What do you like/dislike from this season?

[JeffreyLFC]

The most important of them all is Slafkovsky development. I will also add some nice flashes from Newhook.

 

[Tyson]

One thing I hate is being out of the playoffs by Christmas the last 3 seasons

 

[Egresch]

Pros:
- Slaf, of course
- Suzuki taking another step
- PP/PK improvement
- Guhle, Xhekaj looking like legit D core pieces already
- Monty/Primeau look like very good G tandem for next years with Dobeš/Fowler/Volokhin developing in pipeline
- Armia resurrection
- development in Laval for Roy, Struble, Mailloux, Dobeš, Xhekaj stint, now Reinbacher
- Monahan (performance and trade)

Cons:
- 3 goalie system lasted too long
- Kirby Dach injury
- Caufield scoring
- Barron, Ylonen not making next step to find stable NHL spot, RHP struggling as well
- Weak performance of forward vets (Anderson, Dvorak, Gallagher, Pearson, even White) who are dragging team performance down

 

[26Mats]

A few things to review.

Pros:
* Slaf's Development
* Suzuki keeps getting better
* Struble Surprise
* Primeau's development
* Less man games loss?
* Games are closer. Not getting blown out as much as the last two seasons.
* Armia has had a decent rebound.

Cons:
* Caufield probably doesn't hit 30 goals.
* Dach goes down for the season very early.
* Anderson went backwards
* No rebound from Gallagher. He's a 10-15 goal guy now.
* RHP season?

Other Pros than the ones you listed:

- Caufield's playmaking and health (he's played all 82 games).
- Matheson has maintained the exact same scoring pace he did last year. So far the points are no fluke.
- Newhook
- Xhekaj post Laval stint
- Mailloux in laval
- Monahan for the Jets 1st, and Monahan before the trade.
- Roy
- Montembault

Other cons than the ones you listed:

- Matheson's defensive game.
- Pearson
- MSL not playing RHP with Anderson
- Not trading Savard, etc... at the trade deadline to help the tank (we should/shoulda been picking top 5 this year).
- Barron's regress. Hope he can bounce back.

 

[Lshap]

One thing I hate is being out of the playoffs by Christmas the last 3 seasons

Same here. I'm ready to start cheering for actual games rather than for a draft position. I'm hoping next year sees us in the mix like Detroit is now.

 

[Habs Halifax]

Same here. I'm ready to start cheering for actual games rather than for a draft position. I'm hoping next year sees us in the mix like Detroit is now.

I'm assuming Gorton/Hughes will look at improving the roster this summer as well. Not like we will be big UFA spenders but they will look at some Romanov/13th/Dach type trades.

I'm hoping our health gets better. This season (aside from Dach), it was much better than the previous 2. Health, youth growth/development, good goaltending, and maybe a trade or two and we are moving closer to the wild card hunt

 

[Lshap]

I'm assuming Gorton/Hughes will look at improving the roster this summer as well. Not like we will be big UFA spenders but they will look at some Romanov/13th/Dach type trades.

I'm hoping our health gets better. This season (aside from Dach), it was much better than the previous 2. Health, youth growth/development, good goaltending, and maybe a trade or two and we are moving closer to the wild card hunt

Yeah, that's how I see it. A healthy Dach can be a huge addition, more than most realize. I see the potential for him to be our best forward... although he'll need to show it over a full season before I can back that claim up. Monahan and Markov were two players written off as injury-prone; both came back and proved the doubters wrong. Let's hope Kirby does the same.

This summer HuGo need to be targeting offence. I don't care if we draft it or trade for another Dach, as long as the team starts scoring more goals more consistently. Montreal isn't going anywhere until it improves from the bottom-6 or 7 in GF, where they've been the last three years.

 

[rik schau]

One thing I hate is being out of the playoffs by Christmas the last 3 seasons

It's the choice Montreal made and they are sticking to the agenda.

 

[Beer and Chips]

The injury to Dach set the tone.
Anderson becoming more useless than old Armia.

Suzuki becoming the undisputed El Capitain.
Slafkovsky removing a LOT of doubt.

 

[Habs]

all this pain to finish 7-8 instead of bottom 5, what a waste of a rebuild. If this team can land Cayden Lidstrom its all worth it

 

[Egresch]

all this pain to finish 7-8 instead of bottom 5, what a waste of a rebuild. If this team can land Cayden Lidstrom its all worth it

There is not a huge difference between 5th or 8th in this draft, especially when some teams will go for D. Eiserman, Lindstrom, Demidov, Catton, Iginla- one of them should be available at 8th anyway.

