Do you think the building of the core is done?

[Matthew McConaughay]

I'm really looking forward to seeing Hutson on ine of the top 2 pairs and Matheson in the other.

I honestly don't know if it is or isn't a winning formula to have a dman that drives offense the way the both do on the ice for 40 plus minutes. It will be like having 4 forwards on. But I do think it will be entertaining. I can't wait to see it. I just hope it's not only entertaining but also helps us win. I think Lane and Demidov will be magic together.

Lane and Demidov will be a ankle breaker duo lol.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

The point was not that he popped because of his linesmate.....it's more that I believe there's a lot more in Suzuki that we haven't seen yet because he played with crappy linesmates.

Yeah, and on that point I agree. I think we have a skilled top six and with our D developing as it is we should be able to score some goals going forward.

I can’t wait to see what Hutson can do.

 

[yianik]

We don't have the positions filled, but we have good prospects such that they it's likely the positions are filled.

Suzuki is a no.1 C. Talent wise Dach to me is a 2C for sure, maybe better, for crying out loud let him just stay healthy. Slaf , Caufield , Demi top line if not top 6 wingers. Some other guy like Roy, Newhook or a UFA , trade, to round out the top 6. And that top 6 has everything including speed to score off the rush, cycling ability and PP guys.

Bottom 6 has C potential in Beck, Hage and Kapanen. We may have a gap as I'm thinking Evans may price himself out of Montreal next year and guys likely not ready. Then cross fingers and hope a bunch from Tuch, Florian X , Roy , Heineman grab spots. Again, we likely have gaps here because most guys won't be ready for a while. But the C position is most important and we have potential there.

Defensively I see Guhle as a no.2. Then hope 1 and 3 spots are taken by Reinbacher , Hutson, Maillioux , Barron ( not giving up ). Wild card in Xheraj . Also Struble, Engstrom and a half dozen others to grab 4, 5 ,6 and 7 spots. So top end not many darts but we have a few.

Goalie wise we have a couple decent guys and Monty is pretty good. Fowler could be the long term answer.

Hopefully we have multiple good players at positions so that we can trade for any missing pieces. So if we have 3 top 6Cs that would be very valuable.

There is good reason to be hopeful. Next 2-3 years we will really see the pay off.

 

[Canadiens98]

I'm going to say no because until they've established themselves at the NHL level I can't say yes. However I will say I do believe the group of young guys we currently have CAN realize that goal.

 

[yianik]

We don't have the positions filled, but we have good prospects such that they it's likely the positions are filled.

Suzuki is a no.1 C. Talent wise Dach to me is a 2C for sure, maybe better, for crying out loud let him just stay healthy. Slaf , Caufield , Demi top line if not top 6 wingers. Some other guy like Roy, Newhook or a UFA , trade, to round out the top 6. And that top 6 has everything including speed to score off the rush, cycling ability and PP guys.

Bottom 6 has C potential in Beck, Hage and Kapanen. We may have a gap as I'm thinking Evans may price himself out of Montreal next year and guys likely not ready. Then cross fingers and hope a bunch from Tuch, Florian X , Roy , Heineman grab spots. Again, we likely have gaps here because most guys won't be ready for a while. But the C position is most important and we have potential there.

Defensively I see Guhle as a no.2. Then hope 1 and 3 spots are taken by Reinbacher , Hutson, Maillioux , Barron ( not giving up ). Wild card in Xheraj . Also Struble, Engstrom, Harris and a half dozen others to grab 4, 5 ,6 and 7 spots. So top end not many darts but we have a few.

Goalie wise we have a couple decent guys and Monty is pretty good. Fowler could be the long term answer.

Hopefully we have multiple good players at positions so that we can trade for any missing pieces. So if we have 3 top 6Cs that would be very valuable.

There is good reason to be hopeful. Next 2-3 years we will really see the pay off.

 

[sandviper]

So far in the rebuild, we acquired:

Two potential first line wingers; Slaf and Demidov
A top-6 forward; Dach
A middle-6 forward; Newhook, Hage
Bottom-6 forward; Beck
Two potential top-4 D; Reinbacher, Hutson
Goalie; Fowler

There’s also some promise with Engstrom, F. Xhekaj, Mesar and Volokhin.

Still think we need a real top-pair defender, but as a group our defence does look good.

 

[TesseractPrice]

Missing a very big physical top 9 winger/center hybrid. A relatively talented sandpaper versatile center would balance the lineup and some redundancy would come in handy in case of injury

This player can be obtained by trade

 

[InAG-P]

If Dach doesn't work out or is perpetually injured, imo Hage could very well be that #2 C we're looking for based on the games i've seen with him.

 

[HuGort]

I think we have most the pieces. offensive D (Hutson). Solid core (Guhle, Mailloux, Reinbacher, Xhekaj). Down the middle Suzuki, Dach, Hage, Beck. Offense wingers Caufield, Slafkovsky, Demidov. Depth Roy, Newhook. Goaltending Monty, Fowler+.

Need an offensive forward next off season. A good one. I have feeling need a stud defenseman to take blueline from good to excellent.

 

[Laboeuf]

Suzuki Dach Slafkovsky Demidov
Hutson Reinbacher Guhle Mailloux
Caufield Beck Roy Hage Xhekaj Kapanen

All the players above bring something different. I say they are part of the core.

