Post-Game Talk: Trade Deadline Day: March 7, 2025: Montreal stands pat

[salbutera]

So please explain why 1 win away is awesome, but 4 wins away is disastrous?

Not sure what games you've been watching, but when they win, it's because of the top line. The second line is unplayable.

Habs have had the best 3/4th line in NHL all season (Evans’), and their bottom-6 has outperformed their opposition for 75% of the season.

People can mock it all they want, but for a sum of all parts constructed roster that matters.

In March / April and into playoffs it’s depth determines outcome of games - remaining 20GP is fantastic development & assessment opportunity of the young players

 

[overlords]

Not sold on Zegras. He needs to target a team with quality Cs who are playing the wings due to excess depth at C.

Agree. we shouldn't be adding anybody who can get ragdolled by Connor fkn Garland.

 

[CristianoRonaldo]

Having the players you already drafted reach their potential is just as if not more valuable then getting more picks. If the choice is between Xhekaj never becoming all that reliable defensively + a 2nd round pick or Xhekaj reaching his potential and become a solid shutdown D but no extra 2nd then it's a pretty obvious choice to me.

And since I know the next response is that people will say 20 games of Savard has a small chance of influencing Xhekaj reaching that potential, then my response is that there's an even smaller chance that a late 2nd round pick ends up doing anything. So if the argument is every dart you throw at the dartboard matters no matter how small the chance of getting something good, then the same applies to development, every little thing that can help a player hit matters too.

I don't know what to tell you, if you really believe that, playing 20 more games with Savard, will help Xhekaj reach whatever potential you think he has.

We should have kept Kulak, maybe it's the reason Barron was a bust...

 

[Kobe Armstrong]

If we didn’t get Buffalo and San Jose back to back to back at the right time we’d still be sellers lmao

 

[Whitesnake]

Go get Belzile for Laval. For future considerations. And give a 7th rounder if need be.

 

[Whitesnake]

Any NCAA UFA that we could sign to help? I didn't look that too much this year.

 

[EveryDay]

We had one retention spot. I think a team would be interested in Dvo at 2.25M, at the right trade price.

You don't burn your last retention on Dvorak for a 3rd or 4th round pick. You keep it for the draft just in case.

People are freakin for nothing here. All our ufa's outside of Armia had almost no value. Personally Armia would be gone IF the offer was at least a 2nd but outside of that, we had nothing to sell. Please don't bring Savard in this discussion, he's done, he's barely a number 6th on a non playoff team.

At a little frustrated by the Zetterlund trade but that's the only one that I would have like for our team today.

B prospect + 2nd was worth it imo for Z.

 

[EveryDay]

Prediction: someone else on the team will get hurt. Anderson is just on the cusp of being shut down himself. We’ll have to call up another player from Laval and we will detail their season.

Not gonna happen, Kapanen Mesar Tuch Gignac Lindstrom and Hoefenmayer are coming back in the next few weeks. Laval will be fine.

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

If we didn’t get Buffalo and San Jose back to back to back at the right time we’d still be sellers lmao

If the GM wasn't soft as butter they'd be sellers, too.

 

[smirob]

But that’s the thing....all the big names moved or re-signed or signed extensions.

Who’s left for the summer besides some over the hill vets like Duschehe looking to use Montreal cash in one last time?

It’s relevant who thought we should target from this tdl…a lot of bad deals are made at tdl and Hughes has shown he prefers off season trades and we have a whack of pieces to make that work..

We need a 2C, who did you want from this tdl? Cozens would have been interesting but what were you giving up for him?

 

[jrom]

Very curious to know who where the players they tried to get that were not available.

Agreed, even in the off-season I don’t see who could be a good 2C target (especially lefty)

 

[HabzSauce]

Give him the max Kent. Happy he's still a hab!

 

[Fuonki]

Ouch.



« Habs will not make the playoffs, will end up drafting 14th, will not have liquidated their UFA assets in a strong sellers’ market BUT...All locker room buddies will be happy! »

I mean he's right in a way. Not that we particularly need those spare 3rd or 5th round picks for Armia and Savard, but pulling the plug early and gently nudging the ship towards another desperately needed high draft pick is a much preferred option in my mind than watching this team oscillate from total dogshit to half decent every couple weeks while still praying for playoffs so that Molson can make those couple extra mills while the team gets swept by Florida

 

[HuGo Sham]

Any NCAA UFA that we could sign to help? I didn't look that too much this year.

@montreal ?

 

[HuGo Burner Acc]

If the GM wasn't soft as butter they'd be sellers, too.

Sell what? A bunch of vets with no value? What should Habs do, bring up the prospects when Laval is in the middle of the run and might win it this year? Because if you get rid of vets, there's only one place to get replacements from.

Therefore keep the vets (whom are popular in the locker room) and let the team naturally progress as they are through the season. Sometimes you don't need to participate in TDL just for the sake of it.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

Only if the likes of Caleb Desnoyers is within their grasp. A lot of things would have to align for that but you never know.

There's also the question of opportunity. Hughes can't simply snap his fingers and make a desired target available.

 

[Sorinth]

I don't know what to tell you, if you really believe that, playing 20 more games with Savard, will help Xhekaj reach whatever potential you think he has.

