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Given the NHL’s approach to discipline, he could get 5, he could get 1, he could get a fine, he could get awarded a new pony and be told he’s a Good Guy. Who the f**k knows

There is never an acceptable reason for cross checking someone to the head. The idea that he hurt the leaf’s feelings and that justified the response is ridiculous. You rarely see nonsense like this in the NFL. I hope the terrible player safety team uses this to set a precedent and suspends him for many games. The entire code crap is outdated nonsense

Enjoy retirement Pleky! A great soldier for this team over the years

People have different opinions on this forum. You can disagree without being disagreeable. You don't need to make it personal. I had very high hopes for Dach. Not that I thought he would replace Suzuki on the 1st line but that he could have similar points totals and have a similar impact. That hope is gone for this year unfortunately.

So, EOTP finished their "top 25 under 25" rankings, and in the meantime, Corey Pronman assessed the Habs' prospect pipeline as #6 in the league. Spent a bit of time compiling the two together: There are some significant differences (more on those later), but the top seven players (including Suzuki) are pretty consistently assessed--and even consistent within the EOTP editors' rankings. Suzuki, Caufield, Dach and Slafkovsky up front, and Guhle, Reinbacher and Hutson on D. That may not be enough yet to contend, but it's a solid young core to build around. In the next tier, we have Newhook, Roy, Beck and Barron (Pronman actually had Barron at #7, ahead of Hutson), who are more likely to be middle-six/middle-pair players. I'm personally encouraged by seeing Beck this high in both rankings (top 10 in both). Further down, Pronman ranked Mailloux as "has a chance to play", based on the NHL not having made a decision yet when he wrote up the rankings, but he had Xhekaj surprisingly high at #12, and Mysak at #13, both ahead of Kidney, heineman and Mesar. I do think that in the lower part of the ratings the EOTP editors may be closer to the mark than Pronman: the latter ranked all 32 teams' prospects, and cannot possibly have had time to watch the lesser prospects for any length of time. All of this is based on personal evaluations and assessments, of course, and reality is still another month away. However, at least those rankings made good reading in the dog days of August and then some.

I respect everything you say. And I agree that a reasonably informed person could look at this pick and be unsettled by a pick that seems to be positional rather than BPA, in a year full of elite talent. On the other hand, let’s face it, you are basically setting yourself up here as a superior talent evaluator to the habs’ scouting staff, Hughes, and Gorton. Then there are all the denunciations that they didn’t move down - as though we are privy to what trade options were actually on the table, or deny that Arizona wanted the kid. Word like “disaster” and “gut wrenching” are being used to describe this pick. That seems out of all proportion to me. The Habs took an unexpected turn with Slaf and now with this kid. We don’t know yet whether our group has superior draft acumen, or is just outsmarting itself. Concern is a reasonable reaction. Lamentations and anger seem unreasonable. Again, I remember Price and the rage and dismay that shook Habs land when his name was called. It is simply too soon for such strong reactions IMHO.

Well since you wanted an update.. I sat next to David Abrutyn on the flight from Weschester NY to Nashville. Here’s a bit about him:https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2017/04/26/People-and-Pop-Culture/David-Abrutyn.aspx He saw my 10yr reading The Hockey News Draft edition magazine and talking to him for a bit he pulled out an autographed photo of Ovechkin and handed one to each of my boys. After talking draft for a bit he mentioned the following: He’s not 100% convinced Anaheim takes Fantilli at #2. He insisted Verbeek likes to think outside of the box and that he believes Michkov is the second most talented player out there. If Michkov doesn’t go at 2, he expects him to be available at 5. My kid told him he wanted MTL to take Smith. He told him he doesn’t believe Smith will be there at there at 5. He also mentioned that he expects Washington to make a strong push to move up to 5 if Michkov is still on the board. When I asked him what he thought it would take he said it would be expensive but didn’t divulge anything more.

We need your A game tonight buddy. Habs can’t afford a win…

Ottawa pulls out the 5-3 victory.

Plus they also need the 2 way play of a Joel Armia and the steadying presence in net of a Jake Allen.

