2018-19 Habs Lines

[maas_art]

8 hours ago, BigTed3 said:

So that leaves two forward spots (if they go 14 forwards) for Scherbak, Chaput, Agostino, and DLR. Agostino is likely headed to Laval, and I think the team will favor keeping DLR for who knows why. So IMO, the decision on the last spot is going to come down to Scherbak vs. Chaput... the guy with the higher upside but whose work ethic is called into question largely because coaching/management seems to do that with many of their Russian forwards or the journeyman with a more consistent effort but less high-end potential to ever be a top 6-9 player. As well as he's played this pre-season, it absolutely has to be Scherbak they keep, if it were up to me. If anything, I think the decision on Chaput should come down to whether he unseats DLR or Plekanec, but I don't think management sees it that way.

I think they will also consider who will make it through waivers. Every team has a Chaput, every team has an Agostino. I think they would worry about Scherbak not making it.  Like you, i think they've given one spot to DLR for whatever reason.  Julien loves his defensively responsible players, regardless of their offensive output. 

8 hours ago, BigTed3 said:

On D, it looks to be a near given Petry, Mete, Reilly, and Juulsen are the top 4, which is good on the one hand since those are the best 4 D men we have and bad on the other because those are the best 4 D we have. In any case, I think Alzner will be on the 3rd pairing and I'd venture the team will keep Benn and Ouellet. I think the main questions to be answered are whether Despres stays on as an 8th D and supplants a forward and which of Ouellet or Benn starts the year in the top 6. My guess is the team will stay with what they know and give the edge to Benn next to Alzner, despite his pre-season.

In goal, I think the plan all along has been to keep Niemi as the back-up.

Also agree.  Benn/Alzner/Ouellet will be our 5-7 guys.  Ouellet absolutely deserves it over the other two.  Wouldnt be at all surprised to see this opening night:

Mete - Petry
Reilly - Juulsen
Alzner - Ouellet 

Although I also wouldnt be surprised to see those pairs interchanged, i think that may be our starting 6. 

[Habberwacky]

Although I thought Peca was a little less of a physical presence and might be the odd man out after Kotkiniemi made the team Chaput has managed to change my mind after tonight. I think the tough choices will be put off a couple of weeks and Chaput and Agostini are  the obvious choices to for the AHL. But Plecky, JDLR and Scherbak have kind of backed into their spots on the roster right now and need to start the season with some energy in their game. Peca showed some finesse tonight that has been missing and if he can keep playing that way he may give the 4th line some of the energy a team expects  to get from 4th liners(makes me look forward to seeing Deslauriers again and that isn't good) . While 4 of our top nine players were out of the line-up this team looked flat tonight. Let's see what happens with our full line-up.

[H_T_L]

Forward lines and defensive pairings featured by head coach Claude Julien during Monday's practice at the Bell Sports Complex.

Tatar - Danault - Gallagher
Drouin - Kotkaniemi - Armia
Byron - Domi - Lehkonen
Hudon - Peca - Shaw
De la Rose - Plekanec - Scherbak

Mete - Petry
Reilly - Juulsen
Ouellet - Benn
Alzner

Price
Niemi

Does this mean that DLR is close to returning??? If so we need to make a roster spot somewhere.

[BigTed3]

1 hour ago, H_T_L said:

Forward lines and defensive pairings featured by head coach Claude Julien during Monday's practice at the Bell Sports Complex.

Tatar - Danault - Gallagher
Drouin - Kotkaniemi - Armia
Byron - Domi - Lehkonen
Hudon - Peca - Shaw
De la Rose - Plekanec - Scherbak

Mete - Petry
Reilly - Juulsen
Ouellet - Benn
Alzner

Price
Niemi

Does this mean that DLR is close to returning??? If so we need to make a roster spot somewhere.

CJ said even though he was skating that he has not been given the green light to play yet. So to be determined.

[maas_art]

7 hours ago, H_T_L said:

Does this mean that DLR is close to returning??? If so we need to make a roster spot somewhere.

As BT mentioned, he still has to clear medical but the coming weeks should be interesting.   I have a feeling someone (or maybe 2 for 1) will get traded. As long as one of the guys going starts with and Al and ends with a zer,  im ok  

[jennifer_rocket]

12 hours ago, maas_art said:

As BT mentioned, he still has to clear medical but the coming weeks should be interesting.   I have a feeling someone (or maybe 2 for 1) will get traded. As long as one of the guys going starts with and Al and ends with a zer,  im ok  

Perhaps Scherbak is the odd-man out since he hasn't featured in the first two games... I'm doubtful he'll get into Thursday's match either. Maybe he gets traded. Maybe the team tries to sneak him down to Laval.

[maas_art]

1 hour ago, jennifer_rocket said:

Perhaps Scherbak is the odd-man out since he hasn't featured in the first two games... I'm doubtful he'll get into Thursday's match either. Maybe he gets traded. Maybe the team tries to sneak him down to Laval.

