HF Habs: The official 2023-2024 tank thread

[MarkovsKnee]

So, with this win we're guaranteed to finish .500 on this very difficult, epically hard, 4 game road trip. We already have 4 pts. 1-0-2.

Of course crappy Arizona is going to lose to Chicago, and Columbus loses to Pittsburgh, while Montreal stops a team's 8 game winning streak.

Good news is we're too far behind to pass anyone, so we're still 7th. Buffalo is only 4 pts up now, but they're the closest team to Montreal.

Bad news is, we're back to 3 pts up on Arizona, 5 pts up on Ottawa (they hold 3 games in hand), and 6 pts up on Columbus. Hard to believe Ottawa actually passed us at one point.

Weird night.

 

[Boss Man Hughes]

At least we can pick another defensemen to make up for grabbing a 2nd pairing guy 5th overall last year.

Until Reinbacher gets over here there is no way to know what his upside is.

So, with this win we're guaranteed to finish .500 on this very difficult, epically hard, 4 game road trip. We already have 4 pts. 1-0-2.

Of course crappy Arizona is going to lose to Chicago, and Columbus loses to Pittsburgh, while Montreal stops a team's 8 game winning streak.

Good news is we're too far behind to pass anyone, so we're still 7th. Buffalo is only 4 pts up now, but they're the closest team to Montreal.

Bad news is, we're back to 3 pts up on Arizona, 5 pts up on Ottawa (they hold 3 games in hand), and 6 pts up on Columbus. Hard to believe Ottawa actually passed us at one point.

Weird night.

At least the Jets lost so the Dallas game means something.

 

[HabsCowboysOwn]

Only the Habs could find a way to exit the defining years of their rebuild with the same glaring top 6 holes they had before it started. Always so close yet so far, it's nauseating.

 

[McEsenpi]

Man if you are going to miss the playoffs and rebuild. Do it for real, and get a good draft pick, so you didnt tanked for nothing.

Savard wont be there in two years. Next year its his last. Trade him now. If it makes us finish 4th instead of 7th. Thats a f***in improvement. Because the value between 4th OV and 7th OV is much more than a late first.

I hated Reinbacher pick. And to see him struggle all year + Leonard/Perreault being so good it pisses me off.

You have 3 goalies? Play them one after the other. A caroussel. Allen. Primeau. Montembeault. Then repeat. We need to loose.

 

[Redux91]

Arizona blowing it vs Chicago hurts more than our W

 

[Trabdy2]

Soooo frustrating. We are going to need a hardcore L streak here to land lower than 7th.

 

[Boss Man Hughes]

Man if you are going to miss the playoffs and rebuild. Do it for real, and get a good draft pick, so you didnt tanked for nothing.

Savard wont be there in two years. Next year its his last. Trade him now. If it makes us finish 4th instead of 7th. Thats a f***in improvement. Because the value between 4th OV and 7th OV is much more than a late first.

I hated Reinbacher pick. And to see him struggle all year + Leonard/Perreault being so good it pisses me off.

You have 3 goalies? Play them one after the other. A caroussel. Allen. Primeau. Montembeault. Then repeat. We need to loose.

Reinbacher was returning form an injury and on a puke team. Leoanard and Perreault aren't anything special. Michkov was the only possibity and he apparently isn't a team player.

 

[Sorinth]

So, with this win we're guaranteed to finish .500 on this very difficult, epically hard, 4 game road trip. We already have 4 pts. 1-0-2.

Kind of goes to show that the whole strength of schedule metric is probably mostly a nothing burger.

 

[WeThreeKings]

They were always going to beat Nashville. That's the only 2 pts they are getting this week.

 

[Ozmodiar]

Looks like Iginla instead of Catton …
Which 1/2 the fans would prefer, I’m guessing.

6-10 probably won’t have a consensus order anyway.

In any event, the problem with the tank is that Zona and Ottawa can’t win a damn game.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Looks like Iginla instead of Catton …
Which 1/2 the fans would prefer, I’m guessing.

6-10 probably won’t have a consensus order anyway.

In any event, the problem with the tank is that Zona and Ottawa can’t win a damn game.

Both likely take defenseman so f*** em

 

[Nicko999]

Sharks leading 6-3 with 7 left in the game.
It's 6-6 now with 4 min in regulation.

THAT is how you tank properly.

 

[Runner77]

Stars win it in OT.

 

[Nicko999]

Man if you are going to miss the playoffs and rebuild. Do it for real, and get a good draft pick, so you didnt tanked for nothing.

