2021-22 State of the Habs

[habs1952]

15 hours ago, BigTed3 said:

 

If I were writing a priority list for Bergevin for the summer it would be:

1. Don't screw up the draft. You need to hit your 1st pick and at least one of 26 and 33. Maybe you try to move up in the draft. I certainly think we need to make less than the 14 picks we have now, be it through trading them to move up, move to next year, or move for prospects/players. But the draft is the top priority.

2. We need to try to move cap, but as noted here, I don't see moving Petry or Anderson as a priority to accomplish that. If we go into next season with them, they're both still some of our best players and I think both will have trade value at the trade deadline or the summer after. If there were priorities of who we should be looking to move out, I'd argue that it's more important to be shopping Hoffman (little added value to the team and making a decent salary), Drouin (who I don't see staying here past next year), maybe Savard (also little value), Gallagher (worst contract on the team right now), etc. Those are the bigger handicaps in terms of dollars compared to performance or in Drouin's case urgency of having to make a move this year before his contract expires.

3. Find an assistant coach who can run the PP.

I'm neither here nor there on Pitlick or Pezzetta. Both serviceable bottom 6 forwards and if they're cheap to keep around, sure. But if they walk or if they want too much money, I frankly don't think either guy is moving the needle much on anything. I'd prefer to see Ylonen, RHP, etc. get shots on the roster next year anyways.

 

[habsisme]

4 minutes ago, kinot-2 said:

Youppi! has been inducted into the Mascot Hall of Fame.

he Montreal Canadiens have confirmed that their mascot Youppi! has been inducted into the Mascot Hall of Fame.

Since 2005, the furry orange creature has been the official mascot for the Habs. He was also the longtime mascot of the Montreal Expos, dating back to 1979. Youppi! even had his very own theme song in 1983.

The Mascot Hall of Fame, which opened in 2005, is located in Whiting, Indiana, a 30-minute drive from downtown Chicago.

I'm sorry but who were thr previous inductees!? Its an outrage that it's taken this long to finally be acknowledged

[HabsRuleForever]

Looks like Luke is gone to coach the Hawks.

[habsisme]

14 minutes ago, HabsRuleForever said:

Looks like Luke is gone to coach the Hawks.

not good for us, but I'm happy for him

[maas_art]

24 minutes ago, HabsRuleForever said:

Looks like Luke is gone to coach the Hawks.

 

9 minutes ago, habsisme said:

not good for us, but I'm happy for him

Definitely good for him.  In all honesty, its tough to say how it will affect us.  Was he part of the problem on our PP/PK? Was he the guy who was often making questionable defensive pairing choices?  Dunno.  Might not be the worst thing although I really liked him as a person. 

[ramcharger440]

2 minutes ago, maas_art said:

 

Definitely good for him.  In all honesty, its tough to say how it will affect us.  Was he part of the problem on our PP/PK? Was he the guy who was often making questionable defensive pairing choices?  Dunno.  Might not be the worst thing although I really liked him as a person. 

I feel the same way! tough to know if he was the right guy or not. Well it will be a chance to improve our situation if the the right person gets the job, I often was put off by our pairings and the structure of the D was not always good so perhaps this will be a good thing time will tell.

[kinot-2]

9 minutes ago, ramcharger440 said:

I feel the same way! tough to know if he was the right guy or not. Well it will be a chance to improve our situation if the the right person gets the job, I often was put off by our pairings and the structure of the D was not always good so perhaps this will be a good thing time will tell.

The question is now, who will be the assistant coach? 

 

[maas_art]

58 minutes ago, kinot-2 said:

The question is now, who will be the assistant coach? 

i could see them bringing in an older guy, someone with some experience - although im not sure who (Larry Robinson, maybe?). At least as assistant there's no prerequisite to speaking french which opens up some doors ;)

[BigTed3]

1 hour ago, maas_art said:

i could see them bringing in an older guy, someone with some experience - although im not sure who (Larry Robinson, maybe?). At least as assistant there's no prerequisite to speaking french which opens up some doors ;)