We should have kept Kulak, maybe it's the reason Barron was a bust...

Well you don't have to take my word for it, go and see what Xhekaj has said about Savard's importance to him.

 

[HabzSauce]

Having the players you already drafted reach their potential is just as if not more valuable then getting more picks. If the choice is between Xhekaj never becoming all that reliable defensively + a 2nd round pick or Xhekaj reaching his potential and become a solid shutdown D but no extra 2nd then it's a pretty obvious choice to me.

And since I know the next response is that people will say 20 games of Savard has a small chance of influencing Xhekaj reaching that potential, then my response is that there's an even smaller chance that a late 2nd round pick ends up doing anything. So if the argument is every dart you throw at the dartboard matters no matter how small the chance of getting something good, then the same applies to development, every little thing that can help a player hit matters too.

Probably makes more sense to keep Savard. Not because of Xhekaj tho. And not because Savard is good either. But because who replaces him? All for what a 3rd maybe?

Already paper thin on RD. Any injuries if Savard is gone and we are so screwed.

 

[Beendair Donedat]

No chance Dach becomes an elite anything in the NHL

He could be an elite surgical study case.

 

[Scotianhab]

You don't burn your last retention on Dvorak for a 3rd or 4th round pick. You keep it for the draft just in case.

People are freakin for nothing here. All our ufa's outside of Armia had almost no value. Personally Armia would be gone IF the offer was at least a 2nd but outside of that, we had nothing to sell. Please don't bring Savard in this discussion, he's done, he's barely a number 6th on a non playoff team.

At a little frustrated by the Zetterlund trade but that's the only one that I would have like for our team today.

B prospect + 2nd was worth it imo for Z.

We’ll have all 3 retention slots available next year unless he retains on Gallagher or Anderson in a trade.

I’m a little disappointed he didn’t get a veteran for Laval.

 

[BozoTheClown]

You don't burn your last retention on Dvorak for a 3rd or 4th round pick. You keep it for the draft just in case.

People are freakin for nothing here. All our ufa's outside of Armia had almost no value. Personally Armia would be gone IF the offer was at least a 2nd but outside of that, we had nothing to sell. Please don't bring Savard in this discussion, he's done, he's barely a number 6th on a non playoff team.

Schenn who played 2 minutes less per game than Savard fetched a 2nd and a 4th and Carlo that played 1 minute more than Savard retuned Mitten and a 1st, Dumoulin that played 2 minutes more than Savard fetched a 2nd and prospects (3rd rd).
It’s fair to assume Savard is right there in terms of of value.

You can do the same comparison with Armia and the players traded at the deadline and you will see a 2nd round pick is the very least Armia was returning.

Throw in a 4th round picks this year since we have 3 and you got yourself a pretty decent return, for 2 players that should not be back, something like 2 2nd and prospect.

At a little frustrated by the Zetterlund trade but that's the only one that I would have like for our team today.

B prospect + 2nd was worth it imo for Z.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

So what is this arbitrary number? 2 points (1 win) is great, but 8 points (4 wins) is horrendous.

8 points isn't simply 4 wins, it's 4 wins in 4 games, where the other teams needs to be 0 points in 4 games.

Another way to look at it that gives a better perspective how big 8 points is, is that for a team to reach 100 points, they need to be 18 points over the number of games played, after 82 games. 8 points is almost half of that. Meaning it's close to the over (above ,500) a team needs in the span of 41 games, to attain 100 points.

From the perspective of pts/g, 8 points is massive. Even worst when you have limited number of games to reach it.

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

Sell what? A bunch of vets with no value? What should Habs do, bring up the prospects when Laval is in the middle of the run and might win it this year? Because if you get rid of vets, there's only one place to get replacements from.

Therefore keep the vets (whom are popular in the locker room) and let the team naturally progress as they are through the season. Sometimes you don't need to participate in TDL just for the sake of it.

You're getting 2nds for Armia and Savard.

No one wants Dvorak.

You could have gotten Sturm for a 4th and used him to replace Armia and Guhle is back soon, so you let a guy like Trudeau get a few games in the NHL and then spots are full.

 

[Andrei79]

8 points isn't simply 4 wins, it's 4 wins in 4 games, where the other teams needs to be 0 points in 4 games.

Another way to look at it that gives a better perspective how big 8 points is, is that for a team to reach 100 points, they need to be 18 points over the number of games played, after 82 games. 8 points is almost half of that. Meaning it's close to the over (above ,500) a team needs in the span of 41 games, to attain 100 points.

From the perspective of pts/g, 8 points is massive. Even worst when you have limited number of games to reach it.

Exactly this. The probability to make up 8 points is quite low at this point in the year. 1 point is still within the margin of error.

 

[OldCraig71]

Hughes is no fool. If he could have maximized what he had and turned it into something that could have helped the team, he would have done it.

If he allows those UFA's to walk on July 1, what is the loss? Armia was on waivers twice, Savard needs to retire, Dvorak is a barely an NHL player and Gallagher has no value because of his contract.

Anderson is the same as Gallagher, Newhook is a 3rd liner and Laine is someone we were paid to take. Dach is a reclamation project gone wrong.

What could he have done? I would have liked a stop gap center but it must not have been available.