The state of the Habs Rebuild - The Next step

[the]

I agree, but 10-15 with progression and milestones was what i was looking for.. unless a trye diamond in the rough prospect somehow pulls a Wyatt Johnston, i fail to see how 5-10 just a rebuild.. a year like this starts to become BUF OTT territory... not good atall

I've always said we will need to suffer 5 years minimum. I've been vocal in the past that it might take 7 years. People hoping we would be out of the woods after 3 years were hoping for a miracle. Hugo really inherited a mess from Bergevin.

Hugo are doing a tremendous job to accelerate this and they have exceeded all expectations but we will need another high pick. I see a 5-10 overall pick. Especially if Laine is gone.

Patience... it's a long process. We aren't done yet.

 

[durojean]

Thought they were close to that before Laine injury but now I’m confident bottom 5 for sure, probably in bottom 3.

No second line, bottom 6 is gross.

I’ll go on the record now, they get less points than they did last year.

Rebuild is NO WHERE close to being over.

And it is ok… this year still needed to be hard.

Next year is the year we should become really good.

I just hope it’s not too serious for Reinbacher because next year was supposed to be his real start in the NHL and he need to not lose a year of development at this point.

 

[Habs7631]

Thought they were close to that before Laine injury but now I’m confident bottom 5 for sure, probably in bottom 3.

No second line, bottom 6 is gross.

I’ll go on the record now, they get less points than they did last year.

Rebuild is NO WHERE close to being over.

Could be a blessing in disguise for the long-run. If we’re not gonna make the playoffs might as well get one last top pick to finish this rebuild. What’s the point of finishing in the middle and drafting #13? Why be mid, don’t want to be Minnesota/Islanders/Flyers. Yeah we would have made short-term “progress”, but in the long run adding one of the studs in this upcoming strong draft could make us a bonifade contender in the future. Absolutely disgusting possible top 5 this year (Hagens, Martone, McQueen, Schaefer, Misa).

When life gives you lemons......

 

[FLHabs]

I know some of us will talk about Martone or Hagens, but another top 5 pick, while good on paper, would be really bad for the development of this team. Forget the forever high picks, I want to see progress, I want to watch meaningful hockey. Losing constantly 4 years in a row is BAD for development

 

[austin316]

I voted “C”. Some nice pieces in place, but they are mainly complimentary pieces. Still no elite talent on this roster, and Reinbacher at 5 sure looks like a swing and a miss. That sets the rebuild back when you miss on a top 5 pick like we did.

Flashbacks to KK over Tkachuk.

 

[Jabba11]

I voted “C”. Some nice pieces in place, but they are mainly complimentary pieces. Still no elite talent on this roster, and Reinbacher at 5 sure looks like a swing and a miss. That sets the rebuild back when you miss on a top 5 pick like we did.

Flashbacks to KK over Tkachuk.

Demidov is not complimentary. He's elite.

 

[Monsieur Miz]

Tonight game and seeing Michkov look like a beast = pain.

 

[Ozmodiar]

A successful rebuild will have enough draft picks to have redundancy / failover. They won’t all be home runs.

 

[themilosh]

A successful rebuild will have enough draft picks to have redundancy / failover. They won’t all be home runs.

No but i dont think ANY team has a "redundancy" in their top 6. It's not like this happened to Dvo... Dach is still a massive ? When it comes to his health, now he's losing a stud winger which was suppose to teach us about what we "could" have..
It's the information that we lose is what stings... i get it, injuries happen.. it's just we cannot truly answer an important equation to test our core..

Like not even 30ish games... nothing.

 

[SOLR]

Tonight game and seeing Michkov look like a beast = pain.

I think we'll be a lot more sorry to have missed on Leonard than Michkov with Reinbacher. But I still like Rein, don't think this injury is serious, looks like a muscle pull of some kind.

 

[HabsCowboysOwn]

Next step is another bottom 5 finish and hopefully drafting the final piece of our top 6.

 

[dinodebino]

If this team falls bottom 5, some on the team will lose faith in the process. And what happened to Buffalo might start to happen here.
This young core was sold a plan. They don’t give two shits about drafting high. They want to play meaningfull games in March-April. If it ain’t happening this season, grumbling will start

 

[Habs7631]

If this team falls bottom 5, some on the team will lose faith in the process. And what happened to Buffalo might start to happen here.
This young core was sold a plan. They don’t give two shits about drafting high. They want to play meaningfull games in March-April. If it ain’t happening this season, grumbling will start

If the players want to play meaningful games in March-April, then they should start playing better. Bottom 5 finishes 3 years in a row. What is management supposed to do? I feel like they've done almost everything right at this point and sped up the process enough by making good acquisitions (Dach, Laine, Newhook). They've also accumulated quite the war chest of picks and players. Top 5 prospect pool in the league and 11 picks in the first 3 rounds for the next 2 drafts. We might have the biggest war chest in the league right now for trades.

It's not management fault that players can't stay healthy. If the current group wants management to go get more help, they have to show they deserve more help. Guys keep talking about losing all those 1 goal games, well how about you start winning those games then instead of choking them.

