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Well, obviously he'd be acquired to play center.

I've noticed over the last week or so that certain posters are getting downvoted simply for who they are and not for the content of their post. This stops now. I've finally figured out how to make it so that the moderators can see who is up/downvoting posts so we can start to keep tabs on who the culprits are. I won't name names publicly (you know who you are) but to those who are doing so, be advised that if it continues, there will be suspensions forthcoming. This will be the only warning.

Kovalev elbow on Tucker memorial month.

I do a lot with the Youngstown Phantoms of the USHL. I don’t know the set up for the league you might billot for - in the USHL the players often have their own transportation. But I would say this - for the players - it’s about the food. I’m not sure the hosts were paid enough to feed the players properly. That said - if your family loves hockey and feeds well and is basically sociable with teens (not too involved, not too distant) - then it’s an awesome thing to do. The players will be respectful and appreciative (unless you get a real dud - but I found those are rare) and you’ll create a friendship that will last for decades. (Unfortunately, Curtis Hall, a good kid I became friends with got drafted by the Bruins in the 4th round - i can’t easily root for him anymore) you can always message me if i can help more. Overall - if the transport is figured out and you feed well and are appropriately sociable .... GO FOR IT!!!!

I was actually listening to a Craig Custance podcast with Lawrence Gilman, who used to be the Canucks A.GM, and was hired by the league to help with the expansion draft rules. Basically, GMs made rules... and then he did an excercise where he looked at every team, looked at who they were likely to protect and projected what the rules would mean and what Vegas would look like. He mentioned a few things. 1) the original draft of the rules was even more generous to vegas. It required teams to put a certain amount of salary exposed, it would have made them even better as better players were exposed. The process he went through made the rules tougher on Vegas. 2) McPhee started to make his deals with teams at the trade deadline. This really helped them. These deals were registered with the league, but not announced. This was so if a GM got fired between the end of the season and the expansion draft, the deal would still be in place with the new regime. 3) One thing Gilman said would really hurt Vegas would be teams trading away players prior to expansion. Sort of like our Beaulieu to Buffalo deal. Guys one team couldnt' protect but another team could. This happened in a few cases, but not as many as Gilman anticipated. The really smart thing McPhee did was "The Pledge". Any team he made a deal with to take one of their players... or things like that... he forced them to agree that they would not make any other deals of this type to circumvent protection lists. This helped him keep as many players available as possible. 4) He leveraged his cap space and used it as a weapon. Taking on contracts like David Clarkson and Mikhail Grabovski in order to get better deal from the Blue Jackets and Islanders. Gilman thought a team might do that, but he praised McPhee as he got absolute max value out of doing it. 5) He built a team. He didn't just take the best players available necessarily, but he focused on a real concept of what he wanted from his team from day 1.... that concept was speed. 6) He maxed out on the number of D he was allowed to draft under the rules. Because of the rules, D were the best assets available. 7) It was one team of expansion, so he was able to plan his picks very methodically. He didn't have to worry about a second expansion team competing for the same group of players, like previous two team expansions had to. This allowed him and Vegas to keep running the same scenario over and over and absolutely maximize every asset they would get out of the draft. Gilman's main takeaway was that McPhee did an absolutely perfect job under the rules. He basically didn't make one bad move. At the same time he took advantage of team's like Florida and Columbus and Minnesota who gave him extra assets not to take their players. He felt teams overreacted to losing one player, and should have just lost that player and not made these multi-asset trades. The last thing (and this is important for the Habs), teams only had one year to plan for expansion. They didn't know the rules. Now GMs have 2-3 years to know what they will be facing, and can manipulate their rosters well in advance. This wasn't from Gilman, but my on though on how this applies to two players on the Habs... Kotkaniemi and Suzuki. The Habs are better off putting Suzuki in the OHL, where he won't accumulate a year of pro experience... and Kotkaniemi in Finland... where he won't accumulate a year of pro experience (he would in the AHL)... under the old expansion draft rules. Depending when Seattle comes in, this is the difference between protecting the players or them being exempt from the draft and giving us more protection slots.

