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Post by ramcharger440 on Nov 2, 2024 16:28:14 GMT
If I were GM, I'd wait until the 20-game mark before making any decision on trades. We're only two points back from a wildcard spot (although we are tied for last with six teams on nine points). I just think it's important to wait until the 20-game mark to see what we really have. I think that sample size is important before we make any decisions. TBH, a decision I MIGHT make at the 20-game mark is related to goaltending. Montembeault and Primeau have not been good to start the season. Does Dobes deserve a look? Is there a veteran goaltender out there that can come in and provide some stability? Does either decision mean giving up on Primeau? I agree with this in principle although I was never a fan of Primeau and have always felt he was a waste of time. |
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Post by jenniferrocket on Nov 2, 2024 16:51:09 GMT
👆 Is any move (s) made this year going to make a significant improvement of this team this year . ? IMO adding one player is not going to jump us from last to middle of the pack to wild card . Even Laine coming back I don’t think he’s going to make this team THAT much better . It’s not like he made that much a difference with Columbus. They still sucked We need to clean house with the dead weight and upcoming UFAs . Not get enamoured because an upcoming UFA is playing well and think about resigning him ( Evan’s , Armia come to mind ) Just cut ties Dvorak is definitely gone. I think Armia is gone as well. I wouldn't be opposed to keeping him if it was at a significantly reduced cost/short-term deal. I'm thinking something like $1.25M per for 1-2 seasons. Evans I don't mind, but I think he can be replaced with a cheaper contract. I don't think he is excelling enough in a bottom six role to warrant a raise. I assume Savard will also be gone. I am desperate for this team to get away from the Anderson contract. I think Hughes' biggest mistake was not trading him when he had the chance, expecting his value to remain stable (or increase). |
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Post by jenniferrocket on Nov 2, 2024 16:53:01 GMT
If I were GM, I'd wait until the 20-game mark before making any decision on trades. We're only two points back from a wildcard spot (although we are tied for last with six teams on nine points). I just think it's important to wait until the 20-game mark to see what we really have. I think that sample size is important before we make any decisions. TBH, a decision I MIGHT make at the 20-game mark is related to goaltending. Montembeault and Primeau have not been good to start the season. Does Dobes deserve a look? Is there a veteran goaltender out there that can come in and provide some stability? Does either decision mean giving up on Primeau? I agree with this in principle although I was never a fan of Primeau and have always felt he was a waste of time. Yeah. He just doesn't seem NHL quality. And he's already 25. Is he really gonna get any better? I didn't want them to keep Allen, but I do think we need an improvement in goal. Montembeault is okay for now, but he's not gonna be the goaltender that helps the team get to a playoff compete level. |
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Post by HTL on Nov 2, 2024 18:15:52 GMT
I would be OK with giving Evans an extension as long as it's not some ridiculous amount and term. He's a 4th liner and at best a 3rd,, and guys like that are easy to find. One to two year term would be fine with me. Three is stretching it and 4 or more is out of the question.
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regis
Le Gros Bill
Posts: 1,276
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Post by regis on Nov 2, 2024 19:14:11 GMT
Evans - I want to move on , where we can , from those players that contributed to us being. Last overall 3 yrs ago , and 5 th last overall the last 2 years .
Yes Evans appears to be having a decent first 11 games this year but I’m done. Time to make room for someone else .
