Interesting to compare the two. They are very different. Det obviously started earlier. When the started is not exactly clear. One could argue the 2018 deadline when they dumped Tatar for 3 draft picks was the beginning or go with the hire of Yzerman in 2019. While Montreal started later, Bergevin left way more in the cupboard for his successors than Holland did. Bergevin had kind of been retooling for a while. Unfortunately that next cupboard contained some really bad contracts bergie had signed in recent years.
That said Bergie left
Suzuki - 2017 draft yr acquired by trade
Primeau 2017 draft
Romanov 2018 draft
Harris 2018 draft
Caulfield 2019 draft
Struble 2019 draft
RHP 2019 draft
Guhle 2020 draft
Mailloux 2021
Joshua Roy 2021 (plus Kapanen who may well prove to have value)
Xhekaj - signed as a undrafted free agent by MB
He also left plenty of picks. They pretty much had all their own picks except the 2024 2nd that bergie included in the Dvorak acquisition (the 1st that went there was carolinas) and a bunch of extra mid round picks.
Hughes and Gorton were not starting from scratch.
They then flipped Toffolli for a 1st (used on Mesar), heinaman and a 5th
They flipped Chiarot for a 1st and 4th subsequently using the 1st in Newhook trade
They flipped Lehkonen for Barron and a 2024 2nd
They flipped Kulak for a 2nd (lane Hutson) and a 2024 7th
at the draft they traded Romanov plus a 2022 4th for a 1st then flipped it with a 2022 3rd for Kirby Dach. even with that trade they still had 2 2022 3rds and 2 2022 4th from the picks bergie had stockpiled.
Draft slaf with their 1st, mesar with the calgary 1st, beck with their 2nd and hutson with the edm 2nd
Then flip Petry for Matheson
Then by luck or chance they get 2 1sts (cal 2024 and jets 2023) for taking on Monahan and subsequent trade at this deadline.
Trade that Fla pick and their 2023 2nd for Newhook.
Make a few trades like the Petry retention to add a few more picks. He has 15 picks in the 1st 3 rounds of the next 3 drafts so plenty of draft capital to work with.
Habs have cleared a lot of old contracts (Gallagher and Anderson are the remaining two) without having to give up assets to do it. Has plenty of youth and talent especially on back end. Needs a scoring forward or 2 but has the assets to make it happen when ready via trade or UFA.
Has not added UFAs yet but has not relied solely on the draft - has acquired via trade assets like Dach and Newhook (2019 1st rounders) for picks while maintaining a healthy draft capital.
yzermans cupboards were much barer, he had
Larkin 2014 draft
Svechnikov (wrong one) 2015
Hronek 2016
Rasmussen 2017
Zadina and veleno from 2018
He drafted seider in 2019 but pretty much missed on a bunch of 2nd rounders
Raymond in 2020 and a bunch of 2nds who so far have not made an impact
he picked 5 guys in 1st round total of 2021/22/23 but those guys have not made impact yet.
where mtl acquired young guys via trade( Dach, newhook - even matheson) Det has relied on UFA signings mostly. Traded for debrincat, signed matta , Holl, Chiarot and Ghostisbere on back end. reimer and Lyon in net, Fischer, sprong, kane, perron, Chompher and Copp up front.
For a team rebuilding since 2018 or 2019, there is not much home grown talent on that roster yet.
Very different approaches, I prefer the Hughes approach but time will tell. In 5 years we ill know who got it right- maybe both.