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2017 may be a nice draft class; Poehling (25), Brook (56), Ikonen (58), Walford (68)-playing for WHL vs Russians in subway series, Fleury (87) (already in AHL) and Primeau (199) likely to be starting goalie for team USA at world juniors.

I figured if I didn't include the current year in the title it would set off a frenzy of posts from people scorned over the last few years. The focus of this thread is the moves made by Bergevin in the current year and how they have set up this team to it's surprising-to-most good start. The 18-19 Habs edition is noticeably different than it's predecessor, mainly by their style, but also by their.....attitude. There's that catch word everybody loves, yet it is apparent. Guys are competing every single shift, there is such an internal competition that it is pushing everyone to their max. Scratching free agent signing Plekanec and big contract Alzner to start the season was a Julien decision, and it wasn't held back by any fictitious Bergevin ego. This team now has an identity, and that is speed and attitude. I recall against Detroit when Drouin was hurt with a shot block and finally got to his feet, only to get shoved by Bertuzzi. Well here come like 3 Habs to his defense looking to fight him, haven't seen that in a long time. It seems like there is alot of cohesion on this team and it is fun to watch. Now let's look at the moves made in this calendar year in no particular order: *Hires highly successful Joel Bouchard out of the Q to coach Laval *Hires World Junior Championship coach Dominique Doucharme as an assistant coach *Trades life long Hab Plekanec to the rival Leafs for a pick and prospects, only to get him back for free via UFA *Trades a disgruntled Galchenyuk who never found a role with the team after 6 (!) seasons, for Max "100 times better than his Dad" Domi *Does not give in to Buffalo's demands in a trade for Ryan O'Rielly *Acquires Joel Armia for money that isn't his *Trades a 5th (!) round pick to Minnesota for Mike "looks like a top 4 D to me" Rielly *Signs Xavier Ouellet for maybe the minimum (I'm not looking it up) *Drafts Jasperi Kotkaniemi who looks like a stud so far, despite the majority of fans wanting someone else *Speaking of drafting centers, he drafts 7 of them (looked that one up) *Trades captain Max Pacioretty for Thomas Tatar, who in a small sample size looks to win the trade by himself and is under team control for longer for a lower overall cap hit, PLUS a 13th overall center prospect and a 2nd rounder (!) Do I even have to mention the return that LWs Jeff Skinner and Mike Hoffman got? *Names Shea Weber the 30th captain of the Montreal Canadiens despite him being out due to injury. It's not going to player vote this time guys Say whatever you want about the past, but it is hard to argue against anything that Marc Bergevin has done in 2018

Poehling highlights/play.

As others have mentioned, RFAs need to be protected. Moravcik/Sklenicka/Evans/Vejdemo would be exempt though if it's 2020. Leaving Mete/Juulsen available for free would be extremely risky, especially if both are established regulars by then. Same with someone like Domi if you're suggesting leaving all RFAs unprotected. Weber does not have a no-move clause in his contract. As his deal was one signed via an offer sheet, there is no sort of trade protection at any point in the contract.

1) RFAs will need to be protected so he does need to protect them if he wants to keep them 4) again they are all RFAs, they will need to be protected if we want to keep them

Rfas can still be lost in an expansion draft. I believe Mete and Juulsen will both have played enough games by then to need to be protected.