We missing 1 more top 6 Center left handed and 1 more big winger who can do everything. I think the next draft might get us that.

Porter Martone is perfect for Montreal.
Anton Frondell is another player that fits well in this core.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Suzuki Dach Slafkovsky Demidov
Hutson Reinbacher Guhle Mailloux
Caufield Beck Roy Hage Xhekaj Kapanen

All the players above bring something different. I say they are part of the core.

We missing 1 more top 6 Center left handed and 1 more big winger who can do everything. I think the next draft might get us that.

Porter Martone is perfect for Montreal.
Anton Frondell is another player that fits well in this core.

Both of those guys will go too high for us but I'm sure we'll have a shot at Spence.

 

[Vachon23]

Always be careful before projecting lineup in to far futur

 

[WeThreeKings]

Always be careful before projecting lineup in to far futur

I see:
2nd pair LD
Top 6 goal scoring winger
NHL back up
1B center
13th forward
4C
NHL starter
3 pair LD with 2nd pair upside
13th forward
3rd pair LD

That's actually not bad.

 

[LaP]

Not yet. Another draft and it will be done. Let's hope both Calgary will draft between 11th and 15th and we will draft below 15th. That's be perfect.

 

[austin316]

Need a top flight D prospect and another top forward or two. Still a ways to go.

 

[overlords]

Always be careful before projecting lineup in to far futur

jacob olofsson in the top 10 is wild

 

[LaP]

Both of those guys will go too high for us but I'm sure we'll have a shot at Spence.

It's too soon honestly to project the next draft. I want Ivan Ryabkin so we have a Ivan duo.

 

[WeThreeKings]

It's too soon honestly to project the next draft. I want Ivan Ryabkin so we have a Ivan duo.

Unless they have bad seasons, those guys are going really high. Sennecke just went 3 and Martone is leagues better.

 

[Vachon23]

I see:
2nd pair LD
Top 6 goal scoring winger
NHL back up
1B center
13th forward
4C
NHL starter
3 pair LD with 2nd pair upside
13th forward
3rd pair LD

That's actually not bad.

I’m more taking about the lineup in 5 years

Who knew Dach/Matheson/Newhook/Montembault /Anderson would be here ? They are so much thing that can change in 5 years and it’s rarely a lineup full of drafted player

 

[LaP]

Unless they have bad seasons, those guys are going really high. Sennecke just went 3 and Martone is leagues better.

Oh Martone will not be available for us. But i could see Spence climbs a few ranks and us drafting too low to get him.

 

[Theodore450]

The core is essentially set if key prospects pan out like Reinbacher, Demidov end up being good. For this core to be set, we would need a real strong long term option in net. This is lowkey the most important position to fix if you ever want to be a playoff team.

This team needs a legit goalie
Other than that, focus should be on
Top pair LD
Top end center


Really hope MSL comes in this season with an actual structure

 

[KevSkillz4]

If Habs have drafted Tij Iginla or another player than Ivan Demidov, I would said no.

But with Ivan Demidov, I'm certainly confident that the core is there... Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton just need to build around this very good core.

I see, the best forward will be between Demidov and Slafkovsky, they will be both the best forwards in this team. Demidov have more offensive potential, but Slafkovsky is more physical, two-way and I think he will be a better goaslscorer than Demidov. Both will likely reach 90 pts++ per season.

Suzuki and Caufield will be #3 and #4 best forwards in this team. That's really really good! Suzuki can reach the ppgs seasons and Caufield have tools to reach 35-40 goals per season, with assists numbers aswell.

The rest... Dach, Hage, Newhook, Roy, Beck and more, that's a lot of talent right there after theses 4.

At defensive... I see a future strong top 4 with Guhle, Mailloux, Hutson and Reinbacher.

The rest, Xhekaj, Engstrom, Konyushkov, Harris, Barron, Strubble and more. That's a lot of talent after theses 4 aswell.

 

[eklund the clown]

About the only thing needed if all pans out the way i see is a superstar type center and a # 1 Goalie,The Def is set for years. The 3rd and 4th lines will take care of itself.For this season all the kids need is to get better which i think a pile of them will blossom.Health will be the only thing stopping this team from a shot of the playoffs and thats this year.You heard it here first folks.Very very promising roster, coach and GM ,front office.When is the last time we could say this?

 

[MarkovsKnee]

It's not done, but we have a lot of it on our team or in our system.

Caufield, Suzuki, Slafkovsky, Demidov are definitely part of the core moving on. After that we'll see about Dach, Newhook, Roy, Beck, Kapanen, F. Xhekaj, etc to add solid forward depth behind them. Who makes it & doesn't is still very much up in the air.

On D, Guhle, Hutson & Reinbacher are also definitely part of the core moving forward. We'll see about A. Xhekaj, Engstrom, Mailloux, and Struble.

One of the many goalies in our system will hopefully hit. Everyone is counting on Fowler, but Miller, Dobes & the Russian kid are going to be competitive.

 

[Montrealcowboys]

Probably a wash but you avoid the question marks around Michkov (attitude and defensive commitment)

That "attitude" slander wasn't mentioned last year and it's not like Demidov (not as talented) is Bob Gainey circa 1978.