I'm good with Heineman and Mesar.
Heineman made the team out of camp. And he looked good in his role. He'll be a Bottom-6 player. But he has NHL skating and shot. And because of that shot, he could become an option on the PP. And he has used his 6'2" and 198 lbs frame to his advantage.
Mesar, for all his detractors, still is a promising prospect who was over a PPG player in regular season, playoffs, and WJC last year. He's about to start his first pro season in North America so let's wait before we start making decisions on him.
He had 5 SOG in his one preseason game with the Habs and he could've had a goal as he hit the post. He had an assist in 2 Laval preseason games. And he had an assist in 2 AHL games last year before they decided to send him to Kitchener.
I don't think this reflects poorly on Toffoli at all. He was traded to playoff teams (Calgary, New Jersey, and Winnipeg respectively) because they valued the player and thought he'd improve their team, and all teams sent back decent packages (including first round picks in the first two cases). Then SJ gave him a raise to support their recent No.1 overall pick. This is not a journeyman situation, Toffoli is clearly valued across the league.
We also had to shed salary and no one wanted the contracts of Hoffman, Anderson, Gallagher, Armia, Price or Weber.I would also add that if you want the highest pick possible for a few years, you need to get rid of some players. The sum of trading Lehkonen and Toffoli also means you have more chances of picking 5 two years straight, picking up Demidov along the way. The cap space allows you to trade for Monahan.
we did trade weber though in the endWe also had to shed salary and no one wanted the contracts of Hoffman, Anderson, Gallagher, Armia, Price or Weber.
All true............not to mention without Price, we all knew we were heading to the basement no matter how we sliced it.................the extra 1st rounders were sorely needed.Yes it was a good deal. The key to the deal was it weakened us short term. We were able to get Slaf, Reinbacher, and Demidov by being so weak.
Heineman and Mesar are just potential depth players. The key was getting those potential core pieces. I like that Hughes has since used late 1sts to package them with a 2nd to get Newhook and Hage. In hindsight it would have been nice if he did that with the Toffoli 1st. Ironically, we may not have gotten Hutson if he had! So even that use (or misuse getting Mesar) of the late 1st was even better than the subsequent uses of late 1st that brought in Newhook and Hage. Still hope the Florida 1st is packaged. Only once in a blue moon do you get a player like Hutson with a late 2nd.
All true............not to mention without Price, we all knew we were heading to the basement no matter how we sliced it.................the extra 1st rounders were sorely needed.
Ok, for arguments sake let's say we drafted 3 spots lower in each of the next 3 drafts. So if (big if - you can argue Habs reached with Slaf and Reinbacher) the picks go in the same order we end up with Shane Wright, Ryan Leonard, and Berkley Catton instead of Slaf, Reinbacher, and Demidov. Not sure that's a huge step down.I would also add that if you want the highest pick possible for a few years, you need to get rid of some players. The sum of trading Lehkonen and Toffoli also means you have more chances of picking 5 two years straight, picking up Demidov along the way. The cap space allows you to trade for Monahan.