That’s how I feel as well. The hard part is done. We’ve amassed a big collection of young talent. Now we’re able to keep the best suited to our long term plans and leverage the others as trade bait.
I think it’s time to start also leveraging picks for players the give us immediate help. 2nd line center and RD help is mandatory. Everything else I think we can wait on but we need help in those two spots. And for the right players I’d be willing to deal off high picks.
People are right to say we’re not there yet. That’s absolutely true and we may never get there. You can do everything right and still not get there. Having the best team doesn’t even guarantee a cup. I just want us to be in the best position to win.
People criticizing Hughes for making the trades he has miss the overall strategy. He dealt for young players who he felt would accelerate the rebuild. He did this is conjunction with stockpiling picks. That’s what many here have suggested for years and it’s exactly what Pollock did. Some moves will work out and some won’t. That doesn’t make them ‘bad’ moves. It’s part of a coherent strategy to get as mulch young talent as you can and build from there.
The strategy was right, but the targets weren't exactly good ones.
With Dach(continued) injuries, freak or not, with prevented us from seeing if he could hit a once-projected ceiling, and suggested he would never get there. Hindsight shows us he wasn't necessarily a good target.
Newhook was, IMO, a bad target from the get-go. I doubt that Montreal traded two picks in the hopes that Newhook would become just an okay 3rd liner. His inability to up his game with a good Colorado lineup was already evidence to stay away from Newhook if you had high hopes for him.
IMO, Newhook would need to reinvent himself and add both defensive prowess and physicality to the speed factor before becoming a valuable bottom-6 player and he just doesn't cut it as a top-6 forward.
I criticized Hughes from the start of the Newhook acquisition because that draft darling had already been overvalued based on high school stats only.
I personally don't blame Hughes for the gambles on talent closer to the NHL in order to streamline the rebuild, but two failed experiments have brought us to point where lower cost acquisitions are no longer the vogue.
Montreal needs to solve three more key positions in order to become relevant as a team. Other improvements may also be needed, but solving those needs aren't as essential in the short term and we have time to see if we can solve those internally.
Montreal needs, the more dire ones in bold, pressing ones in italics and suggested ones, that could be solved internally, in regular font:
2nd line C
Second top-4 RHD candidate beyond Reinbacher
2nd line LW
3rd line C
3rd line winger
Replacements for Anderson and Gallagher once their contracts expire
Confirmed quality G tandem for the long term
The second line C position needs to be solved from outside the system, at least for the medium term, until we reassess the situation once we know if Hage, or, maybe, some other 2025 draft acquisition fits the bill down the road.
If we find the perfect long term solution via a trade, Hage or some other draft acquisition can always play a big role on the team at wing down the road.
An established RHD, to go with Reinbacher joining the NHL roster as a rookie, would help stabilize the backend, but it isn't essential for next season as the current members of the D-Corps can fill the need (even if not in an ideal manner) in the shorter term, until the trade deadline:
Start of season
Matheson- Carrier
Guhle - Hutson
Xhekaj/Struble - Reinbacher
After trade deadline
Guhle - Carrier
Hutson - Reinbacher
Xhekaj/Struble - Mailloux/Struble
A 2nd line winger that is more dynamic and consistent than Laine would gaoling ways to cementing strong support for the Suzuki line once a 2C is added to the lineup, but, there is always Laine, Dach, Heineman and Kapanen to experiment with in a final bid to find a solution internally next season.
A 2025 pick (Justin Carbonneau being one that is currently projected for the Habs) could also be an upgrade on the immediate answer a little further down the line.
A third line C can perhaps be identified internally in the form of Beck or Kapanen, and Hage may end up being the solution in the medium to long term instead.
There are plenty of internal options for third line and fourth line wingers; Heineman, Kapanen, Roy, F. Xhekaj, Davidson, Mesar, Tuch, Kidney and now Thorpe, plus picks from 2025 down the line.
Fowler seems to be an interesting prospect who might hit his projected ceiling as a solid #1G, even if the sample size at the professional level isn't very large yet. Otherwise, Dobes has shown to be a gamer and Montembeaut will only be 30 once his current contract expires after two more years.
(Suzuki)
