HF Habs: Blueline Prospects/Young Players - Who to Keep Who to Trade

[Shutdown]

unless a team is adamant about including Harris in a trade package for a young top 2 line forward, there's no need to get rid of a guy like him.

odds are that if the Habs trade Harris away, they'll be looking for exactly that type of player in 3 years to shore up their D.

 

[Hins77]

The value of Harris is extremely high. He's young. He's good. He's cheap.

Have you looked at contenders top 6? Look at the f***ing Leafs man, he'd be like their 3rd best defenseman.



Struble will be back in the AHL, I can't see a path where Struble plays in our defense next year if Reinbacher graduates and sticks. They'd have to trade Kovacevic, which would make the D group even greener, and have a rotation of those guys.

By contender point of view, I take Rielly, Giordano, Brodie, Mccabe over Harris. Even if Giordano is old, he is more valuable than Harris for a contender team. klingberg already made 67 pts. He is 31 years old, but honestly, i wouldnt have paid that kind of money for him, but he is not worse than Harris.
There is no reason to overhype our player, especially because we are at the bottom for a reason. Harris could fetch a 2rd or 3ed pick and this could be a good return

 

[DAChampion]

Harris ' potential value to the Habs' is a player who starts the pre-season as a 7th dman for a cheap salary, then moves up the depth charts as there are a standard two or three injuries to the D. He would thus play 50 or 60 games in a couple years, and keep doing that until one of Struble, Konyshov, Trudeau, or Engstrom or some player not yet drafted replaces him ... He then gets flipped for a 2nd rounder, in 2026. In the meantime he stabilizes the development environment on the team by making the overall roster more competent.

 

[Boss Man Hughes]

By contender point of view, I take Rielly, Giordano, Brodie, Mccabe over Harris. Even if Giordano is old, he is more valuable than Harris for a contender team. klingberg already made 67 pts. He is 31 years old, but honestly, i wouldnt have paid that kind of money for him, but he is not worse than Harris.
There is no reason to overhype our player, especially because we are at the bottom for a reason. Harris could fetch a 2rd or 3ed pick and this could be a good return

Giordano is bad. He is probably useful as a bottom pairing d. Haris wouldn't be top 3 on the Leafs but he makes the top 6.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Giordano is bad. He is probably useful as a bottom pairing d. Haris wouldn't be top 3 on the Leafs but he makes the top 6.

Brodie is also cooked.

 

[salbutera]

And the thing is, can we even get a 2nd for Harris?

The deals involving young players going fwd will be to address areas of need or upgrades not for more picks … they’ve had a plethora of picks over last 3-drafts

What does Harris in some type of package net is the path I expect HuGo to explore

 

[Canadienna]

Habs can decide to wait and see which young players excel, or move a few young guys now.

If they wait, the guy they end up excluding probably doesn't have a lot of value. If they act now, they will get more value but there's the risk the player they move on from will end up being better than the guy they kept.

I think it's worth it to move one of our LD. We have so many guys that have a legitimate shot at an NHL career on the left side that if we don't it won't be long before one or more of these guys are off playing on some other roster.

 

[26Mats]

The deals involving young players going fwd will be to address areas of need or upgrades not for more picks … they’ve had a plethora of pucks over last 3-drafts

The thing is picks are also like "monnait d'echange." We can use the picks to trade for players, as we did with adding the 3rd and the 4th in the Dach for Romanov deal, and the 1st and the 2nd for Newhook deal.

I think in a couple of years, HuGo will try to make a trade for a big name pending UFA and then try to extend them, like Jersey did with Meier and Vegas did with Mark Stone. So I could see HuGo continuing to stock plile picks even in the 2025, 2026, 2027, etc.. drafts.

 

[Ezpz]

Brodie is also cooked.

No one could ever predict targeting declining dmen wouldnt pay off. Muzzin, Brodie, gio, klingberg etc.

 

[26Mats]

Habs can decide to wait and see which young players excel, or move a few young guys now.

If they wait, the guy they end up excluding probably doesn't have a lot of value. If they act now, they will get more value but there's the risk the player they move on from will end up being better than the guy they kept.

I think it's worth it to move one of our LD. We have so many guys that have a legitimate shot at an NHL career on the left side that if we don't it won't be long before one or more of these guys are off playing on some other roster.

It will be really interesting to see what happens with Hutson. I don't think he's physically ready. But if he was somehow brought in at the end of the season and showed he could make it, that would cause a lot of dominos to fall. Struble and Engstrom being ready next year would also make moves necessary sooner rather than later.

But we'll see. Currently Struble is playing his way into the picture, Norlinder is playing his way out. Trudeau isn't ready. Barron has all but locked up a spot in the top 6. It's a different picture than it was on opening night just over a month ago in October.

 

[Egresch]

When Iblook back at recent trade deadlines, I remember teams trading 2nds, 3rds, and even 1sts for dmen with size.

I don't recall anyone trading those picks for a dman under 6 feet. Can you guys recall such a trade?

You are probably right about TDL trsdes, GMs tend to go good old way of "big with experience" Kulak and Chiarot trades.

 

[montreal]

@WeThreeKings , if Harris isn't good enough to be a top-four D on the ~24th best team in the league, how can it be that his trade value is high?

prospects often take years to find their way but moreso for blueliners. With Harris it's about how much can he continue to progress or not. Perhaps they need to just put him at LD and keep him there as he seems to struggle more there in the little i've seen of him in the NHL. (the Habs are really painful team to watch)

In 3-4 years Harris could be on some teams top pairing and fans will say how did that happen, or he could end up the next Mete as he clearly has issues with his lack of strength and size. Not saying either will happen as I don't know if he's done progressing or not and imo that's a very difficult thing to figure out and would certainly need more variables that would require inside access to practice, etc..

