The state of the Habs Rebuild - The Next step

[ReHabs]

It’s time for one of these GM’s to find a way to get us a center. We already have a pretty good one in Suzuki. I have confidence we can find one more someway without the Bergevin excuses. I liked the logic behind trading for Dach even if it looks like it isn’t going to work out now. They need to get creative.

In HuGo’s defence, I think at this very moment it would be prohibitively expensive. Newhook and Dach not working out right now means their value right now is much lower than what we gave up to acquire them. And their trade value is unlikely to change come summer when teams are not stressed to find undervalued players or diamonds in the rough. I hope both of them pick it up immediately but barring a miracle they still won’t be tantalizing trade pieces imo.

My thinking is this: 1) Cap space isn’t at a premium any more and 2) we don’t have sufficient assets right now to spare some of our better prospects (eg Hage).

I think the proverbial can has to be kicked down the road.

We can accept HuGo got bad outcomes for certain decisions but it’s not like we can hold it against HuGo that right now they’re short handed asset-wise. A healthy trade deadline haul and good draft picks will help bridge the gap a lot.

I’ve my hopes pinned on a bidding war for Evans.

@ozymadias made a convincing argument earlier so credit to him/her.

 

[Schooner Guy]

So currently we are the 7th worst team in the league while being relatively healthy, overusing our #1 goalie and having played the easiest part of our schedule.

How are we not a bottom 4 team?

Because there are some even worse teams in the NHL. We're a better team than we were last year and the year before when we weren't even bottom 4 either of those seasons. Primeau has been almost an automatic loss every start this year and that's currently being addressed. We're playing better than we were to start the season and we've added Laine and Carrier. The former is our best offensive forward and the latter is a significant improvement over Barron. We just beat Detroit two games in a row...one of them with ease. They fired their coach because they expected to be a playoff team this year.

 

[ReHabs]

Because there are some even worse teams in the NHL. We're a better team than we were last year and the year before when we weren't even bottom 4 either of those seasons. Primeau has been almost an automatic loss every start this year and that's currently being addressed. We're playing better than we were to start the season and we've added Laine and Carrier. The former is our best offensive forward and the latter is a significant improvement over Barron. We just beat Detroit two games in a row...one of them with ease. They fired their coach because they expected to be a playoff team this year.

Yeah, well said. I’m curious what sort of Habs we’ll see after these two moves specifically.

Both were improvements at the margin and both saw the Habs swap out a very underperforming player — two out of 20 is 10% of the roster on a given game night. If the Habs “regress to the mean” then we’ll know they’re on the right track even if they fall short of “in the mix”.

If the second line could score more we’d have a totally different picture.

 

[nhlfan9191]

Because there are some even worse teams in the NHL. We're a better team than we were last year and the year before when we weren't even bottom 4 either of those seasons. Primeau has been almost an automatic loss every start this year and that's currently being addressed. We're playing better than we were to start the season and we've added Laine and Carrier. The former is our best offensive forward and the latter is a significant improvement over Barron. We just beat Detroit two games in a row...one of them with ease. They fired their coach because they expected to be a playoff team this year.

I don’t think we are better then last year at all. We were above .500 until around Christmas last year and the first two months of the season before that as well. We beat up on struggling teams the last 3 games. We haven’t hit the hardest part of the schedule yet either and we’re still near the bottom of the standings. Monahan was a big loss for this team and Matheson and Slafkovsky coming back down to earth has been a huge blow as well. We have a lot of work to do.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

We should just let Demidov be. He’s a winger. Adapting to center can be just as hard as a forward trying to adjust to become a defender and vise versa. I’m not comparing Demidov to Drouin as a player, but playing Drouin as a center his first year here was one of the most mind numbingly stupid things we could’ve done. It’s time for one of these GM’s to find a way to get us a center. We already have a pretty good one in Suzuki. I have confidence we can find one more someway without the Bergevin excuses. I liked the logic behind trading for Dach even if it looks like it isn’t going to work out now. They need to get creative.

Demidov has played both. Said he prefers center.

Just let me dream man. Let me have this for now.

 

[Nicko999]

Because we're 7th, not 4th


Our best player & highest cap hit contract is LTIR, though we knew that going into the season...

Our 2nd best player, & 2nd highest cap hit has played 10/34 games, and we are 6-4 in those games.

Shouldn't be that hard to understand...

Our best player is Suzuki. Carey Price has been on LTIR for 2 years now. He will never play again. We should not include him considering his cap doesn't not count.

I would wait before claiming Laine is our 2nd best player. Just like people penicillin Dach at the 2C position because of a few 20-30 ish great games.

 

[Sorinth]

Since people are bringing up strength of schedule it's worth remembering how little it actually means.

Right now we are sitting at the 10th hardest schedule, and it's calculated by looking at the record of the teams left to face which is 0.558, in other words a 91.5 point team. The 10th easiest schedule is 0.544 or an 89.2 point team.

