GDT: Kent Hughes Mid-Season Presser (11:30AM ET)

[Beaker]

Also Dach he has to defend. But I think he’ll be gone by summer

Dach is playing good hockey… so… no.

 

[Runner77]

Carrier was good until this year. The whole team was shit this year. Not much point basing anything on this years performance.

What could probably be based on this year’s Pred performance is how multiple players on their roster are underperforming. It’s as if there were a collective mental downspiral, which probably means, several of their assets might be undervalued. Could be prime territory for Hughes to attempt a follow up trade.

 

[HabsCowboysOwn]

Still don't get why people want to sign Armia. Recency bias i guess.

Yoelle can **** right off, one ''good'' season doesn't erase all his putrid ones. Just sign a stop gap UFA vet to replace him on the bottom 6 and PK and be done with it, people need to stop acting like he's an integral part of this team.

The fewer Bergevin guys left the better.

 

[Runner77]

I don’t know what it is, but I got really blasé about these types of pressers by the GM. Could not find anything of substance that I didn’t know before.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

I don’t know what it is, but I got really blasé about these types of pressers by the GM. Could not find anything of substance that I didn’t know before.

Always better to have a competent GM who gives you piecemeal info, rather than an incompetent one who feeds you endless verbiage and a litany of bungled well-known expressions.

 

[BLONG7]

I don’t know what it is, but I got really blasé about these types of pressers by the GM. Could not find anything of substance that I didn’t know before.

Nothing new.......as you say, nothing came to light we all hadn't already known or speculated.....Hughes has become a little more guarded these days.
That said, it's so refreshing to hear the GM of the Habs use his brain power to evaluate and do what he does.................Is he perfect, no of course not. The process put in place continues to move forward very well.

September, when Demidov comes over, it's time to get excited.

 

[JustAHabFan]

It's simple, if you watch Baron in the AHL and saw how poor his decision making was, how did anyone think that wouldn't be an issue at the NHL where it's way tougher. To me, if you aren't ready for the NHL at 20, 21 years old, stay in the AHL until you figure it out.

I don't really think Barron can figure it out. Such a low hockey IQ.

 

[nhlfan9191]

Yoelle can **** right off, one ''good'' season doesn't erase all his putrid ones. Just sign a stop gap UFA vet to replace him on the bottom 6 and PK and be done with it, people need to stop acting like he's an integral part of this team.

The fewer Bergevin guys left the better.

Armia can get lost. Story of his career is not showing up unless there’s something that benefits him personally on the line.

 

[EveryDay]

Armia can get lost. Story of his career is not showing up unless there’s something that benefits him personally on the line.

Agreed, Armia is playing well only because it's a contract year. Pass.

Out : Armia-Pezzetta-Dvorak-Savard
Keep: Evans 4 × 3.5M

 

[Habs Halifax]

Dach is playing good hockey… so… no.

Agreed. If Dach is traded, it's because we added and got someone better. That doesn't mean we don't like him. It just means we are after an improvement. If a trade does not develop, I know our management is happy with Dach.

Here is some good news with Dach and any salary cap structure. His injury last year took away one whole year from getting to evaluate him. Now we have this year and next left before we decide on what his next contract will be. First half of this season was meh but he's been better of late.

Does he have a break out from this 2nd half and all of next year? Doubt it. I see more modest improvement and we will be able to lock him up for his prime at something around $5-$6M. If he turns into a 60-70 pts center in his prime, we have a very good value contract

I have a fair amount of confidence Dach can reach 50-60 pts in his prime. 60+ is where I start to question it.

 

[Sorinth]

Still don't get why people want to sign Armia. Recency bias i guess.

Not saying we should re-sign him but there's a couple factors at play. The biggest complaints against Armia on the team were inconsistency and cap hit.

In terms on inconsistency there's a reason to believe he has turned a corner with the whole sports psychologist thing that got reported on last year. If he's at 1.5+ seasons of consistent play it's a pretty good sign that he would continue this new level of consistent play.

In terms of cap hit, I assume most people talking about re-signing him believe he will come cheaper then his current 3.5m cap hit.

One other thing is that Armia has been good in both our playoff appearances. And generally people are going to be willing to put up with a lot if there's a belief that when it counts in the playoffs he will always step up. If we do make the playoffs and Armia has another good run, would be tough to let him walk if the contract asks seem reasonable.

 

[LaP]

Not saying we should re-sign him but there's a couple factors at play. The biggest complaints against Armia on the team were inconsistency and cap hit.

In terms on inconsistency there's a reason to believe he has turned a corner with the whole sports psychologist thing that got reported on last year. If he's at 1.5+ seasons of consistent play it's a pretty good sign that he would continue this new level of consistent play.

In terms of cap hit, I assume most people talking about re-signing him believe he will come cheaper then his current 3.5m cap hit.

