What is the team's biggest roadblock to make the playoffs next season?

What needs to improve the most or is the biggest roadblock?

  • Continuous improvement of the special teams

    Votes: 17 7.6%
  • Improved secondary scoring

    Votes: 104 46.2%
  • Defense and ability to defend a lead

    Votes: 51 22.7%
  • Division

    Votes: 13 5.8%
  • Coaching staff

    Votes: 4 1.8%
  • More success in OT/SO

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 5 on 5 play

    Votes: 3 1.3%
  • Other (please comment)

    Votes: 33 14.7%

  • Total voters
    225

bopeep

Registered User
Jan 22, 2004
1,751
2,348
bc
The lingering deadwood is the biggest impediment to progress - eating up valuable $alary cap room and # of contracts. This offseason, coming off the books will be:

Tanner Pearson $3.25m
Joel Edmundson $1.75m
Karl Alzner $0.83m
Colin White $0.78m
Chris Wideman $0.76m

Next summer is where it gets interesting when these contracts / % of salaries are gone:

Christian Dvorak $4.45 m
David Savard $3.5m
Joel Armia $3.4m
Jeff Petry $2.3m
Jake Allen $1.9m
Jake Evans? $1.7m
Mike Pezzatta? $0.81m
John Kovacevic? $0.77m
 

le_sean

Registered User
Oct 21, 2006
40,431
41,253
We actually faired pretty well even when our only threat was the first line , if we can fill up the top 9 with some decent forwards watch out...
The Dach we saw in preseason and the first game against the Leafs was one that was clearly taking a step forward. If we get that version, healthy, it will make a massive difference. We had moments where Jake Evans was the 2C last year. No team will win with that.
 

Sorinth

Registered User
Jan 18, 2013
11,092
5,581
The lingering deadwood is the biggest impediment to progress - eating up valuable $alary cap room and # of contracts. This offseason, coming off the books will be:

Tanner Pearson $3.25m
Joel Edmundson $1.75m
Karl Alzner $0.83m
Colin White $0.78m
Chris Wideman $0.76m

Next summer is where it gets interesting when these contracts / % of salaries are gone:

Christian Dvorak $4.45 m
David Savard $3.5m
Joel Armia $3.4m
Jeff Petry $2.3m
Jake Allen $1.9m
Jake Evans? $1.7m
Mike Pezzatta? $0.81m
John Kovacevic? $0.77m
Right now we are sitting on ~18m in capspace with Price on LTIR and we only have Xhekaj and Barron needing to be re-signed. I'm not sure how you can say a lack of salary cap room is the biggest impediment.
 
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BLNY

Registered User
Aug 3, 2004
6,767
4,796
Dartmouth, NS
Secondary scoring through staying healthy.

The direction the league is headed, the top line will need to average 30 goals a player. The second line will need to average 20 goals a player. That's 150 of 240 goals and essentially 3 goals for a game.

We're close to that with Slaf-Suzuki-Caufield. Newhook had 15g and 34 points in 55 games. That's solid second line production and puts him in that zone we need for the second line. Can Dach play a full season? I hope so. He's shown some of what he can do. Healthy, I think both players give the club 20g/50pt seasons. Who plays with them? I think it's Roy unless they acquire someone.

Gallagher and Armia seemed somewhat rejuvenated down the stretch. Was it due to meaningless games? Whatever the reason, they scored 33 goals combined. On a third line with Evans or Dvorak, can they do that again? Would go a long way to helping overall team production.
 
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bopeep

Registered User
Jan 22, 2004
1,751
2,348
bc
Right now we are sitting on ~18m in capspace with Price on LTIR and we only have Xhekaj and Barron needing to be re-signed. I'm not sure how you can say a lack of salary cap room is the biggest impediment.
HuGo is righting the ship and there's light at the end of the tunnel, but they were handcuffed with a litany of bad contracts. It's an ongoing process of purging the unsustainable and developing new relationships of fair market value. My 2 cents.
 

VirginiaMtlExpat

Second most interesting man in the world.
Aug 20, 2003
5,015
2,397
Norfolk, VA
www.odu.edu
Opportunism and goaltending.
(Much) Less Jake Allen, more Motembeault and Primeau.
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Hopefully better defensive acumen overall as well, and much more Dach activity.
 