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Post by graeme on Nov 2, 2024 19:58:55 GMT
👆 Is any move (s) made this year going to make a significant improvement of this team this year . ? IMO adding one player is not going to jump us from last to middle of the pack to wild card . Even Laine coming back I don’t think he’s going to make this team THAT much better . It’s not like he made that much a difference with Columbus. They still sucked We need to clean house with the dead weight and upcoming UFAs . Not get enamoured because an upcoming UFA is playing well and think about resigning him ( Evan’s , Armia come to mind ) Just cut ties Dvorak is definitely gone. I think Armia is gone as well. I wouldn't be opposed to keeping him if it was at a significantly reduced cost/short-term deal. I'm thinking something like $1.25M per for 1-2 seasons. Evans I don't mind, but I think he can be replaced with a cheaper contract. I don't think he is excelling enough in a bottom six role to warrant a raise. I assume Savard will also be gone. I am desperate for this team to get away from the Anderson contract. I think Hughes' biggest mistake was not trading him when he had the chance, expecting his value to remain stable (or increase). I'm increasingly thinking we should try to bring Evans back for 2-3 years around his current salary. The team is just so weak at center, if we lose both Dvorak and Evans, who are you replacing them with? I'm good replacing Dvorak with one of Beck or Kapanen, but I don't think I want to go into training camp slotting both of them into our bottom-six center roles (Newhook remains an option, but team still sees him as a winger). Evans at least provides a level of stability while we get the long-term picture sorted out and does everything you need out of a fourth-line center. Hage may eventually help sort things out (e.g. Suzuki-Hage-Dach-Beck/Kapanen down the middle), but it's not clear if the team sees him as a center or winger, and we need to buy some time (I doubt he starts next season in Montreal, although signing him to play in Laval wouldn't be shocking).
Winger on the other hand looks like a potential log jam. Next year heading into camp we'll likely have our current wingers plus RHP, Laine, Demidov, and possibly Tuch having good shots at an NHL roster spot. I just don't really see room for Armia and suspect his spot will go to a younger player.
RHD is most interesting since we're simultaneously weak and facing a logjam: we do have Barron, Mailloux, and Reinbacher (although Reinbacher is likely starting next season in Laval), the problem is barring some sort of big leap forward, all three are really only suitable for the third-pairing (at best) to start the season. We are unlikely to go into camp with any real options at 1st or 2nd pairing RHD outside of Guhle or others playing their off-side. I don't know that extending Savard is the answer, but we're going to need to at least find a bridge solution at RHD (if not a more permanent solution).
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Post by BigTed3 on Nov 2, 2024 22:08:02 GMT
Dvorak is definitely gone. I think Armia is gone as well. I wouldn't be opposed to keeping him if it was at a significantly reduced cost/short-term deal. I'm thinking something like $1.25M per for 1-2 seasons. Evans I don't mind, but I think he can be replaced with a cheaper contract. I don't think he is excelling enough in a bottom six role to warrant a raise. I assume Savard will also be gone. I am desperate for this team to get away from the Anderson contract. I think Hughes' biggest mistake was not trading him when he had the chance, expecting his value to remain stable (or increase). I'm increasingly thinking we should try to bring Evans back for 2-3 years around his current salary. The team is just so weak at center, if we lose both Dvorak and Evans, who are you replacing them with? I'm good replacing Dvorak with one of Beck or Kapanen, but I don't think I want to go into training camp slotting both of them into our bottom-six center roles (Newhook remains an option, but team still sees him as a winger). Evans at least provides a level of stability while we get the long-term picture sorted out and does everything you need out of a fourth-line center. Hage may eventually help sort things out (e.g. Suzuki-Hage-Dach-Beck/Kapanen down the middle), but it's not clear if the team sees him as a center or winger, and we need to buy some time (I doubt he starts next season in Montreal, although signing him to play in Laval wouldn't be shocking).
Winger on the other hand looks like a potential log jam. Next year heading into camp we'll likely have our current wingers plus RHP, Laine, Demidov, and possibly Tuch having good shots at an NHL roster spot. I just don't really see room for Armia and suspect his spot will go to a younger player.
RHD is most interesting since we're simultaneously weak and facing a logjam: we do have Barron, Mailloux, and Reinbacher (although Reinbacher is likely starting next season in Laval), the problem is barring some sort of big leap forward, all three are really only suitable for the third-pairing (at best) to start the season. We are unlikely to go into camp with any real options at 1st or 2nd pairing RHD outside of Guhle or others playing their off-side. I don't know that extending Savard is the answer, but we're going to need to at least find a bridge solution at RHD (if not a more permanent solution).
