2019-20 State Of The Habs

[MALMACIAN_CRUNCH]

One thing that can’t be understated is just how big of a year for Mete this is going to be. I think it’s safe to say this will be his last best chance to prove he can be a top pair defensmen. He should get a fair shake at being Webber’s partner again, both at even strength and on the PP. The key for Mete will be goals (shocker). His main focus this offseason has to be his shot. If he can establish himself as any level of a scoring threat it should unlock the rest of his offensive potential, not to mention the confidence that will come with it. But first he must score. I think the magic number is 10. 10 or more goals is what I would like to see.

This is definitely a “prove it” year for the kid. If he can, next year becomes a “do it again” year. If he falls short again, the next year becomes a “what else can you do for us?” year. He’ll have to find a way to reinvent himself as a reliable depth player, with a lot more focus on defending.

Either way, it’s make or break for Mete this year. It should make for an interesting story to watch. I’m calling for 12 goals/28 assists, lets go Mete!

[campabee82]

30 minutes ago, MALMACIAN_CRUNCH said:

One thing that can’t be understated is just how big of a year for Mete this is going to be. I think it’s safe to say this will be his last best chance to prove he can be a top pair defensmen. He should get a fair shake at being Webber’s partner again, both at even strength and on the PP. The key for Mete will be goals (shocker). His main focus this offseason has to be his shot. If he can establish himself as any level of a scoring threat it should unlock the rest of his offensive potential, not to mention the confidence that will come with it. But first he must score. I think the magic number is 10. 10 or more goals is what I would like to see.

This is definitely a “prove it” year for the kid. If he can, next year becomes a “do it again” year. If he falls short again, the next year becomes a “what else can you do for us?” year. He’ll have to find a way to reinvent himself as a reliable depth player, with a lot more focus on defending.

Either way, it’s make or break for Mete this year. It should make for an interesting story to watch. I’m calling for 12 goals/28 assists, lets go Mete!

I think your right but he hits 15 goals and 30 assists and becomes the habs Erik Karlsson. I am optimistic LOL 

[MALMACIAN_CRUNCH]

5 minutes ago, campabee82 said:

I think your right but he hits 15 goals and 30 assists and becomes the habs Erik Karlsson. I am optimistic LOL 

Why not!? Doesn’t hurt to have a little optimism, right?

[East_Coast_Juggalo_13]

47 minutes ago, MALMACIAN_CRUNCH said:

Why not!? Doesn’t hurt to have a little optimism, right?

I think people are too pessimistic going into this season.  I think too much emphasis is put on big ticket names.  You look at what TOR and EDM did last year with the big ticket names everybody claims we're missing from our line-up and it really wasn't all that much.  Remember, the Stanley Cup goes to the best team.  Not to the team with most high profile individual signed to the biggest contract.

[H_T_L]

I am cautiously optimistic about this team going forward, but once again I think our season will go as Price performs. We had a lot of guys have career years last season and it might be a stretch hoping they match or improve on those stats. What i'm truly hopeful for is that some of our kids muscle their way onto this roster and displace a few veterans. I'm not so worried about that top LD that everybody craves for.

As much as it would be nice to bolster our D, I think Mete will take another step forward this season and do an adequate job next to Weber. I saw Webs get caught flat footed a few times last year and the kid was able to get back and cover for him. Would I like more offence from him??? Sure,,,,, but I also think he was a little snake bit last season and had some great chances to bury a few. After his stint in the AHL last year he came back a different player IMO,,,, and if he can get his offence going, I think we'll be OK.

My two biggest concerns going into this season were,,,, 

#1,,,,, addressing our back up role,,,, which hopefully we've accomplished with Kinkaid

#2,,,, our PP,,,,, of which I haven't seen any changes going into this year. Maybe a trade will change that.

Would have been nice to bolster the D and deal with some uncertainty, but I didn't see any solutions to that via the UFA route, and we may still address that by trade before the season starts.

#1 and #2 would greatly improve our chances of making the playoffs,,,, and with the parity in the League that was on full display this past year,,, who knows.

[campabee82]

30 minutes ago, H_T_L said:

I am cautiously optimistic about this team going forward, but once again I think our season will go as Price performs. We had a lot of guys have career years last season and it might be a stretch hoping they match or improve on those stats. What i'm truly hopeful for is that some of our kids muscle their way onto this roster and displace a few veterans. I'm not so worried about that top LD that everybody craves for.