Hard or easy the schedule is pretty much for everyone, on average you have to face playoff bubble teams.

 

[Miller Time]

Our best player is Suzuki. Carey Price has been on LTIR for 2 years now. He will never play again. We should not include him considering his cap doesn't not count.

On paper, our highest paid players are Price and Laine.

Price's contract absolutely impacts roster & cap management.

I would wait before claiming Laine is our 2nd best player. Just like people penicillin Dach at the 2C position because of a few 20-30 ish great games.

As far as performance ceiling, no one on our active roster, including Suzuki, has matched the performance levels Laine & Price have achieved.

Price is out and never coming back.

Laine is injury-prone and far less versatile than Suzuki... But 8 goals in 10 games suggests that when healthy, he remains an elite scorer.

Your post I replied to suggested we are/have been "relatively healthy". I don't think that accurate at all. The most relevant aspect of Injury issues and impact on team performance is by far the caliber of player injured.

With ahealthy Laine, we've been 6-3.... and last time Price was healthy he dragged a non-playoff worthy roster to the cup finals.

Relatively speaking, the injury issues affecting players under contract for the Habs this season are about as negatively impactful as any currently experienced league wide.

 

[Rapala]

On a side note I think it's high time we dump that soft "Fix You" theme song for something with some real grit and identity.
With all the music to choose from out there I'm sure there is an instrumental section that fits the bill.

I vote for Pink Floyd "One of these Days"

starting in just after "I'm going to cut you into little pieces"

The intro is pretty dope too with that heavy bass riff.

 

[salbutera]

The hockey Gods owe us and have started delivering.


If you're concerned about a quick turn around i would pump the brakes a bit. This is gonna take more time to fix.

Many talk as if you draft an elite talent then flip a switch for the Cup.

The process is fairly straightforward, this team this season HAS to play into April trying to qualify for a wildcard spot - it’s vital for the development of Slaf, Dach, Hutson, Guhle, Diekembe, Xhekaj, Struble, Heineman … that’s 35% of the roster. Others like Laine, Newhook, Caufield, Suzuki NEED to refresh their memory banks on what it means to play meaningful/ high intensity late season games

Combined that’s over 53% of the roster. Buf/Sens/Det etc missed that initial window of getting their young players exposed to meaningful late season games early in the their NHL careers and apathy started to set in

I expect Dvorak to be dealt at deadline and maybe Savard & Armia. Matheson, Gallagher, Anderson will organically move on during last year of their contracts & Evans extended IMO.

 

[Schooner Guy]

I don’t think we are better then last year at all. We were above .500 until around Christmas last year and the first two months of the season before that as well. We beat up on struggling teams the last 3 games. We haven’t hit the hardest part of the schedule yet either and we’re still near the bottom of the standings. Monahan was a big loss for this team and Matheson and Slafkovsky coming back down to earth has been a huge blow as well. We have a lot of work to do.

Habs are playing much better than they were at the beginning of the year when they looked lost and were getting drastically outshot every game. I'm seeing progress. We've addressed a few sore spots and some of the youngsters keep playing better.

 

[rahad]

I want Schaefer

With the way we are playing right now you better start praying to the draft lottery god. We are looking like we will finish around 8-12.

 

[Gravity]

With the way we are playing right now you better start praying to the draft lottery god. We are looking like we will finish around 8-12.

True. We still have a few major holes to address unfortunately.

 

[Benstheman]

True. We still have a few major holes to address unfortunately.

We have the pieces to address those by trades.

 

[Gravity]

We have the pieces to address those by trades.

You don't get 1Cs/Ds via trade.

 

[Jabba11]

We're gonna end up with a top 15 pick and whatever Calgary is gonna land. We're doomed..gonna get out of this rebuild with:

Inconsistent Slafkovsky (Cooley is heating up)
David Reinbacher (Still like the pick but Michkov has been great so far)
Ivan Demidov = the highest potential pick we had in a while
Lane Hutson (Wizard but gonna be tough in the playoffs)
Jacob Fowler (seems like our future #1 goalie)

vs

San Jose Sharks

Macklin Celebrini
Will Smith
Sam Dickinson
Potentially: Matthew Schaefer

+ Eklund, Musty and they got Askarov

 

[Benstheman]

You don't get 1Cs/Ds via trade.

Many of them were acquired by trade.

We're gonna end up with a top 15 pick and whatever Calgary is gonna land. We're doomed..gonna get out of this rebuild with:

Inconsistent Slafkovsky (Cooley is heating up)
David Reinbacher (Still like the pick but Michkov has been great so far)
Ivan Demidov = the highest potential pick we had in a while
Lane Hutson (Wizard but gonna be tough in the playoffs)
Jacob Fowler (seems like our future #1 goalie)

vs

San Jose Sharks

Macklin Celebrini
Will Smith
Sam Dickinson
Potentially: Matthew Schaefer

+ Eklund, Musty and they got Askarov

Man Michkov sucks. They will never win with this kind of player.

