The state of the Habs Rebuild - The Next step

[The Gr8 Dane]

The salary's are perfect right now , the only way a forward can realistically ask for more than 8 with the current setup is if they actually go PPG+ , Hell yeah Demidov can have 10 million+ if he puts up 100 points lol.

Defence is another story but defensemen salaries aren't as inflated as before and especially not as much as forwards right now

 

[_vivelequebec_]

The last thing Hugues has to achieve is signing Rantanen on the UFA market next year so we can start 2025-2026 with :

Slaf - Suzuki - Demidov
Rantanen - Dach - Caufield
Newhook - Beck - Roy
Xhekaj - Kapanen - Rohrer
Heineman - Kidney* - Mesar

Guhle - Mailloux
Matheson - Reinbacher
Hutson - Xhekaj
Engstrom - Konyushkov

Montembeault
Primeau
Dobes*

*Cut to make it a 23 men roster, not sure who the final guy would be

Top prospects : Hage, Fowler, 2 first rounders of 2025

EDIT : Oh yeah and he really needs to trade Anderson and buy out Gallagher in the next 12 months

 

[StreetHawk]

I'll be shocked if both of Savard and Matheson are traded this year.

Savard is UFA after the season. He should be moved by the TDL. Matheson, still another season til 2026.

Main issue for the Habs is to develop their D core.

LHD
Guhle, probably the most advanced at this time. How he performs this season determines whether he's a bridge or a long term contract. 44 and then 70 games over the 2 pro seasons. No AHL time.
X - 2 years pro. Sent down for a bit to the A last season.
Struble - first year pro last season. 2/3 of games last season. Can he lock down a spot on the roster full time. 23 and 4 years in the NCAA under his belt. He is waiver exempt i believe.
Harris - 2nd year pro last season. But, not always in the lineup. No AHL time as a pro. He is no longer waiver exempt I believe.
Hutson, 2 years at BU. Small kid. Might want him in Laval to learn Defence first.

RHD
Barron, split the last 2 years between NHL and AHL. No longer waiver exempt.
Reinbacher, is he ready to take a spot?

After the 2 vets that's 7 guys for 4 regular spots and 1 extra spot. Who is going to make it and after that, who will solidify their spot? In terms of who can play next season, the D is where they will get a good read on where they stand rebuild wise. One of the LHD probably has to slide to the RHD to get ice time.

 

[LaP]

Savard is UFA after the season. He should be moved by the TDL. Matheson, still another season til 2026.

Main issue for the Habs is to develop their D core.

LHD
Guhle, probably the most advanced at this time. How he performs this season determines whether he's a bridge or a long term contract. 44 and then 70 games over the 2 pro seasons. No AHL time.
X - 2 years pro. Sent down for a bit to the A last season.
Struble - first year pro last season. 2/3 of games last season. Can he lock down a spot on the roster full time. 23 and 4 years in the NCAA under his belt. He is waiver exempt i believe.
Harris - 2nd year pro last season. But, not always in the lineup. No AHL time as a pro. He is no longer waiver exempt I believe.
Hutson, 2 years at BU. Small kid. Might want him in Laval to learn Defence first.

RHD
Barron, split the last 2 years between NHL and AHL. No longer waiver exempt.
Reinbacher, is he ready to take a spot?

After the 2 vets that's 7 guys for 4 regular spots and 1 extra spot. Who is going to make it and after that, who will solidify their spot? In terms of who can play next season, the D is where they will get a good read on where they stand rebuild wise. One of the LHD probably has to slide to the RHD to get ice time.

Savard should be moved at the TDL. I like the guy but he'll be 35 in 2025-2026 it would make 0 sense to extend him. He's not the type of player who keep being good into his mid 30ies. He'll have value as a rental since he's a vet with cup experience. Not getting that extra 2nd round pick for 30ish more games of Savard would not make sense. Ideally we probably want both Reinbacher and Mailloux to finish the year with the big team on the right side of the defense to give them at least minimum 30ish games of NHL experience this year.

 

[OneSharpMarble]

That's probably the smallest part, of being a good GM

What a ludicrous statement, a bad trade or a good trade can have a massive impact on a franchise for years. Being able to find a trade alone is an ability only the best GMs have. Gainey went years without being able to get a decent forward and the regurgitated excuse always was "there's no trades out there" while every other team passed us by. Hiring an ex agent speaks volumes about how valuable networking with other GM's is in today's NHL.

