Post-Game Talk: Requiem for the 2023 NHL Draft

[Seven7]

I rewatched a clip of DR walking up to the stage and its strange hes shaking his head no and doesn't look pleased to even be drafted by the Habs.

It's because he's mic'd and he's talking to some random journo asking him questions on the fly.

 

[Koivu11]

Michkov has made it so obvious he’ll be coming over since being drafted.

What an overblown risk.

 

[Captain Mountain]

The fact that they are surprised makes me chuckle.

Last season, you had HuGo giggling at the idea of offence style Habs, with two mammoth size offensive players coming in, going for pure O with Mesar and Hutson and basically calling Dach to tell him that we’ll play O like we used to in street hockey when we were kids.

This season the draft table was as fun as a funeral, passed up on what seemed to be a really gifted O player, didn’t pay the price on PLD (another mammoth sized offensive player) and go for need + 3 goaltenders.

Talk about a STARK contrast. The direction of the wind did a 180. Fans will react to that.

Honestly, I'd be surprised if I were them.

They already went against fan consensus at the draft IN MONTREAL with far less backlash. I wanted Michkov, but everyone knows Montreal needed a blue chip RD prospect, and Reinbacher is one of the best ones we've seen at a draft over the last 5-6 drafts. IMO the risk for Michkov's elite talent is worth it, but he does have risks with his defensive game and is undersized. If he's not as good as the KHL stats and hype suggest (which isn't impossible as the KHL has had a talent exodus), then he might not be the kind of guy you want to build around. And while Reinbacher may only be 2-3 D-man, he's got the tools to be more than that too.

They needed goalies who are hit and miss and they loaded up at the position. We don't know if they'll pan out, but they've got guys that have potential now.

Betting on older players in the later rounds at the draft is usually a better use of the picks than getting younger guys because you can project them better.

I wasn't a big fan of the Newhook deal, but it is the Dach deal v2. People fixate on the height difference, but:

1) Both were high end prospects which you almost never get in the late 1st/early 2nd, even in deep drafts.
2) Both played on teams with elite talent and poor depth.
3) Both struggled in limited opportunities playing with elite talent and were then dumped down the lineup to play with pretty poor players.

Newhook's most common linemates were Cogliano, O'Connor and Rodrigues last season. We already know not even Montreal's best forward (Suzuki) can look good when playing with scrubs. Montreal's top 9 should have Suzuki, Caufield, Dach, Newhook, Anderson, Monahan, Gallagher, Slafkovsky and someone like RHP. He'll get opportunities.

IMO, they need to tighten their messaging more. Its still clear that they're rebuilding, but they've started mentioning playoffs and idiots in the fanbase and media are misinterpreting them.

I don't agree with everything HuGo are doing, but at least they're trying to think outside the box and look for inefficiencies in the market. It may not work, but this isn't Bergevin's conservatism which was never going to work.

 

[Saundies]

It's because he's mic'd and he's talking to some random journo asking him questions on the fly.

Wow, I actually forgot about that.

Yeah, so he isn't even talking to himself (as I mentioned in my last post). He's attempting to talk to Kevin Weekes and articulate thoughts in his second language during one of the biggest moments of his life.

Makes complete sense.

 

[Habs Halifax]

Michkov has made it so obvious he’ll be coming over since being drafted.

What an overblown risk.

I said that over and over again. His KHL contract and Russian factor was overblown and it didn't bother me one bit.

The real question is how good is he. Is he on Bedard's level or is he really in that waive after Fantilli, Carlsson, Smith? Seems like several GM's and scouts think he is in the waive with Reinbacher & Leonard types. I wanted to take Michkov but I'm OK with Reinbacher and understand why we made that decision.

Will Michkov be a perimeter smaller type? Is he as good or better than Caufield?

 

[Galaxydoggystyle]

It's because he's mic'd and he's talking to some random journo asking him questions on the fly.

Oh dang I didn't even know he was talking to someone. Okay my mistake.

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

Michkov has made it so obvious he’ll be coming over since being drafted.

What an overblown risk.

Maybe, but until he comes over no one knows.

Everyone assumed he would come over after the 3 seasons

 

[ToNedOuT]

Oh dang I didn't even know he was talking to someone. Okay my mistake.

He was talking to someone in the Sportsnet broadcast and it was super awkward.

As he was hugging family, they were trying to ask him questions. The audio quality was so poor too. It was a horrible idea to mic him.