Center is, I think, still in flux. Suzuki is a top 6 center, but past that, I'm not sure who is going to play where. Dach can play center but he honestly seems to have done better as a winger. Newhook isn't yet good enough to play center and may in fact be better-suited to being a 3rd line player. Beck, Kapanen, and Hage could all be centers over time but need to gain some experience first. But... I'll throw out two other names here: Slafkovsky and Demidov. Demidov has stated he believes he can play center in the NHL, and he certainly looks like he could have the skill level to play like a Pavel Datsyuk. Way too early to tell, but could we be looking at Suzuki-Demidov down the middle long-term? The Habs may view it that way. If that's the case, you'd have the option of running Suzuki-Dach-Demidov down the middle at ES next year, in which case Kapanen or Beck as your 4C isn't so bad. The other guy is Slafkovsky, who hasn't really taken a jump this year but is a skilled power forward. There was some suggestion from either Hughes or Gorton at one point after they drafted him that they believed he might one day be a center. I think it's less likely, since he fits the power winger identity pretty well. But all that to say that if they did end up having a plethora of wingers, I think they would see themselves as having options to work around that. I also think Hughes may well go after another center next off-season. He's got extra draft picks to work with, and he mentioned last summer that while the 2024-25 off-season was important, the 2025-26 off-season was the one where he thought the Habs needed to make big leaps and bounds, so I think he's going to be aggressive next summer at getting immediate help.
On the back end, RHD is a disaster as far at the organization goes. Savard won't be around too much longer. Reinbacher's development took a hit, and he's probably not a factor until at least 2026-27 if at all. And frankly, Barron and Mailloux have under-whelmed. Both have offensive talent but they have much work to do in their own zone and their game-smarts are just not up to par yet. You look at how much more smoothly Hutson made the transition and you can see how important being able to read the play and make smart decisions really is. You look at guys like Harris and Kovacevic having less skill but being cerebral. Mailloux and especially Barron lack that. So it's a bigger uphill climb. Right now, I'm not convinced the Habs have a single top 4 RHD of the future in their organization. Bonhyushkov, IMO, may hold more promise than the others, and he's also a few years away.
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Post by graeme on Nov 2, 2024 22:31:15 GMT
I'm increasingly thinking we should try to bring Evans back for 2-3 years around his current salary. The team is just so weak at center, if we lose both Dvorak and Evans, who are you replacing them with? I'm good replacing Dvorak with one of Beck or Kapanen, but I don't think I want to go into training camp slotting both of them into our bottom-six center roles (Newhook remains an option, but team still sees him as a winger). Evans at least provides a level of stability while we get the long-term picture sorted out and does everything you need out of a fourth-line center. Hage may eventually help sort things out (e.g. Suzuki-Hage-Dach-Beck/Kapanen down the middle), but it's not clear if the team sees him as a center or winger, and we need to buy some time (I doubt he starts next season in Montreal, although signing him to play in Laval wouldn't be shocking).
Winger on the other hand looks like a potential log jam. Next year heading into camp we'll likely have our current wingers plus RHP, Laine, Demidov, and possibly Tuch having good shots at an NHL roster spot. I just don't really see room for Armia and suspect his spot will go to a younger player.
RHD is most interesting since we're simultaneously weak and facing a logjam: we do have Barron, Mailloux, and Reinbacher (although Reinbacher is likely starting next season in Laval), the problem is barring some sort of big leap forward, all three are really only suitable for the third-pairing (at best) to start the season. We are unlikely to go into camp with any real options at 1st or 2nd pairing RHD outside of Guhle or others playing their off-side. I don't know that extending Savard is the answer, but we're going to need to at least find a bridge solution at RHD (if not a more permanent solution).
