Confirmed with Link: GM Kent Hughes Mid-Season Press Conference Jan 15, 11AM ET

[BLONG7]

HUghes has reached Bergevin's PC emptiness. Let's wait for what he does instead of what he says.

He has spent a ton of time, and effort on getting rid of the stench, that Bergevin has left behind.....just a little perspective.
He does need to walk the walk, but hard to argue we now have a GM who does not need clown makeup to get the job done....

HUghes has reached Bergevin's PC emptiness. Let's wait for what he does instead of what he says.

He has spent a ton of time, and effort on getting rid of the stench, that Bergevin has left behind.....just a little perspective.
He does need to walk the walk, but hard to argue we now have a GM who does not need clown makeup to get the job done....

 

[Dirby Kach]

So they still need to get rid of ~16 active players

in making that statement, you agree they've inherited a lot of shit.. so it's going to take time to build a contender.

 

[Gravity]

What was interesting was that when Kent was asked about getting a PPG player or top 10 F, he just cited Bergeron as an example of not needing one. He is looking to add offense though.

In all fairness, I just don't see how on Earth you could expect to exit a rebuild without one.

 

[salbutera]

What was interesting was that when Kent was asked about getting a PPG player or top 10 F, he just cited Bergeron as an example of not needing one. He is looking to add offense though.

In all fairness, I just don't see how on Earth you could expect to exit a rebuild without one.

Unless the strategy is to build a 12-man fwd& 6-man D unit capable of two way play

I realize people focus only on top line talents… but teams that win the Cup are the deepest teams, can’t think of the last time that wasn’t the case

 

[Gravity]

Unless the strategy is to build a 12-man fwd& 6-man D unit capable of two way play

Teams that win the Cup are the deepest teams, can’t think of the last time that wasn’t the case

It's both though. Cup winning teams are deep and rich in top end talent. Look at Tampa, Pitts, Chicago, LA even Vegas.

 

[Boss Man Hughes]

To talk about the injuries, would probably need to review on a player-by-player basis.

Gorton & Hughes have been adding players though with injury histories (Dach, Monahan, Pearson). Maybe the question would be how much medical information they have on these players before they acquire them.

Pearson was a throw in and Monahan was a cap dump. Their injury history wasn't really relevant. Dach's was. And since he and his brother are both frequently injured it was a risk. Romanov was not needed and the guy Chicago took (Nazar) subsequently got injured and missed the whole season. Dach was probably worth a shot.

 

[Sorinth]

What was interesting was that when Kent was asked about getting a PPG player or top 10 F, he just cited Bergeron as an example of not needing one. He is looking to add offense though.

In all fairness, I just don't see how on Earth you could expect to exit a rebuild without one.

In theory you exit the rebuild before all your young guys have hit their prime, so even if you don't have someone whose has put up 82+ points in a season, you still likely have people with the potential to do it. And keep in mind having a ppg player usually leads to other players also becoming ppg players as that one star players leads to extra points for everyone. So if for example Slaf becomes a ppg player and Suzuki stays his center, it probably pushes Suzuki into also being a ppg player since he's already pacing fairly close without much help.

Then there's the fact that it's not a binary situation, if Suzuki's peak years are in the 77 point range instead of the 82 point. That's not going to materially change how successful the rebuild will be.

 

[themilosh]

I'm all for winning the Lottery and getting Mack Cellibrini, but let's be realstic; unless you luck out on a franchise C (Matthews, McDavid, Crosby) the next level is top flight stars (petersson, kopitar, Bergeron, Barkov, etc...) of which we have none.

What we do have is a very solid top 6, and I'm somewhat content with this. Ive been watching the Habs since the 70s and have not been this excited about our young D since then..

I have feeling HUGO is going for the Baltimore Ravens circa 2000.. and the Reinbacher pick makes way more sense.

In 2 years the Habs will be rostering the likes of these Monsters all similar age, all developing together in the same system, and just entering their prime.

GUHLE - REINBACHER
HUTSON - MAILLOUX
STRUBLE - XJACKI

tell me that is not the scariest/meanest/creative group not seen since 90s Detroit? Thats guaranteed, rostered, signed sealed and delivered at RFA salaries.. if any of our D prospects surpass these 6 then that becomes valuable trade equity.. i think Monty is turning into a solid middle of the pack 1G, with 2-3 legit prospects that can fit in as 2G when needed.

Bearing all of this in mind, I think Hugo is going to keep picking Ds, turn Laval into a D machine (like printing our own money).. id live for us to pick Zayne Parekh this draft. Another RHD with the toughness of Struble and the offensive push of Hutson.. strategically, going after another #1RHD 2 years in a row is brilliant hoarding..

We have solid bottom 6 F prospects currently developing quite nicely. And while there is a ? with Dach, if he's blessed to go injury free he & slaf are going to terrorize teams.

