Playoffs next season? (if Dubois or another top 6 player is added) POLL

[badi]

Habs need an Upgrade between the pipes before thinking playoffs ...

 

[Kudo Shinichi]

Next year's draft already looks better than the one in 2022. I can't believe how f***ing unlucky we were to have the first overall pick in such an abysmal draft.

Such a flawed way of thinking. That draft has no impact on where the habs will draft this year and likely little impact on where they draft next year.

 

[MonkeyBusiness]

Such a flawed way of thinking. That draft has no impact on where the habs will draft this year and likely little impact on where they draft next year.

Umm, obviously? Thanks for the lessons in probability. The point is more that we will not finish dead last and secure a top 3 pick again. But yeah, we could get lucky and win the lottery. It's kind of funny to pinpoint ''flaws'' in one's way of thinking, when that wasn't what I was trying to insinuate.

 

[Habs Halifax]

Well at least 54% of us know what we are talking about anyways.

Add Dubois but it's a long term hole filled in. Still doesn't mean playoffs right away. It's building blocks people and we are not trading for a 28+ player

 

[Kudo Shinichi]

Umm, obviously? Thanks for the lessons in probability. The point is more that we will not finish dead last and secure a top 3 pick again. But yeah, we could get lucky and win the lottery. It's kind of funny to pinpoint ''flaws'' in one's way of thinking, when that wasn't what I was trying to insinuate.

You literally said the habs were unlucky to win the 1st overall last year. If that draft has no impact on the following drafts, how exactly is a team unlucky to win the 1st overall?

 

[TomKosto]

Maybe with a Dubois and kids like Farrell and Slaf proving they are the real deal, but I doubt it. I think we will still draft top10 next year. Too many holes, need to kids to develop a little bit.

 

[MonkeyBusiness]

You literally said the habs were unlucky to win the 1st overall last year. If that draft has no impact on the following drafts, how exactly is a team unlucky to win the 1st overall?

Now I see the confusion. I didn't mean ''unlucky'' from a probability standpoint. What I meant by that was that it was unfortunate that it happened in such a weak draft class, and also that our collapse happened last year. But yes, you're right that we were lucky to win it, in the end. It's simply a figure of speech, no need to get anal over it.

 

[Ozmodiar]

Good point from Dubois’ standpoint. For Hugo I imagine securing the middle would help align next moves though. As for whether they would make the playoffs with that D still green and in the east, probably not but I’d love to see actual pieces fall into place and Suzuki get less D coverage.

PLD is young and acquiring him would lock down the top 2 center spots going forward. From there, like you wrote, they could round out the forward lineup.

I’m not against the move, I just don’t see playoffs because of it.

 

[waitin425]

If we have learned one thing this season, we are not as bottom of the barrel as we thought. PLD, 40 goal campaign by Cole, continued improvement of Dach and Suzuki, and I think yes we are a playoff team.

 

[schwang26]

They'll undoubtedly add more than just Dubois, so I'd say yes. They ll make the playoffs.

They'll undoubtedly add more than just Dubois, so I'd say yes. They ll make the play

 

[Habs Halifax]

If we have learned one thing this season, we are not as bottom of the barrel as we thought. PLD, 40 goal campaign by Cole, continued improvement of Dach and Suzuki, and I think yes we are a playoff team.

I think we would be a bubble playoff team like the Sabres and Sens. We move from picking in the 5-10 range to the 10-15 range.

Atlantic is tough. Very tough. It has 3 top 5 contenders. Wild card is hard to get to as well cause the Metro is also a very good division. The power is in the East. Our best play is to continue to fill holes but also continue to maintain high draft power and scout/draft/develop well. Our potential window to compete is when Suzuki is 28 and Slaf is 23. 5 more years of rebuild/transition and by then, The Bruins, Tampa, and Leafs will not be be as strong with an older core.

 

[StCaufield]

No. I feel like some here don't appreciate how big of a mess Bergevin left and how much competition there is in the Atlantic.



It doesn't not count. Especially for a team with lots of players that can earn bonuses.

Bergy was awful at contracts but good at trades and okay at drafting as we are seeing now

 

[Captain Mountain]

Bergy was awful at contracts but good at trades and okay at drafting as we are seeing now

He wasn't good at trades, he was average at them. For every Weise+Flash for Danault and a 2nd, there was a Sergachev for Drouin.

He also wasn't awful at contracts, he signed Pacioretty, Price and Gallagher to their sweetheart deals when they were in their prime.

We don't know how good he was at drafting because he was awful at development, but he has one of the worst draft success rates of any long serving GM in the last 40 years.

Bergevin sucked at long term planning and vision though. Even if he made good moves here and there, it was mostly because of circumstance and marginal improvements. He never did any building.

 

[Supersonic]

I think (not alone here) that the first off-season move is to fire the entire medical staff, that alone should improve the team significantly.

Then you factor in the rookies: Guhle, Harris, Barron, Wifi, RHP, Ylonen, Slaf of whom some may or may not improve after getting their feet wet and momentum or confidence going into next year. I don’t expect big progression from Slaf next year though, I expect this to take time.

Young guys who could (and IMO, likely) show improvement next year are any one of Suzuki, Dach and Caufield. Again, injuries, if we get Caufield scoring 40-45 goals next year we are a different team.