 

[Gravity]

A thread to discuss and evaluate the current status of the rebuild and future directions.

The discussion is more global and thus, not confined to a playoff/tank thread much less a GDT/PGT.

Mods feel free to merge/edit/delete the thread.

I'm still a bit concerned about the 1C and 1D hole not being addressed definitively. Seems like it can hold us back from being a perennial contender.

SJ in a shorter time has a 1C, promising 1G and may be in a position to draft Schaefer.

 

[waitin425]

A thread to discuss and evaluate the current status of the rebuild and future directions.

The discussion is more global and thus, not confined to a playoff/tank thread much less a GDT/PGT.

Mods feel free to merge/edit/delete the thread.

I'm still a bit concerned about the 1C and 1D hole not being addressed definitively. Seems like it can hold us back from being a perennial contender.

SJ in a shorter time has a 1C, promising 1G and may be in a position to draft Schaefer.

San Jose is looking solid no doubt.

But I feel like we are too. Sure we need another top 6 centre and a top 4 D...but we have a ton of prospect depth from which to find those pieces.

Dach still may be that #2 C...or Hage might be.

At D.....we have Rein as a potential topmpair shut down guy to pair with Hutson.

we need that 2nd pair RD which I think Mailloix may fill, but he is better suited for 3rd pair. Guhle and Xhekaj complete our left side.

At goalie we have two very high end prospects in Dobes and Fowler who could steal the net from Monty, who himself has become a very solid cost effective net minder.

Be patient. we are building something special.

 

[Gravity]

San Jose is looking solid no doubt.

But I feel like we are too. Sure we need another top 6 centre and a top 4 D...but we have a ton of prospect depth from which to find those pieces.

Dach still may be that #2 C...or Hage might be.

At D.....we have Rein as a potential topmpair shut down guy to pair with Hutson.

we need that 2nd pair RD which I think Mailloix may fill, but he is better suited for 3rd pair. Guhle and Xhekaj complete our left side.

At goalie we have two very high end prospects in Dobes and Fowler who could steal the net from Monty, who himself has become a very solid cost effective net minder.

Be patient. we are building something special.

Appreciate the well thought out input.

I think the closest we have to a 1D is Hutson, and while he is extremely promising for a rookie, he is still yet far from being penciled in as the 1D on a contender.

I can't hide my bias when I say I feel that Suzuki is a mid- to low-end 1C. I'd love to get an elite 1C that this franchise hasn't had in my lifetime and that many of the recent cup winners do.

I do think what we have is promising but I still think there are some major holes to fill and wonder if we may be exiting the losing stage of the rebuild too soon and be moving towards high-end mediocrity rather than contention.

 

[Benstheman]

If we compare SJ and Mtl rebuilds, the only player they have that is better than ours is Celebrini. But I think Demidov will be a close 2nd.

Other than that we have more pieces and we are ahead in our process.

 

[Gravity]

If we compare SJ and Mtl rebuilds, the only player they have that is better than ours is Celebrini. But I think Demidov will be a close 2nd.

Other than that we have more pieces and we are ahead in our process.

I agree that we have more pieces. I'm speculating that if they were to land Schaefer for example, they would have the more important pieces solidified (1C, 1D and potentially 1G).

 

[DAChampion]

If the Habs finish the season out of the bottom ten, that will be an indicator the rebuild is in great shape.

 

[HabsCowboysOwn]

Drafting another top 6 C would have been nice, someone to complement or even surpass Suzuki. Let's hope Hage can be that guy. Could still trade for one, or sign one if big name free agents want to sign here all of the sudden but I'll believe it when I see it.

Defense is more concerning to me, let's say we have:

Hutson- X
Guhle- Reinbacher (don't know what we have with that guy but hopefully he can at least become a solid #4 for us)
Third pair not worried, not hard to fill

Who will play with Hutson on the first pairing? You have to draft these guys teams don't trade them away and they rarely become free agents. One of the prospects we already have will have to exceed expectations I guess.

 

[Jurivan Demidovsky]

Drafting another top 6 C would have been nice, someone to complement or even surpass Suzuki. Let's hope Hage can be that guy. Could still trade for one, or sign one if big name free agents want to sign here all of the sudden but I'll believe it when I see it.

Defense is more concerning to me, let's say we have:

Hutson- X
Guhle- Reinbacher (don't know what we have with that guy but hopefully he can at least become a solid #4 for us)
Third pair not worried, not hard to fill

Who will play with Hutson on the first pairing? You have to draft these guys teams don't trade them away and they rarely become free agents. One of the prospects we already have will have to exceed expectations I guess.

Hutson - Zub
Ghule - Carrier
Xhekaj - Reinbacher