 

[Habs]

There is not a huge difference between 5th or 8th in this draft, especially when some teams will go for D. Eiserman, Lindstrom, Demidov, Catton, Iginla- one of them should be available at 8th anyway.

if Lindstrom fell to Montreal I'll post nothing but nice things for 3 months, but I still have Reinbacher ptsd and I'm not sure they will make the right pick

 

[1909]

I liked:

1- Slaf’s progression
2- Suzuki reaching another level to become a real #1 centerman
3- The waking up of Armia
4- Matheson’s offensive production
5- The surprising arrivals of Roy and Struble
6- The level of competitiveness against better teams

Deceptions:

1- Dach’s injury (and also missing Newhook for quite a while)
2- Anderson’s level of play
3- The three goalies system for way too long
4- The bottom-six lack of production (except Evans)
5- Matheson’s defensive game ( used too many minutes per game)
6- The defensive system overall

Others:
Disappointed by Caufield’s goals production ( due to his injury last season ???)

 

[BaseballCoach]

I'm assuming Gorton/Hughes will look at improving the roster this summer as well. Not like we will be big UFA spenders but they will look at some Romanov/13th/Dach type trades.

I'm hoping our health gets better. This season (aside from Dach), it was much better than the previous 2. Health, youth growth/development, good goaltending, and maybe a trade or two and we are moving closer to the wild card hunt

If we don't spend in UFA and only acquire cheaper younger players, we will possibly leave more than $12M on the table.

That is completely unacceptable for a team that charges premium prices for its brand.

Spend the cap money wisely and we are a playoff team barring bad injury luck.

 

[teamfirst]

I liked alot of things like Slaf becoming a force middle of the season and Suzuki obviously playing like a true 1C since the All Star break.

But they're is 1 thing i dislike the most and it is how much lost our players looks in our own end, it's probably me being an old school hockey fan who just dislike the man to man coverage making our guy's running into each other all the time.

 

[Boss Man Hughes]

If we don't spend in UFA and only acquire cheaper younger players, we will possibly leave more than $12M on the table.

That is completely unacceptable for a team that charges premium prices for its brand.

Spend the cap money wisely and we are a playoff team barring bad injury luck.

Exactly. Spend the cap room they have wisely. If no good moves are available then keep it until a good opportunity arises. And IMO there are no UFA's available this season that fit that bill. The ones that would be a good acquisition will want far too much.

 

[pth2]

Like: Progress from top handful of forwards, Guhle & Xhekaj.
Struble, I expected nothing from and he's looking like a mobile, physical guy, which our high-skilled prospects need around them.
Also like getting value for Monahan, which should lead to adding a nice prospect or a young player by trade.
I liked keeping a reputation of being player-friendly through treating Allen well. That usually works out well in the long run, though we don't always know exactly how and when.

My main dislike is how players like Barron, RHP, Kovacevic and Ylönen haven't taken that next step, and all could be seen as expendable at this point. Them and guys like White and Pezzetta are getting a lot of ice time that could have been better used on kids with some measure of potential at the NHL level.
Secondary dislike is how Anderson, Dvorak and Gallagher have all become (even more) negative value, the only hope of getting anything but a buyout from any of them is renting out Dvorak, but even that is far from certain, 11 months out... I'm down to hoping Gallagher gets badly hurt, to free up cap and roster room.

 

[BaseballCoach]

Exactly. Spend the cap room they have wisely. If no good moves are available then keep it until a good opportunity arises.

LOL, so that is what you wish for? That GM's don't need to work?

"Trades are hard". "Signings are hard". Sound familiar?

And IMO there are no UFA's available this season that fit that bill. The ones that would be a good acquisition will want far too much.

"Far too much" also depends on term.

For example, one or two 2-3 year deals for a 29-30ish player can qualify as wise. It gives the club time to develop Roy into a 2nd liner, or Reinbacher into a top-4, or Beck into a 3C, or our 2024 first pick into a top-6.

I'm not one of the guys saying break the bank for Crosby or give Marchessault a 5-year deal for big bucks.

I'm just saying put a good on-ice product out there while not compromising the future. It's all part of supporting our good young core.