Subban (You did say Who SHOULD be Captain? Not who could be captain?)

Thank you, Craig Rivet!

Well... good thing I'm already at a bar.

What kind of analysis is this? Our offense is defunct for multiple reasons, playmakers being the least of our concerns. What is more troublesome are how skewed we are, positionally, up front, we got Wingers trying to be Centers, Centers trying to be Wingers. We lack a legitimate 1C, probably even a 2C but lets worry about one issue at a time up there. Then we have a D core that is carried by 2 guys, both playing from the same side, also happen to be the only 2 capable of producing points on any kind of regular basis. We have no one on the Left side capable of eating minutes while driving some offense on a consistent basis for the forwards. Those are the real issues plaguing this offense, you have to be properly setup at the forward and defense position before you can even get into what style of players you need to compliment each other better and further upgrade that offense. You need a real 1C, you need a real top 6 with maybe only 1 guy out of the 6 being a bubble guy, the rest have to be hands down top 6 guys. You need at least 3 of your 6 Dmen to be very good all around players who are capable of playing big minutes, solid in their own zone, while contributing to team offense, whether on the PP or 5 on 5. We are obviously not there yet, and need to get there before we can even consider talking about how many natural goal scorers, playmakers, or net drivers we are lacking to make it better.

Can we fly Joe Lassiter and his Girl to the lottery?

I usually make these but this beauty came from reddit

Didn't see a thread, never made one before and I don't know what I'm doing! Feel free to add stuff..rosters...etc...

This strategic mastermind, this managerial wizard, gave us all a look behind the gilded curtain of his overpowering visionary acumen at the presser yesterday: "The goal is to get younger, faster with character, and that’s what we’re going to try to do moving forward...We’re going young with speed and character." - Marc Bergevin These penetrating words, which so brilliantly cut through to the nub of the matter and demonstrate a far-seeing, prophetic insight into the future direction of the game well beyond that of his colleagues - most of whom are, of course, have yet to make the realization that MB has arrived at in year six of his rebuild, i.e., the pressing need for youth and speed - come from the same Napoleonic mind that brought you -Shea Weber -Karl Alzner -Jamie Benn -Dwight King -Steve Ott All players who made the team inestimably younger and faster. One can only be uplifted by this track record and the new revelation of how consistently our GM has built upon this clear and inspiring vision of the Montreal Canadiens. No doubt, given another decade, he will come to the realization that the league has legalized the forward pass! Meanwhile, here's a sneak peak at next year's edition of your Montreal Canadiens:

"Lol" - Andrei Markov

The team needs a better center for the 4th line? I wonder if Bergevin is up to the task.... Cut to Habs' hockey ops meeting Julien - "Marc, I think it's pretty clear that acquiring a top 6 centre would really benefit the team." Bergevin - "uh huh..." *starts looking at custom suits online* *Timmins does pushups while muttering about Galchenyuk* Muller - "Or uh, maybe a puck moving defenseman who can play 25 minutes a night...?" Bergevin - "zzzzzzZZZZZZzzzzzz" *Timmins does deadlifts and sneezes, "SERgachev! Oh, excuse me." Daigneault - "a bettar 4th line center wud be gud!!!1!!" Julien and Muller - "JJ! NO!!" Bergevin snaps awake, twinkle in his eye - "Now we're talking! Scott, who did I help draft in Chicago that can play center on our 4th line?" Mellanby - "Um... Byron Froese, sir." Bergevin - "Tabernac! This is as good as we get, guys! Nothing more to do for this team!" *Muller stares at nothing. Mellanby thinks he should suit up for a tryout. Julien caresses his locket of Brad Marchand. Timmins does burpees in the corner. Daigneault writes in crayon.* fin

Ah, too bad zero isn't an option.

"Attitude" is not helped when a team sees its management throwing its most distinguished veteran on the scrap heap even though he can still play, and then letting a blood-and-guts power forward who drives the team's offence walk as a UFA - and then proceeds to blame the players for assembling a transparently inadequate roster. The main attitude adjustment has to occur in the front office. I would love to see PK Subban hoisting Lord Stanley's mug and rubbing it in the face of all those constipated old boys and double-standard subliminal racists who declared him a 'problem' for committing the heinous sin of having a personality.