I wouldnt be surprised at all to see him traded. Wouldn't be surprised at all if MB was trying to move him + a vet on defense (ie Alzner) for a one asset.  

I dont think they'll risk waivers although you never know.  

At this point Id still like to see him on the roster but he hasnt shown a lot in his chances so its tough to build a case for him despite his high skill level. 

[maas_art]

BTW, even though we're not in any sort of cap issue right now, Alzner in the pressbox just looks so bad.

 

Alzner 's $4.625-million salary-cap hit is more than the combined cap hits of Benn ($1.1 million), Juulsen ($863,333), Mete ($748,333), Reilly ($725,000) and Ouellett ($700,000), which add up to $4.136 million.

So, to say that another way, the one pairing of  Alzner-Petry   costs us more cap money than ALL THREE pairings of  Petry-Mete,   Juulsen-Reilly,   Benn-Ouellett   (and obviously it costs us way more goals )

Not surprising that MB said he "might" end up regretting the Alzner signing. 

[jennifer_rocket]

5 hours ago, maas_art said:

I wouldnt be surprised at all to see him traded. Wouldn't be surprised at all if MB was trying to move him + a vet on defense (ie Alzner) for a one asset.  

I dont think they'll risk waivers although you never know.  

At this point Id still like to see him on the roster but he hasnt shown a lot in his chances so its tough to build a case for him despite his high skill level. 

Ideally he would be in Laval to begin the season... but I really do think he would get claimed if they tried to sneak him through. I agree, I could see an attempt made to package him with someone like Alzner to alleviate us of the Alzner albatross.

[Habs_Hockey_Nutz]

16 hours ago, jennifer_rocket said:

Ideally he would be in Laval to begin the season... but I really do think he would get claimed if they tried to sneak him through. I agree, I could see an attempt made to package him with someone like Alzner to alleviate us of the Alzner albatross.

Why not waiver/demote Alzner... unless he has a non-movement clause. That would free up cap space perhaps if he is claimed.

[jennifer_rocket]

3 hours ago, Habs_Hockey_Nutz said:

Why not waiver/demote Alzner... unless he has a non-movement clause. That would free up cap space perhaps if he is claimed.

I believe he has a modified no trade clause, but could be waived and assigned to Laval. I don't know how much, if any, that would save us against the cap... which isn't a major issue for us. The issue is paying someone 4-point-whatever million to play in the AHL. I would assume Montreal wouldn't want to do that.

[H_T_L]

52 minutes ago, jennifer_rocket said:

I believe he has a modified no trade clause, but could be waived and assigned to Laval. I don't know how much, if any, that would save us against the cap... which isn't a major issue for us. The issue is paying someone 4-point-whatever million to play in the AHL. I would assume Montreal wouldn't want to do that.

I think i'd rather see him in the AHL  then likely disgruntled on the Habs bench and having to waive someone else to make room. The savings are minimal on the Cap,,,, around 900 K I believe. Like you said though,,,, we have no cap issues to worry about.

[maas_art]

4 hours ago, Habs_Hockey_Nutz said:

Why not waiver/demote Alzner... unless he has a non-movement clause. That would free up cap space perhaps if he is claimed.

I think its unlikely he's claimed.  If you waive him you're still on the hook for almost his entire cap hit so unless there's really no other choice, its not ideal.  Trading him (and offering to retain part of his salary) is probably more palatable to be honest.   Or a buy out.

As bad as he was last year, demoting an NHL veteran to the AHL would probably not go unnoticed among soon-to-be UFAs.  Its like Ottawa waiving Zack Smith: it doesnt look good from a PR standpoint.  Not that PR should matter per se, but I think its quite possible that Tavares did not return our calls because of the way we've treated players in the past. 

 

1 hour ago, jennifer_rocket said:

I believe he has a modified no trade clause, but could be waived and assigned to Laval. I don't know how much, if any, that would save us against the cap... which isn't a major issue for us. The issue is paying someone 4-point-whatever million to play in the AHL. I would assume Montreal wouldn't want to do that.

Yeah if it was 1 year no biggie but 4 more years... ouch.

 

12 minutes ago, H_T_L said:

I think i'd rather see him in the AHL  then likely disgruntled on the Habs bench and having to waive someone else to make room. The savings are minimal on the Cap,,,, around 900 K I believe. Like you said though,,,, we have no cap issues to worry about.

As horrendous as he has been, one thing you have to credit Alzner for is his professionalism.  I dont think that will be a problem at any time. 

I wouldnt be surprised in the least if he's asked for a trade (so, NTC wont be an issue) but finding a partner for him will prove challenging. 

[HabsAlways]

On 10/9/2018 at 9:26 AM, maas_art said:

I wouldnt be surprised at all to see him traded. Wouldn't be surprised at all if MB was trying to move him + a vet on defense (ie Alzner) for a one asset.  

