You're worried about Montreals top 6? That has Kirby Dach and Newhook in it? They're still the worst team in the division.
Our Top-6 has Norris and Perron in it...
Norris vs Dach last 2 seasons : 58 games/33 pts (0.57 PPG) vs 60 games/40 pts (0.67 PPG)
Perron vs Newhook last 2 seasons : 158 games/103 pts vs 137 games/64 pts
2 things, Perron is now 36 y/o, Newhook was 21 and 22 y/o in the last 2 seasons. They're going in different directions.
54 of Newhook pts were at ES, 64 for Perron... so 10 more points at ES in 2 seasons while having played 21 more games...
We're hoping that they're still the worst team in the division but for how long? They were a whooping 2 pts behind us last season lol, we can't act like we are above anyone.
The "hope" IMO is that TB and Detroit regress while Buffalo and Montreal take more time to take the next step. Hard to count on Boston to regress, they made some nice acquisitions this summer and have some good young players developing.
Do you want to trade the likes of Tkachuk Batherson Stutzle because Montreal got an enigmatic Laine?
Problem is our depth and potential beyond these guys is getting extremely thin. We're getting desperate that guys that were picked in the 4th or 5th round eventually hit.
They don't have a single forward on the level as Tkachuk or Stutzle.
Nick Suzuki outscored Stutzle last season while having great defensive metrics. Slafkovsky in the 2nd half of the season, while he was still 19 y/o, has shown he was on his way to become an impact forward. But their gem potential star is Ivan Demidov.
Pinto is a better player than Caufield, Newhook or Dach. Maybe living in Montreal youre riding a ridiculous hype train. But they were horrible last year. A terrible team that relied on elite goaltending and still finished 5th last.
The hype is not only coming from Montreal. And it's not just about Montreal, they are being talked about more now because they keep hitting homeruns but there's also Buffalo and Detroit who have a great bank of young talent (let's not start looking at the other division)
We were ahead of everybody 3 years ago but we were stuck with Pierre Dorion. The NHL is not a league you can AFFORD to have a GM like that for 7 years. It was too long and he made way too much damage, unfortunately.