Tell me how many self drafted players did Florida have on their roster?

 

[StreetHawk]

Savard should be moved at the TDL. I like the guy but he'll be 35 in 2025-2026 it would make 0 sense to extend him. He's not the type of player who keep being good into his mid 30ies. He'll have value as a rental since he's a vet with cup experience. Not getting that extra 2nd round pick for 30ish more games of Savard would not make sense. Ideally we probably want both Reinbacher and Mailloux to finish the year with the big team on the right side of the defense to give them at least minimum 30ish games of NHL experience this year.

Savard's best contribution to Montreal is to be a great partner to one of the kids. Be it Guhle, X, Harris, Struble, Hutson or whomever. Habs won't go anywhere until they solidify their blueline. Would like to get 2 of the kids to solidify their roster spots moving forward. As they would have to decide whether they need another Vet Dman in the off-season. They likely do, but then it becomes what they need. If 2 of the kids really show well, then they don't need to get someone as good. If they don't then you may need to, either to help the kids out or be someone the team truly needs moving forward.

 

[LaP]

Gainey and Bergevin could make a dog f***ing a football look competent but I gotta say I have a high amount of confidence in Hughes, I feel like the guy could win every trade he makes.

Winning all your trades doesn't matter as much as people think imo. Serge Savard lost lot of trades. Ross Atkins is winning all his trades (according to fans and media). For me the most important part of a GM work is team building. Being able to identify what your team is missing and being able to go get it. The 2nd most important part is putting in place people who can help you like a good drafting team and a good coaching group etc ... the 3rd most important is to know when to get out when it comes to old players and bad contract given to them.

 

[Gustave]

Let’s start listing vets RHD to replace Savard when he goes because we’ll need one, badly. Having two low experience RHD (Rein and Mailloux) on the back end is a recipe for disaster unless an RHD can come in and swallow tough minutes for them.

Barron ain’t it.

 

[Mrb1p]

I'm not happy with delaying the window. I thought we would be ready last year, and by all accounts, the core was/is ready, injury just got in the way of things. Perfectly fine by me when Dach got injured that we pretty much threw away the year.

This year makes absolutely zero sense that were not trying to crack open the window at the very least. I feel like Hughes bolted it down instead.

I understand the contracts, I understand Demidov isn't here yet.

The point is that the perfect time to compete is 2025 until 2028, before Demidov, Dach, Newhook, Roy, Hutson, Reinbacher, and all the prospects start getting significant NHL money. Were delaying the process of "learning" to win for what reason ? Because we have bad contracts that are going to end anyway. 10m in cap space, 26 next year, 46 in two years, 60 and some in three. We had more than ample money to make a move.

RDs that would've made the team better right away without handicapping the future: Marino,
Bottom 6 forwards that would've made the team better right away without handicapping the future: Lomberg, Jones, Aube-Kubel, Lafferty, William Carrier, Foegele, Jeannot, Trenin, Tsyplakov, Carrick, Dellandrea, Texier, Girgensons, Heinen, Duhaime
Mid 6 forwards that would've made the team better right away without handicapping the future: Bertuzzi, Jack Roslovic, Teravainen, Duclair, Mangiapane

 

[HuGo Burner Acc]

I'm not happy with delaying the window. I thought we would be ready last year, and by all accounts, the core was/is ready, injury just got in the way of things. Perfectly fine by me when Dach got injured that we pretty much threw away the year.

This year makes absolutely zero sense that were not trying to crack open the window at the very least. I feel like Hughes bolted it down instead.

I understand the contracts, I understand Demidov isn't here yet.

The point is that the perfect time to compete is 2025 until 2028, before Demidov, Dach, Newhook, Roy, Hutson, Reinbacher, and all the prospects start getting significant NHL money. Were delaying the process of "learning" to win for what reason ? Because we have bad contracts that are going to end anyway. 10m in cap space, 26 next year, 46 in two years, 60 and some in three. We had more than ample money to make a move.

RDs that would've made the team better right away without handicapping the future: Marino,
Bottom 6 forwards that would've made the team better right away without handicapping the future: Lomberg, Jones, Aube-Kubel, Lafferty, William Carrier, Foegele, Jeannot, Trenin, Tsyplakov, Carrick, Dellandrea, Texier, Girgensons, Heinen, Duhaime
Mid 6 forwards that would've made the team better right away without handicapping the future: Bertuzzi, Jack Roslovic, Teravainen, Duclair, Mangiapane

Such a bad take but we're all entitled to our opinions

 

[Rapala]

I'm going to vote A for all the foundational pieces they have put in place.
Player Development
The Medical staff including mental health physio etc.
The Culture or vibe around the team.
Player Contracts
Communication with the fan base
Probably some others I'm forgetting.