Hmmm. It seems to me that if Reinbacher develops into a #2-3 defenceman, that will feel disappointing, but it would only be a proven wrong choice if the players drafted in the immediate vicinity after him go on to become impact players in their own right. Right? If none of those guys become more than second-liners, for example, then I'll be happy with a #2-3 d-man. We can't just assume that other teams' picks will max out their potential and that ours won't.

First of all, many posters have commented that they like the feature. Secondly, the writers on this site are volunteers, so launching a whole thread to crap on one of them is totally out of order. Not cool. Thirdly, refer to the above note about “volunteers.” If you hate it so much, then rather than attack the work of others, step up and start doing some features yourself and give us all the benefit of your superior prose and insight.

So using Commandant's example, if someone offered you say a 3rd round pick for Joshua Roy would you accept it as he was drafted in the 5th round? Would you accept a late 1st round pick for Lane Hutson considering he was drafted late in the 2nd round? You trade based on current value of the player not on the value of the player from 3 years ago. I am pretty confident that Hughes won't sell his players short.

Allen is old and clearly not the long term solution. Primeau learning and proving he's an NHLer is a hope, not a guarantee. You want the worst case scenario.... here it is. The worst that can happen is that you traded away 1/2 of what would be a future tandem for you, and you need to go out and find two goalies instead of 1 before your are ready to make the playoffs. The worst case scenario is that Monty proves he's a 1a/1b, Allen continues to show his age and fall off, Primeau never becomes a legit NHL goalie (or 1 of them gets a serious injury and you have to look for a goalie to finish the year), the prospects in the system are not ready for the NHL. You have to look for 2 goalies next summer. Meanwhile, with two bad goalies behind a young team, you hurt the confidence and development of a core that is full of young defencemen who are in their 1st or 2nd season on the blueline, and a bunch of forwards who are still young like Slaf, Caufield, Newhook, Suzuki, Ylonen, RHP, etc.... stalling all of their development because the team loses confidence and plays tight knowing that any mistake is a goal against.

The connecting thread to the Habs was that Huberdeau is a francophone from Quebec and therefore of special interest to the Habs and Habs fans. I really have to object to your description of the article as a “puke of words” and your complaining about Ten Thoughts. This site is managed and its articles written by VOLUNTEERS. If we don’t like their work, we can make polite suggestions, or quietly ignore a given contribution. But calling them out and insulting their work is not cool. It’s a graceless act of entitlement and ingratitude. If you don’t like it, how about you step up and offer to write some stuff? I promise I won’t call it “puke” even if it is.

I think the Petry's are getting a bad rap. They loved their time in Montreal and always said that. Their issue was the insane covid restrictions Canada and specifically Quebec implemented that greatly limited their access to their family in the US and their going out in Quebec on a daily basis. From everything I have seen and read they are quality people who simply didn't want to continue living under the strict covid restrictions. As a player he is in decline but most of the writer's I've read said he is still a top 4 right-handed D-man. I think we should show Jeff and his wife a little respect. That's my thought.

Is Newhook a risk? Sure. Are 31 and 37 not risks though? Its like trading 31 and 37 for 16. Most people would be fine if that was the move.

This morning, I get a text from a goalie coach and asked if my son could fill in this afternoon for an hour. I wasn't able to take him, but my wife did. It ended up basically being a 1-1 lesson with Peter Budaj. Pretty neat, and a fun little tie in to this former Habs thread. My son was thrilled, and called me on the drive home.

Regarding Dalibor Dvorsky. I’ve followed hin for some time as he’s playing for ”my” team in Sweden, AIK. There are some profilic player that have taken the route via the second tier leauge in Sweden and Junior Hockey. There’s a tendency for overlooking those players. They include Elias Pettersson, Henrik Zetterberg, Anze Kopitar, Jesper Bratt and David Pastrnak to name a few. If you look at production in both leauges, it’s clear that Pettersson’s production didn’t dip when playing with men, otherwise all of the players above are somewhat similar in stats. Dalibor Dvorsky is showing similar stats. Also being the youngest. Dvorsky might be this years steal.