When the Time is right, hugo will use an abundance of riches, patiently built up asset building blocks, a brilliantly managed Cap and a bit of luck to acquire a Jack Eichel- type..

This my friends is how we are winning the SC in the next 5 years.

 

[salbutera]

It's both though. Cup winning teams are deep and rich in top end talent. Look at Tampa, Pitts, Chicago, LA even Vegas.

Yes but HuGo are also playing the probability game, there’s more risk in projecting an unknown NA system 18yr old fwd (Michkov) vs addressing offense via acquiring a 20-22 yr old one who’s played in the NHL (Dach & Newhook). The calculation was to the effect Redenbacher + Newhook > Michkov + 31OA

If a McDavid type high probability prospect was available HuGo would’ve drafted him. I’m now fully expecting Habs to flip their 10-14OA pick for Zegras at draft - given how familiar Hughes & MSL are with him

 

[yianik]

There was the story that after he took the even up penalty Marty reamed him out and he started playing more timid.

It wouldn't shock me if KH is telling Marty he's not allowed to just ride Monty. Gotta show off any goalies you want to trade.

I don't know what to make of the injury thing, I can't think of a culprit. I work with statistics every day trying to tease out causation. It just seems to me that random chance or luck can't be the main factor here. It's too far outside the norm for too long.

Didn't know about the ream out story. We need him playing smart, not timid. Two different things.

There's usually a line where the GM chooses the guys a coach has on his roster and the coach chooses how to use or not, those players. Which makes sense because a coach's job is to win ( and win only , or also teach ) and a GM has to bigger picture. But sure , I'm sure a GM can make a request.

As to injuries. Only other explanation besides bad luck for me is playing approach. Are our guys playing reckless hockey for example and not being corrected. I'm not really seeing that though.

 

[Scriptor]

In theory you exit the rebuild before all your young guys have hit their prime, so even if you don't have someone whose has put up 82+ points in a season, you still likely have people with the potential to do it. And keep in mind having a ppg player usually leads to other players also becoming ppg players as that one star players leads to extra points for everyone. So if for example Slaf becomes a ppg player and Suzuki stays his center, it probably pushes Suzuki into also being a ppg player since he's already pacing fairly close without much help.

Then there's the fact that it's not a binary situation, if Suzuki's peak years are in the 77 point range instead of the 82 point. That's not going to materially change how successful the rebuild will be.

Yes, but it's more likely that Suzuki will naturally continue to progress into being a PPG player (41, 41, 61, 66, trending 70+ this season despite zero real support down in the lineup) as the roster behind him keeps getting better and an actual 2nd line, plus a shutdown 3rd line materializes to take some minutes away from him...

Slafkovsky would continue to progress in that uptick from Suzuki, whether he continues to play with Suzuki, o rbecomes part of that genuine second line behind Suzuki's line.

The D-Corps becoming a more talented, puck-moving squad, with higher offensive upside should help raise all the attackers' stats by at least 10% with a better transition game, more time spent in the O-zone with prolonged attacks and more creativity, period, from the backend.

Good things are coming.

It all starts with developing our D-Corps properly and finding a way to add two relatively young, talented and physical top-6 forwards in the next couple of years (draft, trade or UFA).

Montreal has a nice blend of assets to get this done (developing prospects, strong draft capital, expiring contracts to some more enticing veterans, to go along with the albatross contracts that will becoming off the books and decent Capspace becoming available to fit and retain talent).

Beyond that, IMO, Hughes is a GM with a good enough eye to target the right players and good salesman personality to strike the deals.

 

[sampollock]

trades are hard, or are they? Kent seems to be able to do them

 

[CheldishGamibno]

Yes but HuGo are also playing the probability game, there’s more risk in projecting an unknown NA system 18yr old fwd (Michkov) vs addressing offense via acquiring a 20-22 yr old one who’s played in the NHL (Dach & Newhook). The calculation was to the effect Redenbacher + Newhook > Michkov + 31OA

If a McDavid type high probability prospect was available HuGo would’ve drafted him. I’m now fully expecting Habs to flip their 10-14OA pick for Zegras at draft - given how familiar Hughes & MSL are with him

Ew hopefully not. Zegras is soft as butter and seems to be a headcase. Far from what the Habs needs.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Ew hopefully not. Zegras is soft as butter and seems to be a headcase. Far from what the Habs needs.

Zegras ain't on their radar one bit.

 

[Runner77]

trades are hard, or are they? Kent seems to be able to do them

And he’s been mostly unpredictable about who he targets and when. No one can pretend to know who he’s really after and who he’s discounting and that suits me fine even if dabbling into rumors can be fun at times.

 

[Tyson]

Ew hopefully not. Zegras is soft as butter and seems to be a headcase. Far from what the Habs needs.

