Speculation: Habs finish 28th and bottom 5 in 24-25 season

[Scintillating10]

Adding Dach and Hutson this season be huge. Hutson electric player. Puts excitement into the team. Especially for our powerplay. Dach gives much needed size and speed up front.

Besides those 2 additions, should see Reinbacher and Mailloux at some point during year. Beck also. Those 3 be help for team late in season.

Roy having a full season and keep Newhook healthy be good addition to team. Our goaltending seems to have stabilized some. The young defense should continue to mature. Team should be better.

Savard likely be moved at deadline for a first pick. Giving Habs 3 first picks in next draft. With one being lottery pick. Habs likely move one or more in package for young star. Or package all 3 to move up in draft.

Besides Savard, Dvorak, Armia, Evans be moved at deadline for 2nd or 3rd round picks. Give us extra picks in '26 draft.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Adding Dach and Hutson this season be huge. Hutson electric player. Puts excitement into the team. Especially for our powerplay. Dach gives much needed size and speed up front.

Besides those 2 additions, should see Reinbacher and Mailloux at some point during year. Beck also. Those 3 be help for team late in season.

Roy having a full season and keep Newhook healthy be good addition to team. Our goaltending seems to have stabilized some. The young defense should continue to mature. Team should be better.

Savard likely be moved at deadline for a first pick. Giving Habs 3 first picks in next draft. With one being lottery pick. Habs likely move one or more in package for young star. Or package all 3 to move up in draft.

Besides Savard, Dvorak, Armia, Evans be moved at deadline for 2nd or 3rd round picks. Give us extra picks in '26 draft.

I think we keep Evans. Solid for what he does.

I think we’ll probably move Matheson at some point as well.

 

[Saundies]

The word of this thread is 'unproven'. Which yeah, is true. A lot of these guys are unproven. They're young and new and hungry.

Except I'm only really seeing the word be used in a negative connotation. 'Unproven' means bad, apparently.

Unproven does not mean guys won't hit or exceed expectations. Unproven doesn't mean they won't prove it. Throwing around Dach and Newhook's 'career-highs' like that's their ceiling when Newhook beat his last year in 27 fewer games, and Dach didn't even make it out of the starter blocks of the season are just bad faith arguments.

It's possible all of our guys won't prove anything and will bust and never grow and not develop, and we'll be in a terrible spot. Sure, it's possible. But not at all probable. Our prospect pool actually has some quality to it rather than just quantity.

If all of our prospects and young players don't progress, yeah, we're going to finish bottom 5 again. I don't see it happening.

 

[WinterLion]

It is also possible that the young players progress, but others decline... Matheson and Monty for example...

I doubt we end up anywhere but last in our division... I hope I'm wrong

 

[Hins77]

I think Roy will be the one that exceed expectation for everyone. Like, 20 goals could be something reachable. Guy is an athlete. I saw a golf video this summer. He hit ball gulf on 400 yards. Thats crazy. He has an awesome release on his shot. I expect a really good season, with Dach as center

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

The word of this thread is 'unproven'. Which yeah, is true. A lot of these guys are unproven. They're young and new and hungry.

Except I'm only really seeing the word be used in a negative connotation. 'Unproven' means bad, apparently.

Unproven does not mean guys won't hit or exceed expectations. Unproven doesn't mean they won't prove it. Throwing around Dach and Newhook's 'career-highs' like that's their ceiling when Newhook beat his last year in 27 fewer games, and Dach didn't even make it out of the starter blocks of the season are just bad faith arguments.

It's possible all of our guys won't prove anything and will bust and never grow and not develop, and we'll be in a terrible spot. Sure, it's possible. But not at all probable. Our prospect pool actually has some quality to it rather than just quantity.

If all of our prospects and young players don't progress, yeah, we're going to finish bottom 5 again. I don't see it happening.

I don't think we're bottom five. Not if we have a relatively healthy season. Where we could run into problems is if we experience big injuries again. Every team gets injuries but it's not usually catostrophic in nature. Losing Dach for a season was a killer last year.

Assuming it's a regular year health wise then I think we're probably a bubble club for a while and we're on the outslide looking in. But I think we'll improve and make things interesting. If things go really well we may even make it into the playoffs (but I woudln't count on that.)

 

[Pickles]

I don't think we're bottom five. Not if we have a relatively healthy season. Where we could run into problems is if we experience big injuries again. Every team gets injuries but it's not usually catostrophic in nature. Losing Dach for a season was a killer last year.