Savard wont be there in two years. Next year its his last. Trade him now. If it makes us finish 4th instead of 7th. Thats a f***in improvement. Because the value between 4th OV and 7th OV is much more than a late first.

I hated Reinbacher pick. And to see him struggle all year + Leonard/Perreault being so good it pisses me off.

You have 3 goalies? Play them one after the other. A caroussel. Allen. Primeau. Montembeault. Then repeat. We need to loose.

As long as Molson is there, i hope people realize there will be no rebuild. What we are doing is a retool. 7th overall is almost this no man land we love. We have the same 2 best players as 3 years ago.
Chicago and San Jose are doing a proper rebuild, not us.

 

[HuGort]

Man if you are going to miss the playoffs and rebuild. Do it for real, and get a good draft pick, so you didnt tanked for nothing.

Savard wont be there in two years. Next year its his last. Trade him now. If it makes us finish 4th instead of 7th. Thats a f***in improvement. Because the value between 4th OV and 7th OV is much more than a late first.

I hated Reinbacher pick. And to see him struggle all year + Leonard/Perreault being so good it pisses me off.

You have 3 goalies? Play them one after the other. A caroussel. Allen. Primeau. Montembeault. Then repeat. We need to loose.

I remember we upset Pittsburgh in bubble everybody was angry because we lost high pick in draft. We drafted Guhle.

It showed that team was getting close. It opened door for Toffoli to sign here, then Perry. The rest is history. It was forerunner to Cup run.

 

[SwiftyHab]

We’re playing the hottest team in the league???


So guaranteed points tonight.

You screwed us.

 

[Tuggy]

Well last night didn't go as planned now did it...

Maybe Jake Allen winning boosted his trade value

 

[SwiftyHab]

Guys. We’re making the playoffs. Close this thread

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

Stop f***ing getting points.

 

[waitin425]

Only the Habs could find a way to exit the defining years of their rebuild with the same glaring top 6 holes they had before it started. Always so close yet so far, it's nauseating.

Here's a smattering of top forwards picked between 7th and 15th from 2003-2019. I omitted 2020 and beyond as many of the players are still prospects in that range in those years.

What we see, is that each year (with the exception of 2018), there are players picked in that range that are not only top 6 players, but many of them are all stars. The chances obviously decrease, the later our pick gets, but my point is, in the 7th to 15th range, there should be at least one player available that will fit in nicely on our top 6. The question becomes, do you trust our scouting department to find that player, and our development to develop that player? If you don't, maybe we trade anything after 7th for Zegras if possible.

Don't lose hope my friend. Hope is all we have.

2003 - Jeff Carter (11th)
2004 - Alex Radulov (15th)
2005 - Anze Kopitar (11th)
2006 - Kyle Okposo (7th)
2007 - Jakub Voaracek (7th)
2008 - Josh Bailey (9th)
2009 - Nazem Kadri (7th)
2010 - Jeff Skinner (7th)
2011 - Scheifele (7th), Couts (8th), JT Miller (15th)
2012 - Filip Forsberg (11th)
2013 - Bo Horvat (9th)
2014 - Nylander (8th), Fiala (11th), Larkin (15th)
2015 - Meier (9th), Rantanen (10th)
2016 - Clayton Keller (7th)
2017 - Suzuki (13th)
2018 - Slim pickings at forward, but Quinn Hughes (7th) and Dobson (12th)
2019 - Cozens (7th), Zegras (9th), Boldy (12th), Caufield (15th)

 

[LaP]

I hope nobody was impressed by the team that doesn't need to tank. Nashville is not going anywhere with that. Absolutely no chance to win. An aging core, A few interesting prospects but nothing to write home about. I would not trade our position with their. That was a disgusting loss yesterday against one of the bottom team icing one of the worst goalie in a position where a win was necessary. If that was our team people would flame them all day long today for losing that game. Antichambre would have set the city on fire after that loss.

 

[River Meadow]

LOL

This team is so frustrating.

Keep winning ya dummies.

 

[Canadiens98]

Something that hasn't been mentioned often here.


Our young guys starting to show they can actually compete bodes well for free agency in a few years as we start to shed some of the bad money being spent.

We don't need to have our entire team come through the draft, we need to be able to attract good (not necessarily superstar) free agents as well.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Did people honestly think they were gonna lose to Nashville?

 

[salbutera]

As long as Molson is there, i hope people realize there will be no rebuild. What we are doing is a retool. 7th overall is almost this no man land we love. We have the same 2 best players as 3 years ago.
Chicago and San Jose are doing a proper rebuild, not us.

Didn’t Gorton’s NYR win the Lafreniere lottery sitting 7OA?