Confirmed with Link: Anderson to Habs for Domi and a 3rd II

[admiralcadillac]

We have signed a player who’s niche is basically a goon... for 7 years at 5M a year... also? This player is coming off a catastrophic shoulder injury that required attaching the ligaments and muscles of his arm back to his torso... took 6 months as well. On top of that? He’s going to expected to play his physical game with even more vigor on our team.
Can you comprehend this?

He doesn’t have to be physical, just more physical than Domi.

 

[cphabs]

you can argue some of your points for sure, but goon isn't one of them. goons don't score 17,19 and 27 goals

They sure as hell do on a contender!

 

[cphabs]

He doesn’t have to be physical, just more physical than Domi.

Hmm, the Max Domi that was asked to stop playing a physical/chippy game while in our franchise? Only to be regulated to the 4th line? Yep!

 

[417]

We have signed a player who’s niche is basically a goon... for 7 years at 5M a year... also? This player is coming off a catastrophic shoulder injury that required attaching the ligaments and muscles of his arm back to his torso... took 6 months as well. On top of that? He’s going to expected to play his physical game with even more vigor on our team.
Can you comprehend this?

This is gonna be fun

 

[abo9]

To an extent I agree with you, however a lot of people are banking on internal development from Suzuki and Kotkaniemi being what turns us into a playoff team. So in their mind we finally have that elite #1 center in Suzuki, who solves a lot of our offensive problems while we can still be carried defensively by Price to be a playoff team.

I could see it going either way, we could be a bubble team or we could still be a bad team, a lot revolves around Suzuki not only avoiding a sophmore slump but taking a big step development wise.

Ouf do people think Suzuki is already "elite"? That's absurd - although he does have great potential!

I'm not excluding a playoff race, I think those additions make us a "bubble bubble" team, like the Panthers have been recently. Not exactly good enough to be consistently a part of the playoffs but too good to be Detroit.

Well the year before we had 98 pts and missed the playoffs in our insane division. A lot of last season was due to injuries. Not making an excuse necessarily but you have to take the injuries into account.

I'm not saying we ARE a playoff team now but you have to take the season before into account with a similar line up. Take away Domi but add Suzuki. KK likely being vastly improved. Romanov and Edmundson added.

We do really need a top winger at the end of the day.

That's the thing though, in our best recent year we were an "almost" playoff team, when everything went right! Also don't you mean take away Domi add Anderson? Suzuki and Domi were both there last year? Romanov is still unproven - looked good in practice but I don't understand why rush him in the NHL- hopefully not Mete 2.0 (Idk, I'm just saying!)

 

[Tyson]

We have signed a player who’s niche is basically a goon... for 7 years at 5M a year... also? This player is coming off a catastrophic shoulder injury that required attaching the ligaments and muscles of his arm back to his torso... took 6 months as well. On top of that? He’s going to expected to play his physical game with even more vigor on our team.
Can you comprehend this?

If you think Josh Anderson is basically a goon you obviously have not seen him play. The kid is a great skater, has great hands and can drop them if needed.

 

[CHarlie]

If you think Josh Anderson is basically a goon you obviously have not seen him play. The kid is a great skater, has great hands and can drop them if needed.

Yep we got the power forward that every GM and Coach covet.....Good job Marc Bergevin!!!!

 

[Adriatic]

Yep we got the power forward that every GM and Coach covet.....Good job Marc Bergevin!!!!

Truly a great signing.

 

[Apoplectic Habs Fan]

Truly a great signing.

Probably should wait til he plays one game.

I really like what he could potentially bring. However he is a completely unknown commodity at this point

 

[dackelljuneaubulis02]

Ouf do people think Suzuki is already "elite"? That's absurd - although he does have great potential!

I'm not excluding a playoff race, I think those additions make us a "bubble bubble" team, like the Panthers have been recently. Not exactly good enough to be consistently a part of the playoffs but too good to be Detroit.



That's the thing though, in our best recent year we were an "almost" playoff team, when everything went right! Also don't you mean take away Domi add Anderson? Suzuki and Domi were both there last year? Romanov is still unproven - looked good in practice but I don't understand why rush him in the NHL- hopefully not Mete 2.0 (Idk, I'm just saying!)

I actually meant the year before when we had 98 pts. Suzuki wasn't on our roster. But yeah I actually forgot to mention Anderson!

