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

[Wats]

Detroit until Reinbacher can show he's a true top pairing guy. Feel like offense is actually pretty even.

 

[Kudo Shinichi]

You do realize not every prospect (including their 1st round pick this year) is guaranteed to develop into an NHL player?

You do realize this thread is about projecting the future? So of course we'll have current prospects in the lineup...

Also the prospects listed in the top 9 forward group and top 6 d-group have a pretty good chance of becoming NHL players

Lindstrom: The odds of a top 7 pick becoming an NHL player are very high. The habs have also developed pretty well players of a similar mold recently (Dach and Slaf).

Beck: He's done well since being drafted, he has already played an NHL game, and he's one of those players who play a pro-style game, and won't need to change their game to adjust to the NHL.

Farrell/Mesar and Engstrom: They have the possibility of not becoming a regular NHL player, but I had them listed as a 3rd line winger/bottom pairing dman, so they are not important to the success of this lineup.

Reinbacher: He's a top 5 pick and he's been playing on the top pairing on one of the best leagues in the world as a teenager. He's also been doing well in the AHL. He's guaranteed to be an NHL player with a high chance of becoming a top 4.

Mailloux: He still needs to continue improving his defensive game, but overall he's done very well in the ahl this season. Despite being a rookie, he's 3rd in dman scoring (only 3 pts behind 1st). He looked good in habs camp + preseason. As a 6'3 220lbs dman with high end tools, he's definitely going to become an NHL player. Still some uncertainty if he can become a legitimate top 4 dman, but with what he's shown so far, its hard not to be optimistic.

Hutson: He's the only prospect listed that is important to the habs success with still a decent chance of busting. With smaller dman, its hard to tell which way it will go until they reach pro. However, what he has accomplished so far is remarkable (dominated the NCAA, was the #1 dman of the team that won gold at the wjc, and put up good numbers at the world championship). If he busts, you can replace him with one of Xhekaj/Engstrom/Struble in the top 4. They don't have the same upside as Hutson, but they do have top 4 talent.

 

[waitin425]

Dach had 18 points 5v5. Almost all of his success, and almost all of Slafs success has come alongside Suzuki and Caufield and specifically on the power play 1 getting 4+ minutes a night. Both struggled when not in that role. And there's only 1 spot there.

I don't see dach moving the needle 5v5 or making the habs into a top tier power play.


Additionally, despite getting FANTASTIC goaltending this year (which is very likely to be worse next year due to goalie volatility), that goaltending alone could drop them by 20-25 goals if Montembault plays at an average level next year.

Additionally, its a LONG way up to go.

Bottom 5 in goal differential, expected goal differential, wins, regulation wins.

Like I said....you can bookmark my quote and dunk on me next year. I'm not going to debate your thoughts on Slaf or Dach. I disagree on both accounts. We shall see what happens next year.

 

[TS Quint]

Rags got elite talent through being among the most desired place a star athlete wants to play.

Panarin + Fox fell into their laps.

it definitely wasn’t their top of the draft picks. I wonder whatever happened to the guy who made those picks…….

 

[TS Quint]

This is some unbridled homerism.

Dach and Newhook are nice players but not guys you parade around as examples of a successful rebuild. Calling Reinbacher the 2nd most valuable player in what seems to be a very good draft when he has ZERO NHL games played is wild. You need to show your work on that one.

There sure were a lot of Habs fans who didn’t think Reinbacher was the guy at the draft. Many of those fans told Reinbacher all about it on social media like a bunch of psychos.

 

[Beezeral]

IF HEALTHY.....Habs next year will take a big leap. Slaf continues to grow. Suzuki hits PPG. Caufield will be moved to Dach's line. Dach reminds everyone what he was progressing to in 22/23.

You can go ahead and save this post. Habs to make playoffs next year.

What teams in the Atlantic are you passing to make the playoffs?

 

[Jared Dunn]

The Habs have an extreme lack of high end talent.

Up front I'd say they're better off than Detroit. I see no reason why Suzuki couldn't be at least as good as Larkin at his age, Caufield is pretty much Debrincat 2.0 but more complete. The ability for Slafkovsky and Suzuki especially to make such strides forward while losing Dach for virtually the entire season has been pretty encouraging

Seider is better than anyone Montreal has though, if Montreal manages to get one of Celebrini/Demidov I think they will have all the pieces in place - definitely could use an offensive dynamo.

Who's higher up in the standings? There's your answer for this year.

The team whose rebuild started like 5 years earlier? I guess that's to be expected yeah, I would take Montreal's core going forward

 

[Jared Dunn]

Yeah I’m very confused how Reinbacher has suddenly now become the 2nd most valuable player in draft after having by all accounts a worse season this year than last, where he was already a reach where he was picked.

To be fair this season was an unmitigated disaster beyond his control. Calling him the 2nd most valuable player in the draft is unjustifiable, 99.9% of fans would still deal him for Michkov if they could

 

[Pavels Dog]

Vegas has a Selke finalist and a Norris finalist.

Who was the Norris finalist?

Even still; that's obviously moving the goalposts and far different from having Hart trophies and Art Rossses and Norrises.

Bottom line, the Wings need stars. Absolutely no one in their right mind thinks the Wings can seriously compete if NONE of their young players actually develop into star players.

 

[waitin425]

What teams in the Atlantic are you passing to make the playoffs?

