The state of the Habs Rebuild - The Next step

[WeThreeKings]

I don't give a damn about "the mix" BS, All I want is progress from the players and coaches

They will spike.. and they will fall.. and they will spike again.

Progression is very rarely a straight line upward.

 

[OnTheRun]

We still have far more holes than the Knights had year one never mind when they started making their aggressive moves.
I also don't think we have a great mix in the players we don't think of as holes we are even showing cracks we didn't think existed.

Indeed, we have a few guys who still need to grow individually before we take a serious look at putting a dent in the future to focus on the present.

That said, we still need to be on the lookout in case something good could potentially fall into our laps. Be opportunistic and avoid instant gratification.

 

[LaP]

They will spike.. and they will fall.. and they will spike again.

Progression is very rarely a straight line upward.

Wyatt Johnson is a good exemple.

65 points last year and probably Dallas best player in playoffs. So far on pace for 6-7 goals and 40 points this season.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

Regression of this magnitude concerns me though.

From ,450 to ,357 is not that great of a drawback, considering how young they are and how useless a lot of vets are and how little talent there really is on the team.

 

[Kobe Armstrong]

We need to start thinking of Dach as a 3C and build him into that role. He is capable defensively despite the league worst +/-

And it really isn’t the end of the world if he becomes an elite 3C who can play 2C in a pinch.

Get him used to the defensive reps and he can still be a valuable player on a contender, and he’ll never need to make more than 4.5 mil

From ,450 to ,357 is not that great of a drawback, considering how young they are and how useless a lot of vets are and how little talent there really is on the team.

From 5th worst to 2nd worst is pretty terrible considering they added players to help the team and other teams are going through more deliberate tanks

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

If amassing assets was the goal, you should be acknowledge they squandered them on Dach, Newhook, and didn’t sell high on Matheson.
l

Yeah, they’ve looked bad for fifteen games.

Guess we can write off Newhook and Dach.

 

[LaP]

From ,450 to ,357 is not that great of a drawback, considering how young they are and how useless a lot of vets are and how little talent there really is on the team.

And let's be honest. Most of that regression is Monahan, Savard and the goalies. Yes the team at the end of last season was playing better (with no pressure to win) but at the beginning of last season if you remove Monahan imo it would have looked like this year.

I liked Monahan and i wish the timing would have been better (him being 2 years younger and/or less injury prone) but it really made no sense to keep him considering the price paid by Jets. I also wish Savard would have had one more season in him but apparently he has hit the wall.

I'm not overly surprised there's a huge difference between playing well in a situation where there's no pressure to win (end of last season) and then having to follow that up by winning in a situation where there's now expectation. I kind of expected a drawback personally unless Laine would have carried the team but it was a huge hail mary pass if we want to be honest.

From 5th worst to 2nd worst is pretty terrible considering they added players to help the team and other teams are going through more deliberate tanks

They added Laine and he is not playing ... all the other adds are rookies.

We have the end youngest team in the league and we traded all vets we could trade.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Personally i would try to swap Matheson for a defensive RHD

Guhle - Savard
Hutson - defensive RHD acquired for Matheson
Xhekaj - Barron
Struble

Matheson and Hutson are too similar and we have nobody on the right to play with them. I think Matheson is a good 1st test for KH. He's a local player so hard to trade him but at the same time it would only be logical to trade him with Hutson coming in.

Yeah, but I’d want that RD to have some mobility. As I said a Hamrlik type player. Really solid defensively but has some offensive ability. Essentially a solid number two pairing guy.

 

[LaP]

Yeah, but I’d want that RD to have some mobility. As I said a Hamrlik type player. Really solid defensively but has some offensive ability. Essentially a solid number two pairing guy.

I'm not arguaing trading matheson for a 3rd pairing dman He has his flaws but he is a top 4 offensive dman and some teams are looking for that. I mean Carolina has been trying plan Z for this role for 3 years now. Teams keep rotating the Gustafsson and Grossebière of this world because they need offense from the blueline. I'd be willing to add a bit to Matheson to grab a good 2nd pairing defensive dman able to skate and be solid all aroud.