A few guys who might have ties... Francis Bouillon and Patrice Brisebois both former D men who have helped out in coaching/development in the past. Jacques Martin was with the Rangers a couple of years ago, so has ties to Gorton in addition to Montreal. Daryl Sydor is an associate coach in the WHL but played with St. Louis in TB for a couple of years. Dan Giradi did one year as an assistant in Buffalo but again was an ex-teammate of MSL's. Doug Houda and Geoff Ward were both assistants with other teams last year but both have ties to Gorton from their Boston days as assistants there. Ward left Anaheim for personal reasons at the end of last year, so not sure what his status is. Also let go by the Ducks, Joel Bouchard is technically out there too. Nate Leaman is a rising coach with Providence in the US Collegiate levels, so maybe some ties to HuGo and MSL in the Northeastern US area. Pascal Vincent and Louis Robitaille are a couple of other names in the rumor mill too. Guess we'll see what direction they go in, but given they've gone off the board before it might be hard to predict.

[kinot-2]

On Friday, it was reported by Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff that Montreal Canadiens assistant coach Luke Richardson would be appointed the new head coach of the Chicago Blackhawks.

For the second time in as many days, the Canadiens have reportedly lost another coach/management piece. According to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman, the Vegas Golden Knights are set to hire Sean Burke as their Director of Goaltending, the same role he held in Montreal. Burke was on an expiring contract with the Canadiens.

[BigTed3]

Here are my predictions for the Canadiens' off-season:

1. They draft Shane Wright 1st overall.

2. If they keep the picks, they draft Isaac Howard at 26 and a D man at 33 (one of Pickering, Luneau, Odelius, Hutson, Casey, or Chesley and I'd tend to favor the chances of the pick being one of the USNTDP guys). I could also see them trying to package 26 and Edmonton's 2nd rounder to move up into the teens to select someone like Ohgren, Yurov, Mateychuk, Mintyukov, or Korchinski (or Lekkerimaki or Kemell if they happen to fall). But if I'm taking my best guess right now, I'll throw out Howard and Casey as the two most likely choices for HuGo.

3. They trade Jeff Petry. This is going to be to an American team. I know he's from Detroit and that he's been linked there, but I'm not sure I see Yzerman making that move. Dallas makes the most sense if Klingberg doesn't return. Pittsburgh also makes a lot of sense if Letang doesn't return, though I think the odds of Letang returning to Pittsburgh are relatively high. Philly may want him, but again I'm not sure the fit is as good. LA and the Islanders are two other teams that make a bit of sense to me, and maybe Nashville. If I had to pick a most likely scenario here, I'll say Petry goes to Dallas in some kind of a deal that includes Mavrik Bourque.

4. At least one of Hoffman or Drouin gets traded. I think the team knows they need to find space on their roster for Ylonen or RHP or both, so they're going to try to move out a more expensive winger. Hoffman is the guy we'd all love to see go. There are rumors he may have some value, but ultimately, he's a guy I'd be happy to dump even if the return is minimal. Will it happen though? Drouin potentially has more value as an expiring contract and a guy the Habs can retain salary on for this season. I've said it before, but I think the odds Drouin chooses to re-sign here after this season are close to 0%, so if he's not traded in the off-season, he'll be dealt before the trade deadline. Teams I could potentially see being interested in Drouin include Arizona, New Jersey, Nashville, Chicago, Seattle, Buffalo, the Islanders, and Calgary. I could see Drouin going for a 2023 2nd rounder. I could see him going to the Isles in a swap for Beauvillier. I could see the Habs packaging Drouin with 26 or 33 to try to pull Kirby Dach from Chicago. But I think Hughes' hands will be forced here because Drouin doesn't fit the Habs' plans and I don't think we fit Drouin's either. On top of that, I would not be surprised to see Joel Armia sent packing at the draft either.

5. I don't think we're going to see a huge free agent splash. I think an RFA offer is almost off the table, because teams aren't going to want to risk losing a 2023 lottery choice. In the UFA category, Ryan Strome remains the guy I can see Gorton being interested in bringing over from NY, which in turn allows you to give Wright one more year of junior or trade Dvorak. I can also see them looking into Trocheck because I think he's the type of player HuGo would like, but that move would come with a longer term and heftier price tag, so it may ultimately be less appealing. I can see them trying to get a short-term deal done with a middle 6 winger though, someone like Niederreiter, Rakell, Riley Smith, or Mikheyev. I can also see them sniffing around for a veteran RHD and yes, I think they will take a look at whether PK would sign a cheap one-year prove-it deal. If not, Lyubushkin or Colin Miller could be other targets. Ultimately, I'll say they go hard after Strome as their UFA target and try to swing a trade for a RHD, someone like Ethan Bear, Dante Fabbro, or Nils Lundkvist.