With regards to the on ice product I'd be hugely disappointed if we didn't take a big step towards mid pack.
I'm not sure we've done enough yet in terms of personnel.
I also think certain aspects of the coaching has to improve starting with accountability.

Someone suggested it would take another three years at the outset. I disagree.
If we don't see a good number of players graduating by next season the plan is off track IMO.
Top picks should be NHL ready in a year or two at most.

 

[junyab]

Stick the plan until after Demidov's first season ie after 2025-26 season. Then we assess our competitiveness, follow that up with addressing holes in the lineup, UFA's, trading futures.

 

[Mrb1p]

Let’s start listing vets RHD to replace Savard when he goes because we’ll need one, badly. Having two low experience RHD (Rein and Mailloux$ on the back end is a recipe for disaster unless an RHD can come in and swallow tough minutes for them.

Barron ain’t it.

The smart move would be to move the player that's coming off a career year on a contract year that is also playing the deepest position of the organisation but I'm not holding my breath.

 

[HabzSauce]

I'm not happy with delaying the window. I thought we would be ready last year, and by all accounts, the core was/is ready, injury just got in the way of things. Perfectly fine by me when Dach got injured that we pretty much threw away the year.

This year makes absolutely zero sense that were not trying to crack open the window at the very least. I feel like Hughes bolted it down instead.

I understand the contracts, I understand Demidov isn't here yet.

The point is that the perfect time to compete is 2025 until 2028, before Demidov, Dach, Newhook, Roy, Hutson, Reinbacher, and all the prospects start getting significant NHL money. Were delaying the process of "learning" to win for what reason ? Because we have bad contracts that are going to end anyway. 10m in cap space, 26 next year, 46 in two years, 60 and some in three. We had more than ample money to make a move.

RDs that would've made the team better right away without handicapping the future: Marino,
Bottom 6 forwards that would've made the team better right away without handicapping the future: Lomberg, Jones, Aube-Kubel, Lafferty, William Carrier, Foegele, Jeannot, Trenin, Tsyplakov, Carrick, Dellandrea, Texier, Girgensons, Heinen, Duhaime
Mid 6 forwards that would've made the team better right away without handicapping the future: Bertuzzi, Jack Roslovic, Teravainen, Duclair, Mangiapane

All we need is health and we compete for WC with this current team as is. Too much internal competition and deadweight to be signing guys this year in my opinion.

No way we finish bottom 5 - even bottom 10 I don't see it

 

[Gustave]

The smart move would be to move the player that's coming off a career year on a contract year that is also playing the deepest position of the organisation but I'm not holding my breath.

I have time for a Matheson trade, trust me.

 

[JeffreyLFC]

We surely don't want to be the next Buffalo so what do we now have to do to make sure it won't happen?
Drafting and going after picks and prospects can't be the focus as it was the focus for the past 3 seasons.

I think there are a lot of misconception about a proper rebuild.

For instance, Colorado did a rebuild got Duchene, MacKinnon, Landeskog. They thought they were going to compete with their core but they stalled and dipped in form then they started trading away their one core player like Duchene, acquired Kadri and did a quick reset and they eventually got lucky with Makar and then they won the cup.

Florida also got their main guy Barkov in 2013 but it took another 11 years until they won the cup. They had to get rid of Huberdeau to get Tkachuk.

Vegas basically trade away all their prospects + picks to get established players to have depth everywhere and won a cup.

I think the key to compete is keeping a healthy cap management (KH is doing very fine on that front) + have scoring depth and be ready to find good deals on the market once we have a more stable core possibly as soon as next summer. I think we still lack a true #1 defenseman and Dach has yet to prove himself as a #2 center but the pieces are starting to add up. We should be ready to reach the next step and acquire older proven players instead of prospect or project. I think next summer we could be very aggresive on the market (UFA or trades) to get more pieces.

 

[Mrb1p]

Such a bad take but we're all entitled to our opinions

Whats bad about wanting to transition to a more competitive style of development ? All the core pieces are there, why are we waiting around ?

I have time for a Matheson trade, trust me.

I know, lol.