Years ago, on this very site, I crunched a bunch of numbers on Koivu and discovered that he produced like a PPG player, except that he would have long slumps of, like 10-15 games per season where he would basically produce nothing. 🤷‍♂️ Hence the endless argument over whether he was a #1A or a #2C. The other thing about him was that (with all due respect to Commandant) he was a playoff beast. I mean, he put Joe Thornton in his back pocket even while playing through a cracked rib. The tragedy of Koivu, as I’ve lamented many times, is that he was never the same after his knee was destroyed. I am sure he could have been a top-10 player if not for that. He was that dominant before the knee injury.

Franchise of Futility vs Franchise of Forever Projected line combos, courtesy Daily Faceoff Canucks exceed the Habs in every way, except in net, where I assume Casey DeSmith will be between the pipes owing to Demko's injury (as well as the fact that you'd dress him anyway, against a bottom-feeder like Montreal). I will be at this one, along with the 18 000 or so other local Habs fans who always swarm the arena when les boys come to town. GO HABS GO!

David Reinbacher's first game: A month or so again my wife and I and another couple decided we'd drive the hour to Belleville and watch Laval play the Bellville Senators. Last night was the night we bought tickets for and it also happened to be the first game for David Reinbachers so we were all interested to see him play. I expected to see him struggle with the speed and the smaller rink but other than a few isolated moments he looked totally at ease and I thought he played very well and fit in seamlessly. The only time I saw him confused, to me at least, was when they put him out towards the end of overtime, three on three, and I assume they were playing man on man and he probably had never played three on three before. His man took the puck and retreated out towards centre ice and DR looked to the bench, seemingly unsure if he should follow him or stay put. But other than that I thought he did very well. He is a very good and fast skater and was physical, not overly, but definitely used his size at time to his benefit. His teammates huddled with him before every face-off and they seemed to be discussing responsibilities and who should be where. On top of it all he used his skating and hockey smarts to pick off a pass, picked up a loose puck and skated in with another Laval player as a decoy and sniped a nice goal to the far side. His teammates mobbed him and it was definitely a great moment for him and the team. He also was named third star of the game by whoever picks the stars in Belleville. So if this was his first real game in North America on a smaller rink and a faster pace, I thought he did extremely well and I think he's going to as advertised, a very good skating, solid defence man who can carry the puck out of his end and make plays. A very good first game, IMHO!

The Coyotes pull their goalie, tie it up and win in overtime. That's a good night!!

I feel pretty confident that Hughes will make the right trades and not get unduly attached to players even if he picked or traded for them himself. If you can make the team better by trading, you do it, even if you are sending out a player that you like.

It was a painful night. First ever game live for my son. Stupid flames had an 80’s theme night where they had old players and kept showing highlights during the intermission of their one and only 89’ cup win. anyways, it was close until the second period, than the flames pulled ahead, habs battled back and than idiotic refereeing put it way. some thoughts at seeing most of the young players live for the first time and being able to just follow them: -top line is going to be something special, but they have to stop trying to setup the perfect pass all the time and shoot more. -Slafkovsky is a big dude and I’m hoping he can be a Leclair type force - but I think he can also become a much more skilled player that generates more offence on his own than Leclair did. -Caufield’s shot is still off. I know he scored of a deaflybshot tonight. But his One timer isn’t there. Too many times tonight, he just didn’t have enough zip on his shot. Hopefully he is fully recovered by next training camp. -Harris just isn’t physical enough and doesn’t bring the offence you’d want from a non-physical dman. May be a bad night, but was really disappointed in him and how easily he was pushed around. -Suzuki can really slow down the game. There were times the Habs were running around like chickens with their heads off, and Suzuki got the puck ragged it around until everyone settled down. He will score 80+ points next year. -as with the top line, this team needs to shoot more - way too many cute passes and too many cross ice pass attempts - particularly too Caufield. Can’t keep doing that when you have to make those passes through traffic. -Evans effort level surprised me. He is an also a very good stick handler. He’s also being wasted between the two Bergevin two worst remaining long term deals. Anderson and Gallagher are useless. Garbage play by both. Anderson hit a post, but otherwise was useless. Can we just buy them out this year??? I know it’s going to cost a lot, but may as well get them out of the lineup and reduce their cap hit two years from now, when we hope to be competitive. -Roy is a smart player. Hoped to se more offensively. But you could see the high hockey IQ Jennie was on the ice - with and without the puck. -we need someone from the young D to step up. Wasn’t really impressed by anyone tonight. Was hoping to see more and better from Guhle, wifi and Struble, and like I said earlier, was surprised how disappointed I was in Harris.. And the young D also need to start shooting more. Savard was shooting, but the young guys during the first half were just not getting the puck on the net hen there was traffic in front. I wish this game was a few w escalate and maybe I could have seen Hutson live. -Premieau flops around and is out of position. A LOT!! He.needs to work on his positioning and not take himself out of the play as much. anyways, this was really the only game I wanted them to win for the rest of the years hopefully they lose the rest, but the young guys get a ton of points.