 

[Miller Time]

prospects often take years to find their way but moreso for blueliners. With Harris it's about how much can he continue to progress or not. Perhaps they need to just put him at LD and keep him there as he seems to struggle more there in the little i've seen of him in the NHL. (the Habs are really painful team to watch)

In 3-4 years Harris could be on some teams top pairing and fans will say how did that happen, or he could end up the next Mete as he clearly has issues with his lack of strength and size. Not saying either will happen as I don't know if he's done progressing or not and imo that's a very difficult thing to figure out and would certainly need more variables that would require inside access to practice, etc..

indeed.

I think Harris has more upside than many are able to see, but wether or not he's able to keep growing his game or not remains to be seen. Certainly wouldn't surprise me if he did grow into a reliable 2-3 dman, but it will take time and there is a lot of internal competition on the way that could well push him out before he gets there

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

When Iblook back at recent trade deadlines, I remember teams trading 2nds, 3rds, and even 1sts for dmen with size.

I don't recall anyone trading those picks for a dman under 6 feet. Can you guys recall such a trade?

Gostisbehere went for a 2026 3rd. That's after 10 goals, the year before he had 14.goals, 51 points in 82 games.

He was only able to get a 1 year deal.

Zadorov got a 3rd and he wasn't the best while in Chicago. He'll likely get a 3rd +, or even a 2nd

Kulak got a 2nd and a 7th and he's meh at everything

 

[26Mats]

Gostisbehere went for a 2026 3rd. That's after 10 goals, the year before he had 14.goals, 51 points in 82 games.

He was only able to get a 1 year deal.

Zadorov got a 3rd and he wasn't the best while in Chicago. He'll likely get a 3rd +, or even a 2nd

Kulak got a 2nd and a 7th and he's meh at everything

I'm asking about dmen without size (i.e. sub 6 feet). And I should add, dmen without size that haven't produced offensively.

It seems either stay at home dmen with size or dmen with offense are sought after at the TDL.

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

I'm asking about dmen without size (i.e. sub 6 feet). And I should add, dmen without size that haven't produced offensively.

It seems either stay at home dmen with size or dmen with offense are sought after at the TDL.

Yeah, it's not the best example, but ghost has been going for cheap while producing meanwhile dmen with size who can play, but aren't anything spectacular go for a similar price.

 

[26Mats]

Yeah, it's not the best example, but ghost has been going for cheap while producing meanwhile dmen with size who can play, but aren't anything spectacular go for a similar price.

Which dmen under 6 feet that don't produce offensively have gone for that price?

 

[DAChampion]

Which dmen under 6 feet that don't produce offensively have gone for that price?

For all of the talk about "advanced stats", the fact is that defensive play is simply not valued around the NHL, probably because it can't be adequately measured.

What is valued are goals, points, size, hits, speed, and obviously age and contract status.

 

[Rapala]

Barron always gets sold short, and not sure why? The kid has been chipping in with some offense too. Good PMD, who does need to work on his D in his own end, but so does E Karlsson so..........

I'd love to see how much better our D can be with proper structure in our D zone. Many of our forwards are cheating or are simply too stationary. A better forward group would certainly have a major impact on the D.

 

[Scriptor]

Sure. But the value of Harris isnt that High. I mean, Montreal is at the bottom in the east. There is no contender as Harris regular in the top 6. The moment we are going to be contender. It because. Reinbacher is gonna be stud, Hutson, we gonna have a goalie. Harris gonna be 7th

Maybe 8th, and he's definitely not getting more than 1.7M on his next contract.

I'd love to see how much better our D can be with proper structure in our D zone. Many of our forwards are cheating or are simply too stationary. A better forward group would certainly have a major impact on the D.

Switching from man on man to zone D would also help. many Habs getting burnt in their own zone.

 

[Sorinth]

Switching from man on man to zone D would also help. many Habs getting burnt in their own zone.

I'm not so sure about that. Zone D is usually used when you have bigger slower D who can't stick with their man. We have a fairly mobile group so that's not much of an issue for us, man to man seems like the better fit for our group.

 

[Habs4Life]

Trade harris

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Not in a hurry to trade Harris or any other young blueliner. I don’t see what a second rounder does for us either.

Where I could see trading him though is as part of a larger package for something. That makes a lot more sense. Getting a second rounder is (if we’re lucky) going to yield a depth player which is exactly what Harris is. So why make that move?

If I were Edmonton though, I’d be all over Montreal for their young blueliners and Montie.

 

[Nico Cauzuki]

Guhle
Engstrom
Hutson
Xhekaj
Reinbacher

Love Mailloux’s tools so hopefully he works out also

 

[Estimated_Prophet]

prospects often take years to find their way but moreso for blueliners. With Harris it's about how much can he continue to progress or not. Perhaps they need to just put him at LD and keep him there as he seems to struggle more there in the little i've seen of him in the NHL. (the Habs are really painful team to watch)

In 3-4 years Harris could be on some teams top pairing and fans will say how did that happen, or he could end up the next Mete as he clearly has issues with his lack of strength and size. Not saying either will happen as I don't know if he's done progressing or not and imo that's a very difficult thing to figure out and would certainly need more variables that would require inside access to practice, etc..

His strength has improved a lot, he will never have much reach and will still be outweighed, especially by playoff teams but I think he is already better than Mete ever was and if he doesn't stay in Montreal he will still have a long NHL career.

I am not a huge supporter of having both of Harris and Hutson in our future lineup so something will have to give for my personal bias to be placated but I am a fan of both for very different reasons.