I'm not making the case that we're for sure a playoff team but I'm just saying I'd look at the last two years in context since last year was pretty injury ridden.

 

[Adriatic]

Probably should wait til he plays one game.

I really like what he could potentially bring. However he is a completely unknown commodity at this point

I've watched him enough to know he will be amazing on this team. The only thing that could derail his ascent to greatness is injuries. Other than that he will fit in like a glove.

 

[sandviper]

I will preface this by saying I think we should have gotten the 3rd rounder instead of giving it but I digress.

We can criticize Anderson till we’re blue in the face (I like him FWIW) but think of it this way. We got rid of a player seemingly disgruntled and unhappy. He was clearly not in the plans as a top-6 center on this team.

Despite Julien (who he may had been on the outs with) missing the majority of the Philly series, Max wasn’t able to find a top-9 spot as center with a different coach.

Add to this, very inconsistent in effort and intensity all season. He probably didn’t want to give up any UFA years for his next contract here either.

He had some good moments while he was with us but end of the day, good riddance. I wish him the best in Columbus, but it wasn’t going to work here.

 

[No More Subban]

If Josh gets those shots Lehky had in the playoffs, I think he'd capitalize on half of them.

Anyway, we'll just have to wait and see..

And as much as I like Domi, I didn't really like what I saw from him in the playoffs. That made this trade easy to do/accept.

 

[cphabs]

If you think Josh Anderson is basically a goon you obviously have not seen him play. The kid is a great skater, has great hands and can drop them if needed.

And his shoulder...

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

Well the year before we had 98 pts and missed the playoffs in our insane division. A lot of last season was due to injuries. Not making an excuse necessarily but you have to take the injuries into account.

I'm not saying we ARE a playoff team now but you have to take the season before into account with a similar line up. Take away Domi but add Suzuki. KK likely being vastly improved. Romanov and Edmundson added.

We do really need a top winger at the end of the day.

96 points, and everything that could go right, did.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

I've watched him enough to know he will be amazing on this team. The only thing that could derail his ascent to greatness is injuries. Other than that he will fit in like a glove.

You can't really know that because of chemistry.

Remember... Domi did great when he had Shaw next to him. Shaw left, Domi wasn't the same.

You can never know with chemistry. Could go any which way.

 

[sandviper]

You can't really know that because of chemistry.

Remember... Domi did great when he had Shaw next to him. Shaw left, Domi wasn't the same.

You can never know with chemistry. Could go any which way.

I think stylistically, Anderson should fit well with Drouin and Suzuki. I’d expect him to make room for those two. He can skate, so he should be able to keep up as well.

 

[Paddyjack]

Hmm, the Max Domi that was asked to stop playing a physical/chippy game while in our franchise? Only to be regulated to the 4th line? Yep!

We didn't ask Domi to be less physical, only to be less stupid about it

 

[dackelljuneaubulis02]

96 points, and everything that could go right, did.

It's true but I think we're better now. All we've really lost is Domi. A 70 pt Domi mind you so I'm not saying it's trivial. But add a Suzuki who's looking primed to break out. KK ready to do the same and still seems like he has a LOT of space to grow. One of the better D prospects around in Romanov. And a potential 1st line power forward but lets say 2nd line 20/20 guy with size at worst.

Edmundson and Allen shore up some depth as overpaid as they might be.

It's really hard to go off the Covid invitational. Pittsburgh was so miserable I sincerely wanted an investigation after that last game with us. I swore they f***ing threw that thing lol. Philly was okay but not so great themselves. I thought we generally out played Philly but we couldn't overcome our weaknesses. People say we got 'information'. I think we did. I'm ambivalent about how good that intel is but I also wouldn't completely dismiss it.

My bigger point is that people want to dismiss what we did in 18-19 AND these playoffs and ONLY look at our injury plagued 19-20 regular season. While not even acknowledging the injuries. Sure a REALLY good team could've weathered those injuries better but we missed some key players for pretty big stretches.

I just think that's not a great lens to evaluate where we stand. I do think we still need more skill up front but I think we've made some very solid additions. I see progress. It's obviously too glacial for some and I do share some legit concerns but I do see us getting better.

