Which team has a better rebuild? Habs vs Red Wings?

[Garbageyuk]

Appreciate the impartial sentiment because there isn’t enough of that on here, but I must be objective; I don’t really agree that Gorton was doing good work with the Rangers, and his work in MTL with Hughes, while looking promising, is uncertain. There are still a lot of moves that are up in the air, and even look not so good - Mesar, Dach, Lehkonen, Newhook, Reinbacher, Beck, Laine, etc. There’s potential, but a lot still needs to go right. And there’s still no elite 1C, and it doesn’t look like that’s likely to change anytime soon.

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

I’m not a Habs fan, but I have to commend the job they are doing. I think they are going to make waves in the league the next 3-4 years with their rebuild. They might have the best young core in hockey.

Jeff Gorton was doing the same very good work to start out his time with the Rangers, and then the owner got impatient, fired him, and now he’s doing the same things in rebuilding the Habs with the help of Hughes.

The Habs have a lot of pieces of a future Cup contender. Lane Hutson is headed towards being one of the top 10-15 best defensemen in the NHL. He will score points with the best D in the league. It’s a matter of if he can learn to drive defensive results. Time will tell there, but the potential is also there to be one of the best defensemen in the NHL. Demidov looks like a STUD with what he’s doing in the KHL. We knew it before this season. He was a steal of a pick, but he’s proving it now in the KHL. He should become one of the next great Russian wingers in the NHL.

They got a lot of criticism for Slafkovsky, but they’ve hit on the pick. He should be a longtime, very desirable style of first line winger, if not a star. Jacob Fowler is one of the best goaltender prospects in hockey. All he does is put up good save percentages year after year and lead teams to winning hockey. He reminds me a little of Swayman in that he’s an American late birthday that went USHL, didn’t get the NTDP hype, not the biggest showman type goaltender, but he’s consistently very good everywhere he plays.

They also have a lot of young players who are successful, if not better, NHL players and compliment the group well with Caufield, Suzuki, Guhle, Dach. They have other prospects coming too. People make fun of the Reinbacher pick, and I won’t lie and say it’s good, but he’s likely going to have a long NHL career. Successful rebuilds usually miss on a pick or two, and the miss shouldn’t even be that bad. Xhekaj, Xhekaj, Mailloux, Beck, Roy, Engstrom, Barron, Struble, Hage, Konyushkov, Volokhin, Mesar is a deep and talented prospect pool with quality and quantity.

Some of those prospects will hit and they will add to a young core that already has some good established pieces and a few burgeoning stars that are core pieces. They’ll probably get another top 10 pick this year. Possibly even top 5.

Call me overly optimistic, but I repeat that I’m not a Habs fan. Looking at things from afar, I think this team is set up to become a juggernaut in the NHL within the next five years.

Big question mark is prob centers, maybe dach can become the solution , or maybe even Hage is a gem of a pick and fills that void behind suzuki.

I feel same way about a team like san jose (prob a couple years behind montreal), but the core they are building is pretty nice so far and you expect they prob have another year or 2 of drafting in the top end.

They have
2 potential stars down the middle in celebrini/Smith
A potential top pair dmen in Dickinson
Arguably the best goalie prospect in the league with Askarov.

Prob a bit weak on wing and depth on defense, but even then you got
wingers- Hulttanen, Eklund, Musty, Chernyshov
defense- Mulkhamadullin, Thrun

I was pretty impressed with what i saw from Cagnoni, as a potential PPQB for the sharks down the line.

 

[Chainshot]

Feels like having a center that could slot Suzuki as an exceptional 2C would be the missing ingredient right now. Perhaps they find a way to add that piece this coming draft.