MONTOYA WATCH!!!!!!!!!!!! 1 more game with 30 minutes played to go. Edmonton plays 2 more back-to-backs, this weekend and next. I don't know why I'm this jacked to move up from ~131 to ~100 in the draft, but #### YEAH, 1 MORE GAME, LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Take Morrow out and put Marc Bergevin in instead. Force him to play all 60 minutes, or at least make him responsible for 'stopping' PK Subban. That should be suitable punishment.

Top three, easily.

Man. All you have to do is concede that the original statement about building a new core every 5 years, was not what you were trying to get across, and this argument ends. Looks to me like you are both inferring the same thing, but picking out points to argue for the sake of it.

Wait... am I being traded too? Guys, come on, I'm trying hard out here, I'm just in a bit of a rough patch. Put me on a line with DON and The Chicoutimi Cucumber and I swear my posts will improve.

The St. Louis Blues are likely going to keep Robert Thomas. He is one year older than Kotkaniemi. They have a legit top 3 Cs in Schenn, O'Reilly and Bozak. Kotkaniemi has done more in pre-season than Thomas. By that measure, yes, you can justify keeping him. He's done nothing in camp other than play well enough for a spot on this team. Its a hard choice but I'd send him to Finland. 1) He can bulk up. 2) He can still get NHL games at the end of the Finnish season. 3) His dad is the coach in Finland and will give him first line C minutes. This isn't the typical Euro coach who sees a young kid and isn't invested in him long-term, and is only about the here and now and winning now and development of an 18 year old be damned. This is a coach who will truly care about Jesperi's development. 4) The Habs aren't winning... don't waste a year of his ELC, a year towards free agency, and a year towards him needing to be protected in expansion, on this season. He can come in next year with Suzuki and Poehling, and perhaps our 2019 pick and they can really grow all together.

This discussion is ridiculous. Now we're being told that the 2014 or 2015 teams were "28th overall teams" - a bizarre conflation of basic realities in order to save some kind of pathetic and desperate narrative that MB is a good GM. How about this. HE TURNED A TEAM THAT CAME WITHIN TWO GAMES OF THE FINALS (2014) AND FINISHED 2ND OVERALL (2015) into the living hunk of festering shit you see today. That's what his incredible leadership has brought us. He DID have a team on the cusp of true contention. The results proved this. Its key core pieces (all inherited) were young. Pleks and Markov were aging and anyone could see they would need replacing within 2-3 years. HE dismantled it for no reason that survives rational scrutiny. HE failed to add to the good core that was there. HE failed to plan to replace the aging veterans that obviously needed replacing. His big "solution" (trading Subban) solved ZERO actual problems and made the team older and worse. This team is garbage right now for one reason and one reason only: Marc Bergevin. In the hands of a competent GM, the Subban/Patches/Price core would be in the middle of its prime Cup window. Right frigging now. Has he learned from his mistakes and is now building a team properly? Hey, the next few years will tell that tale. But wheezing on about how the team was always bad, or how finishing 28th was all part of his genius master plan, is simply preposterous.

If the GM has a core that comes within two games of the Finals, it's HIS job to elevate that core, not blow it up.

Teams don't trade #1s... You were never getting Cody Glass, you were never getting Casey Mittelstadt, You were never getting Elias Pettersson. These are guys I would look at as 1As. They were never the guys we discussed at the deadline either. Suzuki is in the same class as the guys we talked about at the deadline.... Robert Thomas was in the 20s... Gabe Vilardi was in the 20s.... Sam Steel is in the 30s....Morgan Frost is in this area.... These are the guys I was looking at back in those trade deadline posts, and its exactly the kind of guy that we got. I never thought we'd hit the surefire #1 C with pacioretty. Teams just don't trade those, and if they do, its not for a winger.

