Closing on the 2/3 mark of the campaign. How would you rate Habs current season so far?

[HabsCode]

Rating the overall season can be subjective obviously. If you were to rate the Canadiens’ current season, what benchmarks would you use for evaluation?

Would a playoff spot significantly increase your rating? Or is simply staying in the race until late March enough?

How many players need to show statistical and eye-test improvement over last season for you to consider it a success?

When evaluating Kent Hughes’ roster moves, what carries the most weight?

• Cultural shift within the organization?
• Overall team performance?
• Special teams improvement?
. AHL/NHL player management and trades

Does draft positioning affect your assessment? How much importance do you place on asset management with pending UFAs?

And what about contract signings—how do they factor into your rating?

I’ve added a poll to rate the season overall.

My humble rating:

Individual player progression: B

IMO, only rating our core player, I think Suzuki, Caufield, Evans have showed progression.

Hutson and Dobes are good surprise.

Ghule, Montembault and Slafkovsky are somewhat even.

Dach and Newhook have regressed.

Roster management: B+

I think Hughes has made good aquisition in Carrier and Laine, think it added somewhat of a better support young veteran cast and depth without spending too much.

Ghule was an good signing, despite is health being a question mark.

Team improvement: B

Habs are still fighting technically for a playoff spot, in february, which is an inprovement. IMO there is improved team cohesion and chemistry seems to be good.

What is yours?

Click to read more...

 

[Naslund]

Wonder how the results of this poll would change if it would have been conducted before the last five games...

Please friends, keep your eyes on the bigger picture.

 

[vokiel]

There's a lot of room for improvement, so average at best with a C+

 

[Jurivan Demidovsky]

Considering everything and that unexpected magical run, I'm giving this team an A for being exactly where they were projected to be.

 

[ReHabs]

First 30% of the season: 31st of 32, pathetic.
Second 30% of the season: c. 4th of 32, rolling and confident.
Third 30% of the season: hasn’t started all too well…


It’s a C+ from me and that’s not saying they’ve been bad. It’s just the players that needed to improve did not improve.
Barron, Slaf, Dach, Newhook, Primeau, and even Guhle. These guys could’ve elevated the Habs… but they largely didn’t. (Not their fault, necessarily). They’re either just as good as previously or worse.

Ah, well.

With the exception of Hutson, we are back to getting carried by Suzuki-Caufield and the bottom6 and the occasional stolen game from the goalies. Hutson might have hit the former-NCAA wall that sometimes comes midseason rookie year. Laine was a jolt to the system, in a good way, but he’s not in optimal condition or form either.

Overall: insufficient progress from too many Hughes acquisitions/young players.

Can’t level up until the roster levels up. Until that happens, C+ is the best I can do.

 

[Gillings]

There are to many “ufa” and product that isn’t going to be here long term to call the team improvement any higher than a b-.

Most of the players haven’t progressed outside of Caufield and slafkovsky has seen some during some games.

Montembault has actually progressed every year he’s been here.

As a team, it’s a c+ for me, the coaching has shown the most improvement but the team as a whole still plays like dog shit.

 

[Egresch]

R like rollercoaster

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

R like rollercoaster

I expected us to be consistently inconsistent and that’s what we e been. But I couldn’t have imagined it playing as it has.

The team’s pacing around where I thought we’d be overall so it’s a B. They’ve met expectations but in a really roundabout way.

Next year, my expectations will be higher. Demidov will be a huge boost.

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

Team had a good stretch, but overall look worse than last year.

Team needs to take a run, or two in free agency and with Demidov and 4 top 50 picks they will be ready to go forward.

 

[Scriptor]

There are to many “ufa” and product that isn’t going to be here long term to call the team improvement any higher than a b-.

Most of the players haven’t progressed outside of Caufield and slafkovsky has seen some during some games.

Montembault has actually progressed every year he’s been here.

As a team, it’s a c+ for me, the coaching has shown the most improvement but the team as a whole still plays like dog shit.

I agree with most of what you said, but the team as a whole doesn't exactly play like dogs hit because they have been in games they have lost. Unless most of the league was dog shit, they aren't playing entire games like dog shit.

 

[Habs Halifax]

This is an "as expected" type season when you look at where we are in the standings. We had a horrible start, a impressive Dec/Jan, and Feb is looking more like Oct/Nov so far.

I expect a few more up/down points before this season is finished. They made most of their progress when their team D and goaltending was stable (and with confidence). That has taken a hit again over the last few games. We are being out shot and giving up high danger shots again.