 

[WarriorofTime]

Le Centre Master Race

 

[thebestnic]

We did the easy part of the rebuild. Hughes will have to add "real" veterans to help the young players very soon or they will continue to accumulate bad habits. You guys are also right that Dach/Have wont't be the 1A to Suzuki 1B

 

[Hale The Villain]

Ahh just what this site needed, more opportunity to talk about Lane Hutson

 

[River Meadow]

Ahh just what this site needed, more opportunity to talk about Lane Hutson

After they passed on Michkov for Bustbacher.. let them have this.

 

[BLONG7]

I’m not a Habs fan, but I have to commend the job they are doing. I think they are going to make waves in the league the next 3-4 years with their rebuild. They might have the best young core in hockey.

Jeff Gorton was doing the same very good work to start out his time with the Rangers, and then the owner got impatient, fired him, and now he’s doing the same things in rebuilding the Habs with the help of Hughes.

The Habs have a lot of pieces of a future Cup contender. Lane Hutson is headed towards being one of the top 10-15 best defensemen in the NHL. He will score points with the best D in the league. It’s a matter of if he can learn to drive defensive results. Time will tell there, but the potential is also there to be one of the best defensemen in the NHL. Demidov looks like a STUD with what he’s doing in the KHL. We knew it before this season. He was a steal of a pick, but he’s proving it now in the KHL. He should become one of the next great Russian wingers in the NHL.

They got a lot of criticism for Slafkovsky, but they’ve hit on the pick. He should be a longtime, very desirable style of first line winger, if not a star. Jacob Fowler is one of the best goaltender prospects in hockey. All he does is put up good save percentages year after year and lead teams to winning hockey. He reminds me a little of Swayman in that he’s an American late birthday that went USHL, didn’t get the NTDP hype, not the biggest showman type goaltender, but he’s consistently very good everywhere he plays.

They also have a lot of young players who are successful, if not better, NHL players and compliment the group well with Caufield, Suzuki, Guhle, Dach. They have other prospects coming too. People make fun of the Reinbacher pick, and I won’t lie and say it’s good, but he’s likely going to have a long NHL career. Successful rebuilds usually miss on a pick or two, and the miss shouldn’t even be that bad. Xhekaj, Xhekaj, Mailloux, Beck, Roy, Engstrom, Barron, Struble, Hage, Konyushkov, Volokhin, Mesar is a deep and talented prospect pool with quality and quantity.

Some of those prospects will hit and they will add to a young core that already has some good established pieces and a few burgeoning stars that are core pieces. They’ll probably get another top 10 pick this year. Possibly even top 5.

Call me overly optimistic, but I repeat that I’m not a Habs fan. Looking at things from afar, I think this team is set up to become a juggernaut in the NHL within the next five years.

Well said, researched, and unbiased...............thanks for the unbiased opinion.
They are a real work in process, and will also possess some cap space, so it could lead to some great years.
That said, Dach has still not proven enough yet, and Suzuki needs more help down the middle. so we will see what Hage can do in 2 years time, and whether Dach is even still there. As mentioned, their stars are more going to be wingers, and the D should also be good to produce numbers....

A lot of moving parts as always. I liked the work Gorton did for the Rangers, and thought he was shown the door far too soon.

 

[Zalos]

Another draft with a bunch of picks will help get us a few more good/great prospects.

After that, I'm sure the organization will be trying to move on from Gallagher, Anderson, Dvorak, etc. They will be looking into getting one or two skilled veteran forwards. I'm not too worried.

Also, I noticed that you didn't mention Laine at all. If healthy, he will be a big part of this team in the future.

 

[montreal]

Call me overly optimistic, but I repeat that I’m not a Habs fan. Looking at things from afar, I think this team is set up to become a juggernaut in the NHL within the next five years.

way too early to say one way or the other as the Habs have tons of holes and lots of question marks. Hutson, Demidov, Slaf, Hage, it's a nice start but who knows what any of them will even turn into. Then you need to be able to add some high quality vets at some point through trades or UFA but it's so hard to try to predict how that will go.

