telling me is that your moral indignation does not extend back in time as long as officers of the law weren't particularly keen on stopping something at the time? I can think of a few things in the 70s that weren't a big deal that kinda are today.

They're not drafting him so whatever your personal feelings are on the matter are irrelevant.

I never said I wanted them to draft him. I'm making fun of you for pretending to be offended because it's clear that it's an act. Or do you think Larry David is a jew hater who enjoys making children draw swastikas?




All I'm saying is it's a weird look for a bunch of grown men to be wringing their hands over the reports of some kid being a bit of a teenage edge lord. If the habs interview him and he goes full yakupov or worse, and it's clear he's got some issues, avoid him. Fine. No problemo. It's that there's so much certainty in people who know nothing that's so funny to me.

Maybe he becomes an axe murderer though, IDK.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Point being that it's somewhat odd to be so morally preachy while carrying the name of someone who has accomplished far more morally dubious acts than this kid has come close to. And what you're telling me is that your moral indignation does not extend back in time as long as officers of the law weren't particularly keen on stopping something at the time? I can think of a few things in the 70s that weren't a big deal that kinda are today.

Preachy? I don’t think so. I just think he’s an asshole and we should stay away from him.

I mean, we’ve had crazy dudes on this team forever. Chelios was pretty wild, Lafleur (as you pointed out) had his own thing going on, Subban wasn’t liked by everyone… they are hockey players, not priests.

But there are limits. This guy isn’t even out of the gate yet and has a ton of red flags. I don’t want anything to do with him. That doesn’t mean I think Bettman should intervene though.

I hope the Leafs draft him. Let him destroy their dessing room. But I wouldn’t want him here. He screams Ribeiro to me, only worse.

Do not draft.

 

[JeffreyLFC]

So Mailloux having once incident vs. Connelly having several issues over multiple years with multiple different teams is not worthy of discussing? If it was one isolated incident I'd agree with you but the track record seems to say otherwise at this point. Why're we giving him the benefit of the doubt and ignoring multiple red flags?

Again, this is all based on an article by the Athletic that dug many years from his past. they don't do that for every prospect in the draft, I wish they did to be fair, some of the most beloved prospects would not always look that great individual and certainly the quotes make it seems more like a troubled kid with potentially some attitude issue than an irrecuperable individual that will always be a problem for the team that draft him. The way some people portrait him here just like he is a criminal like Mailloux or a disgusting human being and comparing him to the most undesirable players in hockey like DeAngelo and Mitchell Miller. I would certainly not claim that what he has done is normal and acceptable but I would also not say without a proper mental evaluation from a professional that he is doomed to fail and un-draftable. For the record, I also believe the Habs won't draft him.

Great.

But that doesn’t mean you have to draft an asshole bully. It doesn’t mean you have to draft a guy who wound up moving from team to team… shat in someone’s hockey bag and thought it would be funny to take a pic with a swazitka.

You want to say he’s young and shouldn’t be ‘canceled’? Okay. But he’s not owed anything either. No NHL team owes it to him to draft him. I sure as hell wouldn’t want him around my team. And I can tell you that if I acted like an asshole with my colleagues, then I’m not going to be working there very long.

You can blame youth for a stupid mistake. If it was just the swaztika thing then maybe it could be overlooked if he demonstrated that he was sorry. But this guy is a disaster wherever he’s gone.

Nobody owes him a career. If he’s going to be an asshole he shouldn’t be surprised if people treat him like one.

The Canadiens are building a good culture right now. They seem to be tight and I think everyone wants to maintain that momentum. MSL has told CC and Suzuki “It’s your house. Up to you how you want to build it.” I see no reason why we’d insert some jackass into the mix right now. It’s drama we don’t need and there’s no reason to go down that path.

Again, you have to separate as what I consider the hit job from that article and the real mental state of this kid, I am not saying that this kid is a good person and we should draft him, there are significant red flags that deserve some huge pause and assessment, I am just telling you that if you knew every stories about each prospect in this year draft there could potentially be more than just him that you would have as no draft, many of these kids have been told at every level that they are special and some of them are super competitive and not fun to be around and maybe complete assholes.

I do not expect the Habs to draft him but I would not be surprised if by 5 o 6 years many people would say that these stories blew out of proportion.

That being said and considering what we know, the team that draft him will have to explain themselves and give him all the support that is needed for him to become a better person.

 

[overlords]

Preachy? I don’t think so. I just think he’s an asshole and we should stay away from him.

I mean, we’ve had crazy dudes on this team forever. Chelios was pretty wild, Lafleur (as you pointed out) had his own thing going on, Subban wasn’t liked by everyone… they are hockey players, not priests.

But there are limits. This guy isn’t even out of the gate yet and has a ton of red flags. I don’t want anything to do with him. That doesn’t mean I think Bettman should intervene though.

I hope the Leafs draft him. Let him destroy their dessing room. But I wouldn’t want him here. He screams Ribeiro to me, only worse.

Do not draft.

So hypothetically, this kid has a great interview, you don't consider him at the avalanche pick? I think it was snake boisvert who said he had top 10 upside in this draft, though I'd have to check my sources on that.