Heineman injury seem to take some wind out of our sails. Now it's happening again after the Guhle injury. Two guys that play simple but very effective physical games with good skating.

 

[Scriptor]

As an aside, the team is only playing 3 points better than last season at the same time when it comes to the League standings.

Without this magical run around Christmas, we'd be as bad as San Jose.

Clearly, the team has improved in some key areas because of the continued progression of Suzuki that is establishing himself as a genuine #1C that can produce at a PPG pace while being capable of facing off against the opponents' better players.

Caufield's continued development into a more complete player both offensively and defensively is another important evolution for the team.

Hutson's arrival has been a breath of fresh air and bodes well for the future of the Habs' D-Corps.

Guhle's also proven his importance to the lineup.

Three confirmed key core pieces for the Habs, four core pieces if Guhle can somehow keep a semblance of health. Or, maybe Guhle is injury prone, but gives you around 50-60 games a season at a high level, in which case, we need more depth to make up for his time spent out of the lineup due to injury.

In the end, that's not a whole lot of core pieces confirmed at this point when your four core players aren't generationnal.

Had Laine been playing to a level where he could be considered a core piece and had Dach reassured everyone that he could, indeed, be a 2nd line C that produces around 60 points... Had Reinbacher not been injured and shown signs of becoming the real deal like Hutson has in his rookie season...

In that case, with things looking like six or seven key core pieces were rounding out in our roster, before even counting on Demidov infusing more elite talent into the lineup, we'd be in a much better position going forward as Demidov looks set to join the team as early as next season..

That's why we're still three to four years from seeing a roster that can make some noise in the postseason and look like a playoff bunch before the season starts -- And that's still provided that Demidov and Reinbacher become impactful NHLers, that Hughes, along with the help of St-Louis, his coaching staff and the development team, manages to add a genuine top-6 C and another top-4 RHD on top of Reinbacher, that Beck becomes a shutdown pivot for the bottom-6 and that some other prospects like Hage, Kapanen, Davidson, F. Xhekaj, or someone that we select in 2025 pan out to replace the depth that we are so eager to lose for draft picks or nothing at all in Armia, Evans, Dvorak, Savard, Gallagher and Anderson.

Beyond that, because of the time frame when this team will start making noise -- if all goes right -- we also need to hope that Dobes-Fowler can make a capable G tandem to keep the team in games.

Lots of work left to do, because hockey teams are at least a 20-man affair (league minimum roster size) and not 5 or 6 player beasts like in the NBA!

 

[Scriptor]

This is an "as expected" type season when you look at where we are in the standings. We had a horrible start, a impressive Dec/Jan, and Feb is looking more like Oct/Nov so far.

I expect a few more up/down points before this season is finished. They made most of their progress when their team D and goaltending was stable (and with confidence). That has taken a hit again over the last few games. We are being out shot and giving up high danger shots again.

Heineman injury seem to take some wind out of our sails. Now it's happening again after the Guhle injury. Two guys that play simple but very effective physical games with good skating.

A lot of Montreal's good run was due to their depth and that was due to magically being healthy as a lineup projected at the start of the season by Hughes, once Laine, the player he had added to the roster in the offseason, had returned to the lineup after his injury in preseason.

Add to that a structuring mid-season addition of Carrier who came to Montreal as a local player EAGER to be a Hab (rare thing for local players, of which Matheson is another example) and a mid-season call-up of Dobes top replace a floundering Primeau that was costing us any chance of stringing along a win-streak and we were set for some good things if players bought into St-louis' system (concepts) as a team.

A team that wins because of its depth is a team whose confidence is fragile if not everyone is buying in and a team that is at the mercy of doubt setting in if injuries occur, even just to members of that depth and not necessarily key players.

The injury to Heineman had a greater impact than any expected because it took the wind out of the sails of our depth players on the 3rd and 4th lines and our secondary scoring dried up.

Losing Guhle, a core player complicates things even more.

Heineman can come back at some point this season, but Montreal really doesn't have the depth on D within the system to make up for losing Guhle at this juncture and for the rest of the year.

Hughes would have to acquire a high end player on D to replace Guhle, but, a short term addition at a high cost should be prohibited because it would go against the rebuild plan by sacrificing high end assets for a short term fix.

If Hughes can make a hockey trade for the long term (another top-4 RHD to go with a developing Reinbacher), he should address our needs on D immediately because the right player being available only happens when they become available for another team, because of that team's context, not necessarily when you direly need them!

You often hear, "We aren't ready yet for that player," and, while that might be true, we are sometimes faced with needing to acquire a player a little early and, perhaps, losing out on the length of a Cup window down the line.