They kept a lot of the same scouts as before when the team couldn't draft or develop for shit under MB. The have rushed a number of prospects to the NHL, something MB did and later got fired for so we'll see how it works out.

They need a high end goalie, who knows if it's Fowler, Volokhin or someone else

They need a ton of work defensively, Guhle is good and Hutson is a lot of fun to watch but after that we'll see what happens.

At forward they have to hope they can find that top center, if it's Suzuki or someone else. Demidov might be a center in time if he can work on adding strength and being more explosive. Florian Xhekaj and Owen Beck could be the bottom 6 centers in time but still lots of questions there.

The bottom 6 has been terrible, Tuch, Beck, Xhekaj, maybe they found some hope there. Heineman might stick there with his speed and shot.

They do have a lot of picks the next 2 drafts so they will have assets to trade over the next couple of years if they can start to progress enough or not.

 

[crab]

Easily the Habs. The Wings rebuild has been mediocre at best.

 

[Melrose Munch]

Canadiens and they could make the playoffs next year.

 

[Kudo Shinichi]

The biggest criticism of the habs rebuild prior to the last offseason was the lack of elite offensive talent. Since then the habs have added Demidov and Laine, and Hutson has shown his offense was going to translate to the nhl.

 

[Baaaaaaaaaaaaah]

I'm a Wings fan first, and I vote Habs easily.

 

[Craig Button]

Habs easily.

I have no clue what the wings are doing.
Whatever it is - it sure isn't a rebuild

 

[TheDoldrums]

Also, I noticed that you didn't mention Laine at all. If healthy, he will be a big part of this team in the future.

He’ll be a UFA after next season so I don’t think that’s for certain

 

[Pavels Dog]

Habs easily.

I have no clue what the wings are doing.
Whatever it is - it sure isn't a rebuild

What is a rebuild in your definition?

 

[Bounces R Way]

With all due respect to Suzuki and Larkin, neither rebuild has produced a franchise 2-way #1 center on the roster or in the system. So really we're arguing on who is going to be the better also ran.

 

[wunderpanda]

this is my take, and it is probably incorrect. habs seemed to keep older guys around, traded for younger guys and trying to grow the future core together. wings seemed to replace older guys with different older guys, not that prospects haven't made the nhl, but there seem to be some snags or delays in growing that younger core. habs were also in the finals recently and have a more forgiving/understanding fanbase, while the wings almost made the playoffs and are willing to destroy yzermans reputation to get there.

habs with a better rebuild but wings have more determination to make the playoffs.

 

[TheBeastCoast]

He’ll be a UFA after next season so I don’t think that’s for certain

Hab fans are also just going on the assumption he will work out there just purely because they want it to happen....when there is a chance he just isn't the guy he was 5ish years ago anymore lol

 

[Pavels Dog]

wings seemed to replace older guys with different older guys, not that prospects haven't made the nhl, but there seem to be some snags or delays in growing that younger core.

This is just how long it takes. Not a single team is currently successful with a majority 2019-and-later drafted core.

 

[Kudo Shinichi]

Hab fans are also just going on the assumption he will work out there just purely because they want it to happen....when there is a chance he just isn't the guy he was 5ish years ago anymore lol

Why would the habs need Laine to be the teenage year version of him?
Laine has 120 points in his last 131 NHL games. His best seasons in terms of points per game came recently.

 

[TheBeastCoast]

Why would the habs need Laine to be the teenage year version of him?
Laine has 120 points in his last 131 NHL games. His best seasons in terms of points per game came recently.

So is the expectation he will be the exact same player he was in Columbus then? Which lead to him being given away for free? He will pace in the 70ish point a year range while never actually being able to play 82. While being a negative value player defensively.

 

[Kudo Shinichi]

So is the expectation he will be the exact same player he was in Columbus then? Which lead to him being given away for free? He will pace in the 70ish point a year range while never actually being able to play 82. While being a negative value player defensively.

You realize the reason he was given for free has nothing to with his hockey performance?