As much as it would be nice to bolster our D, I think Mete will take another step forward this season and do an adequate job next to Weber. I saw Webs get caught flat footed a few times last year and the kid was able to get back and cover for him. Would I like more offence from him??? Sure,,,,, but I also think he was a little snake bit last season and had some great chances to bury a few. After his stint in the AHL last year he came back a different player IMO,,,, and if he can get his offence going, I think we'll be OK.

My two biggest concerns going into this season were,,,, 

#1,,,,, addressing our back up role,,,, which hopefully we've accomplished with Kinkaid

#2,,,, our PP,,,,, of which I haven't seen any changes going into this year. Maybe a trade will change that.

Would have been nice to bolster the D and deal with some uncertainty, but I didn't see any solutions to that via the UFA route, and we may still address that by trade before the season starts.

#1 and #2 would greatly improve our chances of making the playoffs,,,, and with the parity in the League that was on full display this past year,,, who knows.

#2 is possibly addressed as well with Chiarot. If you have 2 shooters at the point in Weber and Chiarot then the opposition can't focus on just Weber 

[arpem-can]

On ‎2019‎-‎07‎-‎18 at 9:19 PM, jeff33 said:

I think hes saying essentially what I'm about to say.

We just arent being serious. Everything we do is just platitudes, treading water.

Since when is "hoping to make the playoffs" an acceptable philosophy.

I was listening to the tsn radio guys and someone was saying oh he tried! you gotta admit hes trying!

you know what that kind of trying is? when you ask out the girls you like and they say no and you go oh well I tried! I guess Im single forever! not my fault, I asked what else is there to do? You up your game, you get serious when you arent getting what you want.

you never trade subban for weber no matter how much of a problem you think he is. thats a loser trade. you being serious? you get prospects and picks, or you keep your legit star, not get an older safer guy who isnt going to make a difference.

you find a way to keep radulov. even if you overpay. at least as a fan , I say, well he had to overpay. He's trying to keep this team as stacked as possible. He wants to win now. 

Thats just two of the bigger examples in recent history but its all we ever hear. Im trying. Its hard. Loser talk.

What did we do this offseason, trade shaw (good!) to get cap space (...ok..) to offer sheet aho with a very reasonable deal? and that was all we had planned? oh well I tried. she said no. Incel. Trade shaw as part of a package to get that dman we obviously need. and maybe give up more than you want. because you have to if your serious about winning.

es and they all pan out immediately and fill all the roster holes that need filling. thats not a plan, thats just plain old hoping it all works out somehow. I honestly kinda hope we have a bad year and miss the playoffs comfortably because its the only way we have any kind of chance of moving on from this crap

 

we said ummm well maybe we can kinda do it and kinda did nothing.  The only way we win anything is if we luck out completely with these kids like we did with the last 2 tradIm so jealous of toronto. they needed a top RD. they traded an important player and got one. Im so jealous of the rangers. they had the guts to say not good enough, traded mcdonagh and nash and look at them now. 

[habby67]

If we have to rely on Price being super human we are in big trouble again........

[arpem-can]

so Toronto tanked to get Matthews , gave up Kadri to get a decent D which leaves them with 2 maybe 3 , can barely afford to keep Marner , have no 1st round pick next year , the drafts prospects are thin at this point , still haven't made it out of the first round in how long and were only 4 points better than Montreal last year ( with an 18 yr old center ) but you're jealous of them ? the Rangers are in a rebuild with one superstar and an aging goalie but you're jealous of them too ?....as for Shaw I loved him and hated to see him go but he's been injured a lot and has had concussions ..in trading him Montreal freed up cap space and got some decent picks ...it remains to be seen what Bergevin does with the cap space ….pre-season camp is still what a month and 1/2 to go ?

[HabsAlways]

5 minutes ago, arpem-can said:

so Toronto tanked to get Matthews , gave up Kadri to get a decent D which leaves them with 2 maybe 3 , can barely afford to keep Marner , have no 1st round pick next year , the drafts prospects are thin at this point , still haven't made it out of the first round in how long and were only 4 points better than Montreal last year ( with an 18 yr old center ) but you're jealous of them ? the Rangers are in a rebuild with one superstar and an aging goalie but you're jealous of them too ?....as for Shaw I loved him and hated to see him go but he's been injured a lot and has had concussions ..in trading him Montreal freed up cap space and got some decent picks ...it remains to be seen what Bergevin does with the cap space ….pre-season camp is still what a month and 1/2 to go ?

ummm ... from what I can see YOU are the one who said they were jealous of Toronto and the Rangers ... you ok bro?