 

[Spring in Fialta]

The salary's are perfect right now , the only way a forward can realistically ask for more than 8 with the current setup is if they actually go PPG+ , Hell yeah Demidov can have 10 million+ if he puts up 100 points lol.

Defence is another story but defensemen salaries aren't as inflated as before and especially not as much as forwards right now

It's not about what a player can ask from the team, but what the market is.

 

[Mrb1p]

All we need is health and we compete for WC with this current team as is. Too much internal competition and deadweight to be signing guys this year in my opinion.

No way we finish bottom 5 - even bottom 10 I don't see it

We finished at the very bottom of the atlantic last year and we are essentially swapping 50 games of Monahan for the hope that Dach stays healthy, nothing else is a clear upgrade. Who are we finishing ahead of ? Why ? With additions, does that mean we can make it to the wild card ? Why not shoot for that then ?

 

[JeffreyLFC]

We finished at the very bottom of the atlantic last year and we are essentially swapping 50 games of Monahan for the hope that Dach stays healthy, nothing else is a clear upgrade. Who are we finishing ahead of ? Why ? With additions, does that mean we can make it to the wild card ? Why not shoot for that then ?

There is a very important component of the rebuild that you are missing. Player development. The Slafkovsky from the early part of last year to him at the later part is completely different. Roy also developped. Newhook was also better. Now add Hutson + Mailloux or Reinbacher. KH want the younger players to step up their game. If you add more veteran you are stalling their development.

 

[HabzSauce]

We finished at the very bottom of the atlantic last year and we are essentially swapping 50 games of Monahan for the hope that Dach stays healthy, nothing else is a clear upgrade. Who are we finishing ahead of ? Why ? With additions, does that mean we can make it to the wild card ? Why not shoot for that then ?

Weren't we flirting with 10 OA at somepoint towards the end of the season? NJD finished 10th and they only had a 5 point lead above us. 3 more wins last year catapults us from 5th worst to outside the top 10. And that's without Dach and a less developed team compared to what we have today. Every other team after NJD was in the WC hunt.

Idk who we finish above or below lol teams are voodoo. Last year we were all expecting Columbus, Anaheim, and Ottawa to be better and they shit the bed. Flyers looked like a lotto team and they almost made the playoffs. Buffalo still being buffalo. Hard to predict exact standings, all I'm saying is I expect us to be in the hunt.

Last year we Led the league in 1 goal games. We were in way too many games against good teams that we had no business being in. Good sign though. Plus a more developed Slaf, Roy, Xhekaj, etc AND newcomers in Mailloux, Hutson, Reinbacher, etc. They will all make a big difference.

 

[Mrb1p]

There is a very important component of the rebuild that you are missing. Player development. The Slafkovsky from the early part of last year to him at the later part is completely different. Roy also developped. Newhook was also better. Now add Hutson + Mailloux or Reinbacher. KH want the younger players to step up their game. If you add more veteran you are stalling their development.

Of course it's going to make a difference that players develop but you are ignoring the very simple fact that everyone else also does get better. It's not exclusive to the Habs, the division has four teams that are in a rebuild, the other one has 2, they should all get better.

 

[LaP]

People should take a look at the lineup of the Metropolitan this season.

Pens top 6 : 36 yo Crosby, 37 yo Malkin, 32 yo Rust, 31 yo Rackell, Bunting, 32 yo Kevin Hayes. I mean i like Crosby and Malkin but that's a **** awful top 6.

Caps : 38 yo Ovy, PLD, 30 yo Wilson, Mangemoélpain, 37 yo Oshie, Dylan Strome. Not great either.

We can certainly fight for the 20th spot. Dunno if we get there but we can certainly fight for it.

 

[Rapala]

People should take a look at the lineup of the Metropolitan this season.

Pens top 6 : 36 yo Crosby, 37 yo Malkin, 32 yo Rust, 31 yo Rackell, Bunting, 32 yo Kevin Hayes. I mean i like Crosby and Malkin but that's a **** awful top 6.

Caps : 38 yo Ovy, PLD, 30 yo Wilson, Mangemoélpain, 37 yo Oshie, Dylan Strome. Not great either.

We can certainly fight for the 20th spot. Dunno if we get there but we can certainly fight for it.

Yup the Met will be bad again this season which means every bubble team will have a chance at that 8th spot.

 

[Hannibal]

Get a real powerforward with top6 potential.

What Josh Anderson could have been.