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Sorinth

Registered User
Jan 18, 2013
11,092
5,581
HuGo is righting the ship and there's light at the end of the tunnel, but they were handcuffed with a litany of bad contracts. It's an ongoing process of purging the unsustainable and developing new relationships of fair market value. My 2 cents.
There's no doubt we were severely handcuffed and still have a bunch of bad deals. But it's cleared up enough that it's no longer the biggest problem, like if we do nothing this summer beyond re-signing Xhekaj and Barron we will be sitting on something like 15m of cap space, so how can a lack of cap space be the biggest problem the team is facing when we are on track to be 15m below the cap?
 

tazsub3

Registered User
May 30, 2016
5,645
6,094
Other ! Injuries , healthy I believe this team can contend for the last spot in the east
 

bopeep

Registered User
Jan 22, 2004
1,751
2,348
bc
There's no doubt we were severely handcuffed and still have a bunch of bad deals. But it's cleared up enough that it's no longer the biggest problem, like if we do nothing this summer beyond re-signing Xhekaj and Barron we will be sitting on something like 15m of cap space, so how can a lack of cap space be the biggest problem the team is facing when we are on track to be 15m below the cap?
Again, not only cap space but # of contracts out of 50, which handcuffed their ability to extricate themselves.
 

Sorinth

Registered User
Jan 18, 2013
11,092
5,581
Again, not only cap space but # of contracts out of 50, which handcuffed their ability to extricate themselves.
You'll have to provide some details on how # of contracts is an actual problem let alone the BIGGEST roadblock to making the playoffs. We have plenty of open contract slots.
 

bopeep

Registered User
Jan 22, 2004
1,751
2,348
bc
O
You'll have to provide some details on how # of contracts is an actual problem let alone the BIGGEST roadblock to making the playoffs. We have plenty of open contract slots.
Okay, I'll paint a picture but a brief one... they were in salary cap hell and are in the process of a rebuild. Because of the prior situation, they've taken relatively extreme measures to shed the bad contracts and now have a number of young assets who, at some point, will need to be signed or resigned long term. If the Habs choose to fast track the rebuild i.e. sign free agents with $15m available and catapult themselves into the playoffs - they risk undermining the solid foundation they've begun to establish organically.
 

Sorinth

Registered User
Jan 18, 2013
11,092
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Okay, I'll paint a picture but a brief one... they were in salary cap hell and are in the process of a rebuild. Because of the prior situation, they've taken relatively extreme measures to shed the bad contracts and now have a number of young assets who, at some point, will need to be signed or resigned long term. If the Habs choose to fast track the rebuild i.e. sign free agents with $15m available and catapult themselves into the playoffs - they risk undermining the solid foundation they've begun to establish organically.
And "risks undermining the solid foundation" relates to # of contract spots how exactly?
 

Habs Halifax

Loyal Habs Fan
Jul 11, 2016
68,896
26,413
East Coast
Biggest road block is how young most of our team is. A healthy and a more matured Dach does help and the D gets 1 year older. With Dach this season, I think we are looking at a pick around 10 vs 5.

PP and PK has to improve to be at least top 15.

Hard to say one thing as the biggest road block but if I had to pick one... Overall Group Still Too Young
 

slybel

Registered User
Jan 22, 2014
920
491
Ottawa, Ontario
Very young team... 2nd in the NHL tied with 3 others. They wont make it again next year.

2nd line scoring, D needs to mature (i think headed the right way), Goalies are average (dont have that elevated save to carry a team)
 

CHarlie

They feed me CHicken
Feb 3, 2012
2,709
749
Ontario
Nobody is going to like me saying this......but I wouldn't mind one more year top 5 pick.....just my opinion......
 

Sorinth

Registered User
Jan 18, 2013
11,092
5,581
Nobody is going to like me saying this......but I wouldn't mind one more year top 5 pick.....just my opinion......
Nobody's against adding another top pick, it's just what's the cost going to be?

Like this year without Dach missing the whole year we are probably sitting on the 10th OA pick instead. Was Dach missing a whole year of development and now becoming a question mark about whether he will be a core player or not worth going from Sennecke to Lindstrom?

And that argument probably comes down to how much a person believes in player development, quite a few think it's mostly irrelevant and a player will end up whatever he was meant to be so long as the injury doesn't cause permanent damage, others (myself included) will feel like the odds of him reaching his potential have now been lowered.
 

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