[ramcharger440]

1 hour ago, HabsAlways said:

ummm ... from what I can see YOU are the one who said they were jealous of Toronto and the Rangers ... you ok bro?

got to say i read it that way too....

[arpem-can]

1 hour ago, HabsAlways said:

ummm ... from what I can see YOU are the one who said they were jealous of Toronto and the Rangers ... you ok bro?

 no it was a quote from jeff33 if you go back and check ..I was responding to that and somehow quoted his post in attempting  to respond , otherwise I'm ok but thanks for asking  ...lol

 

[arpem-can]

3 minutes ago, arpem-can said:

 no it was a quote from jeff33 if you go back and check ..I was responding to that and somehow quoted his post in attempting  to respond , otherwise I'm ok but thanks for asking  ...lol

 

 Jeff33 post is on page 10 

[CaptWelly]

6 hours ago, H_T_L said:

I am cautiously optimistic about this team going forward, but once again I think our season will go as Price performs. We had a lot of guys have career years last season and it might be a stretch hoping they match or improve on those stats. What i'm truly hopeful for is that some of our kids muscle their way onto this roster and displace a few veterans. I'm not so worried about that top LD that everybody craves for.

As much as it would be nice to bolster our D, I think Mete will take another step forward this season and do an adequate job next to Weber. I saw Webs get caught flat footed a few times last year and the kid was able to get back and cover for him. Would I like more offence from him??? Sure,,,,, but I also think he was a little snake bit last season and had some great chances to bury a few. After his stint in the AHL last year he came back a different player IMO,,,, and if he can get his offence going, I think we'll be OK.

My two biggest concerns going into this season were,,,, 

#1,,,,, addressing our back up role,,,, which hopefully we've accomplished with Kinkaid

#2,,,, our PP,,,,, of which I haven't seen any changes going into this year. Maybe a trade will change that.

Would have been nice to bolster the D and deal with some uncertainty, but I didn't see any solutions to that via the UFA route, and we may still address that by trade before the season starts.

#1 and #2 would greatly improve our chances of making the playoffs,,,, and with the parity in the League that was on full display this past year,,, who knows.

All teams the excel have excellent goaltending , it's funny when a young player from another team has a career or breakout season most on here are jealous of them, but when our young players have a good season which may be their breakout or stepping stone season everyone says they played over their head and just hope they can do it again. Yes we need our young players to continue to improve but all teams need their young players to continue. Also like Lehk. he didn't have a great offensive year last year but was solid defensively , some young players from other teams sometimes we see their numbers offensively but they may be poor on the defensive side. So I know we have a few pieces to get in place but I am optimistic that we have a good young group that cam continue to develop and grow together. So many "say" to rebuild but actually no real patience to get there. We have hopefully good players in the system with good complimentary pieces in place. It still make take a couple of years to get there but I don't think we're that far off. This could be another fun year to watch and still miss the playoffs but we should have a lot of players get good experience and be even better the following year. I'm hoping we actually do make the playoffs and see what happens. If the players in place make the right strides and some coming in are as good as were hoping we could have a young solid d corp coming in as Weber and Petry are moving on while Primeau slowly moves into Prices slot. Either way if last year was an example it appears it's a solid group that plays for each other and didn't give up and was fun to watch. Maybe if we're close something will happen at the trade deadline?

[PuckPundit]

After observing all the trades that have been going on since July 1, I can't help but feel the Habs' roster have basically remained the same yet AGAIN!!!  While other clubs have added players and improved on paper at least, it's the usual bargain bin ritual of signing depth players AGAIN!!!  Heck, I feel that even Sens have improved their roster on paper!  So have Florida, Buffalo and Arizona, again at least on paper.

The whole Aho offer sheet business was a fiasco from the start.  It was never serious, because it could have (and was indeed) been matched easily.  If you want to put in an offer sheet, make an offer the other team definitely CANNOT match.  The Habs' bid felt half-hearted, as if management was not really prepared to give up the picks.  So all the time wasted in a doomed, half-hearted, not serious venture in the first place.  

I hate to say this, but it's going to be same old, same old yet again.  Repeat post-season after post-season, until we are rid of Bergevin.  Pray some rich white knight personally invested to win a Cup at all costs, quickly appears and buys the club off Geoff Molson. Or we launch a mass crowd funding campaign to raise $1.5 billion to buy out Molson .