 

[Shred]

An unexpected video of David Reinbacher has just surfaced and is causing a lot of reactions

A clip is currently circulating a lot on the web, as many fans and journalists are not convinced by David Reinbacher's reaction following his selection by the Montre

www.habsfanatics.com

Again I may hate this pick but it seems odd he shakes his head and raises both hands up. Hell I may be looking way into it like other pissed off hab fans.

They're just trying to get clicks. He is talking to the camera and answering questions. Body language is worthless if we don't have the accompanying audio for full context.

"Can you believe you just got picked 5th by the Montreal Canadiens?"

"I'm just shocked, this is crazy" *shakes head and throws hands in the air*

 

[Shred]

I don't understand the point he's trying to make, because if we exclude injuries, many players would have reached the 100-point mark. Rantanen, Malkin was on pace for 95-point, MacKinnon, Kadri and Kucherov.

The point is, you need offensive talent.

I don't know what is his point, if he thinks that as soon as you have a player who reaches 100-point in a regular season, you have no chance of winning the Stanley Cup, he's dumber than a rock.

(x) Jack Eichel / Pietrangelo
Nathan MacKinnon
Nikita Kucherov (2)
(X) Ryan O'Reilly / Pietrangelo
Alex Ovechkin
Sidney Crosby (3)
Patrick Kane (3)
(X) Anze Kopitar (2) / Doughty
(X) Patrice Bergeron / Chara

Extremely disingenuous. Doesn't matter that MacKinnon, Kucherov, Crosby, Malkin, Ovechkin, Kane didn't score 100 the same year they won the cup, they are still clearly that caliber of player and that cannot be debated at all. So 10/15 had superstar forwards. Those who didn't had Selke caliber #1 center and Norris caliber #1 defenseman so that is the other way to win a cup.

Hopefully Suzuki / Reinbacher can compare with those tandems 5 years from now.

I think Eichel still has 100 point potential but probably more likely to not reach it at this point.

 

[HabbyGuy]

An unexpected video of David Reinbacher has just surfaced and is causing a lot of reactions

A clip is currently circulating a lot on the web, as many fans and journalists are not convinced by David Reinbacher's reaction following his selection by the Montre

www.habsfanatics.com

Again I may hate this pick but it seems odd he shakes his head and raises both hands up. Hell I may be looking way into it like other pissed off hab fans.

Sportsnet had him miked, and he was talking with them on his way up to the podium. It was in no way his reaction to him being picked by the habs. It was his reaction to their questions.

This is much ado about nothing.

Edit sorry wasn't aware this was answered when I responded.

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

Hopefully Mitchell Martin and Owen Pedersen along with some others receive an invite to the rookie camp whenever that is.

Martin was below a ppg in his last 2 seasons, but at a ppg in the playoffs. He could be that nice depth player with size who comes up big

 

[HabbyGuy]

I think it's safe to say, I was the loudest and most persistent of those who believed Michkov was the right and obvious choice for our habs at 5. It's a position I still hold and believe will eventually come back to bite us in the future.

That said, I'm not dumb enough not to realize that there's both logic, and merit in choosing Reinbacher. He's a safe choice with a solid floor with potential for more. He is a need and play's a position that's hard to acquire. It's not all doom and gloom, even if it's not a choice I think they should have made. I still trust Hughes. It's absolutely still a possbilty it's the right call.

But seriously, some of you need to get off your high horses to suggest that others shouldn't be disappointed with management, or shouldn't have the right to voice their displeasure. To futhermore call them whiners or babies because they didn't get their way. It's condescending and hypocritical.

Especially when you take into account, the vast majority of us on this board, even the one's espousing the risks of taking Michkov at every turn, themselves said it was a risk worth taking if it were up to them.

For most, Michkov was who we wanted, disappointment is completely understandable, let the people vent. And this is from someone who still hasn't voiced any of his concerns with the pick, nor plans to either.

Go Reinbacher!! I'd love to be wrong.

 

[badfish]

An unexpected video of David Reinbacher has just surfaced and is causing a lot of reactions

A clip is currently circulating a lot on the web, as many fans and journalists are not convinced by David Reinbacher's reaction following his selection by the Montre

www.habsfanatics.com

Again I may hate this pick but it seems odd he shakes his head and raises both hands up. Hell I may be looking way into it like other pissed off hab fans.

On my feed you could faintly hear someone was asking him questions during his walk up. Not sure how or who. He was responding to those. Typical things like can you believe it etc.

 

[Mrb1p]

I hope you realize that your "stats" only go to prove his point. Let me rephrase what he said. In the last 14 Stanley Cup runs When a SC final team has at least one player that reached 100 points they haven't won the cup. When they don't have a player registering 100 points they win. So you mentioning players who had 100 points after or before SC wins only goes to prove his point.