Just walked passed Max Domi in Toronto. I circled back and wished him a good season, "go habs." He thanked me and complimented my beard. Nice encounter, 8/10, would recommend.

I guess this is a relevant topic on the hockey forum, has anyone been a billet family for a player before? We’ve been asked by a friend who coaches a AAA 15U team if we’d host one of their players for the season. It’s quite a responsibility, but it might be good to expose my son to the work/dedication of a top tier player, too. My son will be a competitive squirt goalie next year. Just curious is anyone has any any experience either first hand or known anyone they’d billeted.

If Montreal has great players, nobody will care what they speak. But the media has made it clear that if the club sucks? It better suck with local players. Same with coaching and GM. If the best coach or GM wants to come here, they will be accepted. They just don't have a very big window to get it done. But if we are going with someone with no experience, people want a local and they want to hear their own language. Kovalev got Lafleur comparisons for an 84 point season. That's how starved this franchise is for top flight players. That's why I say tank and rebuild. If we got Hughes first overall and he proved to be a 100 point centre, nobody would care he's an under six feet tall Yank. They would celebrate him all still. The first language of the Habs is success and we forgot how to speak the native tongue.

at the end of the day... MB inherited a team with a -future hart trophy winner -future norris trophy winner -future 4 time 30+ goal scorer -a veteran LD puck mover who would be press for all time habs D record stats (if not for 2 major knee surgeries and some lost seasons to lockouts) - a heart, soul and guts player like gallagher -plus and a 3rd overall pick... and he completly shi*t the bed! what he's done to move this team forward with those assets is what deserves an F and i believe with all that in mind, know body can justifiably defend him... sure he was able to sign radulov for 1 year but botched his resigning... sure he was able to steal danault... pick up byron.... but as well as his depth moves have been at times the real assessment of your body of work is with the impact players!!

"this isn't the "try league" this is the "get it done" league. Eventually they're going to find people who can get it done" A baseball player said this, but it applies to all pro sports. I don't care what he's TRIED I care that the biggest problem he inherited in day 1 was lack of a #1 C He opened the 2012-13 season with Desharnais, Plekanec, Eller at C He opened the 2013-14 season with Desharnais, Plekanec, Eller at C He opened the 2014-15 season with Desharnais, Plekanec, Eller at C He opened the 2015-16 season with Desharnais, Plekanec, Eller at C He opened the 2016-17 season with Galchenyuk, Desharnais, Plekanec at C He opened the 2017-18 season with Drouin, Danault, Plekanec at C He appears that he will open the 2018-19 season with Drouin, Danault, Plekanec at C When it comes to solving the biggest issue on the team, we are entering year 7, and he has not... Got It Done I don't care about trying. His job is to get results, and if you don't get results GTFO

Thanks for the feedback. Transportation is mostly accommodated, a lot will depend on which school he attends. I was initially a “no”, while my wife has been for it. I think I’m starting to sway a little bit towards the yes. We have the room, we have the money to afford any extra food. I know we’d get paid, but as you said, it’s more a supplement amount and not something that would cover all expenses. It could definitely make for an interesting hockey season coming up!

Lol! We should abreviate it to: SAC Easier to type.

