Pre-Game Talk: Countdown thread to 24-25 Season (T - 6 hours)

[The Real Timo]

Send him home.

He just can’t be moved. He lives at Belll center dressing room now.

 

[Habby4Life]

I feel it’s the only option left. The way his contract is structured there’s no other way to get rid of him except to send him home. There’s been some creative ways in the past notably Cristobal Huet being loaned to a team in Europe but that would be too difficult I assume.

I’m not a fan of buyout since we will still be paying him for double the length of his contract (4 years instead of 2) at a reasonable cap hit. Anybody knows why we have to pay a buyout double the time?

Why can’t we just pay the full amount for the length of the original contract. I wouldn’t mind paying the whole thing for the next two years if he was bought out next season. I just hate the idea of having dead cap space during our competitive window.


Leaving him as a healthy scratch could be an option but I think it would become a bigger distraction than him being sent home. Being a healthy scratch for any extended period of time for the next 3 seasons can become very long.

Give him the option to continue his career in the AHL or send him home and be done with it.

I think any Free Agent can realize we handled the situation the best we could. Gallagher been done for a few years and we tried our best to give him all the opportunities but there’s a limit to how much you can drag a players career. Especially when there’s 0 flexibility in the term of his contract.

The ideal situation would be buyout and pay the full amount the next two years but that doesn’t seem like a possibility.

can’t send him to the minors he has a full non movement clause.

Only option is to find a trade partner and he waives his clause or buy him out in the summer. Send him home isn’t an option, still counts on cap, and is also extremely unprofessional. Just because he has dropped off, it is no way to treat a player, especially one who is broken because of how hard he played for them in the past.

Buyout next summer
Cap Savings yr 1 is 4.75 mil
Cap Savings yr 2 is 2.25 mil
Cap Savings yr 3 is a neg 1.75
Cap savings yr 4 is a neg 1.75

 

[The Real Timo]

can’t send him to the minors he has a full non movement clause.

Only option is to find a trade partner and he waives his clause or buy him out in the summer. Send him home isn’t an option, still counts on cap, and is also extremely unprofessional. Just because he has dropped off it is no way to treat players, especially one who is broken because he hard he played.

Buyout next summer
Cap Savings yr 1 is 4.75 mil
Cap Savings yr 2 is 2.25 mil
Cap Savings yr 3 is a neg 1.75
Cap savings yr 4 is a neg 1.75

Molson can just raise price of hotdogs by 10% and that money will be recovered in no time.

 

[Habby4Life]

Million can just raise price of hotdogs by 10% and that money will be recovered in no time.

I don’t think the buyout price factors at all to the Habs. They can afford it.

 

[morhilane]

Is this the countdown for another shitty season?

I'm the only optimistic poster in here it seems.

But the pre-season is way too long.

 

[WinterLion]

I don't really care where we finish, but I would like this team to develop an identity this year.

 

[Miller Time]

I'm the only optimistic poster in here it seems.

But the pre-season is way too long.

WC team if we can stay relatively healthy (preseason issues behind us).

Adding Laine at the deadline will be a huge bump, and I wouldn't be surprised to see a fall trade to boost the roster if the right piece comes available

Haters gonna hate, but this group is poised for a big step forward.

I expect Monty to have a big year as he chases that Olympic roster spot.

Healthy...
CC will have a monster year.

Dach & Newhook are going to post career bests

Hutson may well make a run at ROY

Any one or more of Strubble, Barron, Roy and Xhekaj will take a big step forward.

Future is bright
(& It's closer than the Debbie downers want to believe)

 

[Habby4Life]

WC team if we can stay relatively healthy (preseason issues behind us).

Adding Laine at the deadline will be a huge bump, and I wouldn't be surprised to see a fall trade to boost the roster if the right piece comes available

Haters gonna hate, but this group is poised for a big step forward.

I expect Monty to have a big year as he chases that Olympic roster spot.

Healthy...
CC will have a monster year.

Dach & Newhook are going to post career bests

Hutson may well make a run at ROY

Any one or more of Strubble, Barron, Roy and Xhekaj will take a big step forward.