Otherwise, as we become ready, we might not be able to find a player available that meets our
needs and just waste precious years while we can hold on to our core, again, wasting years from a potential Cup window.

The difference with acquiring an impact player a little too early, compared to a little too late is that, at least, in the first scenario, that player can also help the youngsters developing better players at their peak.

In the latter scenario, you end up with good players who learn to develop a losing attitude and bad habits, along the way, to make up for the lack of elite talent that didn't make it into the lineup at the right time.

My two or three cents.

 

[Habs Halifax]

A lot of Montreal's good run was due to their depth and that was due to magically being healthy as a lineup projected at the start of the season by Hughes, once Laine, the player he had added to the roster in the offseason, had returned to the lineup after his injury in preseason.

Add to that a structuring mid-season addition of Carrier who came to Montreal as a local player EAGER to be a Hab (rare thing for local players, of which Matheson is another example) and a mid-season call-up of Dobes top replace a floundering Primeau that was costing us any chance of stringing along a win-streak and we were set for some good things if players bought into St-louis' system (concepts) as a team.

A team that wins because of its depth is a team whose confidence is fragile if not everyone is buying in and a team that is at the mercy of doubt setting in if injuries occur, even just to members of that depth and not necessarily key players.

The injury to Heineman had a greater impact than any expected because it took the wind out of the sails of our depth players on the 3rd and 4th lines and our secondary scoring dried up.

Losing Guhle, a core player complicates things even more.

Heineman can come back at some point this season, but Montreal really doesn't have the depth on D within the system to make up for losing Guhle at this juncture and for the rest of the year.

Hughes would have to acquire a high end player on D to replace Guhle, but, a short term addition at a high cost should be prohibited because it would go against the rebuild plan by sacrificing high end assets for a short term fix.

If Hughes can make a hockey trade for the long term (another top-4 RHD to go with a developing Reinbacher), he should address our needs on D immediately because the right player being available only happens when they become available for another team, because of that team's context, not necessarily when you direly need them!

You often hear, "We aren't ready yet for that player," and, while that might be true, we are sometimes faced with needing to acquire a player a little early and, perhaps, losing out on the length of a Cup window down the line.

Otherwise, as we become ready, we might not be able to find a player available that meets our
needs and just waste precious years while we can hold on to our core, again, wasting years from a potential Cup window.

The difference with acquiring an impact player a little too early, compared to a little too late is that, at least, in the first scenario, that player can also help the youngsters developing better players at their peak.

In the latter scenario, you end up with good players who learn to develop a losing attitude and bad habits, along the way, to make up for the lack of elite talent that didn't make it into the lineup at the right time.

My two or three cents.

The best news we can get from now till end of season is Reinbacher shows that he is close to being ready when he plays NHL games.

At this stage, Dach should be a middle 6 winger and we flip Newhook out. Dach ends up our winger that can play center (injury insurance type winger). Got to find a 2C and maybe Duchene is a good stop gap.

 

[BergevinBurner]

It's hard to grade this team. They had a very long stretch of looking like one of the worst teams in the league, then they had a month stretch of looking competitive, and now we're back to looking like bottom feeders.

Demidov will definitely help, but Hughes will need to be busy this offseason if he wants to see some serious progression next season.

 

[nhlfan9191]

I agree with most of what you said, but the team as a whole doesn't exactly play like dogs hit because they have been in games they have lost. Unless most of the league was dog shit, they aren't playing entire games like dog shit.

They had that hot streak where they were playing great, but the rest of the season has been below expectations. I was happier with the way they consistently competed and were in games last year to the inconsistent and larger sample size of poor play this year. I think they’ve regressed in a lot of ways but you could argue they stalled but that’s just my opinion.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

As an aside, the team is only playing 3 points better than last season at the same time when it comes to the League standings.

Without this magical run around Christmas, we'd be as bad as San Jose.

You cannot just write off an extended run like that anymore than you can write off the terrible start. That wasn’t a fluke run, we beat the best teams in the league.

What we saw in that run was a glimpse of what this team can do when it’s healthy. We do not have the depth right now to sustain losing players who are doing well. Heineman was a surprise this season and played so well giving us depth we’d been missing and then we lost Guhle. In the future we’ll be better able to handle those losses but not now.

Hopefully we continue to battle the rest of the way. I get people want a high pick but it’s not a great draft anyway and I want this team to push. Next year we’ll have Reinbacher and Demidov plus maybe Beck, Kapinen, Roy…

Like you said in your later posts, still work to do but the prospects are there already.