This is absolutely fine, clears up the goaltending spot, a decent return. Using up the last retention spot means they are likely done with any big trades, Savard is almost certainly not going anywhere. I wish Jake Allen the best, a class act.

#### that.... I will be cheering for the Jets to lose in the 1st or 2nd round so the Habs pick is better Montreal over everything.

Dach was on the ice this morning skating by himself. I know he’s not coming back this season but this is an encouraging step.

I disagree entirely. He scored a goal. Its not up to a team to decide if you disrespect them by doing the thing that is literally the point of the game, to score goals. If you don't like the way the other team scores a goal.... don't let them score a goal. Sorry that shooting the puck hard instead of passing it into the net hurt the Leafs feelings.

Thats great! The fans can give him standing ovation without him ruining the team.

I like the 10 thoughts articles. I dislike posts that make personal attacks at writers, especially someone who is trying and providing you free content. If you dont like it, you dont have to read it. There is lots of content on the internet, search a little and find something you like. Or better yet, start your own site and see how hard it is. Its not easy, especially when you misspell, not one, not two, but three players names in a short post like this... Barron, Matheson, and Struble.

I argued against you saying "checked out". Its a message board. If you write something people will disagree witb you. I have always tried, and maybe sometimes i havent, to address the opinion and not name call the person. Have i been perfect? No. But at the same time, you have also taken shots at me... Im more than willing to propose we start over and address the content of posts and not the poster, but it has to be mutual too.

I think if you have a chance to get Broberg for one of the goalies and spare parts, you do it and figure out what other defencemen to move afterwards. Having too much talent shouldn't be an issue. Hutson may have higher upside than Broberg, but he's two steps below the NHL right now. There is going to be at least a full season in the AHL ahead of him next year. And there is no guarantee he makes it. Xhekaj and Struble can stay in the AHL, while you run Matheson, Guhle, and Broberg on the left for now, and other injuries could happen. I'm not saying to overpay for the guy, but he absolutely could be a good reclamation project ala Dach and Newhook, just on defence, and he's from the same draft too. For the right price you do it and figure out who are your best defenders down the road.

Funny thing, a lot of Habs fans seem MUCH more skeptical about Montembeault than the rest of the league. He seems widely regarded as a guy who has late-blossomed into being a quality G - exactly my own view. Since Monty alone is unlikely to bring back a really high-impact prospect (not because he’s crap, but because G seldom command such a return) I don’t see the rush to trade him. You need decent goaltending even on a rebuilding team. Monty is the best of our three. He gives our young defencemen a platform to grow and learn without the team getting lit up night after night. And his three-year term is, to my mind, the key here. We are not committed to him well into the team’s supposed Cup window. In the coming year or two, HuGo can re-assess where we are in our franchise development, and where he is in his career arc, and decide whether to move him out or renew him. It’s a good contract and there is no need to think in terms of trading him in the short term.

Perhaps Struble's game is more suited for the pro game than the college game.

Trainers/medical staff CANNOT prevent players from being injured ... but if games are added to the total by doing away with the previous staff far too often accepting it when players said "I'm OK to play/I'm ready to come back" then THAT is a good thing because they are doing what is best for the player, not just what the players want.

