Matheson, Guhle, Hutson, Wifi are our LHD ,
I think Hutson has more chances to start in Laval than Struble. Unpopular opinion I know, but Struble has shown he can play top level, Hutson not yet really. And in that case, you get an easier puzzle to solve at the start of the season.
as much as i agree with you people wants to see Hutson not Struble
And you can include me in the lot to be honest
Training camp will be great this year
I think that's what's going to happen too. It's not that any of these guys aren't good enough to be there, they just have the misfortune of being on a two-way contract at the moment.
He is elite at "being boring". He is just doing so many things right. There are Ds who are "sparks" like Matheson, Hutson and always bring some action at both ends of the ice (positive and negative) and then you have guys like Pietrangelo, Slavin who are "stabilizers". They will not do anything spectacular, but they will just make 99% corect decisions.
Hutson has shown he can play at the top level, what he hasn't shown is that he can be consistent because he only has 2 games. But you don't prove consistency in the AHL, so Hutson will be given every chance to show that he belongs at camp. And then they'll make the decision based on what they feel is best for Hutson's long term development.
Struble is not a good choice to call up for injury if sent to Laval, he has 9-11 games left before losing his waiver exemption. Which is why I think he's going to be kept as the 7th D. He also ran out of juice last year, so playing less games in a row should help him.
Of all the young D the Habs have in their system Jayden Struble is one of the most intriguing. Skates well, strong as a country Ox and showed some really good things last year. Patience.
He was really solid for like 20 games (or 40ish if we count the AHL ones), then fatigue showed up and he lost in effectiveness. Once he can endure the entire season, he's going to have a long career even if he never wins a Norris.
Yeah I think going from a 35 game college schedule to the grind of a professional league schedule took its toll, as it does for most NCAA players.
100%
Yeah he kind of laid down the gravel for that paved road with his comments on "Not Hiding" Hutson.
I don’t see them giving away Barron
I think Reinbacher will start at AHL level. He has played so few games in Laval, and he needs to keep learning. Habs might start the season with 7 d-men, and Struble will be that #7, unless they sign a vet out of the blue to hold that place.
Hutson is almost 100% guaranteed to start the season with the Habs. Not Reinbacher.
I'm I the only one who thinks a Hutson Savard pairing might be be a disaster?
I tend to agree that Hutson has a spot all but locked up and would basically need to have a bad camp to not make the team whereas Reinbacher is far less secure and needs to "steal" a spot. But I wouldn't bet against him doing just that. Yes there are things he could learn at the AHL level he's likely good enough that he can learn at the NHL level as well and if you can learn/develop at the NHL level it's probably better for you then learning at the AHL level.
Well presumably the Matheson Guhle line would be facing the opposing teams top line most of the time.
20 to 40 more games at AHL level won’t hurt him. I don’t see Habs starting season with two raw rookies like Hutson and Reinbacher in their top-six, taking into account that they have to use some guys with not much experience yet at NHL level like Guhle, Xhekaj, Baron, The last two need to prove they can handle defensive play better. We don’t have Harris and Kovacevic anymore to help a bit on that aspect of the game. Struble is actually better defensively than Xhekaj and Barron.
And 20 to 40 games in the AHL wouldn't hurt Hutson either. It's not a question of whether it would hurts it's a question of what is best, and if a player can handle playing and developing at the NHL level then it's almost always better to do that then to play in the AHL.
