The Real Timo
Registered User
- Jun 18, 2019
- 14,215
- 24,660
So... question. Are we still tanking next season? Cause tbh, the novelty of the tank has kinda worn off for me. I am ready for some meaningful hockey games.
Line Combos: Early look at the 23-24 Habs
- Thread starter Hickflyer
- Start date
Same team minus the UFAs (which aren't a big lost except for Monahan).
All the rookies being in their 2nd season where rookies usually do worst.
Primeau might replace one of Monty/Allen.
The only way I see the Habs not tanking next season is if half the team is traded/replaced in the off-season...
The Gr8 Dane
L'harceleur
Pacioretty - DD - Gallagher
Galchenyuk - Plekanec - Parenteau
Bourque - Eller - Sekac
Bournival - Malhotra - Weise
Moen - De La Rose - Andrighetto
Markov - Subban
Emelin - Gilbert
Beaulieu - Weaver
Price
Budaj
Galchenyuk - Plekanec - Parenteau
Bourque - Eller - Sekac
Bournival - Malhotra - Weise
Moen - De La Rose - Andrighetto
Markov - Subban
Emelin - Gilbert
Beaulieu - Weaver
Price
Budaj
Vachon23
Registered User
Can’t believe we finish 2nd in the NHL with that team..
WeThreeKings
Habs cup - its in the BAG
We aren't even tanking right this season.
The Gr8 Dane
L'harceleur
I sure hope so!
Yeah can't wait to be a bubble team next year woohoooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Also who makes the jump to the big club next year , Beck, Roy, Kidney,Heinman does Sean Farrell or Richard
No More Subban
GHG
- Apr 28, 2010
- 17,876
- 8,007
Wish there's a way to get rid of Gallagher's contract. I love the guy but he looked really done. I bet Mesar would bring more to the table.
Can't believe we'd still have Hoffman/Armia next season. Hope HuGo can somehow get rid of them as well.
MasterD
Giggidy Giggidy Goo
- Jul 1, 2004
- 5,632
- 5,776
Rookie Farrell on the first line with Caufield on the other side? With Slafkovsky in the top6?
Is there another Bedard in the 2024 draft?
MarkovsKnee
Global Moderator
dinodebino
Registered User
- Sep 27, 2017
- 16,145
- 31,641
So we didn’t draft anybody in the top 3-4? You’re too depressing.
HabsCowboysOwn
Wak Prescott the 40M/yr fraud, here we gooo!
The thrill is gone for me too mostly because they're too incompetent to do it properly, start signing UFAs to plug the biggest holes and hope for the best. They've wasted their chance at a franchise center anyway.
This lineup, as presented, has too many gaping holes in it and not enough worthwhile pieces to fill them.
The C-line, without any major moves in the offseason, will amount to being:
Suzuki - Dach - Dvorak - Evans.
Caufield stays with Suzuki, but I have no clue who could play with those two from the stable on hand? I doubt Slafkovsky would be ready and I don't think Anderson processes the game fast enough to be an ideal complement to Caufield - Suzuki.
I'd like Slafkovsky to play with Dach and Anderson, but RHP with those two doesn't sound too shabby, TBH -- Unless sit os Farrell who gets a crack with those two? Either way, it will be a talented midget.
Dvorak and Hoffman are a natural fit to me, even if I would prefer a boulder to fall on Hoffman during the offseason
Is Farrell a candidate to play with those two?
Then, it also really depends on whom stays with the team from potential rookies Farrell, Heineman, Beck, Roy and Mesar?
Gallagher and Armia are unfortunately both with the team and will get TOI somewhere. I just hope it's not with Suzuki and Caufield.
Can it be Heineman, short term, before a rookie like Roy, for example, is ready?
I'd look for potential chemistry between Heineman and the Caufield- Suzuki duo. Heineman, not unlike Anderson, is fast and physical, plus he owns a nasty wrist shot. However, Heineman, I believe, has a little better hockey IQ than Anderson and, definitely, much better defensive acumen from his role in professional hockey to date.
Caufield - Suzuki - Heineman (both wingers on their off sides to maximize their quality shots)
RHP - Dach - Anderson
Farrell - Dvorak - Hoffman
Armia - Evans - Gallagher
Slafkovsky in Laval with Mesar, Struble, Mailloux, Roy and Kidney.
Beck in the OHL to dominate for one more season, like Suzuki who was sent back down where he was able to demonstrate that he was a money player under pressure when it counted.
MasterD
Giggidy Giggidy Goo
- Jul 1, 2004
- 5,632
- 5,776
Like it or not, there's a top 6 spot open for Dubois, obviously. Or Monahan, but I don't think that's happening.
Maybe one of Heineman or Ylonen. They're better suited physically and have more experience.
See, this right here is the key element that you need in order to answer this question. An element that nobody, including the team's management yet knows.
Why? Easy.
There is still a lot of hockey to play this season and that is key. Where do we finish? What happens at the draft lottery? These are the determining factors. So let's play with this scenario - I don't have a lot to do right now anyway.