[CANADIENS27]

1 hour ago, PuckPundit said:

After observing all the trades that have been going on since July 1, I can't help but feel the Habs' roster have basically remained the same yet AGAIN!!!  While other clubs have added players and improved on paper at least, it's the usual bargain bin ritual of signing depth players AGAIN!!!  Heck, I feel that even Sens have improved their roster on paper!  So have Florida, Buffalo and Arizona, again at least on paper.

The whole Aho offer sheet business was a fiasco from the start.  It was never serious, because it could have (and was indeed) been matched easily.  If you want to put in an offer sheet, make an offer the other team definitely CANNOT match.  The Habs' bid felt half-hearted, as if management was not really prepared to give up the picks.  So all the time wasted in a doomed, half-hearted, not serious venture in the first place.  

I hate to say this, but it's going to be same old, same old yet again.  Repeat post-season after post-season, until we are rid of Bergevin.  Pray some rich white knight personally invested to win a Cup at all costs, quickly appears and buys the club off Geoff Molson. Or we launch a mass crowd funding campaign to raise $1.5 billion to buy out Molson .

And who could we appoint as owner?  

 

 

[CaptWelly]

4 hours ago, PuckPundit said:

After observing all the trades that have been going on since July 1, I can't help but feel the Habs' roster have basically remained the same yet AGAIN!!!  While other clubs have added players and improved on paper at least, it's the usual bargain bin ritual of signing depth players AGAIN!!!  Heck, I feel that even Sens have improved their roster on paper!  So have Florida, Buffalo and Arizona, again at least on paper.

The whole Aho offer sheet business was a fiasco from the start.  It was never serious, because it could have (and was indeed) been matched easily.  If you want to put in an offer sheet, make an offer the other team definitely CANNOT match.  The Habs' bid felt half-hearted, as if management was not really prepared to give up the picks.  So all the time wasted in a doomed, half-hearted, not serious venture in the first place.  

I hate to say this, but it's going to be same old, same old yet again.  Repeat post-season after post-season, until we are rid of Bergevin.  Pray some rich white knight personally invested to win a Cup at all costs, quickly appears and buys the club off Geoff Molson. Or we launch a mass crowd funding campaign to raise $1.5 billion to buy out Molson .

So we didn't give away the future for overpriced FA market that only had a couple of real great players the one that most all teams coveted went where he wanted anyway for less money. I always read how we need to build through the draft and develop our young players. Well now we have some promising young talent that hopefully can grow get better and maybe some young new talent that will make the team. Yes we could of traded the future away for a quick fix now , but we actually aren't that one player away yet. We may have some more growing pains but we actually are now in a spot to let it develop and not go for the quick fix. We always have trade ideas that we "should" be able to do but that doesn't mean the other team wants the players we on this board want to give up. We might of had offers for a guy we would love and it may have been for JK, Suzuki, Poehling ect. . I believe at the end of this season we'll probably really have a good idea what steps the young guns have taken. JK may have a great season but he may not. It's not a given last year he played 3rd line mostly and sheltered minutes. He's not going to surprise any other teams this year. It seems we start to get a good young group now everyone gets in a rush to make the next step. I'd rather be patient unless something fell in our lap (Panarin only wanted to player here) than to strap ourselves cap wise (the young guys if they do turn out as everyone hopes) will need to get paid also. Giving up 3-4 first round picks is only okay if you're sure the player you're signing now puts you over the top as a contender. I love Tavares and would of liked him. That said now TO's got their young players wanting to get paid and still haven't gotten out of the first round. Along with looking now it has to match up with the future also. Arizona got better? Kessel better than Chucky ...really +the age difference. I'll guess Chucky has a good year being along side Crosby Malkin .

[H_T_L]

3 hours ago, CANADIENS27 said:

And who could we appoint as owner?  

 

 

Well,,,, i've never seen them lose in person,,, so i vote ME. Do i get the owners box too??

[arpem-can]

2 hours ago, CaptWelly said:

So we didn't give away the future for overpriced FA market that only had a couple of real great players the one that most all teams coveted went where he wanted anyway for less money. I always read how we need to build through the draft and develop our young players. Well now we have some promising young talent that hopefully can grow get better and maybe some young new talent that will make the team. Yes we could of traded the future away for a quick fix now , but we actually aren't that one player away yet. We may have some more growing pains but we actually are now in a spot to let it develop and not go for the quick fix. We always have trade ideas that we "should" be able to do but that doesn't mean the other team wants the players we on this board want to give up. We might of had offers for a guy we would love and it may have been for JK, Suzuki, Poehling ect. . I believe at the end of this season we'll probably really have a good idea what steps the young guns have taken. JK may have a great season but he may not. It's not a given last year he played 3rd line mostly and sheltered minutes. He's not going to surprise any other teams this year. It seems we start to get a good young group now everyone gets in a rush to make the next step. I'd rather be patient unless something fell in our lap (Panarin only wanted to player here) than to strap ourselves cap wise (the young guys if they do turn out as everyone hopes) will need to get paid also. Giving up 3-4 first round picks is only okay if you're sure the player you're signing now puts you over the top as a contender. I love Tavares and would of liked him. That said now TO's got their young players wanting to get paid and still haven't gotten out of the first round. Along with looking now it has to match up with the future also. Arizona got better? Kessel better than Chucky ...really +the age difference. I'll guess Chucky has a good year being along side Crosby Malkin .

  I'm in agreement here ..Bergy has made a couple of mistakes ( like Alzner ) but he's held true for the most part on not mortgaging the future ..he has also made some good ones in picking up guys like Armia , Danault & Byron for peanuts ( plus a couple of picks ) ...the Domi trade worked out pretty well  , the Pacioretty trade paid off huge and the Drouin trade has yet to be determined but I think his best days are ahead ..I'm not unhappy with his depth signings like Cousins or for that matter Chiarot ...KK has 1 year under his belt and Montreal still has Poehling and Suzuki coming ...Caufield was a major scoop with a bunch of picks next year ….I'm patient too but this is a different NHL today ...geez Washington and St Louis won the last 2 SCs...some guys are going to need to be paid in the next 2 years or before ...that's what the cap space is for ...2 more wins than last year and Montreal is in the play-offs where anything can happen ...look at St. Louis last January ...I'm optimistic about this team's future without the $10-12 million contracts like TO or the Rangers 

[jeff33]

On 20/07/2019 at 2:31 PM, arpem-can said:

so Toronto tanked to get Matthews , gave up Kadri to get a decent D which leaves them with 2 maybe 3 , can barely afford to keep Marner , have no 1st round pick next year , the drafts prospects are thin at this point , still haven't made it out of the first round in how long and were only 4 points better than Montreal last year ( with an 18 yr old center ) but you're jealous of them ? the Rangers are in a rebuild with one superstar and an aging goalie but you're jealous of them too ?....as for Shaw I loved him and hated to see him go but he's been injured a lot and has had concussions ..in trading him Montreal freed up cap space and got some decent picks ...it remains to be seen what Bergevin does with the cap space ….pre-season camp is still what a month and 1/2 to go ?

I am jealous of the leafs because they made a real trade to address a need, not because I want to be in their cap hell. 

I am jealous of the rangers because they acknowledged that the team they had was not good enough and it was time to move on from their veteran core. we half did it by moving patches but cling to weber as if he's not rapidly declining asset. 

as for shaw this was absolutely the time to trade him, but either as a package for something we need or to free up his cap space for another trade for something we need, not to make a joke of an offer sheet and then do nothing

you keep holding your breath for what bargain boy is gonna do, this is the team, you're looking at it

[ramcharger440]

33 minutes ago, jeff33 said:

I am jealous of the leafs because they made a real trade to address a need, not because I want to be in their cap hell. 

I am jealous of the rangers because they acknowledged that the team they had was not good enough and it was time to move on from their veteran core. we half did it by moving patches but cling to weber as if he's not rapidly declining asset. 

as for shaw this was absolutely the time to trade him, but either as a package for something we need or to free up his cap space for another trade for something we need, not to make a joke of an offer sheet and then do nothing

you keep holding your breath for what bargain boy is gonna do, this is the team, you're looking at it

i don't know how much value Shaw really had, other teams know he has issues too he is one good hit away from it being over.

[CaptWelly]

5 hours ago, arpem-can said:

  I'm in agreement here ..Bergy has made a couple of mistakes ( like Alzner ) but he's held true for the most part on not mortgaging the future ..he has also made some good ones in picking up guys like Armia , Danault & Byron for peanuts ( plus a couple of picks ) ...the Domi trade worked out pretty well  , the Pacioretty trade paid off huge and the Drouin trade has yet to be determined but I think his best days are ahead ..I'm not unhappy with his depth signings like Cousins or for that matter Chiarot ...KK has 1 year under his belt and Montreal still has Poehling and Suzuki coming ...Caufield was a major scoop with a bunch of picks next year ….I'm patient too but this is a different NHL today ...geez Washington and St Louis won the last 2 SCs...some guys are going to need to be paid in the next 2 years or before ...that's what the cap space is for ...2 more wins than last year and Montreal is in the play-offs where anything can happen ...look at St. Louis last January ...I'm optimistic about this team's future without the $10-12 million contracts like TO or the Rangers 

