Sorinth
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- Jan 18, 2013
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The becoming healthy part of my post was about vets like Markov finally being healthy
HF Habs: The official 2023-2024 tank thread
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dackelljuneaubulis02
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- Oct 13, 2012
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Guhle’s potential is enormous.
I think he’s the safest bet to be a legit star on the team long term. I wouldn’t say his offense came out of nowhere but I didn’t think it would translate that well and that fast. The only thing with him is injuries. Otherwise I think he’s going to be a cornerstone of this team. Hate Berg all you want but credit to him that he was up on that podium that fast to pick him. He’s got it all. Just has to fill out and stay healthy.
DAChampion
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- May 28, 2011
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Not many teams going to be worse than us in the east barring extreme injuries. Lottery for sure. Even a Top 5 pick would guarantee one of Celebrini, Catton, Demidov, Eiserman or Dickinson. Catton and Dickinson impressed me at Hlinka.
Deebs
Without you, everything falls apart
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Can't see us being bottom 5 unless we hit the injury train again. One of these years the bad luck has to run out
Sorinth
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Anaheim, Columbus, Chicago, San Jose all finished below us last season and will probably do so again. Philly is likely dropping a lot, and we could quite easily beat Arizona and although hard to predict which team exactly there's usually at least one that has an unexpectedly bad year which would put us 8th from the bottom. And if some of our guys stay healthy and/or take the next step in their development we could quite easily be sitting outside the top-10.
Perhaps the biggest addition they made this summer was the training staff.
DAChampion
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The Habs were 5th last last year. If they gain 12 points they will be 9th last, and if they gain 17 points they will be 11th last.
That is a steep climb.
But, their best players are young, they led the league in injuries, and they replaced Drouin, Hoffman, and Dadonov with Newhook, Harvey Pinard, and Ylonen.
That is a steep climb.
But, their best players are young, they led the league in injuries, and they replaced Drouin, Hoffman, and Dadonov with Newhook, Harvey Pinard, and Ylonen.
Spearmint Rhino
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- Sep 17, 2013
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Montembeault is a big wildcard in all of this. We could have easily been bottom 3 last year if it weren't for him.
With Petry, the Habs were a middle of the pack bubble team. Now, they will likely finish in the bottom 10.
Gally likely is going to call it quits soon. LTIR is getting crowded again. There is no future with Armia on this team, HuGo must be desperately trying to get rid of him. He will be placed on waivers and Laval bound along with Wideman. After, the mess is pretty much cleared up baring the Price contract.
DAChampion
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Sombastate
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I officially have Slaf and Reinbacher in my dynasty league. So consider me an honorary Canadiens fan for a bit. May your two studs be amazing. Amen
Estimated_Prophet
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- Mar 28, 2003
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The East is so much stronger than the west that even though Montreal may be better than some of those teams they might have a difficult time winning more games.
On the other hand there is a possibility that the Habs take a big step as there is a ton of unrealized potential and I could see the D taking a huge step forward. Health once again will play an important role in this team's success and this should be a very intriguing year as we have an exciting group in Laval to watch as well. We also have a top prospect in Reinbacher and others with great potential in Hutson, Engstrom, Kapanen, Beck and Fowler all playing in other leagues.
I know that the Habs are extremely unlikely to make the playoffs but I am pumped to watch this season unfold on all of the different fronts that I mentioned. I won't be cheering for us to finish at the bottom again (unless injuries get out of hand) as we need to see progress if this group is going to ultimately be successful. I am quite happy finishing closer to a playoff spot and rolling the dice on a small chance of moving up 10 spots via the draft lottery. There can be little doubt that it is better for our future to see players like Dach, Guhle, Slaf, Xhekaj, Newhook take huge steps with Suzuki and Caufield continuing to improve than for a bunch of them to struggle and finish bottom 5. If anyone can't see that then they just don't understand how championship caliber teams are more likely to be built and are not envisioning a realistic scenario.
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I think we can expect Caufield, Dach, and Guhle to improve their PPG. We can expect Suzuki to improve his PPG but it seems to me it'll be a function of playing with better/healthier linemates. So those are the four players I've the biggest hopes.
I think Drouin for Newhook is a wash for now -- many Avs fans have the exact same criticisms of Newhook as we have for Drouin -- but Newhook does have upside for more.
RHP and Hoffman aren't natural comparisons but we can hope that RHP brings better forechecking and physical play and is a net better contributor than Hoffman. I think Hoffman was unfairly maligned however, he was crappy but was always meant to be a (slightly too expensive) depth piece not a regular top-line player.
