Confirmed with Link: Alex Newhook for 31st, 37th and Fairbrother

[Spearmint Rhino]

Hot Take

Newhook outscores PLD next season for 1/3 the salary and 1/10 the return

 

[cinchronicity]

Avs fan and Newhook fan coming in peace.

You've got a strong player in Newhook. The issue in Denver is that a few very fortunate pick-ups worked way better than expected, leaving no room on the Wing, and in a win-now mode, Newhook simply wasn't seasoned enough to take the 2C slot. He gets a lot of shit from my HF boardmates, but don't put much weight into that.

He definitely has speed for the NHL. His edgework needs some work.
He has a nice shooting touch, but is no puck hog. In fact, he is too generous with passes sometimes.
He loses more puck battles than he should, but I think he is still torn between adding muscle and keeping speed.
Good Hockey IQ

I'd say he definitely has Top 6 wing potential today, and still could end up as a 2C with the right linemates. He can be lethal in the bumper spot.

The kid is a joy in interviews and seems to be a good guy in the locker room. All in all, I think you will like what you got from this trade.

 

[417]

Agreed. I like the deal. But its a gutsy move nonetheless.

This falls in line with what Hughes said he would do when he took over this team.

He did it with Dach, now with Newhook, lets hope he's right again but at least he's sticking to his plan.

He wants to accelerate this rebuild clearly, but I find he's doing it the right way by not targeting older more established players but high potential young players who maybe didn't land in the ideal spot when they were recently drafted.

They're cost-controlled players for a few years which is another + imo.

 

[pickles555]

This is absolutely a nothing move lol

Agreed,

last season,

Newhook 82 games 30 points

Drouin 58 games 29 points

 

[Adam Michaels]

If you don't think that 16th overall Newhook is not skillfull player, you think you're going to get a mire skillfull player at 31st???

This is a good way to see it, in my opinion. Newhook was a 16th OA pick and people are upset they gave up 31st OA as if it's guaranteed they'd be better than Newhook, who still has a lot of room to grow and can do it as of next year rather than 4-5 years from now.

And he was a 16th OA pick in what is already being seen as one of the better draft classes in 2019.

 

[JeffreyLFC]

That is my first huge L for Hughes.
I am not a big fan of claiming reclamation project all the time.

I think the biggest mistake is not trading the pick but at least wait until the draft start to see how it goes and maybe some players drop and you can snag him. That was my main issue also with the Andrew Shaw trade. Trading away late 1st/2nd round pick one day prior to the draft, I am not a fan.

 

[26Mats]

Haha well said.

I'm not sure about Newhook but it does make me feel better knowing the same people who identified Dach and Matheson are involved.

Yeah, this trade may be more like that Matheson one than the Dach one. His former client that he knows well.

 

[JeffreyLFC]

Agreed,

last season,

Newhook 82 games 30 points

Drouin 58 games 29 points

I am not going to lie. My first impression after the trade was that we replaced Drouin. The only advantage is that unlike Drouin he will not have a huge cap hit for many years moving forward but in term of projection they are very close. Undersized, good skater, decent hands.

 

[26Mats]

Who’s looking for instant stars?

This team needs high end talent in the skill positions. Having good value draft picks helps to acquire skillful players. Or you can trade for reclamation projects like Newhook, I don’t mind really. Just wondering what they see in Newhook that the Avs don’t see.

You cannot otherwise acquire skill players through the trade or free agent market, price is always too steep for a poverty franchise like ours that lacks skill in every position and depth in every position and can never afford to trade for premium players.

usually hard to trade up from 31 to 16 with a 2nd and a prospect like Fairbrother.

And many are saying Newhook is a good one.

 

[Milhouse40]

The prospects/Slaf haven't done anything, but waaaaay too early.

Getting that 1st is nice and waaaay better than Bergevin, but missed on capitalizing on Monahan by having incompetent medical staff. They're gone and there's a chance now.

Matheson is good as he did better than Petry, but the probability of him being relevant when the Habs are ready to compete is low, so he needs to be dealt to capitalize on it.

Dach I liked and still seems good.

Hughes and Co are miles ahead of Bergevin, but they're giving excuses already why they're doing things they shouldn't be doing.

Still early, so hopefully everything works out and they get an absolute stud at 5, but what the Habs are trying to do isn't in line with a rebuild...

Well....you guys keep talking about rebuild, rebuild, rebuild with your one blueprint.
Everything they did so far is to speed up that rebuild, from the very start.

Still work to do, but they won't only draft and pray that their prospect will turn out okay.
They just got the 16th overall pick of 2019, just like last year they got the 3rd overall pick of 2019.

I'm sure some would prefer the 16th overall pick of next year cause he don't have a name yet and it allowed fans to dreams and perfect scenario in which we draft a megastar.

 

[HuGo Sham]

the more i hear from people who follow aves, the more i'm excited about the deal. I'm getting texts from hockey nerd friends who love the deal.
I'm not unhappy about the picks - i mean it's essentially chiarot.