Future is bright
(& It's closer than the Debbie downers want to believe)

Like your optimism but no chance of WC, maybe next year.

There will be injuries, PK & PP sucks, terrible GF & GA, all of these will have to improve quite a bit just to make the POs. Isn’t all happening in one yr.

I agree future is bright, but not this yr.

 

[Miller Time]

Like your optimism but no chance of WC, maybe next year.

There will be injuries, PK & PP sucks, terrible GF & GA, all of these will have to improve quite a bit just to make the POs. Isn’t all happening in one yr.

I agree future is bright, but not this yr.

That's a much safer bet, to be sure.

 

[Habssince89]

In order to play meaningful hockey by new years, we basically have to have:
a)Hutson meet expectations (not full potential, but immediate boost/impact)
b)Dach staying healthy, creating legit 1st/2nd lines
c)Goaltending to be .910+ sv%
d)The team to hold the fort and claw points or get inspired and crush it until Laine returns
e)Our divisional rivals having trouble with consistency where we don't

The Laine return is a nice little internal goal that can help motivate the guys. The first game against Toronto will really set the tone.

 

[SwiftyHab]

T - 6 days

 

[MarkovsKnee]

can’t send him to the minors he has a full non movement clause.

Only option is to find a trade partner and he waives his clause or buy him out in the summer. Send him home isn’t an option, still counts on cap, and is also extremely unprofessional. Just because he has dropped off, it is no way to treat a player, especially one who is broken because of how hard he played for them in the past.

Buyout next summer
Cap Savings yr 1 is 4.75 mil
Cap Savings yr 2 is 2.25 mil
Cap Savings yr 3 is a neg 1.75
Cap savings yr 4 is a neg 1.75

Next summer is the time to buyout Gallagher. We save money for 2 seasons, and the 2 negative seasons are fine considering how much the cap is going up.

Anderson hopefully we can trade with retention. We have one retention spot left this year, and gain back all 3 spots next summer, as Petry & Allen come off the books.

Then next season, Demidov & Beck join the team with Tuch and maybe Davidson pushing to improve our 4th line.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

I feel it’s the only option left. The way his contract is structured there’s no other way to get rid of him except to send him home. There’s been some creative ways in the past notably Cristobal Huet being loaned to a team in Europe but that would be too difficult I assume.

I’m not a fan of buyout since we will still be paying him for double the length of his contract (4 years instead of 2) at a reasonable cap hit. Anybody knows why we have to pay a buyout double the length?

Why can’t we just pay the full amount for the length of the original contract. I wouldn’t mind paying the whole thing for the next two years if he was bought out next season. I just hate the idea of having dead cap space during our competitive window.


Leaving him as a healthy scratch could be an option but I think it would become a bigger distraction than him being sent home. Being a healthy scratch for any extended period of time for the next 3 seasons can become very long.

Give him the option to continue his career in the AHL or send him home and be done with it.

I think any Free Agent can realize we handled the situation the best we could. Gallagher been done for a few years and we tried our best to give him all the opportunities but there’s a limit to how much you can drag a players career. Especially when there’s 0 flexibility in the term of his contract to try and do the right thing (waiver).

The ideal situation would be buyout and pay the full amount the next two years but that doesn’t seem like a possibility.

The 25-26 season will probably be his last with the Habs. He'll have one season remaining and the buyout won't be too egregious.

 

[morhilane]

Next summer is the time to buyout Gallagher. We save money for 2 seasons, and the 2 negative seasons are fine considering how much the cap is going up.

Anderson hopefully we can trade with retention. We have one retention spot left this year, and gain back all 3 spots next summer, as Petry & Allen come off the books.

Then next season, Demidov & Beck join the team with Tuch and maybe Davidson pushing to improve our 4th line.

I doubt they will use a multi-year retention slot on Anderson. Not even sure anyone will want him at $2.750m at this point. He can be waived thought, unlike Gallagher.