I dont think they'll risk waivers although you never know.  

At this point Id still like to see him on the roster but he hasnt shown a lot in his chances so its tough to build a case for him despite his high skill level. 

Scherbek reminds me a lot of guys like Kovalev.   Does he have skill? yes.     Does he consistently use it? no.

As much as I think Scherbek can potentially produce in the NHL, I think at the end of the day there's better options given who we have up front now .. we essentially have our top 9 set and Jacob DLR is better suited to the bottom 6.    I won't be surprised if Nikita is traded in the next few days.

[maas_art]

21 minutes ago, HabsAlways said:

Scherbek reminds me a lot of guys like Kovalev.   Does he have skill? yes.     Does he consistently use it? no.

As much as I think Scherbek can potentially produce in the NHL, I think at the end of the day there's better options given who we have up front now .. we essentially have our top 9 set and Jacob DLR is better suited to the bottom 6.    I won't be surprised if Nikita is traded in the next few days.

Ya, pretty sure someone will be.   I still wouldnt be surprised to see:

Scherbak  + Alzner (With us retaining say 25% salary)

for

Pick and/or prospect

 

Alzner being basically a negative value (I think a team may use him on their bottom pair).

[habs1952]

8 hours ago, jennifer_rocket said:

I believe he has a modified no trade clause, but could be waived and assigned to Laval. I don't know how much, if any, that would save us against the cap... which isn't a major issue for us. The issue is paying someone 4-point-whatever million to play in the AHL. I would assume Montreal wouldn't want to do that.

Alzner can submit a list of 7 teams he will not accept a trade to.

[kinot-2]

Put Alzner on waivers. 

[maas_art]

1 hour ago, habs1952 said:

Alzner can submit a list of 7 teams he will not accept a trade to.

After being sat for 2 straight games I suspect he'd accept those 7 too.  At this point i think he just wants to go somewhere he can actually play minutes.

 

20 minutes ago, kinot-2 said:

Put Alzner on waivers. 

No one is picking him up.   

[HabsAlways]

2 hours ago, kinot-2 said:

Put Alzner on waivers. 

There's a team somewhere that'll take on his contract ... especially if Scherbak is part of the deal ... I don't see Nikita lasting in Montreal

[Habs_Hockey_Nutz]

17 hours ago, maas_art said:

I think its unlikely he's (Alzner) claimed.  If you waive him you're still on the hook for almost his entire cap hit so unless there's really no other choice, its not ideal.  Trading him (and offering to retain part of his salary) is probably more palatable to be honest.   Or a buy out.......

I wouldnt be surprised in the least if he's asked for a trade (so, NTC wont be an issue) but finding a partner for him will prove challenging. 

One thing I read that makes wavering him as problematic is that it would leave only six d-men on the current Habs roster... So trading two with Alzner as one part of a deal would likely be ideal. This would allow the team to promote a d-man like Kulak or another in the trade.

[HabsAlways]

1 hour ago, Habs_Hockey_Nutz said:

One thing I read that makes wavering him as problematic is that it would leave only six d-men on the current Habs roster... So trading two with Alzner as one part of a deal would likely be ideal. This would allow the team to promote a d-man like Kulak or another in the trade.

Yeah, trading Alzner and Scherbek for say a prospect that's immune to waivers solves the problems.   You send prospect to AHL, call up Kulak or Ollofson and the NHL roster is set until Weber returns.

[ramcharger440]

For the first time in years i really have not had an issue with the lines.....it feels odd. LOL!

[BigTed3]

1 hour ago, ramcharger440 said:

For the first time in years i really have not had an issue with the lines.....it feels odd. LOL!

Me too. But mainly because the 12 guys we have in the line-up are all capable hockey players. I don't feel like there's dead weight. I'd consider tinkering with which guys are on which lines, but it's secondary to getting the right guys in the line-up. I'm more concerned when our injuries heal or when we hit a losing streak that we're going to start re-inserting Plekanec, DLR, or Deslauriers and start dropping our skill level though. I like where we are now, at least insofar as forwards go.

[BigTed3]

Drouin is struggling, and he's the guy the team needs to get going. I think we also need to try to get Scherbak in for some offence and a shot on the PP. I wouldn't mind trying something like

Byron-Kotkaniemi-Gallagher

Drouin-Domi-Scherbak

Lehkonen-Danault-Shaw

Hudon-Tatar-Armia

[Habs_Hockey_Nutz]

9 hours ago, BigTed3 said:

Drouin is struggling, and he's the guy the team needs to get going. I think we also need to try to get Scherbak in for some offence and a shot on the PP. I wouldn't mind trying something like

Byron-Kotkaniemi-Gallagher

Drouin-Domi-Scherbak

Lehkonen-Danault-Shaw

Hudon-Tatar-Armia

Interesting... I didn't know Tartar was a center