We need more guys like Slaf, not guys like Zegras

 

[WeThreeKings]

We need more guys like Slaf, not guys like Zegras

You're gonna need to produce near Jack Hughes level if you want to play for the Habs without a semblance of a physical, defensive or implication game.

Zegras is not that dude.

Caufield is their uni-dimensional small offensive guy.

 

[CDN24]

It's both though. Cup winning teams are deep and rich in top end talent. Look at Tampa, Pitts, Chicago, LA even Vegas.

Not all Top end talent is drafted equally though. Yes Pitt had Crosby/Malkin and Hawks had Kane but unless you are drafting 1st in the right year you are not getting a Crosby or a Kane or Mackinnon.

So are all cup winners loaded with PPG players? 100 point guys?

If we look closer at those cup winners
2009 Pens Crosby Malkin over PPG
2010 Hawks Kane PPG 88 pts
2011 Bruins No one close to PPG Lucic lead with 62
2012 Kings No one with a PPG
2013 Hawks Kane PPG 55 in 47 and Toews 48 in 47
2014 Kings No one with a PPG
2015 Hawks Kane PPG 64 in 61 games
2016 Pens Crosby Malkin over PPG
2017 Pens Crosby Malkin over PPG
2018 Caps Ovi 87 pts and Kusnetsov at 83
2019 Blues No one with a PPG
2020 Bolts Kucherov with 85 in 68 and Stamkos with 66 in 57
2021 Bolts No one with a PPG
2022 avs Had 4 Rantonnen with 92, Mackinnon with88 Kadri 87 and Makar with 86
2023 Vegas None

So of the 15 cup winners since 2009 (pens 1st cup) 6 of them or 40% did not have a PPG player. Only the Pens have had 100+ players and win the cup. They all had great talent but great talent need not be PPG. Toews did it once in a lockout shortened season., Kopitar did it once, in 17-18, Bergeron did it maybe once.

You know what every team on this list had though, at least one high end minute eating dominant no 1 d-man from Letang, Duncan keith , Doughty, Chara, Carlson, Pietrangelo, Hedman, Makar and Pietrangelo again with Vegas.

 

[Boss Man Hughes]

You're gonna need to produce near Jack Hughes level if you want to play for the Habs without a semblance of a physical, defensive or implication game.

Zegras is not that dude.

Caufield is their uni-dimensional small offensive guy.

Zegras has the talent to be very close to Hughes level. Whether he has the desire to maximize his talents is the big question

 

[OldCraig71]

Zegras has the talent to be very close to Hughes level. Whether he has the desire to maximize his talents is the big question

Why is his name always out there in trade speculation/rumors?

 

[salbutera]

Ew hopefully not. Zegras is soft as butter and seems to be a headcase. Far from what the Habs needs.

I would only throw out a word of caution when evaluating early 20s players. One of the reasons Kucherov dropped in 2011 draft to 2nd round, apart from Russian factor was the view that he was “soff” and would disappear when engaged physically.

That perception, partly real even followed him into playoffs when CBJ took out TBay w Anderson steamrolling Lightining players including a 5min match penalty to Kucherov early in the series for swinging his stick at a CBJ players head after being constantly hit (might’ve been Anderson)

Fast forward 12-years, how many teams would’ve liked to have drafted “soft” Kucherov?

 

[OldCraig71]

What was interesting was that when Kent was asked about getting a PPG player or top 10 F, he just cited Bergeron as an example of not needing one. He is looking to add offense though.

In all fairness, I just don't see how on Earth you could expect to exit a rebuild without one.

Hughes is smart, he won't reveal much for the media to chew on, he is different than his predecessor.

 

[Sorinth]

I’m now fully expecting Habs to flip their 10-14OA pick for Zegras at draft - given how familiar Hughes & MSL are with him

As we saw with Bobrov's inside connections with SKA, being familiar doesn't mean we want the player. It can also mean they are familiar with the issues/problems and so really don't want the player.

Personally I might do our pick for Zegras, but it all depends who is on the board at the time.

 

[salbutera]

As we saw with Bobrov's inside connections with SKA, being familiar doesn't mean we want the player. It can also mean they are familiar with the issues/problems and so really don't want the player.

Personally I might do our pick for Zegras, but it all depends who is on the board at the time.

MSL coached Zegras in MidFairfield Youth program, and is close to his father (Gary) who still runs the program. Marty was the one who encouraged Zegras to use his skating & stick skills to be creative.

Zegras played w MSL and Hughes’ boys

 

[Sorinth]

MSL coached Zegras in MidFairfield Youth program, and is close to his father (Gary) who still runs the program. Marty was the one who encouraged Zegras to use his skating & stick skills to be creative.

Zegras played w MSL and Hughes’ boys

Which means they will be familiar with the players flaws just as much as they are with his strengths. If those flaws go against the style of team they are trying to build then MSL encouraging him to be creative means less then nothing.