Kent Hughes & Jeff Gorton General Discussion Thread - The Honeymoon Is Over

[Justin11]

I let it marinate overnight as I did not want to overreact last night.

Habs brass clearly were looking for a young top 6 center for obvious reasons, and they identified it in Dach. Now if Dach finds his form and the Slaf pans out, HuGo will look like geniuses, but if it goes the other way around, oh boy...

In Dach's case, he will need to show signs of progression starting this coming season. With Slaf, we will need to be patient for a couple of seasons.

I hope we tank hard for Bedard next season. Even if we don't get the the 1OA, there's some talented centers i.e. Carlsson, Yager, Ritchie and Dvorsky.

 

[Kent Nilsson]

Have to trust the scouts on Slaf. 3 teams passing on Wright makes me comfortable he wasnt the right guy.

Dach is a homerun attempt. Dont forget Gorton stole Zibanejad for NYR. Dach only cost Romanov. You can replace what Romanov brings by signing Chiarot/Edmundson types and every year there are some available.

I still feel like theyre fully commited to tank/rebuild. Hopefully at least one of Petry/Anderson is gone soon.

Not sure how everybody is getting their panties in a bunch already while I’ve spent years witnessing people defend f***ing Marc Bergevin.

 

[Leon Lucius Black]

I have been happy with their moves so far, especially since they seem to have an actual plan and also aren't afraid to take risks.

The hard part of the rebuild/retool is still out there though. We have a shit ton of wingers who are taking up cap space and blocking roster spots from younger guys. Will be interesting to see what they're able to do with guys like Hoffman, Drouin, Armia, Byron, Dadonov etc.

 

[Kent Nilsson]

I have been happy with their moves so far, especially since they seem to have an actual plan and also aren't afraid to take risks.

The hard part of the rebuild/retool is still out there though. We have a shit ton of wingers who are taking up cap space and blocking roster spots from younger guys. Will be interesting to see what they're able to do with guys like Hoffman, Drouin, Armia, Byron, Dadonov etc.

They’ll just let the contracts run out as no team would ever want such garbage. This happy bunch pretty much guarantees the rebuild to take place.

Price
Gallagher
Drouin
Hoffman
Armia
Byron
Savard
Weber turned Dadonov
Even Anderson and Petry contracts arent very good.

What the f*** was Bergevin even trying to do ?

 

[Skip Bayless]

Hughes said it at his first presser; Size and skill.

As much as you don't like the moves, he clearly has a direction.

We still have another huge tank year ahead, next season we might draft our new franchise player. For the first time in a long time, I feel like our prospect pool has multiple players with high end upside.

Dach and Slaf; Those types of players are almost impossible to acquire if they pan out, at least we have a couple in our system now.

Still skeptical about those two, but it's way too early in the process for me to kickstart the HuGo hate wagon.

 

[calder candidate]

Not for me. I'm satisfied that former 38 OA Romanov's ceiling is not much higher than Ben Chiarot's, and his cap hit was already on the way up. There are three young 1st rounders plus Harris in the pipeline, and as we have seen, clubs can get Chiarots and Edmundsons to fill roles 3-5 on D without mortgaging the team.

Getting the 1OA pick wrong is definitely the bigger risk, and it's not close. Let's not overthink this and conclude that messing up with a 38OA is riskier.

Draft position doesn’t matter in Romanov case he was a NHL player a legit top 4 (young, great skater and physical)…
Carolina gave a a very late 1st and 3rd for KK, we just gave a early/mid 1st and 1st pick of the 3rd for Dach who was tracking same or worst than KK… Chicago who is rebuilding gave up on him which also concern me on top of the injuries… Slaf might not live up to expectation but Dach has to beat out Romanov, pick #13,#66,#98 basically anyone after 13 since we could have pick them. Slaf only need match or outperformed anyone before #13… Also 2 other team passing on Wright kinda bright me a bit of peace we aren’t the only ones that had ???

 

[DAChampion]

Unlike Bergevin, these two are following a plan and direction, though I don't know enough to say if it's being implemented properly.

They want a younger, cost controlled core, with size, speed, and skill that can grow together.

I don't know who Bergevin/Timmins would have drafted, but they would have never had the balls to trade for Dach.

 

[MXD]

Unlike Bergevin, these two are following a plan and direction, though I don't know enough to say if it's being implemented properly.

They want a younger, cost controlled core, with size, speed, and skill that can grow together.

I don't know who Bergevin/Timmins would have drafted, but they would have never had the balls to trade for Dach.

Mesar?

 

[Hannibal]

I’m a believer! Thanks you Hughes and Gorton.

 

[DAChampion]

Mesar?

What about him?

 

[Omar]

You do know that a two way C is much more valuable than a strong power forward winger. Do you dispute that? I don't know what the outcome is but I know the reward is better with Wright. IMO, unless people think there is a good chance Wright will straight up bust (like Yakupov), then the risk/reward of passing on Wright is an epic blunder.

Well they knew Dach was coming before drafting Slaf so the point isn’t to compare Slaf vs Wright it’s to compare Dach vs Wright. In their opinion, Dach has a higher ceiling and is further along in his development. Guehle replaces Romanov. But keep telling yourself it’s a blunder when we have no idea what Wright does in the future.

 

[WeThreeKings]

I’m a believer! Thanks you Hughes and Gorton.

You must be pumped man and I think its a good blend of both our styles. I love skilled guys and they are both big with some bite (though not super physical).

 

[MXD]

What about him?

He's 5'10.

 

[Hannibal]

You must be pumped man and I think its a good blend of both our styles. I love skilled guys and they are both big with some bite (though not super physical).

Yes a good mix between our styles! Always loved skills with size.