Dadonov was awful, hopefully Ylonen brings something more than him, but Dadanov was an underperforming skilled player while Ylonen doesn't seem like much of a skill player.
Otherwise we have Monahan, Armia, Gallagher, Anderson and Dvorak who should contribute as a function of their health and well-being. They can give 80% of their last year's performance or 150% of their last year's performance. We simply don't have any indication which way it'll go.
Additionally, Eddy was one of the worst d-men in the NHL last year. He's gone now. Matheson is expected to start and play a full season. Those two things by themselves will offer an improvement.
In all I think it's another losing season but like @Estimated_Prophet says, we want to see marked improvements among the core players because it would be a much better indicator of future success and the viability of this core than sinking like a stone and hoping for a top pick.
ChesterNimitz
governed by the principle of calculated risk
- Jul 4, 2002
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I suspect at the completion of 2025/ 2026 we will have a much better idea if the young cohort ( Hutson, Mailloux, Reinbacher, Newhook, Slafkovsky, Beck, etc.) we are all breathlessly awaiting to support our return to competitiveness is a reality or constitutes mere hype. I remain optimistic in this regard.
BLONG7
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Petry? Seriously..................you saw the way he played going out the door? The Pens fans were not happy with him last year, and as he hits 36 you think he made us better?
He is in decline............
Give me the 24 yr old and a pick any day and move on....
Not a chance. They may have been disappointed on the O side but C'mon defensively, durability and age wise they aren't even in the same Galaxy.
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The only reason you will be not happy with Petry is if he gets forced to be your #1 D. It's the Brisebois situation, he is a good #3/4 but the moment you make him top pairing it's asking for trouble.
Unless Barron/Lindstrom/Kovacevic/rushed Reinbacher is good enough to be a #3/4, Habs D will be significantly better with a top 4 of Matheson/Guhle/Savard/Petry.
IMO the fun starts if/when Slafkovsky starts producing.
DAChampion
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Giving it more thought, I think that the two most important questions are:
1) Can either of Dach or Suzuki demonstrate that they can be or become first line centers? I get that one can argue that Suzuki's shown it in the playoffs, but that's a small sample.
2) The aggregate progression of all of the young D: Guhle, Xhekaj, Barron, Trudeau, Struble, Harris, Reinbacher, Huston, Engstrom, Mailloux. That's ten names (!!!). The Habs need two or three successes there to have a great D corps, and any additional success on top of that becomes gold-plated trade capital.
More or less that.
Will you be buying an AHL viewing package this year?
1) Can either of Dach or Suzuki demonstrate that they can be or become first line centers? I get that one can argue that Suzuki's shown it in the playoffs, but that's a small sample.
2) The aggregate progression of all of the young D: Guhle, Xhekaj, Barron, Trudeau, Struble, Harris, Reinbacher, Huston, Engstrom, Mailloux. That's ten names (!!!). The Habs need two or three successes there to have a great D corps, and any additional success on top of that becomes gold-plated trade capital.
More or less that.
Will you be buying an AHL viewing package this year?
Don't believe Lindström will be your saviour. The D is too deep. You will see him playing in Laval.
- Jan 18, 2022
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In reference to just one season's worth of performance I think they're comparable.
Drouin had 29 in 58, exactly 0.5ppg, while Newhook (on a better team) got 0.36ppg. PPG isn't the be all end all but I don't think they're galaxies apart even if you do take into account durability and defensive performance. Newhook is statistically much much better defensively from what I just saw on NHL stats so that's encouraging though, looking forward to an upgrade there, but Avs fans don't have good things to say about his physical or defensive play either. He might be thrown to the wolves here with our much worse team and more leaky defense.
DAChampion
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Newhook has a higher goals to assists ratio and probably had less sweet ice time.
And he's younger and cheaper than Drouin was.
- Jan 18, 2022
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Absolutely not. I don't have spare time as it is and NHL games are hardly exciting, and the Habs have next to no exciting talents to follow outside of sniper Caufield.
The Habs are scored on more often than they're featured as goal scorers in this video. I had some thoughts and reflections while watching this absolutely amazing highlight reel but I'll keep them to myself for now.
Age and Price are irrelevant when discussing the prognosis of a single season but sure, I can buy accept that Newhook's 30pts but superior upside is a clear and definitive upgrade on Drouin for the coming season. Drouin was soft and generally terrible.
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