Center is, I think, still in flux. Suzuki is a top 6 center, but past that, I'm not sure who is going to play where. Dach can play center but he honestly seems to have done better as a winger. Newhook isn't yet good enough to play center and may in fact be better-suited to being a 3rd line player. Beck, Kapanen, and Hage could all be centers over time but need to gain some experience first. But... I'll throw out two other names here: Slafkovsky and Demidov. Demidov has stated he believes he can play center in the NHL, and he certainly looks like he could have the skill level to play like a Pavel Datsyuk. Way too early to tell, but could we be looking at Suzuki-Demidov down the middle long-term? The Habs may view it that way. If that's the case, you'd have the option of running Suzuki-Dach-Demidov down the middle at ES next year, in which case Kapanen or Beck as your 4C isn't so bad. The other guy is Slafkovsky, who hasn't really taken a jump this year but is a skilled power forward. There was some suggestion from either Hughes or Gorton at one point after they drafted him that they believed he might one day be a center. I think it's less likely, since he fits the power winger identity pretty well. But all that to say that if they did end up having a plethora of wingers, I think they would see themselves as having options to work around that. I also think Hughes may well go after another center next off-season. He's got extra draft picks to work with, and he mentioned last summer that while the 2024-25 off-season was important, the 2025-26 off-season was the one where he thought the Habs needed to make big leaps and bounds, so I think he's going to be aggressive next summer at getting immediate help.
On the back end, RHD is a disaster as far at the organization goes. Savard won't be around too much longer. Reinbacher's development took a hit, and he's probably not a factor until at least 2026-27 if at all. And frankly, Barron and Mailloux have under-whelmed. Both have offensive talent but they have much work to do in their own zone and their game-smarts are just not up to par yet. You look at how much more smoothly Hutson made the transition and you can see how important being able to read the play and make smart decisions really is. You look at guys like Harris and Kovacevic having less skill but being cerebral. Mailloux and especially Barron lack that. So it's a bigger uphill climb. Right now, I'm not convinced the Habs have a single top 4 RHD of the future in their organization. Bonhyushkov, IMO, may hold more promise than the others, and he's also a few years away.
Interesting - I didn't realize Demidov has experience at center and that might be a possibility. Slaf converting seems like more of a stretch, but would be interesting to have that big offensive center we've dreamed of for decades. Either way, converting one of them would help the team's overall depth.
Signing or trading for a center is also a possibility. If that doesn't happen though, then I think they need to consider bringing back Evans as a bridge - he doesn't help the top-six problem but the last thing we need is for our bottom-six to also become a dumpster fire after losing Dvorak and Evans at the same time and replacing them both with rookies.
I'm still holding out hope Reinbacher is a top-four RHD - the last season in Switzerland may have been a disaster, but I don't think his stock has slid that much. And if he's paired with someone like Hutson, we don't need him to be overly flashy, just able to reliably play a lot of minutes. But in any case, I agree finding a long-term RHD solution has to be our top priority right now.
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Post by claremont on Nov 2, 2024 23:05:54 GMT
I'm increasingly thinking we should try to bring Evans back for 2-3 years around his current salary. The team is just so weak at center, if we lose both Dvorak and Evans, who are you replacing them with? I'm good replacing Dvorak with one of Beck or Kapanen, but I don't think I want to go into training camp slotting both of them into our bottom-six center roles (Newhook remains an option, but team still sees him as a winger). Evans at least provides a level of stability while we get the long-term picture sorted out and does everything you need out of a fourth-line center. Hage may eventually help sort things out (e.g. Suzuki-Hage-Dach-Beck/Kapanen down the middle), but it's not clear if the team sees him as a center or winger, and we need to buy some time (I doubt he starts next season in Montreal, although signing him to play in Laval wouldn't be shocking).
Winger on the other hand looks like a potential log jam. Next year heading into camp we'll likely have our current wingers plus RHP, Laine, Demidov, and possibly Tuch having good shots at an NHL roster spot. I just don't really see room for Armia and suspect his spot will go to a younger player.
