Player Discussion Lane Hutson Part 2

ChesterNimitz

governed by the principle of calculated risk
Jul 4, 2002
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Cheese is Price.

Are we going to say the same when Suzuki is two years from the end of his contract?

How do other clubs work?

How did Detroit deal with "the Lidstrom situation"?

How did Tampa Bay deal with "the Hedman situation"?

How did Vegas deal wth "the Pietrangelo situation"?

How do other teams deal with the disaster of having a 30 year old providing production well in excess of their cap hit? Don't they know that only 25 and unders are allowed to be core players? Don't they know that you are not allowed to compete for a Hockey's Future cup with guys over 29, and therefore you can't do so in the NHL either??
Frankly, in today's sport world, two years is a lifetime.

If in two years Matheson is still producing and performing at a high level, Hughes will extend him. If he's not, or his salary expectations are unrealistic, then Hughes will take a pass. Hopefully, the combination of the growth/development of our current young defencemen, those seven high draft choices over the next two years and possible free agent acquisitions resulting from greater cap flexibility will provide Hughes, the chess master, with suitable, if not palatable, options.

Everyone should take a deep breath and relax.
 

ChesterNimitz

governed by the principle of calculated risk
Jul 4, 2002
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It looks unconvincing for sure. I dont think Hutson and Barron is a good ID. There is no D there. However, this also makes trading Kovacevic puzzling; i figured it meant htey were pencilling Mailloux in .
There wasn't anything puzzling about Hughes' decision to trade Kovacevic. While Kovacevic was a good stop gap measure on a team that was minimally competitive, he was and will never be more than a journeyman at the NHL level. Kovacevic lacked the mobility that Hughes and MSL prize in their defecemen and, more importantly, Kovacevic was taking up a roster spot and playing time that would be better given to any number of promising defencemen who were knocking on the door.

What is more puzzling is that Kovacevic was on the roster as long as he was.
 
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SannywithoutCompy

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Dec 22, 2020
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There wasn't anything puzzling about Hughes' decision to trade Kovacevic. While Kovacevic was a good stop gap measure on a team that was minimally competitive, he was and will never be more than a journeyman at the NHL level. Kovacevic lacked the mobility that Hughes and MSL prize in their defecemen and, more importantly, Kovacevic was taking up a roster spot and playing time that would be better given to any number of promising defencemen who were knocking on the door.

What is more puzzling is that Kovacevic was on the roster as long as he was.
Yeah I like Kovacevic but you can find him on waivers every year if need be.
 
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ChesterNimitz

governed by the principle of calculated risk
Jul 4, 2002
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That D is pure shit without Matheson in the line up. Guy looks meh on special teams but beyond that I have trouble understanding how little respect he gets. A goon above him at lhd makes little sense to me.

Guhle Matheson Hutson are who I figure could well be in their next playoff push on lhd. And rhd need to pan out big time if a cup ever happens. If Xjekaj is still around by then good for him and I like that type of player. Engstrom might take his spot soon.
I don't know if that proposed defence is sh*t, but to put some perspective to the proposal, it should be pointed out that as of this writing, the defence as proposed, has scored a collective 74 goals in the NHL.

Matheson on his own, has scored 68 goals in his NHL career.

Draw your own conclusion.
 

Gaud

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May 11, 2017
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There wasn't anything puzzling about Hughes' decision to trade Kovacevic. While Kovacevic was a good stop gap measure on a team that was minimally competitive, he was and will never be more than a journeyman at the NHL level. Kovacevic lacked the mobility that Hughes and MSL prize in their defecemen and, more importantly, Kovacevic was taking up a roster spot and playing time that would be better given to any number of promising defencemen who were knocking on the door.

What is more puzzling is that Kovacevic was on the roster as long as he was.
If the intent is of eventually returning Guhle to the left, then your RD line is Savard (probably) Mailloux and Barron with Reinbacher likely starting in laval.

I dont know what to expect from Barron or what his ceiling is, but I haven't seen anything that tells me he will be more reliable than Kovacevic at #3 RD. He was #6 or 7 D on the habs in Mtl, and he was in laval for the other half of the season.

The guy is reliable enough and cheap enough to keep in such a situation; ergo, it is puzzling in what the implications are of what this move means - that at the time of the trade management had determined Guhle will start RD this season or that both Reinbacher and Mailloux will likely make the lineup or that Barron really is "Good enough".
 

Naslundforever

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Aug 21, 2015
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I don't know if that proposed defence is sh*t, but to put some perspective to the proposal, it should be pointed out that as of this writing, the defence as proposed, has scored a collective 74 goals in the NHL.

Matheson on his own, has scored 68 goals in his NHL career.