Well, exactly. The issue is not that Domi utterly sucks or is unlikable. That's a red herring. Nor is it that Galchenyuk was some untouchable superman. That's also a red herring. It's that the trade accomplished nothing in terms of addressing actual roster holes and does not represent an upgrade even at the LW position. As with the Weber deal, the absolute best that can be said for it - the absolute most optimistic interpretation - is that it's a lateral move. In fact this is what the tiny number of defenders of the trade are saying. "Domi has similar PPG totals." As if this is a defence of the trade. So great, best case scenario, we traded a second-line LW for another second-line LW. WHY? Meanwhile, anyone with a brain can see that Galchenyuk has the higher ceiling. So we are taking most of the risk in this deal because we surrendered the players who has 30-goal, 70+ point potential...and can play C to boot. The rhetorical strategies of Bergevin and his supine cheerleaders are well-worn and all too familiar: 1. "Player X is gone, stop complaining and celebrate that we have Player Y!" In other words, suspend all critical thought about whether X is better than Y. 2. The player we traded away had all kinds of intangible negatives we don't know about. This makes the player we got back "better" on some sort of metaphysical level even though he is not actually better on the ice. 3. The players we got back is "about as good" as the player we traded, so the trade is Jim Dandy, even though it in no way makes the team better, which is the whole point of making a trade. One new wrinkle is the move whereby Domi's struggles are excused because of the bad Arizona environment, while Galchenyuk's struggles are entirely his own fault, even though the Habs have a track record of being unable to work with talented young players and turning them into a "problem" that has to be "solved" (Subban). This line of argument also ignores that the Habs had about the same record as "basket case" Arizona If I wanted to defend the trade, I'd say this: Domi is more of a playmaker than Galy. If the team needs a playmaker more than it needs a goalscorer, that's at least some sort of way to justify the move. Just don't give me this crap about "intangibles" or that we're supposed to love everything the Habs do no matter how stupid it is.

I don't understand what all the fire and fury about this article is folks, sounds like some of you are still letting yourselves get sucked into the quick sand of negativity for the most nonsensical reasons, bordering on irrational frustration. I get it, he has done some truly foolish moves, especially in the last 2 years, but the kicker is, everyone, including him, is capable of redemption. Everyone can get their asses handed to them, their mistakes pointed out, and a general slap in the face style wake up call for one reason or another and get their acts together afterwards. Remaining positive, and judging the moves that come next as they come is the key to not getting wrapped up in this irrational blanket of negativity. Lets dissect this interview and its answers a little bit, and figure out what some of you got your panties in a bunch about. Because to me, objectively speaking, this is some of the most positive feedback from Bergevin I've heard all year. 1. He claims we had some really good seasons, we have finished 1st, 3rd, and 6th in the league during his time, pretty safe to call those really good seasons. 2. He claims we had 1 really good playoff, we went to the Conference Final once during his time, pretty safe to call that a really good playoff. 3. He claims to not be interested in trading the 3rd pick, that it will help improve this team in the long term. He is absolutely correct, he could try some "Save my Ass" trade that doesn't help this team long term, but instead is aware and willing to make the right hockey decision, regardless of his fate. 4. He claims there is a need at Center, and says Drouin could fill the role if needed, it is pretty clear, Drouin as a top Center is not his 1st choice. He rather add a Center, but if the plans to get one backfire on him this offseason, he is ready and willing to let Drouin continue to grow at Center. He is saying without saying, I need a Center, I am going to try and get one, but I am willing to use Drouin again, in case the league thinks they can hose me for a center just because it may look like a dire need. He is trying to leave himself a bit of leverage for any potential acquisition, that he is in need, but not admitting a dire need publicly. He is also trying to make sure Drouin doesn't feel as though he failed, and lack confidence, so he can come into next season without that monkey on his back, regardless where he will play. 5. Pointed out the obvious, some of our usually awesome players had very under the norm seasons, Pacioretty and Price come to mind. Our season would not have played out the way it did if Price is his .924 SV% self, if Pacioretty is his 30 something goal scoring self, if Weber was there for most of the season. These are all just facts, and not simply excuses, the team has its holes and fair share of needs, but when you couple that with 3 elite players either missing or playing like they're missing, its a disaster. 6. He actually mentions he Believes the league has certainly shifted towards tons of speed, and again he is bang on, it has shifted towards speed majorly. If he is now finally thinking that, then perhaps we are done with the Dwight King, Steve Ott, Karl Alzner type of acquisitions. If he evaluates any player he goes after going forward, using speed as one of his main criteria, because he believes speed is the way of the league now, we could assume at the very least, he is done acquiring slow pokes now. So like I said, it is either all accurate statements, or a sign that his head is in the right place as far as how to approach the draft, what his needs are on the roster, and what qualities those targets need to have to fit in today's NHL and make your team better because of it. Simply put, he has his priorities straight, his targets are clear, and he sounds like he knows what kind of NHL game is currently being played. So to me, after the debacle that was last summer, that is all Positive Positive Positive. So I don't get what all the fuss is about.