6. Internally, I'll say we re-sign Rem Pitlick for something around 2 years at 1.5M AAV, Pezzetta and Schuenemann for 1-2 years at league minimum, Romanov to a bridge deal for 2 years at 3.25M AAV, and Montembeault for 1 year at 1.25M.

 

[Regis22]

1 hour ago, kinot-2 said:

For the second time in as many days, the Canadiens have reportedly lost another coach/management piece. According to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman, the Vegas Golden Knights are set to hire Sean Burke as their Director of Goaltending, the same role he held in Montreal. Burke was on an expiring contract with the Canadiens.

Eric Raymond is the actual  goaltending coach . 

[Regis22]

And Luke is gone . Now coach of the hawks officially 

[claremont]

On 6/26/2022 at 3:49 PM, BigTed3 said:

Here are my predictions for the Canadiens' off-season:

1. They draft Shane Wright 1st overall.

2. If they keep the picks, they draft Isaac Howard at 26 and a D man at 33 (one of Pickering, Luneau, Odelius, Hutson, Casey, or Chesley and I'd tend to favor the chances of the pick being one of the USNTDP guys). I could also see them trying to package 26 and Edmonton's 2nd rounder to move up into the teens to select someone like Ohgren, Yurov, Mateychuk, Mintyukov, or Korchinski (or Lekkerimaki or Kemell if they happen to fall). But if I'm taking my best guess right now, I'll throw out Howard and Casey as the two most likely choices for HuGo.

3. They trade Jeff Petry. This is going to be to an American team. I know he's from Detroit and that he's been linked there, but I'm not sure I see Yzerman making that move. Dallas makes the most sense if Klingberg doesn't return. Pittsburgh also makes a lot of sense if Letang doesn't return, though I think the odds of Letang returning to Pittsburgh are relatively high. Philly may want him, but again I'm not sure the fit is as good. LA and the Islanders are two other teams that make a bit of sense to me, and maybe Nashville. If I had to pick a most likely scenario here, I'll say Petry goes to Dallas in some kind of a deal that includes Mavrik Bourque.

4. At least one of Hoffman or Drouin gets traded. I think the team knows they need to find space on their roster for Ylonen or RHP or both, so they're going to try to move out a more expensive winger. Hoffman is the guy we'd all love to see go. There are rumors he may have some value, but ultimately, he's a guy I'd be happy to dump even if the return is minimal. Will it happen though? Drouin potentially has more value as an expiring contract and a guy the Habs can retain salary on for this season. I've said it before, but I think the odds Drouin chooses to re-sign here after this season are close to 0%, so if he's not traded in the off-season, he'll be dealt before the trade deadline. Teams I could potentially see being interested in Drouin include Arizona, New Jersey, Nashville, Chicago, Seattle, Buffalo, the Islanders, and Calgary. I could see Drouin going for a 2023 2nd rounder. I could see him going to the Isles in a swap for Beauvillier. I could see the Habs packaging Drouin with 26 or 33 to try to pull Kirby Dach from Chicago. But I think Hughes' hands will be forced here because Drouin doesn't fit the Habs' plans and I don't think we fit Drouin's either. On top of that, I would not be surprised to see Joel Armia sent packing at the draft either.

5. I don't think we're going to see a huge free agent splash. I think an RFA offer is almost off the table, because teams aren't going to want to risk losing a 2023 lottery choice. In the UFA category, Ryan Strome remains the guy I can see Gorton being interested in bringing over from NY, which in turn allows you to give Wright one more year of junior or trade Dvorak. I can also see them looking into Trocheck because I think he's the type of player HuGo would like, but that move would come with a longer term and heftier price tag, so it may ultimately be less appealing. I can see them trying to get a short-term deal done with a middle 6 winger though, someone like Niederreiter, Rakell, Riley Smith, or Mikheyev. I can also see them sniffing around for a veteran RHD and yes, I think they will take a look at whether PK would sign a cheap one-year prove-it deal. If not, Lyubushkin or Colin Miller could be other targets. Ultimately, I'll say they go hard after Strome as their UFA target and try to swing a trade for a RHD, someone like Ethan Bear, Dante Fabbro, or Nils Lundkvist.