 

[Beer and Chips]

I doubt they will use a multi-year retention slot on Anderson. Not even sure anyone will want him at $2.750m at this point. He can be waived thought, unlike Gallagher.

The word you're looking for is though not thought.

 

[Rapala]

So are the Habs working on their special teams in some underground bunker?

 

[Adam Michaels]

I'm glad that the governors are looking at shortening the preseason to 4 games. It will be quicker to get to the final roster and get it going, even if it means making it an 84 game schedule.

Also, this morning on French radio, Renaud Lavoie brought up an idea of no longer playing Toronto or Ottawa in the preseasons because there's always some bad blood and things get heated and guys get hurt. He brought up examples of playing against the likes of Columbus, New Jersey, Pittsburgh or teams that aren't direct rivals of the Habs. I'm not against such an idea.

 

[the]

The 25-26 season will probably be his last with the Habs. He'll have one season remaining and the buyout won't be too egregious.

I doubt he makes it that far. We are already stretching it this season. Too many players will be knocking at the door next season. Unless he takes Pezzetta's role as 13th forward but even that role might not be safe with guys like Heineman, Xhekaj, Tuch waiting in line.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

I doubt he makes it that far. We are already stretching it this season. Too many players will be knocking at the door next season. Unless he takes Pezzetta's role as 13th forward but even that role might not be safe with guys like Heineman, Xhekaj, Tuch waiting in line.

Man, I would get rid of Gally tomorrow if we could. I try to use what I know from Hughes' MO so far. He doesn't seem keen on carrying cap buyouts for long. He's rather keen on keeping certain vets around and while Gally's value on the ice has plummeted, he remains central to the leadership core and seems close to a lot of the kids. Because of those reasons, I doubt he'll be bought out next June. Next June might see us rather buyout Anderson imo.

 

[Deebs]

I'm glad that the governors are looking at shortening the preseason to 4 games. It will be quicker to get to the final roster and get it going, even if it means making it an 84 game schedule.

Also, this morning on French radio, Renaud Lavoie brought up an idea of no longer playing Toronto or Ottawa in the preseasons because there's always some bad blood and things get heated and guys get hurt. He brought up examples of playing against the likes of Columbus, New Jersey, Pittsburgh or teams that aren't direct rivals of the Habs. I'm not against such an idea.

I hope they don't add games to the regular season, it's long enough. Have 3 preseason games for all the Draftees/AHL/European players and 2 for real team. Everybody is happy and we move on.

 

[xX SEYF Xx]

I like the proposition of 4 preseason games but also :
- raise the ridiculous minimum of 8 NHLers to 12 or something
- and raise the number of NHL games to be considered NHLer as lots of AHL journeymen are fitting in the current definition

 

[Hannibal]

Lets go St-Louis!! Try Xhekaj-Struble!!! You won’t regret it.

 

[MarkovsKnee]

I doubt they will use a multi-year retention slot on Anderson. Not even sure anyone will want him at $2.750m at this point. He can be waived thought, unlike Gallagher.

It's only 2 years now. We did that for both Petry & Allen, so yeah, they will definitely do it.

Anderson at $2.75m is fine. The cap is expected to go up to $92m next year. There's teams that can barely reach the cap floor this year.

 

[Beer and Chips]

I like the proposition of 4 preseason games but also :
- raise the ridiculous minimum of 8 NHLers to 12 or something
- and raise the number of NHL games to be considered NHLer as lots of AHL journeymen are fitting in the current definition

If players aren't going to be paid what is the point? Skip pre-season games altogether.

 

[Redux91]

It's only 2 years now. We did that for both Petry & Allen, so yeah, they will definitely do it.

Anderson at $2.75m is fine. The cap is expected to go up to $92m next year. There's teams that can barely reach the cap floor this year.

Agreed

I think there's 0 doubt Hughes is going to use 2 retention slots on Anderson and Gallagher most likely as soon as this summer even

The contracts are Just. Too. Damn. Long. for our plan
Sorry guys
We need 'real' 4th liners now, not middle 6 has been

They'll bite the bullet for sure