All these players have the ability, or are 100 points players. Its irrelevant if during the regular season they actually got to it. Its not how you argue statitistical evidence lol.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

Honestly , I was such a good optimistic fan , truly a company man since bargain bin left , id even go to say an upstanding fan , now I think im back to my roots , Im slowly reverting back to my HabswhiteknightLOL mentality I always had , honeymoons over boys , we are back to the norm again

 

[Playmaker09]

His floor is Top-4. His ceiling is being a #1D and one of the most complete D in the league.

People need to stop spouting this.

The risk is less, sure. But there is no such thing as a floor of top 4.

KK had a floor of 2C, as did Lias Andersson and Tyson Jost. I'm sure Juolevi, Reinhart, Gudbranson, Bogosian, Fleury were seen as D with a floor of top 4 as well.

But the idea that there's any sort of safety when it comes to drafting 18 year olds needs to go out the window.

 

[417]

An unexpected video of David Reinbacher has just surfaced and is causing a lot of reactions

A clip is currently circulating a lot on the web, as many fans and journalists are not convinced by David Reinbacher's reaction following his selection by the Montre

www.habsfanatics.com

Again I may hate this pick but it seems odd he shakes his head and raises both hands up. Hell I may be looking way into it like other pissed off hab fans.

Might be time to go back to the days where NHL drafts were closed to the public lol.

It's getting more and more toxic every year.

 

[BLONG7]

I don't understand the point he's trying to make, because if we exclude injuries, many players would have reached the 100-point mark. Rantanen, Malkin was on pace for 95-point, MacKinnon, Kadri and Kucherov.

The point is, you need offensive talent.

I don't know what is his point, if he thinks that as soon as you have a player who reaches 100-point in a regular season, you have no chance of winning the Stanley Cup, he's dumber than a rock.

Our style of play under MSL and fixing the PP will lead us to 80-90 pts players guys.

Fix the damn PP and a ton of our issues go away...think about it...

 

[Nedved]

People need to stop spouting this.

The risk is less, sure. But there is no such thing as a floor of top 4.

KK had a floor of 2C, as did Lias Andersson and Tyson Jost. I'm sure Juolevi, Reinhart, Gudbranson, Bogosian, Fleury were seen as D with a floor of top 4 as well.

But the idea that there's any sort of safety when it comes to drafting 18 year olds needs to go out the window.

Exactly. You draft for potential because you just don't know if you're landing a Yakupov or a Kucherov.

Nobody around here can convince me he's a guarantee top 4 guy. He's a child and has a lot to learn. Sure, he has excellent attributes to be a top 4, but it takes more than that to play in the nhl.

 

[Kennerback]

Exactly. You draft for potential because you just don't know if you're landing a Yakupov or a Kucherov.

Nobody around here can convince me he's a guarantee top 4 guy. He's a child and has a lot to learn. Sure, he has excellent attributes to be a top 4, but it takes more than that to play in the nhl.

The Montreal club probably shares your view. It's a philosophically defensible maxim.

However all the hockey guys in the Flyers have convinced themselves he's a guaranteed top 4 guy. In fact they go way way further than that.

They were ready to give assets away to get this player at 5. Which will make it extra fascinating, as it's two diametrically opposed standpoints. Time can only tell.

 

[JT3]

Why impute intentions that fans don’t have?

Fans are not stupid, we know that we don’t have access to all the staff, experts, reports, in person viewings, meetings, analytics and overall due diligence that a billionaire organization has the luxury of tapping into.

Fans on a message board are expressing opinions and not delivering an edict. We know our limitations.

Please let me know when we no longer have the right to express an opinion, that’s meant to be debated and shared among fans.

We’re not inviting Habs management to come in here, nor do we have illusions of grandeur that involves them even being aware of what we’re saying. What we say is meant for community consumption. We simply call it as we see it, give credit when and where due and call out decisions when we feel it’s warranted.

Also, if you think fans in here are “upset”, you’re on the wrong forum. It’s entertainment, it has no hold on our individual lives.

I 100% agree with you, I wasn't trying to make a point that people can't express their opinions, hell that stuff is par for the course here, so I apologize if it came across that way. But I'm not sure you've been reading the boards much the last few days if you think there aren't a solid group of posters that are genuinely angry, and a lot of it went ridiculously over the top. Obviously there are going to be crazies out there who go as far as sending DM's to a player with hateful crap, and I sincerely hope that nobody here was involved in that, but I've still seen a ton of crap directed towards DR and management as well due to this one decision.

