Official Tank Thread

[Riggins]

If we don't end up bottom 4 this year I'll be disappointed. I hate being that bad but we need the pick.

You basically need to be bottom 3 to be more comfortable staying in the range for the top 4 picks (Hagens, Schaefer, Misa and Martone). If we end up 4th last there's a roughly 67% chance of picking 5th or 6th after the lottery. I think it's pretty much impossible for us to finish bottom 3 with the other awful teams in the league. We will probably need to win the lottery to get one of the top guys.

Picking around 6th/7th and say 13th with the Calgary pick would still be good. That's two more strong pieces for the rebuild.

 

[WG]

Sure, but they've had 6 straight top 10 drafts... We've had 3, and quite arguably we've got a better and deeper pool of U24 talent (as that article suggests).

It's not an indictment of our drafting & development process that we currently have roster holes & U24 players that haven't yet solidified them... That critique should be towards the ~20M tied up in 4 vet forwards that are bottom 6 contributors. Could have easily found a 2C & top 4 RD with that cap room if not for bargain bin's legacy...


It'll be another 3-5yrs before we can definitively speak to the success of the 2022-23-24 draft classes...

But so far, so great with 2 of the top 10 players (& perhaps the top 2 before it's all said and done) from 2022 in Slaf/Hudson

5 players that look to be locks to become NHL regulars (Demidov, Beck, RB, Fowler, Hage)

And another 3-5 with very promising early trajectories towards NHL status given their play in pro leagues (Engstrom, Mesar, FloX, Rohrer, Kony, Davidson)


If even 1/2 of those 12 actually pan out as NHL regulars, as their early post draft trajectory suggests, that's a damn impressive draft success.

Plus 10.5M for Price. If the team was better HuGo could have spent that money and used offseason LTIR for Price.

 

[HuGort]

Black Hawks beat Florida, Colombus best Tampa. Sharks got a point.

 

[overlords]

After a decent start, Zona/Utah are back to their preordained particular position: 1 pt ahead of us and barely ahead in goal diff. Can we make it 4 years in a row?

 

[Leto]

After a decent start, Zona/Utah are back to their preordained particular position: 1 pt ahead of us and barely ahead in goal diff. Can we make it 4 years in a row?

Jamais 2 sans 3... Oh wait! Jamais 3 sans 4 ?

 

[morhilane]

After a decent start, Zona/Utah are back to their preordained particular position: 1 pt ahead of us and barely ahead in goal diff. Can we make it 4 years in a row?

The Inevitability of Fate.

 

[Anardil]

I think that the best that we can hope for WRT Laine is a Radulov-like production/impact on the team. That would be marvelous.

 

[Miller Time]

After a decent start, Zona/Utah are back to their preordained particular position: 1 pt ahead of us and barely ahead in goal diff. Can we make it 4 years in a row?

They got hit hard by the injury bug... Losing both offseason RD additions early on

 

[Tuggy]

Chicago winning 2-0. Poised to push the Habs to 31st overall.

 

[MoneyManny]

Anesthesia 4 Misa

 

[teamfirst]

Chicago winning 2-0. Poised to push the Habs to 31st overall.

Nah, that's fake news

 

[Habs]

Chicago winning 2-0. Poised to push the Habs to 31st overall.

man the NHL is just loaded with bad teams this year, what a pathetic collection of bottom 20 franchises. May be the weakest year to win a cup

 

[Tuggy]

Well Chicago lost in OT, so only tie the Habs in points.

man the NHL is just loaded with bad teams this year, what a pathetic collection of bottom 20 franchises. May be the weakest year to win a cup

It's pretty rough. There are a lot of bad teams.

 

[teamfirst]

man the NHL is just loaded with bad teams this year, what a pathetic collection of bottom 20 franchises. May be the weakest year to win a cup

Tanking era hockey gives you that

 

[26Mats]

I would like a high first. I think it's best for the long term.

But it will be interesting to see if MSL and the players have figured it out defensively and can compete. It may not be what's best for the long term. But if it's authentic and real, it's authentic and real. Hopefully they trade Savard sooner than later so Barron can get in full time to see if he can develop:

Guhle - Matheson
Hutson - Barron
Xhekaj - Struble
Lindstrom

 

[ReHabs]

The only thing holding me back from the tank this year is Laine.

 

[Riggins]

man the NHL is just loaded with bad teams this year, what a pathetic collection of bottom 20 franchises. May be the weakest year to win a cup

Helps with the Calgary pick situation...but yes, what a big pile of crappy to mediocre teams this year. But maybe that means the Habs can ascend to the top of that pile quicker and won't take another 3 years to make the playoffs. This summer we can get aggressive with the excessive number of picks.

The only thing holding me back from the tank this year is Laine.

Laine comes in, scores a bunch of goals and the fans fall in love with the team en route to a 10th or 11th place finish. Then we win the lottery.

 

[BozoTheClown]

man the NHL is just loaded with bad teams this year, what a pathetic collection of bottom 20 franchises. May be the weakest year to win a cup.

I can’t imagine ever spending money to watch the NHL live under those circumstances or even with a cable package.
Absolute waster of money.

At least in the 80’s and early 90’s you could watch a game at the arena for less than $10.

 

[the valiant effort]

Lots of bad teams…

…or lots of bad players?

 

[Leto]

man the NHL is just loaded with bad teams this year, what a pathetic collection of bottom 20 franchises. May be the weakest year to win a cup

Given the appetite for the league to expand to 36-40 teams, the product is bound to get worse in the next 10 to 20 years.​