RHD is most interesting since we're simultaneously weak and facing a logjam: we do have Barron, Mailloux, and Reinbacher (although Reinbacher is likely starting next season in Laval), the problem is barring some sort of big leap forward, all three are really only suitable for the third-pairing (at best) to start the season. We are unlikely to go into camp with any real options at 1st or 2nd pairing RHD outside of Guhle or others playing their off-side. I don't know that extending Savard is the answer, but we're going to need to at least find a bridge solution at RHD (if not a more permanent solution).
Center is, I think, still in flux. Suzuki is a top 6 center, but past that, I'm not sure who is going to play where. Dach can play center but he honestly seems to have done better as a winger. Newhook isn't yet good enough to play center and may in fact be better-suited to being a 3rd line player. Beck, Kapanen, and Hage could all be centers over time but need to gain some experience first. But... I'll throw out two other names here: Slafkovsky and Demidov. Demidov has stated he believes he can play center in the NHL, and he certainly looks like he could have the skill level to play like a Pavel Datsyuk. Way too early to tell, but could we be looking at Suzuki-Demidov down the middle long-term? The Habs may view it that way. If that's the case, you'd have the option of running Suzuki-Dach-Demidov down the middle at ES next year, in which case Kapanen or Beck as your 4C isn't so bad. The other guy is Slafkovsky, who hasn't really taken a jump this year but is a skilled power forward. There was some suggestion from either Hughes or Gorton at one point after they drafted him that they believed he might one day be a center. I think it's less likely, since he fits the power winger identity pretty well. But all that to say that if they did end up having a plethora of wingers, I think they would see themselves as having options to work around that. I also think Hughes may well go after another center next off-season. He's got extra draft picks to work with, and he mentioned last summer that while the 2024-25 off-season was important, the 2025-26 off-season was the one where he thought the Habs needed to make big leaps and bounds, so I think he's going to be aggressive next summer at getting immediate help.
On the back end, RHD is a disaster as far at the organization goes. Savard won't be around too much longer. Reinbacher's development took a hit, and he's probably not a factor until at least 2026-27 if at all. And frankly, Barron and Mailloux have under-whelmed. Both have offensive talent but they have much work to do in their own zone and their game-smarts are just not up to par yet. You look at how much more smoothly Hutson made the transition and you can see how important being able to read the play and make smart decisions really is. You look at guys like Harris and Kovacevic having less skill but being cerebral. Mailloux and especially Barron lack that. So it's a bigger uphill climb. Right now, I'm not convinced the Habs have a single top 4 RHD of the future in their organization. Bonhyushkov, IMO, may hold more promise than the others, and he's also a few years away.
Not just singling you out on Mailloux, but I have read a few other comments knocking Logan down a few pegs. Really lumping him in with Barron is grossly unfair. Barron has had 92 games int he NHL - 2 1/2 seasons where he could not stay healthy. Mailloux 5 games by comparison. Barron has not exactly lit it up in the AHL - Mailloux was the Laval all star representative in his first year, and stayed healthy for the entire duration. They are 1 draft year apart. Now a solid year in the AHL does not make him an NHL roster player overnight but he made a positive step after effectively losing a COVID year in the OHL. The equation to Barron at this point IMO is unjustified despite some D zone work in progress. I believe the collective "We" have to give Mailloux a chance and an extended run before impatiently slagging and concluding that he's ready to be written off. BTW how did he do against Providence in the game today? |
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Post by BigTed3 on Nov 3, 2024 2:01:00 GMT
Center is, I think, still in flux. Suzuki is a top 6 center, but past that, I'm not sure who is going to play where. Dach can play center but he honestly seems to have done better as a winger. Newhook isn't yet good enough to play center and may in fact be better-suited to being a 3rd line player. Beck, Kapanen, and Hage could all be centers over time but need to gain some experience first. But... I'll throw out two other names here: Slafkovsky and Demidov. Demidov has stated he believes he can play center in the NHL, and he certainly looks like he could have the skill level to play like a Pavel Datsyuk. Way too early to tell, but could we be looking at Suzuki-Demidov down the middle long-term? The Habs may view it that way. If that's the case, you'd have the option of running Suzuki-Dach-Demidov down the middle at ES next year, in which case Kapanen or Beck as your 4C isn't so bad. The other guy is Slafkovsky, who hasn't really taken a jump this year but is a skilled power forward. There was some suggestion from either Hughes or Gorton at one point after they drafted him that they believed he might one day be a center. I think it's less likely, since he fits the power winger identity pretty well. But all that to say that if they did end up having a plethora of wingers, I think they would see themselves as having options to work around that. I also think Hughes may well go after another center next off-season. He's got extra draft picks to work with, and he mentioned last summer that while the 2024-25 off-season was important, the 2025-26 off-season was the one where he thought the Habs needed to make big leaps and bounds, so I think he's going to be aggressive next summer at getting immediate help.