6. Internally, I'll say we re-sign Rem Pitlick for something around 2 years at 1.5M AAV, Pezzetta and Schuenemann for 1-2 years at league minimum, Romanov to a bridge deal for 2 years at 3.25M AAV, and Montembeault for 1 year at 1.25M.

 

Reasonable predictions and I would supplement as follows;

1) Wright is the most logical sense - you have a Canadian kid who I suspect would relish playing so close to his family. I believe he fits with the culture that HuGo are trying to build. We shouldn't gamble and go off the board wit a top pick, and a top centre fills a strong need as well as BPA. 

2A) One draft is not going to fix this team in short order. We can speculate how it would be great to get Nemec or Jiricek and trade away some top players (Anderson, Petry, etc.), or top prospects (Guhle, Harris, Norlinder etc.), to move up for "potential", but at the expense of promoting a continued sequence of a losing trajectory? How is that fair to a Suzuki, Caufield, Romanov, Harris, Barron, Edmundson, Gally etc.? This management team's objective should be to create some form of upward momentum over last year vs. continuing a downward tank spiral.  A degree of losing and measuring the kids playing improvement vs. expectations is the key milestone. There's probably 15 teams trying to significantly move up in the draft with limited trading partners in the top 6 picks. Significantly over paying for the next great hope just does not seem like a recipe for success to me

2B) I suspect we keep the picks and marginally move up or marginally move down. I suspect there will be some surprise falls and I could certainly see Howard, Kulich, Ostlund being picked if they think that Luneau, Chesley, Ty Nelson, Salomonsson, Casey are available at pick #33 (Hutson does not do it for me - weak shot, size, I suspect defensively gets turned a lot a la Victor Mete). I could see us trying to move up in the 2nd round  from picks #62, #66 for the solid skating C Owen Beck or C-Luca DBB or C Kaskimanki or LW Janni Nyman or LHD Odelius. I will be surprised if HuGo gamble on a Trikozov, Perevalov early.

3) IMO You are spot on with the Petry trade being dependent on Dallas talks with Klingberg, and Pittsburgh talks with Letang. Petry becomes the consolation prize with perhaps a bit of salary retention. Hextall but more Burke doesn't like to give up draft capital, so Dallas is more likely the landing spot. I suspect New Jersey, Nashville take a swings at Klingberg, less so on Letang, so they could also land Petry. 

4) Armia had a good World Championships - a short body of work iimprovement. I could see him getting calls before Drouin (who has to rebound for value), and Hoffman (who is a power play value at best). I wouldn't crticize HuGo for selling low on either of these underachievers. Gallagher is likely a fixture for us for the full season as I see that contract as untradeable at present

5) I will be surprised if we go after any free agent. The team will gamble on youth first. 

6) The only contract I really care about resigning is Romanov - both term and amount. Your numbers make sense. 

[maas_art]

Robinson seems to suggest he is unlikely to get back into coaching, so i think his chances of being MSL's assistant are slim, at best, but some good notes from him (about MSL) in this article:

 

https://montrealgazette.com/sports/hockey/nhl/hockey-inside-out/canadiens-head-coach-martin-st-louis-has-impressed-larry-robinson?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1656363485

[campabee82]

Price at the annual Comeau-Georges slo-pitch fundraiser seems to indicate his knee might finally be feeling comfortable. You can see from the pic's that it is not taped and he seemed to be in good shape. Gally on the other hand does have his knee taped, probably more for support than anything though as there is no brace or anything.

 

[BigTed3]

Anthony Duclair has torn his Achilles during off-season training and is expected to be out long-term after surgery. Bad news for him, but if issues were to keep happening to cause problems for the Panthers, well that might not be such as bad thing for the Habs and the Panthers' 2023 1st rounder.