Assuming it's a regular year health wise then I think we're probably a bubble club for a while and we're on the outslide looking in. But I think we'll improve and make things interesting. If things go really well we may even make it into the playoffs (but I woudln't count on that.)

Totally agree. We would have been a bubble team with a chance at a wildcard spot last year if Dach had played, He's a difference maker.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Totally agree. We would have been a bubble team with a chance at a wildcard spot last year if Dach had played, He's a difference maker.

We've seen stuff like "he's only ever scored 34 points" on 22 year old players who didn't even play in 82 games. It's silly.

Yes, these players have been limited by youth and health with what they can do but they're all coming into the season healthy now. And they've played well when they've been healthy. I understand some skeptiscm with a guy like Dach who's been perpetually injured but the wrist injury was badly handled by Chicago and the last injury was unrelated. It's not like he's on his fifth concussion. If that were the case then there'd be much better reason to be skeptical.

There's every reason to believe that players like Dach and Newhook should be able to provide solid secondary scoring (50 points each.) When healhty they've produced. No reason to think they won't again. And assuming that happens, it goes a long way towards a good jump in the standings. Maybe not enough for the postseason but certainly enough to be happy with team progression.

The playoffs are secondary. It's about development this year.

 

[Pickles]

We've seen stuff like "he's only ever scored 34 points" on 22 year old players who didn't even play in 82 games. It's silly.

Yes, these players have been limited by youth and health with what they can do but they're all coming into the season healthy now. And they've played well when they've been healthy. I understand some skeptiscm with a guy like Dach who's been perpetually injured but the wrist injury was badly handled by Chicago and the last injury was unrelated. It's not like he's on his fifth concussion. If that were the case then there'd be much better reason to be skeptical.

There's every reason to believe that players like Dach and Newhook should be able to provide solid secondary scoring (50 points each.) When healhty they've produced. No reason to think they won't again. And assuming that happens, it goes a long way towards a good jump in the standings. Maybe not enough for the postseason but certainly enough to be happy with team progression.

The playoffs are secondary. It's about development this year.

I can't wait to see what Dach can do with a full season of games played. He has the potential to be that big number 1 or 1A center after Suzuki. He was dominating during the preseason before he got hurt. Every time he was on the ice it seemed like he was force. I have high hopes for this guy just hope he stays healthy this year.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

I can't wait to see what Dach can do with a full season of games played. He has the potential to be that big number 1 or 1A center after Suzuki. He was dominating during the preseason before he got hurt. Every time he was on the ice it seemed like he was force. I have high hopes for this guy just hope he stays healthy this year.

I have him down for 50 points. If he’s healthy, he could easily exceed that by a lot. He’s a great player, just hasn’t been healthy enough to show it.

 

[Lshap]

I can't wait to see what Dach can do with a full season of games played. He has the potential to be that big number 1 or 1A center after Suzuki. He was dominating during the preseason before he got hurt. Every time he was on the ice it seemed like he was force. I have high hopes for this guy just hope he stays healthy this year.

I'm also a big fan of Dach... at least what I've seen in the few games he's played. He has to show he can stay healthy, but if he does, I agree with you - it'll be like adding a 1C (although I'd give him time to shake off the rust).

 

[waitin425]

A lot of Dach talk here, and some are forgetting where we were at with this kid a year and a half ago. Dach's injury has caused some board amnesia.

This kid is a beast. He was trending as good as Suzuki at the tail end of the 2022/23 season. For fun, I went back and read the Dach thread from page 70 for a few pages....we were in LOVE. Add this kid to the lineup and he immediately takes pressure off our first line. It will be much tougher for teams to match up with us. Move Caufield down, to give him a scoring winger, and we will have two lines capable of scoring.

Add Dach (6'4) to the powerplay with Slaf (6'3) and we have two puck possession monsters feeding to snipers Suzuki and Caufield and creating havoc in the slot. Mix in Hutson eventually taking Matheson's spot on the point for our PP, or Mailloux for the heavy shot from the point on the PP and that should improve vastly.

Player Discussion - Kirby Dach: Welcome to Montreal part 2

Yeah. He’s progressing nicely. Love what MSL has done with him. Now if he could only be nicer to Slaf… : laugh: It was slowly getting to that point, I think, had Slaf not gotten injured .

forums.hfboards.com

 

[Benstheman]

It is also possible that the young players progress, but others decline... Matheson and Monty for example...

I doubt we end up anywhere but last in our division... I hope I'm wrong

And i can't remember where i heard it first but i verified and it's true : Our entire 1st line and our no.1 D played all season without missing a single game. We will be extra lucky if it happens again next season.