A lot can happen from now until next year. Like I said....bookmark this.

 

[newfy]

Cups were a long time ago. The contemporary Wings have been a laughingstock for a decade. And haven’t even collected a single elite talent for it, unless you want to count tweeners like Seider or Larkin.

I would agree with this if youre talking about a team that has literally done anything in the post season the last decade. The last Minnesota series win is getting close to just as long as those cups were for Detroit.

Like I said, enjoy those great first round exits and missed playoffs while Detroit was rebuilding after decades in the playoffs and cup wins. I'm sure lots of wings fan wish they were Wild fans lol

 

[MNRube]

I would agree with this if youre talking about a team that has literally done anything in the post season the last decade. The last Minnesota series win is getting close to just as long as those cups were for Detroit.

Like I said, enjoy those great first round exits and missed playoffs while Detroit was rebuilding after decades in the playoffs and cup wins. I'm sure lots of wings fan wish they were Wild fans lol

Pretty telling that your entire defense is harkening to Cups of yesteryear, with zero attempts to hype your current roster or prospects.

 

[Pavels Dog]

And they got Reinbacher who may well be as valuable as any player in the draft outside of Bedard.

Reinbacher's d+1 was awful dude.

 

[Varcus]

How is this a fair question. Red wings haven’t made the playoffs in what 8 years. They are closer to buffalo rebuild than a successful one. All those years tanking and zero high end talent.

Give Montreal 5 years before comparing them to a failed rebuild.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

How is this a fair question. Red wings haven’t made the playoffs in what 8 years. They are closer to buffalo rebuild than a successful one. All those years tanking and zero high end talent.

Give Montreal 5 years before comparing them to a failed rebuild.

Montreal has cracked 100 points once in the last 9 seasons. Seems like both teams have been floundering for about the same time.
One team just made the decision to rebuild while the other remained mediocre until finally deciding to rebuild.

 

[Varcus]

Montreal has cracked 100 points once in the last 9 seasons. Seems like both teams have been floundering for about the same time.
One team just made the decision to rebuild while the other remained mediocre until finally deciding to rebuild.

One team made the finals and conference finals the other hasn’t made it past the first round since what 2009 seems like one has floundered more it’s why I gave them the buffalo comparison.

 

[rahad]

Habs and Wings rebuilds suffer from the same issue. The refusal to tank for top tier talent.

Habs did it once for Slafkovsky (knowing full well he wasn't an elite talent) then stopped before 2023 when they could have had Bedard, Carlsson or Fantilli.

What do you mean stopped? Habs had record breaking injury in 2022 and 2023. Half of the roster come from AHL. We got unlucky with our AHL call up having great game in the last 20 games.

We are one of the few bottom 5 teams with good goalies...

 

[WetcoastOrca]

One team made the finals and conference finals the other hasn’t made it past the first round since what 2009 seems like one has floundered more it’s why I gave them the buffalo comparison.

The SCF appearance was fools gold. The team wouldn’t have even made the playoffs in a normal year. Both teams have been bad or mediocre for a long time. One management group just acknowledged it while the other hid its head in the sand. As for high end pieces, I think both teams need more.

 

[Dubi Doo]

Detroit seems like a team destined to be a WC contender for the foreseeable future. Their potential isn't all that high.

I still have trouble putting a team as bad as Montreal ahead of them, though. It ain't easy getting out of the basement. So, Ill go with the safe bet here.

 

[rahad]

Do you think Montreal leapfrogs all of Buffalo, Ottawa, and Detroit then?

Leapfrogs? They are only behind of Ottawa by 2 points.... Both Buffalo and Detroit could miss the playoff again. We only started our rebuild for only 2 years vs 8 years for Detroit....

 

[ismelofhockey]

Reinbacher's d+1 was awful dude.

True, but it was a team issue. They changed coaches 3 times during the season or something. So it's tough to evaluate his year given the context. He seems to be doing ok in Laval.

 

[Tatar Shots]

Leapfrogs? They are only behind of Ottawa by 2 points.... Both Buffalo and Detroit could miss the playoff again. We only started our rebuild for only 2 years vs 8 years for Detroit....

Montreal has had two top 3 picks compared to 0 for Detroit and 3 top 5 picks to Detroit’s 1 since Detroit started its rebuild. Not quite an accurate statement.

 

[CokenoPepsi]

The Habs have an extreme lack of high end talent.

Detroit's best player is a 35 year old Pat Kane..

 

[rahad]

Montreal has had two top 3 picks compared to 0 for Detroit and 3 top 5 picks to Detroit’s 1 since Detroit started its rebuild. Not quite an accurate statement.

Detroit have been unlucky with the draft lottery by dropping in draft order. But at the same time, they drafted in the top 10 from 2017 to 2023. that 6 top ten picks. If they miss this year playoff, add another top 16 pick.

Montreal started the rebuild in 2022 after firing Marc Bergevin. We never truly rebuild with Galchenyuk or KK draft. Most of the time it has a quick retool from Bergevin.

We are finally rebuilding the team with multiple first round pick. 2 in 2022, 2 in 2023 (traded to Colorado for Newhook) 2 in 2024 and 2 in 2025.

I could be wrong. But I feel like Habs will be a better team than Detroit in 2026-2027.

 

[jfhabs]

Reinbacher's d+1 was awful dude.

If you're you're only looking at the stats, yes!