We Ok lets look at the Entire body of work: 2012 off-season. His first big free agent move was overpaying and wasting cap space on Brandon Prust. At the same time he made this move, he was overpaying Travis Moen, a contract he'd later have to dump, taking back the decrepit body of Sergei Gonchar just to get rid of him. 2013 off-season The next year, he took Michael McCarron in the first round, and Connor Crisp in the third round. Both for their character. More talented players like Anthony Duclair, and Pavel Buchnevich were available in the third round but had character concerns. He then signed Douglas Murray and George Parros in the off-season. He allowed Michael Ryder to walk, instead signing Daniel Briere. Later Briere was shipped out and Parenteau brought in. At the 2015 deadline Defense was improved with Petry. We needed more scoring.. what did we add for forwards... character in Torrey Mitchell, Bryan Flynn, and Devante Smith-Pelley 2015 off-season after we failed to score enough goals. We brought in Fleischmann and Semin instead of you know... talent. 2016 we flamed out. Subban was traded for Weber We overpaid for Andrew Shaw We signed Radulov, but only one year cause character was a question At the deadline when we needed scoring, we instead got Martinsen, Ott, Nolan, Benn. 2017 we let markov and radulov walk we grabbed character in Alzner. There are a shit ton of moves that can be traced back to ####ing character.

- It's not about crippling. I've seen teams make bad trades and still be successful. Boston traded Joe Thornton for pretty much nothing and won a Cup five years later. Boston then traded Seguin in a bad trade and they are fine right now. Washington is in the ECF despite the Erat for Forsberg trade and signing Brooks Orpik to a dumb contract. You can even make good moves and not find success in it, such as Radulov and Bishop to Dallas and when the Islanders acquired Vanek. - "Perhaps there was a toxic work environment" is BS. I'm sorry. Chicago had LOCKER ROOM FIGHTS the last time they won the Stanley Cup with rumours of players sleeping with each others wives. Raanta got ostracized by the organization for talking about it. The Canadiens players in the 70s didn't like Scotty Bowman one bit and often ignored him or dogged it at practice just to rile him up. The idea that one player was so bad everyone had to get rid of him, regardless of his talent, it's a fabrication. - When Subban got traded to Nashville, Rinne and Hartnell were worried based on his reputation. Rinne said in Players Tribune that Subban was extremely positive and kept the locker room in good spirits after losses. Basically everything that was said to be Bergevin's problem (players not being angry after a loss) with the locker, was considered a positive in Nashville. So if anything was toxic, it was Bergevin's viewpoint. - Here's what you miss. Montreal had an aging LD puck mover (Markov), a failing LD puck mover (Beaulieu), an overpaid LD defensive D-Man (Emelin), a franchise RD puck mover, (Subban) and second pair RD puck mover (Petry). The team needed to find a new LD puck mover and get rid of the overpaid defensive LD. They got rid of the failing guy, but then traded the franchise RD puck mover for a more defensive minded, former franchise RD PP Specialist (Weber), which meant the organization now lacked two puck movers. Then they let the aging LD puck mover walk and let the overpaid guy get picked up, but replaced them with an overrated trash fire (Benn) and an overpaid broken LD (Alzner). They signed another aging LD puck mover thinking he could do the job (Streit) and he didn't even make it to the season. So now the organization lacked puck movement and puck possession. This isn't Weber's fault, but Weber isn't the kind of player Subban is. He doesn't move the puck like he does. Meaning even though Weber does other things well, the organization is now in need for that. And instead of filling that need, Bergevin went the other way. And that's why the D is now one of the worst in the league. So Weber didn't cripple the team, but it pushed the team philosophy in the wrong direction. It was a domino. The organization needed to add a Fowler type and didn't. Now it's praying the young D develop right and fill in spots while several spots are filled by trashfires. Weber isn't responsible for any of it but if they didn't trade Subban, the organization wouldn't be in such a desperation for puck movers and playing guys like Mete in a 1LD role as a freaking rookie.