 

[le_sean]

So hypothetically, this kid has a great interview, you don't consider him at the avalanche pick? I think it was snake boisvert who said he had top 10 upside in this draft, though I'd have to check my sources on that.

I wouldn’t even take him with a 7th round pick and neither will Kent. It’s a non-discussion.

I also don’t get the comparison to guys like Chelios, Price and Lafleur. Being an alcoholic or liking to party doesn’t make you a bad person. Being racist definitely makes you a bad person. Being a bully definitely makes you a bad person. Don’t give a shit if he’s a “kid”. I was a kid and I wasn’t like that. 95% of kids aren’t like that.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

So hypothetically, this kid has a great interview, you don't consider him at the avalanche pick? I think it was snake boisvert who said he had top 10 upside in this draft, though I'd have to check my sources on that.

I would trust my scouts to do their homework. If they confirm the stuff that WTK posted, I want nothing to do with him.

Great interview? Wonderful. I wish him all the best and hope he can turn things around. But he can do it somewhere else. I wouldn’t hire someone like that in the workplace, I wouldn’t draft a kid like this onto my team.

As I’ve said before in this very thread, these are kids. They make mistakes. The idiot who threw the wheelchair down the stairs for example… I can forgive it. Everybody does stupid shit.

This kid went from team to team, allegations everywhere only to go somewhere else. Allegations of racism and a video with him laughing with a swazitika? That’s a lot of baggage. He’s an asshole.

I wouldn’t draft him.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Again, you have to separate as what I consider the hit job from that article and the real mental state of this kid, I am not saying that this kid is a good person and we should draft him, there are significant red flags that deserve some huge pause and assessment, I am just telling you that if you knew every stories about each prospect in this year draft there could potentially be more than just him that you would have as no draft, many of these kids have been told at every level that they are special and some of them are super competitive and not fun to be around and maybe complete assholes.

Gallagher is an asshole, so was Chelios and so was Roy. But as far as I know, they weren’t sending out pictures of themselves with Nazi flags thinking it was funny. They didn’t get booted from one team to another for being toxic.

Again, nobody expects a saint. You’re right all of those players (and all of us) have things we’re not proud of in their teenage years. But this was a chronic problem whereby he has always run into some form of controversy or another.

Why the hell would we want to introduce this drama into our dressing room.

I do not expect the Habs to draft him but I would not be surprised if by 5 o 6 years many people would say that these stories blew out of proportion.

All of what we’re writing here is based on the Athletic article being accurate. We will have to rely on our scouts to do their homework. If they determine this is all overblown, then it’s a different story.

For the purposes of this discussion now though, I’m assuming what we’ve read is accurate.

That being said and considering what we know, the team that draft him will have to explain themselves and give him all the support that is needed for him to become a better person.

Imagine introducing this kid into your club with guys like Suzuki and Struble. What would be going on in their heads as you draft a guy who’s posing with a Nazi flag and multiple allegations of racism? Why introduce this shit into a young team that seems to get along so well?

Let him go somewhere else.

 

[The Last Red]

The kid is a major d*****bag. It's not a one or even a two-off with him. He seems like a 100 times worse version of Tony Deangelo, who's bad enough. No need to draft him.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

The kid is a major d*****bag. It's not a one or even a two-off with him. He seems like a 100 times worse version of Tony Deangelo, who's bad enough. No need to draft him.

Just to put things in perspective… A few pages ago, we were talking about the concerns we had with Eiserman’s interview in which he seemed to be a little immature and defensive. In response to criticisms about his defensive game he was somewhat defiant and denied that there was an Issue.

That was a concern for us and rightly so.

To me, THAT might be something fixable. That is something you go into understanding the risks and knowing that it might not work out.

What if you take the risk with Connelly and it doesn’t work out? How badly does it fracture your team? How much damage does he do?

He’s just not worth it.

 

[Goldenhands]

So hypothetically, this kid has a great interview, you don't consider him at the avalanche pick? I think it was snake boisvert who said he had top 10 upside in this draft, though I'd have to check my sources on that.

Boisvert would pick him with the Habs pick, he has him top 5 I believe.

He is likely a no draft for the Habs, it would go against the culture they are trying to build. The bullying kid that Boston GM acquired from Arizona didnt last long in their organisation, the vets in the looker room didnt want anything to do with a such humain being.

 

[Goldenhands]

Sennecke reminds me a bit of Benoit Pouliot in his draft year, some great hands, but somewhat of a project in term of strength. Top 15 is too early for me.

 

[Weber Fan]

I didnt see a lot of games of Helenius. Is Suzuki a good comparison?

 

[Zilo44]

if what we’re reading is true, Connolly is not worth the trouble. There are many others guys around 25 that deserve a shot before him.

 

[Goldenhands]

I didnt see a lot of games of Helenius. Is Suzuki a good comparison?

Yep, Thats my comparison, I would say Helenius is a better skater than Suzuki was in juniors, he is also more advanced in his development at 17 than Suzu was.

 

[Jabba11]

@Goldenhands So far at this point in the season, what’s your top 5 players for the Habs?

I keep watching Helenius and just feel he is exactly what the organization and management love in a player.

 

[SlafySZN]

 

[MarkovsKnee]

I love this kid's swagger.