So, lets all dream a little and say we win the lottery and select Connor Bedard. At this point, everything changes. We have a franchise future player to build around. That's before we start counting whomever we draft with the Florida pick and if Hughes and Gorton were able to somehow obtain another first round pick as they stated they wanted to do. Let's be fair; they have fairly true to their word thus far.
So how did that get that pick? Anderson? Monahan? Edmunson? Who knows. So off the bat, we don't know which of our veterans is still with the team, who was dealt - and for what. It is safe to say that Drouin, Dadonov and Byron are not returning. We have a logjam of younger options that could replace this trio with relative ease. More variables. Does Heineman show up and dominate camp? Who knows. Not one of us here thought Xhekaj was making the team before camp opened.
But what if we didn't win the lottery? What if we drafted 12th with our pick and 18th with the Florida pick? Now we have two interesting young prospects but no blue chip like Bedard. So do we hit the UFA market and look to build a competitive team around the pieces we do already have? Is Dach, Caufield, Suzuki and Slafvovsky enough to build a forward group around? Who knows.
Do the Habs keep a lower quality team and try draft a blue chip prospect in 2024?! Maybe, if we don't get Bedard. Maybe not if we do. Molson is loosing money and fans are growing impatient.
The point is there are SO MANY THINGS that are yet to play out this season, before we even get to draft day and July 1st, to even begin to guess what the roster might look like. In years past, sure - but in my three plus decades as a Habs fan, I have never seen a scenario like this, here in Montreal.
Odds are high we do not draft Bedard but draft top 7 with our pick and mid-teens with Florida pick. The top-7 pick has a good shot of yielding up a 2nd line player who could make an impact in 1-3 years.
There is still a lot that can be done to improve the team with tons of cap space and marketable assets, nine picks in rounds 2-7, an extra first in 2024 or 2025, and guys like Anderson, Edmundson, Savard, Dvorak, Evans and Harris with some trade value. Slafkovsky, Farrell, Roy, Beck, Hutson, Mailloux, Kidney, Heineman and Dobes are here or coming. Not all will become impact players but odds are 3 or more out of 9 will, given how many cracks we have at the prospect "lottery". There are even a few more prospects with hope, like Engstrom, Kapanen, Mesar, Dichow that maybe yield 1 good player.
Suzuki
Caufield
Dach
Guhle
Matheson (until and unless traded for another strong player)
2023 first pick
3+ Grade A prospects
1 Grade B prospect
That's 10+ when we need about 11 good players to contend.
We have the cap space and assets needed to land Dubois or Meier or another similar player that comes available in the next 12-15 months.
We have some lower spots in the roster more or less pencilled in with younger/cheap guys to fill some of spots 12 to 20 among the starters:
Xhekaj at 5-6D
Barron at 4-6D
Montembeault as 2G
RHP as 11-12F
I'm not worried about finding the other 5. Some will likely come from the six or so Grade A prospects that don't make the top 11. The balance will be easy to find somewhere in the league or our own system.
A legit point per game player is the main need up front, and we also need a 1D and a 1G. Perhaps we can fill one spot by next season. The order does not matter really.
Even without Bedard, there is a clear path to contention based around younger players with skill.
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My point was there are too many questions and variables to even begin to put together a roster for next season.
HabsWhiteKnightLOL
Registered User
At this point keep Dvorak , Anderson hoffman Armia because somehow we need leadership so we can't trade them . Expect the same roster!
Hoffman is gone within 14 months.
Anderson will either be be traded or could be our 12th roster player for a few years supporting a contending top-11.
Armia and Gallagher will take some time and creativity to be moved or retire.
Dvorak could always be moved for some return, question is just when does the right opportunity come along.
Don't knock it necessarily. A bubble team -- where your oldest top forward is 25, your top sniper is 22, your two best defencemen 21 and 29, and with a ton of good prospects, 10 other 2023 picks including a top-7 or so, and many developing young roster players that include a 19 yo recent 1st-OA pick -- is a team on the way up. The bubble team status is a step along the path to contention.
That's very different than hanging on to bubble status like Pittsburgh and Washington are doing this year with a rapidly aging/declining team. Meanwhile Detroit and Buffalo are also bubble teams, with a way better projected future, surely we all agree.
Does that make sense?
Rob Sense
Registered User
- Apr 26, 2015
- 2,401
- 3,360
Welcome to the Habs forum. Required reading...the current roster and contracts. Tomorrow...how to manage expectations 101.
Quatre Vingt Treize
Registered User
We have around 20 million coming off our cap this summer. Only raise due is Caufield. Canadiens have extra 12 million or so to play with this summer. Should be able to add couple top players. A Dach type trade, Lafreniere? plus either a Fiala type trade of last summer. Or sign a good UFA.
When Monahan was healthy Habs were .500 team. Adding two top players we should be able to challenge for playoffs in '24. Plus our young defense be more mature. Slaf should be developing. Farrell and Heinemann make the team?
In summer '24 sign Dubois. We have bunch of money coming off books in '24 also. Hoffman be done, Edmunston also, final Alzner payment. Plus cap goes up 4 million. We have another 12 million to play with them. No big increases.
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