Maybe Michkov was neck and neck with Bedard two years ago, but it's not two years ago anymore. Without being able to scout in person in Russia or compare him to his peers there's a lot of risk trying to project him down the road. Wright was a phenom at age 16 too, and he didn't continue the trajectory through the years afterwards, Michkov could very well end up the same. We aren't even the only ones who passed either, the guy went 7th!! Sure he is skilled AF, hell he probably would have been my pick too, but we aren't privy to all the info that management is. Bobrov literally has connections to SKA so if anyone can find out the deets it should have been him.

People have every right to express their opinions or disappointment or whatever, but I like to think I'm a pretty level headed poster generally and a lot of the comments I've seen the last few days have left me shaking my head and a bit embarrassed at the way our fanbase has behaved.

Just my $0.02.

 

[JT3]

I like Reinbacker, a lot, I have Michkov @ 2, but I don't really care that much at the end of the day. It's just a game for me. I don't think I no better, in fact, I'm wrong a lot. A lot.

I'm concerned about what Hughes said after the draft though, I wish he said: He was the best guy on our list and we didn't want to risk losing him. So we stayed put @5. He literally said they needed to fill a bucket. That's how we ended up with KK.

I would rather miss with Michkov's ceiling @ 5. I thought it was the perfect chance to take a gamble for us.

They gambled with Slaf last year, small sample size, compared to Michkov that seems to be russia's bedard at every level. even besting bedard. seems odd.

anyways, bobrov/hughes should just draft BPA and if they don't, say they did. I feel like we went from an above average scout, even though it was time to move on, to a below average scout.

I'm one of the biggest Reinbacher fans on this board, I've been pumping him for about 6 months now, and I probably still would have taken Michkov as well, but I can understand why they didn't and there's likely a lot more information we aren't privy to that the FO just can't comment on publicly, and that's outside of the risks we're already aware of.

Regarding Hughes comments, yeah his comment was kind of stupid but he quickly backtracked and tried to explain himself afterwards. My take is that given the situation at hand Reinbacher was both their BPA and also filled a big need for us. I know some people will argue it was a reach or a pick just for need because of where they had Michkov ranked, and that's fine, but I just can't see them punting on Michkov if they thought he would be a star for Reinbacher unless they really think Reinbacher can be our #1D.

 

[Boss Man Hughes]

Hockey News Draft Edition has Michkov's ceiling as... wait for it... Cole Caufiield. That is NOT a superstar. Reinbacher was considered to be 3-4-5 D by some scouts. They had his ceiling as Ekholm. He played in a pro league and put up points despite being on the 2nd pp and 2nd d unit. Presumably HuGO project him as approaching Ekholm level if he were on the first d unit.
By the way Fantilli's ceiling was MacKinnon.

 

[Runner77]

I 100% agree with you, I wasn't trying to make a point that people can't express their opinions, hell that stuff is par for the course here, so I apologize if it came across that way. But I'm not sure you've been reading the boards much the last few days if you think there aren't a solid group of posters that are genuinely angry, and a lot of it went ridiculously over the top. Obviously there are going to be crazies out there who go as far as sending DM's to a player with hateful crap, and I sincerely hope that nobody here was involved in that, but I've still seen a ton of crap directed towards DR and management as well due to this one decision.

Maybe Michkov was neck and neck with Bedard two years ago, but it's not two years ago anymore. Without being able to scout in person in Russia or compare him to his peers there's a lot of risk trying to project him down the road. Wright was a phenom at age 16 too, and he didn't continue the trajectory through the years afterwards, Michkov could very well end up the same. We aren't even the only ones who passed either, the guy went 7th!! Sure he is skilled AF, hell he probably would have been my pick too, but we aren't privy to all the info that management is. Bobrov literally has connections to SKA so if anyone can find out the deets it should have been him.

People have every right to express their opinions or disappointment or whatever, but I like to think I'm a pretty level headed poster generally and a lot of the comments I've seen the last few days have left me shaking my head and a bit embarrassed at the way our fanbase has behaved.

Just my $0.02.

To be fair, it could be argued that the first team passing on Michkov had a slam dunk option and shouldn’t be counted.

Teams 2-4 had top line ceiling player that several drafting services had pegged to go in the top 4 slots so they had very good motivation to pass.

If the Habs had the option of Carlsson-Fantilli-Smith, they too would have picked one of them.

Montreal and Arizona were the only two teams that passed on Michkov. In Arizona’s case, they sensed that the player had zero interest in them so they pivoted to Reinbacher who they viewed some 27 times but the Habs did their thing.