Management has done their job, it's now up to the players to deliver their side of the deal. They made trade every year to get you help, they've build up the war chest to acquire all the help you could need but how about you get out of the basement first.

Anyway, HuGo have said multiple times that 2025-2026 is when the real push starts, so next summer. Lot of money coming off the books, Demidov's arrival, another year of experience for this young group of defenseman, a full season of Monty-Primeau, can Dobes re-peat his performance of the second half he had in Laval, except this time for a full season? What do we really have in Hutson? Struble? Xhekaj? Barron? Is Caufield gonna start living up to his "steal" of a contract?

Another draft except this time an insane amount of picks in the first 3 rounds. Can probably consolidate them all into 3-4 1st rounders if not more if they sell at the deadline (Savard, Matheson, Dvo, Armia).

The next step I think is to do nothing. So many questions to be answered by this group. This season will be one of evaluation. There's a lot of potential all across the organization, both with the big club and Laval. Let the chips fall where they way and if we get another top pick in the process so be it.

 

[Kobe Armstrong]

Are people really expecting us to finish bottom 5 this year and then make a magical jump for the playoffs the following season?

That just doesn't happen. If this season is over, the next one is too.

 

[Archijerej]

This is a good test for this group and the coaching staff. If they are able to overcome the disappointment, play hard and take a step forward, it would mean we have something really good here.

It's also an opportunity for guys like Kapanen, Heineman and Barre-Boulet.

Laine was always optional, but the key to future success was in the group already assembled.

Reinbacher is what hurts the most. He didn't have a stellar last season, so this year was important. We can't have members of our future core out for a year every season.

 

[River Meadow]

Another tank year won't be so bad....

Will it?

 

[morhilane]

Another tank year won't be so bad....

Will it?

It won't be a tank year. Habs are looking much better in the dzone which means they should win more of those 1 goal loses this year and they were 10-12 wins away from fighting for a wildcard.

 

[River Meadow]

It won't be a tank year. Habs are looking much better in the dzone which means they should win more of those 1 goal loses this year and they were 10-12 wins away from fighting for a wildcard.

Oh, so we can just miss the playoffs or get bounced in round 1, and pick in the mid rounds, sweet!

We lost to an AHL caliber team last night though, so I'm not convinced we're so much better.

 

[StCaufield]

It won't be a tank year. Habs are looking much better in the dzone which means they should win more of those 1 goal loses this year and they were 10-12 wins away from fighting for a wildcard.

Don’t get ahead of yourself lol

 

[morhilane]

Oh, so we can just miss the playoffs or get bounced in round 1, and pick in the mid rounds, sweet!

We lost to an AHL caliber team last night though, so I'm not convinced we're so much better.

The score is meaningless, Habs dominated the Leafs despite trying to avoid getting injured, lots of vets not playing 100% (especially in the 3rd) and the Leafs playing 1-3-1.

 

[River Meadow]

The score is meaningless, Habs dominated the Leafs despite trying to avoid getting injured, lots of vets not playing 100% (especially in the 3rd) and the Leafs playing 1-3-1.

They didn't dominate the Leafs.

They dominated the Marlies, and couldn't win.

 

[ChesterNimitz]

Another tank year won't be so bad....

Will it?

With or without Laine, Montreal was going to be a marginalized team this year.

The great progress that Hughes and Co. has accomplished so far in building the team's depth will result in long term benefits but would only have marginal effects this year. With the calvary (Demidov, Hage, Florian, Beck, Kapanen, Reinbacher, Tuch, etc. and and those seven high draft choices over the next two years) coming, or here in a limited role, the future of the team remains promising. Fans will just have to exercise patience and realism this year. Its been over thirty years since the Canadiens won their last Stanley Cup. Reality is that it will take at least a couple more years before the Canadiens are a legitimate contender.

Any 'tank' this year won't be purposeful, but a true assessment/outcome of the stage of the team's ongoing re-build.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

Not gonna pick high enough for him or Martone

That's what many think every start of the season since the rebuild started. Injuries always seem to put a big dent into those predictions.

I hope they do better than last season, but injuries leading to another #5 pick and the Habs stagnating is entirely in the realm of possibility. Last night's debacle, injury-wise, is proof enough. If Laine is out for some time, we won't be battling for the playoffs after the new year.

It's not the end of the world though. Just more draft power to add to the rebuild and our growing asset base. One more lost year, but should be the last.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

We've hit two out of three top-five picks. I believe.

Too early for Reinbacher. Some dmen take time to develop. He was a loaf of bread when we drafted him last year and has had only a year of truly building up muscles. Go look at his combine. Then compare him to Bedard's. It's night and day in terms of muscle mass.

 

[morhilane]

The objectives should not change. .500 and get that GF/GA to neutral territory is a step in the right direction.
The task my be harder with fewer GF but just make sure we play a better team defense.

I'm quite optimistic with the team defense the Habs have shown so far in pre-season. They don't look like chickens without heads anymore and high danger chances have dropped compared to last year pre-season.

Now if they want better GF, drop CC/Matheson from PP1 and put Hutson there with Newhook or Roy. And don't put Anderson on the 2nd line to replace Laine...