 

[Matthew McConaughay]

I see KK vs Tkachuk all over again, let's hope, it doesn't end the same for Hughes sake.

 

[Tripledeke333]

I see KK vs Tkachuk all over again, let's hope, it doesn't end the same for Hughes sake.

To think that if we drafted Tkachuk, we may not have passed on Wright for Slav (as we already had a power forward) makes the KK pick much worse.

We took the risky unknown rising center over the established power forward then. Now we take the rising power forward over the established potential franchise 1C.

 

[JoelWarlord]

I was pretty strongly in favour of going Wright before the draft but I have to admit that having two other teams pass on him makes me a lot more comfortable with this choice. I realize the Devils wanted to go D, but Arizona choosing Cooley over Wright is pretty interesting and makes me think there is some stuff I was missing on Wright's projection.

Missing is maybe not the right word because I was of course aware of the concerns about his dynamism or lack of assertiveness on the ice but I guess what I'd say is I was pretty dismissive of those concerns but perhaps if 3 NHL front offices agree they have more merit than I gave them. Then again, DeBrincat and Caufield were picked at 39 and 15 so perhaps it's just another example of some hockey brain cognitive biases.

I really love the Dach trade, turning Romanov and some magic beans into Dach is just amazing work, super excited to see what happens with him next year. Overall it's a very interesting day, I'm still unsure if we won't regret just going with even Nemec or Cooley instead but now that the pick is done I'm happy to wait and see and Slafkovsky is the most interesting prospect we've had in ages.

 

[dcyhabs]

Draft position doesn’t matter in Romanov case he was a NHL player a legit top 4 (young, great skater and physical)…
Carolina gave a a very late 1st and 3rd for KK, we just gave a early/mid 1st and 1st pick of the 3rd for Dach who was tracking same or worst than KK… Chicago who is rebuilding gave up on him which also concern me on top of the injuries… Slaf might not live up to expectation but Dach has to beat out Romanov, pick #13,#66,#98 basically anyone after 13 since we could have pick them. Slaf only need match or outperformed anyone before #13… Also 2 other team passing on Wright kinda bright me a bit of peace we aren’t the only ones that had ???

Having other bad teams pass on a guy doesn't mean much. New Jersey and Arizona aren't exactly well run franchises just now, and NJ is set at center. I hope by next year I have confidence in the habs scouting department, because right now I have no idea if the guys making the decisions have any clue or not.

Slaf may be way more effective on small ice or he may not be able to beat NHL D and G. Wright may have peaked or he may go back to being generational once he is away from Kingston.

 

[BaseballCoach]

Of course the Habs survived — teams don’t fold often in the NHL. It’s a perpetual money making machine. They take money from fans and sell hope, sometimes entertainment but the main product is hope.

You buy what they are selling, many others don’t or have doubts. We can respect each other as fans with different opinions.

I was lukewarm-negative last night but am now rather more pessimistic. These were cowboy moves — they answered questions that could’ve been answered later and didn’t deal with the real problem this team has had for years: no 1C and no 1D.

The club thinks Suzuki can be a 1C and are grooming him for that. It appears that Wrioght was not seen as a slam-dunk better center, and for that matter neither did Arizona jump on Wright. So even though I personally would have smiled upon Wright's selection by the Habs, I always felt that he would be a 2C or 1-B, not a Mackinnon/Barkov level a level above Suzuki.

A 1D was not going to get solved last night unless they gambled on Nemec at 1OA and he panned out amazingly to something better than prime Petry. Any other pick they could have acquired by mortgaging the medium-term would still not have worked unless it was for NJ's 2OA.

We are gathering some good skating young pieces. We have three more established NHL guys in their twenties with decent contracts. When we replace the $14M spent on Byron, Drouin and Dadonov, and possibly the $10.5M spent on Price, that is when we can add more costly talent (also 25-30 yo). Hoffman and his $4.5M comes off a year after that. If we can get out of Gallagher's contract, that would be even better, but I'm afraid it won't be easy or quick. At any rate, most good teams can survive one bad contract, just not six!

 

[Et le But]

Yikes is this a bad draft

 

[BaseballCoach]

Well they knew Dach was coming before drafting Slaf so the point isn’t to compare Slaf vs Wright it’s to compare Dach vs Wright. In their opinion, Dach has a higher ceiling and is further along in his development. Guehle replaces Romanov. But keep telling yourself it’s a blunder when we have no idea what Wright does in the future.

It's
Slaf and Dach
versus
Wright and Romanov and 66 and 98.

It helps we have 3 other D with 1st round pedigree.

It is a fair gamble but for sure this is a big part of what Hugo will be judged on.

 

[1909]

Puzzling moves so far to say the least.

 

[BenchBrawl]

People fighting me on page 1 & 2 of this thread because I said the honeymoon would be over by July 20th. It didn't even take 12 hours lmao

 

[BaseballCoach]

I have been happy with their moves so far, especially since they seem to have an actual plan and also aren't afraid to take risks.

The hard part of the rebuild/retool is still out there though. We have a shit ton of wingers who are taking up cap space and blocking roster spots from younger guys. Will be interesting to see what they're able to do with guys like Hoffman, Drouin, Armia, Byron, Dadonov etc.

What promising young forwards are blocked at this time?

Ylonen, Harvey-Pinard and Pezzetta won't move the needle.

Get Poehling a real role and that's all I want. Rem Pitlick can be our Swiss army knife, but it's not the end of the world if we can't hold onto him due to an arbitrator's ruling.

 

[jj cale]

People fighting me on page 1 & 2 of this thread because I said the honeymoon would be over by July 20th. It didn't even take 12 hours lmao

Is there ever really a honeymoon in Montreal?