Matheson could improve. Savard has been improving since he got here (remember the initial freak out over how bad he was when we got here) but neither should be top-4 guys on a contender.

For younger vets on offense I think Anderson is moved in the summer even if he may temporarily worsen the team even if people think he’s useless. Dvorak is who he is but I could also see him traded if we get PLD.

The potential adding of PLD and Farrell (and maybe Roy as late season call up) would really help the team. I think young guys getting more experience and another year learning from Marty could be really good for them.

Defense will be better but not great. At least we have guys who can skate and move the puck up ice.

Goalies is a huge question mark too. Again this will depend on if we keep Allan or not and run Monty/Primeau. And then how much do those guys improve or not next year?

Overall I could see another bottom 10 finish next year or up to wild card pretenders. Still a lot of factors for the season but I’m confident in the direction so far. Getting someone like PLD could really help push guys down the lineup and we wouldn’t (shouldnt) see a repeat of the absolute deadwood depth we have now.

 

[MasterD]

Pretty much everyone felt the same way circa 2013. We kind of tend to forget that because nothing really went the way we wanted with our prospects development.

Disagree. Closest we've been to what we have going on right now was 2008, but as soon as things got going, the Darkest Day In Habs History happened, plus the stuff with the Kostytsins and Hamrlik and things spiralled fast.

 

[StCaufield]

He wasn't good at trades, he was average at them. For every Weise+Flash for Danault and a 2nd, there was a Sergachev for Drouin.

He also wasn't awful at contracts, he signed Pacioretty, Price and Gallagher to their sweetheart deals when they were in their prime.

We don't know how good he was at drafting because he was awful at development, but he has one of the worst draft success rates of any long serving GM in the last 40 years.

Bergevin sucked at long term planning and vision though. Even if he made good moves here and there, it was mostly because of circumstance and marginal improvements. He never did any building.

There wasn’t another serg for drouin at all. Alzner was bad along with the Gallagher deal. The petry, suzi, vanek, Weber, kulak danault/romanov seals and more were absolute robberies. He couldn’t get the big name though and that was the issue. His drafting was terrible until the last 2-3 years maybe 4. There’s no such thing as building anymore it’s mostly tinkering unless a Bedard comes and then everyone is selling more than most years. I wasn’t a huge fan of MB but he was 2nd for gm of the year for a reason weather you like it or not.

 

[Milhouse40]

Ask that question after training camp.
Many things will change next year and many more players will come in.

Development should still be paramount in the end, no matter the results.

 

[LesHabitants]

Doing ok bud? Need to talk?

Outside of having a bluechip goalie prospect, this is team has the most potential for a few years down the road I've ever witnessed in Montreal. I'm 38.

I'm okay. Having wine so I've relaxed my stance a bit. But... even with this wine, I can't see making the playoffs next year.

 

[Ezpz]

Doing ok bud? Need to talk?

Outside of having a bluechip goalie prospect, this is team has the most potential for a few years down the road I've ever witnessed in Montreal. I'm 38.

I would disagree, the 2012 core was way better. It really was a first line center off from a cup. I feel we have way more holes now.

 

[GordonGraham]

A real top pairing defenceman and 1 goalie would help more than another top 6 forward

 

[MasterD]

I would disagree, the 2012 core was way better. It really was a first line center off from a cup. I feel we have way more holes now.

Well that's part of it, for sure. We now have Suzuki and Dach.

Different players, but Caufield more than replaces 2012 Pacioretty in my books. I don't think Gallagher is a much better player than RHP, he was just put in good situations and got tons of ice time.

We don't have dmen like Subban and Markov, but I feel we have a potentially better top 4, at maturity, with Guhle, Mailloux, Barron and Hutson than we did back then with Bouillon and Gorges and Kaberle.

Where it hurts right now, and for a few years, is between the pipes.

I personally think it's easier to find a "good enough" G to win a cup (Niemi, Murray, Ward...) than to find centres that can bring you there. I think Suzuki and Dach can, if well surrounded. They're better than Plekanec and Desharnais and Ellen and Galchenyuk ever were.

Anyways, agree to disagree, but I can't wait to see where Hugo bring this team in the mid term. I'd rather have holes on the 3rd and 4th line than for my top6 Cs like we did back then.

 

[CHwest]

There wasn’t another serg for drouin at all. Alzner was bad along with the Gallagher deal. The petry, suzi, vanek, Weber, kulak danault/romanov seals and more were absolute robberies. He couldn’t get the big name though and that was the issue. His drafting was terrible until the last 2-3 years maybe 4. There’s no such thing as building anymore it’s mostly tinkering unless a Bedard comes and then everyone is selling more than most years. I wasn’t a huge fan of MB but he was 2nd for gm of the year for a reason weather you like it or not.

He was so good he built a last place team.

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

That's an easy no.

This team needs so much. PLD would be a really nice addition, but this team needs so much more.

 

[CanadienShark]

I don't really like Dubois all that much. If he signs here for a reasonable deal, sure, but not giving up much for him personally.

 

[Et le But]

No because we aren't a good hockey team and Dubois, while an upgrade, doesn't move the needle that much.

The NHL has relative parity and we are still below average on both ends.