I also don't disagree if the free agent market is a Tavares or even possibly a Karlson (though personally with recent groin injuries , and being mainly an offensive defenseman I wouldn't of wanted to pay that price. San Jose could because Burns and others are good defensively and if he does get hurt they still have Burns.) That said I'm glad he didn't do "something ' just to do something and it not be the right fit or what we really need. I think everyone is anxious because it appears to be close if things fall right. I still think Weber and price both will be good for a few more years. Also hopefully by then our D prospects will be ready to move forward and the guys we are now excited about will be just  really coming into their own. Washington and St. Louis both had a mixture of older and younger players along with Boston who was close.

[jennifer_rocket]

To parallel some of the thoughts here, it is apparent that we haven't really improved (hopefully our back-up goaltending is a little better) while other teams in the East have made improvements (e.g. New York, New Jersey). However, a few other teams in the East have made no improvements or seemingly gotten worse (e.g. Columbus). Montreal will be in another battle to make the post-season unless a major improvement occurs between now and the regular season. We MAY make it. We may not. The failure here is that Bergevin hasn't improved the team's chances of making the post-season. He has improved the team is the smallest incremental manner imaginable by acquiring Kincaid. He may have made the defense worse by acquiring Chiarot. You can't rely on the adage that "The kids will be better with another year under their belt." If this is how it worked then it wouldn't matter because every team would be better as all of their kids improve.

[CaptWelly]

55 minutes ago, jennifer_rocket said:

To parallel some of the thoughts here, it is apparent that we haven't really improved (hopefully our back-up goaltending is a little better) while other teams in the East have made improvements (e.g. New York, New Jersey). However, a few other teams in the East have made no improvements or seemingly gotten worse (e.g. Columbus). Montreal will be in another battle to make the post-season unless a major improvement occurs between now and the regular season. We MAY make it. We may not. The failure here is that Bergevin hasn't improved the team's chances of making the post-season. He has improved the team is the smallest incremental manner imaginable by acquiring Kincaid. He may have made the defense worse by acquiring Chiarot. You can't rely on the adage that "The kids will be better with another year under their belt." If this is how it worked then it wouldn't matter because every team would be better as all of their kids improve.

I agree there are no for sures with the kids. That is why I've never been on board with the blow it up or full rebuild because Edmonton Buffalo and Arizona would of been winning all the cups if always finishing for draft choices was a lock. I just didn't think this years free agents were either what would make us a contender now and possibly be worth the cost. Panarin maybe because he would of filled the scorer need and helped the pp, and just been cap space. Like everyone I want those two next pieces but don't want to mess up what may be worth waiting for just to make the play offs. I also feel Chiarot my be a pleasant surprise.

[arpem-can]

48 minutes ago, jennifer_rocket said:

To parallel some of the thoughts here, it is apparent that we haven't really improved (hopefully our back-up goaltending is a little better) while other teams in the East have made improvements (e.g. New York, New Jersey). However, a few other teams in the East have made no improvements or seemingly gotten worse (e.g. Columbus). Montreal will be in another battle to make the post-season unless a major improvement occurs between now and the regular season. We MAY make it. We may not. The failure here is that Bergevin hasn't improved the team's chances of making the post-season. He has improved the team is the smallest incremental manner imaginable by acquiring Kincaid. He may have made the defense worse by acquiring Chiarot. You can't rely on the adage that "The kids will be better with another year under their belt." If this is how it worked then it wouldn't matter because every team would be better as all of their kids improve.

   Maybe KK will suffer the sophomore jinx but as an 18 years old he got a taste of what the NHL is all about and that's a positive . I don't think Bergevin is finished yet but he's signed every conceivable piece and prospect with the exception of McCarron . This still a relatively young team with Domi , Lehktonen , Drouin all at 24 , Mete , 21, Poehling 20 and a bunch of 26 yr olds . Suzuki 20 , Primeau 20 , Romanov 19, Brook 20 and Caufield at 18 1/2 give me hope for this team ..also I think Juulsen will rebound this year and he's still pretty young as well. I see great strides from the prospect angle from even 2 yrs ago ( especially at center ) .I'm sure when the team prospect rankings come out Montreal will be right up there towards  the top .