One other thing is that Armia has been good in both our playoff appearances. And generally people are going to be willing to put up with a lot if there's a belief that when it counts in the playoffs he will always step up. If we do make the playoffs and Armia has another good run, would be tough to let him walk if the contract asks seem reasonable.

Yeah but do you want to make the playoffs now or win the cup in 5 years. That's the question. If you want to make the playoffs now yeah re-sign everyone maybe. But if you want to win the cup in 5 years those guys will be too old so they'll have to be replaced and ideally upgraded.

Kids don't come in and win the cup without 2-3 years of NHL exp. Yeah Crosby and Malkin did it but usually kids will need at least 3 years of NHL exp to win. If we want to win in 5 years we have to bring in the kids who will be part of this core in the next 2 seasons so they can grab NHL exp now.

We are stuck with Anderson and Gallagher. Heineman is a guy we want to keep. Ideally we want to push Newhook down the lineup. So that's already 4 bottom 6 spots taken. Personaly i feel like you want to keep at least one spot open for Mesar, Roy, Beck, Kapanen, Xhekaj, Tuch ...

Caufield-Suzuki-Slaf
Laine-Dach-Demidov
Newhook-Evans-Heineman
Anderson-Beck-Gallagher

There's no room for Armia. He's too old for this core moving forward. Personally i would not even resign Evans unless it's 3 years max. I think Beck wil be better when we'll be ready to win.

 

[Sorinth]

Yeah but do you want to make the playoffs now or win the cup in 5 years. That's the question. If you want to make the playoffs now yeah re-sign everyone maybe. But if you want to win the cup in 5 years those guys will be too old so they'll have to be replaced and ideally upgraded.

Kids don't come in and win the cup without 2-3 years of NHL exp. Yeah Crosby and Malkin did it but usually kids will need at least 3 years of NHL exp to win. If we want to win in 5 years we have to bring in the kids who will be part of this core in the next 2 seasons so they can grab NHL exp now.

We are stuck with Anderson and Gallagher. Heineman is a guy we want to keep. Ideally we want to push Newhook down the lineup. So that's already 4 bottom 6 spots taken. Personaly i feel like you want to keep at least one spot open for Mesar, Roy, Beck, Kapanen, Xhekaj, Tuch ...

Caufield-Suzuki-Slaf
Laine-Dach-Demidov
Newhook-Evans-Heineman
Anderson-Beck-Gallagher

There's no room for Armia. He's too old for this core moving forward. Personally i would not even resign Evans unless it's 3 years max. I think Beck wil be better when we'll be ready to win.

Does trading Armia actually help us win the cup in 5 years? Because the odds are very much against his return having any meaningful impact on our cup chances. And there's a stronger argument that making the playoffs now actually helps use win the cup in 5 years more then whatever pick Armia can get us because getting playoff experience matters. When we do have a real chance at the cup do we want guys like Slaf, Hutson to have little to no playoff experience, or do we want them to have played a bunch of playoff games already and have learnt a thing or two about what it takes to win in the playoffs.

Look I don't think Armia is some sort of must re-sign, but you said you can't understand why anyone would want to re-sign him beyond recency bias and so I gave you reasons. It's easy to create a lineup when there's no injuries, no extras, and everyone is ready and able to hit their potential. I personally kind of doubt that will actually be the opening night roster or that next season there won't be times a guy like Armia would be useful.

 

[LaP]

Does trading Armia actually help us win the cup in 5 years? Because the odds are very much against his return having any meaningful impact on our cup chances. And there's a stronger argument that making the playoffs now actually helps use win the cup in 5 years more then whatever pick Armia can get us because getting playoff experience matters. When we do have a real chance at the cup do we want guys like Slaf, Hutson to have little to no playoff experience, or do we want them to have played a bunch of playoff games already and have learnt a thing or two about what it takes to win in the playoffs.

Look I don't think Armia is some sort of must re-sign, but you said you can't understand why anyone would want to re-sign him beyond recency bias and so I gave you reasons. It's easy to create a lineup when there's no injuries, no extras, and everyone is ready and able to hit their potential. I personally kind of doubt that will actually be the opening night roster or that next season there won't be times a guy like Armia would be useful.

Yes because we wil give exp to a kid now instead of in 3 years (Armia wont sign less than 2 years). That kid will have more NHL experience in 5 years. Look at how much experience Guhle and Xhekaj needed before starting to play like vets. Took less time for Heineman but probably because he had already 127 games of SHL exp which is a relatively strong league.

 

[Sorinth]

Yes because we wil give exp to a kid now instead of in 3 years (Armia wont sign less than 2 years). That kid will have more NHL experience in 5 years. Look at how much experience Guhle and Xhekaj needed before starting to play like vets. Took less time for Heineman but probably because he had already 127 games of SHL exp which is a relatively strong league.

And Armia helping us get into the playoffs now provides the kids an even better experience.