 

[Habs Halifax]

If we don't spend in UFA and only acquire cheaper younger players, we will possibly leave more than $12M on the table.

That is completely unacceptable for a team that charges premium prices for its brand.

Spend the cap money wisely and we are a playoff team barring bad injury luck.

Just because you have money to spend, don't mean you need to spend it. Sorry bud but we are rebuilding and we are going to need that cap space when some of our players exit their ELC/bridge deals. I am open to bringing back Monahan for 2 or 3 years.

I don't believe that if we spend the $12M, we are a playoff team. Possible but I don't think this summer is the right timing.

 

[Habs Halifax]

Yeah, that's how I see it. A healthy Dach can be a huge addition, more than most realize. I see the potential for him to be our best forward... although he'll need to show it over a full season before I can back that claim up. Monahan and Markov were two players written off as injury-prone; both came back and proved the doubters wrong. Let's hope Kirby does the same.

This summer HuGo need to be targeting offence. I don't care if we draft it or trade for another Dach, as long as the team starts scoring more goals more consistently. Montreal isn't going anywhere until it improves from the bottom-6 or 7 in GF, where they've been the last three years.

Going to be a lot of Zegras talk heading towards the draft. I hope we can acquire with the Jets 1st and maybe a few prospects we can spare. But I'm sure the Ducks will ask for our 5-7 range pick.

How much would Zegras turn the needle for us? Not sure but he's a legit young player with lots of skill and a potential 60-80 pts player for us.

Who else? Not sure. I didn't see the Dach trade before it happened.

 

[BargainBinSpecial]

The good:

1) Suzuki's 70 points are obviously the highlight.
2) Slaf showing signs of a legit powerforward.
3) Monty
4) Armia and Struble
5) Matheson's season

The bad:

1) Anderson's regression
2) Dach's injury
3) Caufield's low scoring
4) Gallagher and Dvorak
5) The D (the young guys not taking it to another level).

 

[BaseballCoach]

Just because you have money to spend, don't mean you need to spend it. Sorry bud but we are rebuilding and we are going to need that cap space when some of our players exit their ELC/bridge deals. I am open to bringing back Monahan for 2 or 3 years.

I don't believe that if we spend the $12M, we are a playoff team. Possible but I don't think this summer is the ri

I'm well aware of the bolded and my suggested plan takes that into account. I would make only one or two long-term deals this year, and two or three shorter deals including Monahan.

This Summer we have room for about $17M in cap hit for 3 players, examples
Montour 6 years OR Zegras 2 years ending RFA
Monahan 2 or 3 years
Toffoli 2 or 3 years


Summer of 2025 we gain the following cap space:
$4.5M Dvorak
$3.5M Savard
$3.4M Armia
$2.3M Petry retention
$1.9M Allen retention
$2.0M Cap increase
17.6M

That's more than enough for increases to Slaf, Guhle and Primeau

Summer 2026, we get back one of the expiring shorter UFA deals, say $6M plus a cap increase of $2M. We essentially have only Dach and Zegras increase to worry about. I assume we will need to either extend or replace Matheson. for a similar hit as now.

Summer of 2027 we gain:
$6.5M Gallagher
$5.5M Anderson
$5.0M expiry of 3 year UFA deal
$17.0M plus cap increase unknown

 

[Habs Halifax]

I'm well aware of the bolded and my suggested plan takes that into account. I would make only one or two long-term deals this year, and two or three shorter deals including Monahan.

What are your one or two long term deals? Who are those players? I need examples.

 

[BaseballCoach]

What are your one or two long term deals? Who are those players? I need examples.

Either a Zegras type younger player or a still-prime top pairing D enabling us to trade Matheson in the next year or two if his price looks like it is going up.

 

[Lshap]

Going to be a lot of Zegras talk heading towards the draft. I hope we can acquire with the Jets 1st and maybe a few prospects we can spare. But I'm sure the Ducks will ask for our 5-7 range pick.

How much would Zegras turn the needle for us? Not sure but he's a legit young player with lots of skill and a potential 60-80 pts player for us.

Who else? Not sure. I didn't see the Dach trade before it happened.

I'd love Zegras... or someone like Zegras. The talent's there, but whether it translates depends on the kid's state of mind and work ethic. If his issues are location-specific, okay, maybe his talent could thrive here. On the other hand, if his issues are more personal, the concern is they'll follow him wherever he goes. I really don't know his story.