I can’t see anything fixed with this team until the biggest problem - it’s management is fixed. I had to hold off posting anything after yesterday’s ridiculous press conference. Is there anyone actually left that supports that moron MB???

This is great news! The code has been cracked! We can continue to use Benn on first pair and expect excellent break out passes with a little better attitude. The exciting news is that we haven't seen the real Schlemko yet either so expect elite break out passes from him as well. MB was so close but just missed it with Character...What we really needed was ATTITUDE. What really gets me excited is Molson declaring how much better the food will be next year as well. The fans were upset this year and grumbled a lot and SURELY this was due to sub par hotdogs. I for one am excited about a better fan experience. We were 30th in scoring this year but that was due to Price having an off year. Price needs a better attitude and he will score more goals next season. We are on the right track, we shipped out the player with the worst attitude already. Subban hated to win and would never do what it takes to succeed. They were right about Galchenyuk too! that scrub does not have the proper attitude to play centre and he never will. May as well ship him out and laugh at the team that tries to play him there. Attitude has nothing to do with the coach however, I mean what do we expect CJ to do with such a sorry lot? I did not expect much from this presser but holy crap this was the worse one ever. MB is a delusional egomaniac and Molson is a buffoon for continuing to believe in him. Bring on the new batch of bottom pairing Dmen and bottom six forwards. This is a farce and I truly can't believe what has happened to our team. Everything lies on this years draft and hoping Tavares takes a big paycheck from us. God help us all

It's the matchup that CBC was surely hoping for when this game was originally scheduled - Curtis McElhinney vs Charlie Lindgren. No Carey Price. No Frederik Andersen. No Auston Matthews. No Max Pacioretty or Shea Weber. No Leo Komarov or Nikita Zaitsev. What a captivating matchup this will be...and if you don't think so, the word matchup will be drilled into our heads all night from Jim Hughson and Craig Simpson as without so many star players, you can be assured that matchups will be the forced narrative as Claude Julien and Mike Babcock try to outmatch the line matching. Puck drop is around 7:15 and if it's the usual anthem singer in Toronto for this one, you'll want to keep it on mute until then.

I missed the first period. Tuning in at the second, I've had the joy of watching one of the worst, most hapless editions of the Montreal Canadiens I've ever seen. Garbage in every way, bad beyond all infinite possible dimensions of badness, just festering piles of uniformed sh*t spread all over the ice in disarray, like heaps left by some massive, diarrhetic hippopotamus. The architects of this miserable excuse for a hockey club should be banned from the city of Montreal on pain of summary execution.

wtf Scherbak just got me pregnant.

The Challenges a new GM would face in cleaning up Marc Bergevin's Mess. http://lastwordonhockey.com/2018/01/27/marc-bergevins-mess/