Draw your own conclusion.
Not sure about how to evaluate these stats against each other, but pair Matheson with a stud vet RHD instead of a kid rushed too young and playing off his wing, cut his minutes by 25%, replace him on special teams with actual specialists (like Hutson, here), and we’re all looking at a different defence.

My eval of the D being shit without him starts with one of the worse teams in the nhl and removing it’s best defenseman to pencil in a goon with potential upside. We’re all excited about the team’s potential, me first. I love Mailloux, Xjekaj, Reinbacher and the gang. As it stands they have accomplished nothing and are collectively being eaten alive by the world’s best forwards, and their prime is 5 years away.. They need to start winning before that. Matheson has silky smoothe skating and will be able and keep it up for many years still.
 

ChesterNimitz

governed by the principle of calculated risk
Jul 4, 2002
5,807
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Not sure about how to evaluate these stats against each other, but pair Matheson with a stud vet RHD instead of a kid rushed too young and playing off his wing, cut his minutes by 25%, replace him on special teams with actual specialists (like Hutson, here), and we’re all looking at a different defence.

My eval of the D being shit without him starts with one of the worse teams in the nhl and removing it’s best defenseman to pencil in a goon with potential upside. We’re all excited about the team’s potential, me first. I love Mailloux, Xjekaj, Reinbacher and the gang. As it stands they have accomplished nothing and are collectively being eaten alive by the world’s best forwards, and their prime is 5 years away.. They need to start winning before that. Matheson has silky smoothe skating and will be able and keep it up for many years still.
If you are correct that Matheson can keep up his elite skating abilities 'for many years' to come then it would be foolish to trade him. And Hughes is anything but foolish.

As I have often posted, you trade away elite skating at your franchise's peril.

I would respectfully suggest that anyone who believes Hughes and MSL will be trading Matheson, a player who has elite skating ability, plays 25 to 28 minutes each game in all game situations, provides 60+ points production, is a team leader and is local boy who wants to play in the fish bowl that is Montreal, at any time while still playing for a contract that pays him less than $5m per year, is missing the thread.
 
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LaP

Registered User
Jun 27, 2012
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Matheson is not being traded before next summer. And whatever he is taded or not next summer will depend on :

1) How well he plays next season (was last year a fluke?)
2) How greedy he is in his next contract negociation (does he want 6.5+ for 5+ years which means we'll have to renegociate Demidov/Dach/Newhook/... while there's still many years left on Matheson's contract)
 
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Toene

Y'en aura pas de facile
Nov 17, 2014
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Nah, Matheson is here as long as it takes for Hutson to firmly establish himself.

Guhle-Hutson-Engstrom/Xhekaj/Struble down the left side is an eventuality.
Something's gotta give though, it's not sustainable to keep so many left-side Ds. Ideally, Matheson and Struble should be traded.
 

Miller Time

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Sep 16, 2004
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If you are correct that Matheson can keep up his elite skating abilities 'for many years' to come then it would be foolish to trade him. And Hughes is anything but foolish.

As I have often posted, you trade away elite skating at your franchise's peril.

I would respectfully suggest that anyone who believes Hughes and MSL will be trading Matheson, a player who has elite skating ability, plays 25 to 28 minutes each game in all game situations, provides 60+ points production, is a team leader and is local boy who wants to play in the fish bowl that is Montreal, at any time while still playing for a contract that pays him less than $5m per year, is missing the thread.

:clap:
 

Estimated_Prophet

Registered User
Mar 28, 2003
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Something's gotta give though, it's not sustainable to keep so many left-side Ds. Ideally, Matheson and Struble should be traded.

I really like all of our LHD's so it will be tough to lose any of them.

I think trading Struble will come back to bite us as he has elite shut down potential while also having some intriguing PMD skills and has playoff warrior written all over him.

From a building strategy perspective we really need to get our young RHD's some NHL ice time as well as only Barron has any NHL experience (Mailloux's one game aside). Even after moving Savard, Reinbacher and Mailloux will immediately block any thoughts of trying LHD's to the right side.

It is going to be difficult to get the value that Struble deserves in a trade without him having the opportunity to showcase his play. If he does earn the playing time it will mean that we either have injury issues or that Xhekaj and/or Hutson are struggling which is far fromn ideal as you don't want to trade them either especially with diminished value if they struggle. It becomes enticing to consider trading Matheson as he is older but I really like his game and leadership and I have a difficult time seeing Hughes wanting to do that.

I could see Struble straight up beating out Xhekaj and Hutson in pre-season and making HuGo's decision really tough. I think most people will default to the idea of sending Struble down and that may happen but he will make that decision extremely difficult imo.
 

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