I think all in all, we will be better if everything goes right but there still a big chance we finish in the same range.

I think 23th to 26th is most likely. So a pick between 7OA and 10OA.

 

[JianYang]

I'm also a big fan of Dach... at least what I've seen in the few games he's played. He has to show he can stay healthy, but if he does, I agree with you - it'll be like adding a 1C (although I'd give him time to shake off the rust).

Those who watched him play know it's a lazy argument to say his career high is only 38 points.

Sure, I understand reservations about his ability to stay healthy, but I don't trust anybody's ability to evaluate a player if they couldn't see that dach is acrtually a pretty good player with tremendous upside.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

A lot of Dach talk here, and some are forgetting where we were at with this kid a year and a half ago. Dach's injury has caused some board amnesia.

This kid is a beast. He was trending as good as Suzuki at the tail end of the 2022/23 season. For fun, I went back and read the Dach thread from page 70 for a few pages....we were in LOVE. Add this kid to the lineup and he immediately takes pressure off our first line. It will be much tougher for teams to match up with us. Move Caufield down, to give him a scoring winger, and we will have two lines capable of scoring.

Add Dach (6'4) to the powerplay with Slaf (6'3) and we have two puck possession monsters feeding to snipers Suzuki and Caufield and creating havoc in the slot. Mix in Hutson eventually taking Matheson's spot on the point for our PP, or Mailloux for the heavy shot from the point on the PP and that should improve vastly.

Player Discussion - Kirby Dach: Welcome to Montreal part 2

Yeah. He’s progressing nicely. Love what MSL has done with him. Now if he could only be nicer to Slaf… : laugh: It was slowly getting to that point, I think, had Slaf not gotten injured .

forums.hfboards.com

Going into last year I was expecting a monster season. He was by far our best player at camp and then they put Slaf with him and he started killing it with him. Two points in his first game and then... we lose him for the season. Devastating. That f***ed up our whole year. Silver lining that we got Demidov but still, it was the worst part of our year last season.

I'm projecting modest totals and praying for a healthy year. If he goes down again, we have to find another 2nd line center - not what I want to do. Assuming he's healthy, I just don't see how he doesn't hit at least 50 points. If he goes back to what he was? He could be the key to us making the playoffs. He's a really important player for us. It's make or break for him this year.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

And i can't remember where i heard it first but i verified and it's true : Our entire 1st line and our no.1 D played all season without missing a single game. We will be extra lucky if it happens again next season.

I think all in all, we will be better if everything goes right but there still a big chance we finish in the same range.

I think 23th to 26th is most likely. So a pick between 7OA and 10OA.

Our first line may not have missed a game but CC wasn't healthy. If he was 100 percent we'd have seen a 40-50 goal season. Guhle also missed 12 games.

 

[Mikah]

Going into last year I was expecting a monster season. He was by far our best player at camp and then they put Slaf with him and he started killing it with him. Two points in his first game and then... we lose him for the season. Devastating. That f***ed up our whole year. Silver lining that we got Demidov but still, it was the worst part of our year last season.

I'm projecting modest totals and praying for a healthy year. If he goes down again, we have to find another 2nd line center - not what I want to do. Assuming he's healthy, I just don't see how he doesn't hit at least 50 points. If he goes back to what he was? He could be the key to us making the playoffs. He's a really important player for us. It's make or break for him this year.

Totally agree with how Dach performed at camp. He was by far the best player on the ice.

That being said, if he plays a full season and hit 60 points, he would basically have replaced Monahan. So there is no gain here. (If you look at the trade deadline, Monahan was 35 points in 49 games. If Dach is not on that pace by then, that means it will be another year of sellouts).

 

[WeThreeKings]

Totally agree with how Dach performed at camp. He was by far the best player on the ice.

That being said, if he plays a full season and hit 60 points, he would basically have replaced Monahan. So there is no gain here. (If you look at the trade deadline, Monahan was 35 points in 49 games. If Dach is not on that pace by then, that means it will be another year of sellouts).

That's if you think that points out = points in is the only metric of a players impact. Dach's skating, size, puck protection, puck carrying ability, defensive play, etc. are all things that grade out higher than Monahan, the one downswing will be faceoffs.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Totally agree with how Dach performed at camp. He was by far the best player on the ice.

That being said, if he plays a full season and hit 60 points, he would basically have replaced Monahan. So there is no gain here. (If you look at the trade deadline, Monahan was 35 points in 49 games. If Dach is not on that pace by then, that means it will be another year of sellouts).