- Bridge contract for Subban - Keeping Desharnais as a top six centre - Thinking the team's problem against Ottawa was they needed to get tougher. - Skipping on Jagr due to a personal grudge. - Skipping on Robinson because he was impatient and wanted JJ Daigneault in an NHL position. - Hiring Therrien - Publicly congratulating Subban on negotiating a number a couple hundred thousand higher than what Bergevin was offering. - Going after Lecavalier and Briere hard - Signing Briere when there was already too many centres so Therrien played a veteran natural centre on the wing. - Letting Timmins draft Connor Crisp - Acquiring Vanek and being fine with Therrien dropping him down the lineup, making the trade pointless. - Needing to fill the 1RW spot, trading for Parenteau to make up for the Briere mistake. Therrien once again clearly doesn't like him. Has to be bought out. - Prioritizing a 2RD over a 2LD when it was clear the plan needed to be about who would one day replace Markov, and not using young players like Beaulieu and Tinordi (who couldn't make Therrien happy) to do it. - Fighting Subban tooth and nail on his new contract once again, this time publicly losing as everyone knew Molson had to step in. - No strategy set by the coach for Galchenyuk to be a top six centre. Keeps Plekanec, Desharnais, and Eller which meant Therrien never had to try Galchenyuk at centre if he didn't want to. Could have traded someone to force Therrien's hand but did not. - After the team's best season despite a second round exit for lack of scoring, Bergevin only signs Semin and Fleischmann. Still no decision on 2LD as Markov is getting older and as he does, the need turns into a 1LD. - Does nothing when his Hart trophy goalie goes down. Relies on a rookie and a career backup on his way out. James Reimer is available all season to any team. Eventually goes to San Jose at the deadline for peanuts. - Still won't trade a centre to make a spot for Galchenyuk. - Calls Subban a Hab for life when rumours break that Bergevin has been talking to teams about him. Threatens NHL action on the Canucks for talking openly about it. Talks more about how Gretzky was traded. Trades Subban the last day he can before the NMC is activated. - Chases Lucic, a left winger. Fails, so he tells remaining free agents he won't give them more than a one year deal. Perron says no. Radulov says yes but wants two years. Bergevin says one or none. Radulov signs. Habs for the fourth time acquire a top six RW with a temporary contract (Ryder, Vanek, Parenteau, Radulov) - Blames the bad season on himself so nobody will be fired. Then blames it on injuries. Defends Subban trade by saying there's things about Subban we don't know about. - Still has not filled the 2LD spot so Therrien plays Emelin with Weber. Eventually gives up and plays the old men together. - Galchenyuk once again moved off centre after proving himself because he came back too early from an injury. Eventually re-signs Galchenyuk after telling the world he won't be a centre. This season proves it, as pretty much everyone gets a shot except Galchenyuk. - After several failing seasons in the AHL as head coach, team allows Lefebvre to look for new work. Doesn't fill his spot, then when he fails, gives him his old job back. - Trades the one guy who could actually fill the 1LD spot for Drouin. Decides Drouin will be a centre. - Doesn't re-sign Radulov or Markov after take it or leave it offers. - Trades Pateryn for something his wife said, for a guy who goes on a hot streak despite a career proving he's nothing more than a third pair guy. Protects third pair guy in expansion draft. Brings him up as a potential first pair partner for Weber. He's in the top four currently playing worse than almost any defenceman in the league. There's more but I have run out of time and my finger is sore.

Leave the guys wife out of it for crying out loud. That is one of the worst posts I have ever seen on this board. I am not a fan of Bergevin ads Habs GM either, but come on...

First game alert!! Please win for this kid..

It's true, but this has a whiff of the John Leclair deal to me. Put a very talented young player in an "ideal situation" and he can blossom into a star-cum-superstar. I think the optimists may be looking at it the wrong way. Sergachev is 19 years old playing a position that generally takes guys three or four years to master at the NHL level. And he is already a top-4 defender. And you can say, 'well, he's on a powerhouse.' Sure. But an organization as strong as TB would not put a 19-year-old in its top 4 unless that kid forced his way into that position. In other words, Sergachev has earned a top-4 spot on the best team in the game. At 19 years old. That is MUCH more impressive than a 22-year-old Drouin producing mediocre numbers while artificially being gifted a #1C slot on a crap team. A solid case can be made that it looks as though we traded a future Norris-trophy-calibre defenceman for a run-of-the-mill top-3 FW who is not even a natural C. That would be an absolutely terrible trade.

We have our disagreements, but the regulars (and irregulars!) on this site have become an integral part of my experience of Habs fandom. I'm sure I tick some of you off with my unrelenting critique of the current regime, so thanks for listening. And particular thanks to the editors, writers and moderators of HW - especially Brian, who is the glue guy holding it all together! HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

If you think the problem is the players, the problem is who acquired the players: management. If you think the problem is the media, the problem is the people who care what they say: management. If you think the problem is drafting, the problem is the people who draft: management. If you think the problem is developing, the problem is who runs the development: management. If you think the problem is coaching, the problem is who hired the coaching staff: management. The only thing that isn't the problem of management is the person who allows management to run the way they run: ownership.

Too bad Simmons isn't a C. Basically, if we use serious assets to acquire a good player, it better be a C.