 

[Mrb1p]

I'm interested by this...just looking quickly for the that type of Dman from non contenders, I came up with the following list.

Brandon Carlo - Bruins
David Jiricek (not a veteran but i'd take a flyer), Severson - Blue Jackets
Scott Mayfield - Isles
Colton Parayko - Blues
Dante Fabbro - Predators
Rasmus Andersson - Flames (obviously)

I want to reiterate, i'm not suggesting that all of these players would solve everything or are top pairing guys, but just help add a bit bit more stability

That's a very large range of players.

Fabbro wouldn't change a thing and we'd better just call up Lindstrom for better results. All the others are interesting. Not sure Carlo is going to be moved. They'd also be stupid to move Jiricek but I've seen worse.

 

[SwiftyHab]

Top 4 RD would help stabilize things.

I wonder when Hughes feels compelled to make a move.

 

[WeThreeKings]

I wonder when Hughes feels compelled to make a move.

Probably not at all outside of making an example of a veteran.

They wanted to see some progression but if there isn't any by trade deadline, then the strides they expected the team and players to make, they didn't make and they'll need to re-assess.

Never got the sense this management group would ever skirt the long term plan because it wasn't happening on the earliest possible timeline it could.

 

[LaP]

I wonder when Hughes feels compelled to make a move.

Outside of trading vets on expiring contract and acquiring a vet for a cheap price i don't see him doing anything before next summer.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Probably not at all outside of making an example of a veteran.

They wanted to see some progression but if there isn't any by trade deadline, then the strides they expected the team and players to make, they didn't make and they'll need to re-assess.

Never got the sense this management group would ever skirt the long term plan because it wasn't happening on the earliest possible timeline it could.

I don't see adding a vet RD as a panic move though. I see it as a practical solution to a problem that we're going to have regardless of whether this team was going to be improving or not. You need some veteran presence in the lineup and that's lacking on that backend.

 

[WeThreeKings]

I don't see adding a vet RD as a panic move though. I see it as a practical solution to a problem that we're going to have regardless of whether this team was going to be improving or not. You need some veteran presence in the lineup and that's lacking on that backend.

They will do small things but when I picture 'making a move', I think it more impactful than just picking up a vet piece or adding a depth player to send Condotta down.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

They will do small things but when I picture 'making a move', I think it more impactful than just picking up a vet piece or adding a depth player to send Condotta down.

We'll see. I think adding a vet on RD is a good move regardless.

 

[therocket9]

I'm interested by this...just looking quickly for the that type of Dman from non contenders, I came up with the following list.

Brandon Carlo - Bruins
David Jiricek (not a veteran but i'd take a flyer), Severson - Blue Jackets
Scott Mayfield - Isles
Colton Parayko - Blues
Dante Fabbro - Predators
Rasmus Andersson - Flames (obviously)

I want to reiterate, i'm not suggesting that all of these players would solve everything or are top pairing guys, but just help add a bit bit more stability

Other RHD William Borgen and Connor Murphy both big and Physical.

 

[StreetHawk]

I don't see adding a vet RD as a panic move though. I see it as a practical solution to a problem that we're going to have regardless of whether this team was going to be improving or not. You need some veteran presence in the lineup and that's lacking on that backend.

The habs can't be thinking that replacing Savard's roster spot with Mailloux for next season is all they need to do for their 7 D men. That would be absolutely insane. So, at some point, between now and the start of next season, they do need to add another (and very likely 2) veteran Dman.

They hoped for too much from Barron/Struble/X to figure it out on their own.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

The habs can't be thinking that replacing Savard's roster spot with Mailloux for next season is all they need to do for their 7 D men. That would be absolutely insane. So, at some point, between now and the start of next season, they do need to add another (and very likely 2) veteran Dman.

They hoped for too much from Barron/Struble/X to figure it out on their own.

Yeah, a bridge player who can carry the load for a while.