I think people will be surprised at how much better a more mature Suzuki/KK duo can make us. They were significantly better in the playoffs and can still be even better. I don't hate CJ but he HAS to be better with the lines. Gally and Tatar don't have to be a package deal necessarily FFS.

 

[Hins77]

You can't really know that because of chemistry.

Remember... Domi did great when he had Shaw next to him. Shaw left, Domi wasn't the same.

You can never know with chemistry. Could go any which way.

If thompson and weise/weal looked good beside of Suzuki. Everybody will. I mean. Suzuki is the kind of guy who thats pretty easy to play with. Heads up and the puck will be on your tape if your well positionned. Everybody who played hockey knows thats, playing with a cerebral player like suzuki. Thats pretty easy. He will attract 2 player on him and he will be able to refill you the puck without no problem. Domi thats conpletely the opposite. As a player. You never know what hes gonna do

 

[salbutera]

You can't really know that because of chemistry.

Remember... Domi did great when he had Shaw next to him. Shaw left, Domi wasn't the same.

You can never know with chemistry. Could go any which way.

Domi also way over-performed his first 19GP as a Habs, racking up 27-points with a ridiculous shooting %, he was nearly invisible post Xmas, and especially down the stretch when the team desperately needed scoring.

 

[Kents polished head]

No matter what people think about this signing, here's the deal.

Either you develop a power forward, or you pay a kings ransom to get one. If you want to keep it under 3.5M and pay short term deals, you're only going to get cheap versions of those guys.

So the cards are now on the table. We chose to pay. Let's see how it turns out.

 

[Shabs]

No matter what people think about this signing, here's the deal.

Either you develop a power forward, or you pay a kings ransom to get one. If you want to keep it under 3.5M and pay short term deals, you're only going to get cheap versions of those guys.

So the cards are now on the table. We chose to pay. Let's see how it turns out.

Problem is you and bozovin are anointing Anderson as a top power forward before I think the evidence is there. Not all power forwards are created equal. who will Anderson be? paquette, wilson, Brouwer, bjugstad, ladd

also, power forwards don't tend to age well. Check out the stats after age 28 compared to age 24-28 seasons.

it is a gamble as you say and I'm worried. I have a stake.

 

[marvelousmotion]

Problem is you and bozovin are anointing Anderson as a top power forward before I think the evidence is there. Not all power forwards are created equal. who will Anderson be? paquette, wilson, Brouwer, bjugstad, ladd

also, power forwards don't tend to age well. Check out the stats after age 28 compared to age 24-28 seasons.

it is a gamble as you say and I'm worried. I have a stake.

Anderson is Anderson. He doesn't have to become any of the players that you named. He's already an established NHL player with his own identity. Some of you are talking like if he was an unproven prospect playing his first NHL games..

Prior to last year playing injured, he had seasons of

• 17 goals in 78 games, 147 hits
• 19 goals in 63 games, 109 hits
• 27 goals in 82 games, 214 hits

He's already shown what he can do and what kind of player he is. Whether he continues in that upward trend trajectory or can maintain that level of production for the next 7 years is the question mark.

It is a risky and lengthy contract, but it's also not totally unjustified. If we absolutely have to find him a comparable, the closest one is Tom Wilson by far. There aren't too many other players in the league with that combination of size, speed, physicality and ability to score.

Tom Wilson signed his $31M for 6 years contract after three seasons of 7, 7 and 14 goals respectively, along with a good playoffs run. He never hit 20 goals before signing that contract. Since then, he's had two consecutive 20+ goals seasons. I don't think anyone in Washington is complaining about that contract right now.

A lot of the so called "power forwards" players examples with the "on the decline after age 28" type of arguments that I see mentioned around here are players known to be average to bad skaters. The worst example I keep seeing is David Clarkson.

It doesn't apply to Anderson, known for his speed. He'll be 32 when the last year of his contract kicks in. In terms of his skating abilities, he reminds me of Erik Cole, a power forward who by the way had a career year playing in Montreal around age 32.

 

[Favster]

We have signed a player who’s niche is basically a goon... for 7 years at 5M a year... also? This player is coming off a catastrophic shoulder injury that required attaching the ligaments and muscles of his arm back to his torso... took 6 months as well. On top of that? He’s going to expected to play his physical game with even more vigor on our team.
Can you comprehend this?

Huge LOL at the bolded. Not defending the contract but you obviously don't know anything about the player.