On the back end, RHD is a disaster as far at the organization goes. Savard won't be around too much longer. Reinbacher's development took a hit, and he's probably not a factor until at least 2026-27 if at all. And frankly, Barron and Mailloux have under-whelmed. Both have offensive talent but they have much work to do in their own zone and their game-smarts are just not up to par yet. You look at how much more smoothly Hutson made the transition and you can see how important being able to read the play and make smart decisions really is. You look at guys like Harris and Kovacevic having less skill but being cerebral. Mailloux and especially Barron lack that. So it's a bigger uphill climb. Right now, I'm not convinced the Habs have a single top 4 RHD of the future in their organization. Bonhyushkov, IMO, may hold more promise than the others, and he's also a few years away.
Not just singling you out on Mailloux, but I have read a few other comments knocking Logan down a few pegs. Really lumping him in with Barron is grossly unfair. Barron has had 92 games int he NHL - 2 1/2 seasons where he could not stay healthy. Mailloux 5 games by comparison. Barron has not exactly lit it up in the AHL - Mailloux was the Laval all star representative in his first year, and stayed healthy for the entire duration. They are 1 draft year apart. Now a solid year in the AHL does not make him an NHL roster player overnight but he made a positive step after effectively losing a COVID year in the OHL. The equation to Barron at this point IMO is unjustified despite some D zone work in progress. I believe the collective "We" have to give Mailloux a chance and an extended run before impatiently slagging and concluding that he's ready to be written off. BTW how did he do against Providence in the game today?
Not lumping Mailloux together with Barron in the sense of their being failures. Neither guy is anywhere close to maturity as a defenceman and both still have a chance to get to a point that they're NHL regulars. What I'm saying is that I don't like their odds of becoming top 4 guys right now. That's not saying Mailloux doesn't deserve a chance to prove himself, it's saying I think he needs to improve his defensive game substantially to be able to earn 20 minutes a night in the NHL. As I said, you look at Hutson and he's such a smart player. Despite his size, he knows where to be, he makes his decisions quickly, and he moves the puck without putting himself in a position for his size to become a major disadvantage. On the other hand, a guy like Barron processes the game slowly for an NHLer, and that causes him to make bad reads or turn the puck over. With Mailloux, he's just not in the right position a decent chunk of the time. His decision-making in his own zone isn't good yet. Look, I've said the same thing about Mysak and Roy and Farrell and others as I have about Barron and Mailloux... I have a hard time with prospects who don't process the game quickly. I think it's one of the top things to think about when you judge how likely their games will translate to the NHL. Roy may yet prove me wrong there. Mailloux might too. But it's a big thing to have to work on. Mailloux definitely has the offensive acumen, but I don't think that alone makes him an acceptable top 4 D man. Mark Streit was a great offensive D man, but you had to hide him at ES. Ditto Marc-Andre Bergeron. So I'm not convinced Mailloux has what it takes to become a top 4 D man. He might. I'm open to things changing for him and Barron, and yes, I agree that Mailloux has more runway here. But ultimately, my commentary is on where I see them headed and has nothing to do with thinking a player should be written off.
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