They're going to move down if they don't land Smith (I think)

it will be fun as no one will know until pick 4

 

[jiboy]

This move makes sense for our age group and also for cap management. Acquiring good rfa before they breakout is a good strategy.

I like this move and hope he will grow with the rest of our team. Im hopeful Hughes has a good grasp on the team he wants to build.

 

[26Mats]

I guess Dave Pagnotta doesn't only blow hot air.

 

[Goalfield13]

Well they have no real choice but force feed him top6 minutes if they want a different result than what the Avs got. We couldn't ice a semi-decent 2nd line last year, so it's fine, we can give him ice time.

They want Dach at C with some skill on the wing instead of RHP and Anderson.

 

[GHJimmy]

Such a different perspective from both ends, weird.

 

[Victoire HuGo]

So any guesses on Newhook new deal?
2 years @ 1.7M?

 

[Rapala]

Agreed. I like the deal. But its a gutsy move nonetheless. Montreal fans will love this move the first time they see this kid skate with the puck. Now let’s draft Leonard and really get fast.

It could also be a calculated move to get us something tangible from this draft who can play immediately while we wait on Michkov.
That would actually be a stroke of genius at a very reasonable cost. It would also shut up some of these nay sayers.

 

[Guy Larose]

That is my first huge L for Hughes.
I am not a big fan of claiming reclamation project all the time.

I think the biggest mistake is not trading the pick but at least wait until the draft start to see how it goes and maybe some players drop and you can snag him. That was my main issue also with the Andrew Shaw trade. Trading away late 1st/2nd round pick one day prior to the draft, I am not a fan.

Can we give the kid at least a year before proclaiming huge losses? People on here are special man. 2 high draft picks that have a maybe 5% chance of becoming something FFS.

 

[ReHabs]

Newhook is not a reclamation project.....you see, that's what I meant by wanting instant stars.
The guy played 2 seasons in the NHL and he's a reclamation project already....he's developping and Colorado was in a win now mode, not working of developping their players. If we were in a win now mode, it would be the same thing.

If you don't think that 16th overall Newhook is not skillfull player, you think you're going to get a mire skillfull player at 31st???

Gorton got skill through trade and the smart way to do it and take player like Newhook, Dach and developped them. Like he did with Fox and Zibanejad.

He's 9th in his draft year in terms of point....and this was a pretty good year, just behind Caufield and Dach

View attachment 722219

This is an optimistic take on Newhook. A pessimist would interrogate what didn’t work with him, especially last year when he lost his spot in the top6, and see what can happen differently with the Habs.

I otherwise think you made a convincing argument — sold.

Judgment of this trade: worthwhile

 

[HabbyGuy]

It should seem obvious to everyone the habs are going after players in the same age group, who have untapped potential, in hopes to have MSL and staff develop them. He's basically just a more ripened prospect.

His production thus far and physical stature suggests we overpaid, but that has yet to be determined, in terms of what we might have drafted with those picks, and or how Newhook performs going forward. He certainly has potential.

I'll admit I was confused by the move when I first heard of it, but more with the price of this move than the philosophy of it. I guess we'll see how it turns out.

I don't understand however how people are correalating this as proof the habs are most likely moving down in the draft. I still believe the 5th spot is an ideal spot in this draft, and one has nothing to do with the other.

It would be like someone suggesting the habs acquired Newhook to use him to move UP in the draft. There's absolutely nothing to legitimately suggest one or the other,

Strange that Basu would express that the reason the habs would balk going after someone like Michkov due to size, would then have same team acquire another a smaller player to play in their top 6.

Only confirming that Basu is indeed an idiot.

 

[HabsAddict]

Given the timing, Hughes pulled this trade as some kind of consolation prize.

It's not unusual for deal makers to pull another deal thinking they accomplished something. Unfortunately, the second deal comes with blinders and ego...and more importantly, a distraction from other failed deal.

Not a big Hughes supporter and now, the shine is wearing off for me.

As for Newhook....

We got a TON of Newhooks on the way so other then a consolation prize, why bother? He's shown to be a soft 30 pointer so far and that is not what we need to take us into contender neighborhood.

Did we really have to give up three assets to get at best, a soft mid level center when we have a ton of them and likely drafting one tomorrow?

 

[JeffreyLFC]

Can we give the kid at least a year before proclaiming huge losses? People on here are special man. 2 high draft picks that have a maybe 5% chance of becoming something FFS.

Haha. Obviously, it's more about trading away picks before we see how the draft unfold.

 

[Stive Morgan]

I'm fine with losing Fairbrother (even though I know him personally LOL, sorry Gianni) but those picks are an absurd payment for Newhook, even though I like him. (It looks a lot better as Chiarot + a 2nd for Newhook though) Sounds like they were trying to re-create the Dach trade.

 

[Rapala]

a few very fortunate pick-ups worked way better than expected

You are welcome for Lehkonen.

 

[Goalfield13]

Can we give the kid at least a year before proclaiming huge losses? People on here are special man. 2 high draft picks that have a maybe 5% chance of becoming something FFS.

Players pre-draft are the next coming on this board. Compared to superstars. The minute they hit the NHL ice, they are trash, yet everyone preaches patience when they have none.