Monahan had 35 points with us. Dach could easily come close to doubling that. And Monahan only played part of the year here. If he’d stayed we would’ve finished higher in the standings.

 

[Mikah]

Monahan had 35 points with us. Dach could easily come close to doubling that. And Monahan only played part of the year here. If he’d stayed we would’ve finished higher in the standings.

You think that Dach can do 70 points in 49 games? I would not say that he could easily do that.. that's the equivalent of a 117 points season.

Monahan had 35 points in 49 games, which was on pace for 58 points (he actually finished with 59). I think we agree that if Dach finishes the year with 60 points, it will be a good year for him. Hence why I am saying... if Dach is healthy and does 60 points, we pretty much gained nothing from last year.

What will be important is what he do up to the trade deadline, because obviously if Montreal is not in a position to make the playoffs at the deadline, they are likely to sell and again go further down in the standings, even if Dach is staying and does 60 points in total.

 

[Adriatic]

If major injuries are not an issue this season, with Dach, Hutson and possibly another forward via trade I can't see them finishing bottom 5.

 

[Sorinth]

You think that Dach can do 70 points in 49 games? I would not say that he could easily do that.. that's the equivalent of a 117 points season.

Monahan had 35 points in 49 games, which was on pace for 58 points (he actually finished with 59). I think we agree that if Dach finishes the year with 60 points, it will be a good year for him. Hence why I am saying... if Dach is healthy and does 60 points, we pretty much gained nothing from last year.

What will be important is what he do up to the trade deadline, because obviously if Montreal is not in a position to make the playoffs at the deadline, they are likely to sell and again go further down in the standings, even if Dach is staying and does 60 points in total.

I'm pretty sure he's saying he can do 70 points in 82 games which does more for the standings then 35 points in 49 games.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

You think that Dach can do 70 points in 49 games? I would not say that he could easily do that.. that's the equivalent of a 117 points season.

No. I think he can get sixty something over 82.

Monahan had 35 points in 49 games, which was on pace for 58 points (he actually finished with 59). I think we agree that if Dach finishes the year with 60 points, it will be a good year for him. Hence why I am saying... if Dach is healthy and does 60 points, we pretty much gained nothing from last year.

Again though, we didn't have Monahan the whole year. If the assumption is that Dach plays 82, he'll be a nice upgrade.

As I said, if we'd held onto Monahan, we'd have finished higher in the standings (and thus missed out on Demidov.)

What will be important is what he do up to the trade deadline, because obviously if Montreal is not in a position to make the playoffs at the deadline, they are likely to sell and again go further down in the standings, even if Dach is staying and does 60 points in total.

If we're out of it by the deadline, I expect that we'll sell Matheson. He's our best trade bait and I don't see him fitting into our future.

I'm pretty sure he's saying he can do 70 points in 82 games which does more for the standings then 35 points in 49 games.

Correct. Thanks.

 

[Habs7631]

Sorry for the double post.

If you were the GM, how many of you would be ok to do what Chicago tried to pull this year? They tried to trade their unprotected 25’ 1st to Columbus for #4 this year so they could get both Levshunov AND Demidov.

If we pick in the top 5 or so again why not trade our 2026 1st unprotected? Walk away with 2 of the top forwards - say 2 of Hagens/Martone/Ryabkin/Misa/McQueen/Frondell/Desnoyers/etc.

Suzuki and Caufield are ready. Demidov coming next year. These 2 forwards come in 2026.

Caufield-Suzuki-Slaf
2025LW-2025C-Demidov

Let’s finish this rebuild for good and try to compete while Suzuki/Caufield are still under bargain contracts and having a bunch of high-end talent on ELC/first extension?

 

[SannywithoutCompy]

Sorry for the double post.

If you were the GM, how many of you would be ok to do what Chicago tried to pull this year? They tried to trade their unprotected 25’ 1st to Columbus for #4 this year so they could get both Levshunov AND Demidov.

If we pick in the top 5 or so again why not trade our 2026 1st unprotected? Walk away with 2 of the top forwards - say 2 of Hagens/Martone/Ryabkin/Misa/McQueen/Frondell/Desnoyers/etc.

Suzuki and Caufield are ready. Demidov coming next year. These 2 forwards come in 2026.

Caufield-Suzuki-Slaf
2025LW-2025C-Demidov

Let’s finish this rebuild for good and try to compete while Suzuki/Caufield are still under bargain contracts and having a bunch of high-end talent on ELC/first extension?

I get where you're coming from, I just hope the hockey gods wouldn't punish us by making us lose out on the best prospect since McDavid