That's pretty aggressive. I agree with him. Dach hasn't, but could take that top c position. He has all of the tools. The potential is there. This is a huge setback.

No surprise here. He had a pretty good camp all things considered, showing there are elements to his game that can make a positive impact in the NHL today. Now, it's about shoring up those weaknesses and playing big minutes in Laval should help that.

Disagree totally... Matheson played only half a season as well! Guhle is looking to be an absolute stud... he played half a season! Monahan even less then half a season Only to name a few on top of Dach and Caufield injuries. Just those injuries alone played a huge role in the season and nobody can really state otherwise

Yes He likely does rookie camp, training camp, and preseason and then goes back. A few weeks in Montreal and a taste of NHL speed (even in preseason) is a good thing.

Vegas just won the cup with a roster where noone has ever scored 100 points. Phil Kessel had a 92 point season in Pittsburgh but hes well past that and was a healthy scratch in the playoffs. The best for forwards they actually use. An 82 point season for Eichel jn Buffalo. I dont know that you need someone who is 100 point guy to win the cup

For what it's worth, the "father/parent problem" goes way back: Family ties may have sabotaged Alex Galchenyuk's rocky career with the Canadiens. - Pat Hickey, Montreal Gazette - Jun 19, 2018 There will be questions about whether the Canadiens’ coaching staff handled Galchenyuk properly. Was he given a fair shot at centre? Did the coaches give him the guidance he needed to become a better defensive player? But the question that has to be answered is: Was Galchenyuk listening to those who were paid to give him advice? We know he was listening to his father, Alex Sr. You could see them huddling after every game in the concourse outside the Canadiens’ dressing room, rehashing the game. There were rumblings from the Galchenyuk camp about the way Alex was being used. There were questions about why he wasn’t at centre, why he was getting less ice time than other players. There were even questions about why he wasn’t on the ice at the end of close games. Given his defensive shortcomings, this should have been a no-brainer, but the Galchenyuk clan saw a conspiracy that deprived Alex of opportunities to score empty-net goals. I can recall two stories that illustrate the tug of war between Galchenyuk père and his coaches. The first goes back to his days with the Sarnia Sting. During the lockout in 2012, I went to Sarnia to do a story on Galchenyuk. When the Sting’s regular practice ended, Galchenyuk’s father, who was an assistant coach with the team, stayed on the ice with his son. At the other end of the ice, defenceman Connor Murphy was working out with his father, Gord, a Florida Panthers assistant coach who was at loose ends because of the lockout. Jacques Beaulieu — he’s Nathan’s dad — was the head coach and I remarked that it must be good to have players putting in the extra work. But Beaulieu wasn’t enthused, noting that he had two coaches he didn’t need and didn’t want. The other sign of a disconnect between the family and the Montreal coaches came in 2015 when the Galchenyuks parted ways with agents Ian Pilver and Igor Larionov. The Galchenyuks were upset that Michel Therrien had benched Alex in some situations and Larionov, a respected Hall of Famer, didn’t side with the player. “Ian and I were trying to help him to become a good hockey player but, more importantly, to be a good human being,” Larionov said at the time. “I would speak to him every day; I think I spent more time talking to him than talking to my wife.“ I tried to make him understand that he has to be patient,” Larionov said. “I had to wait when I was a young player; every great player has a time when he’s going to be on the bench, but you have to learn that’s part of the game.” And Pat Hickey was not a clickbait artist ... I expect he left a lot "on the cutting room floor" because he was not a sensationalist writer. For a more "clickbait" perspective: https://www.hockeyfeed.com/nhl-news/report-alex-galchenyuk-s-family-is-a-huge-problem

Reading Pronman’s assessment of Newhook prior to his draft, the things that stand out are a great hockey IQ, a high level if compete and explosive starts. Hughes was his agent so will know him well, and it looks like Newhook is a prime candidate for the Martin St-Louis school of hockey smarts. I’m looking forward to seeing what he can do by the 2024-25 season.

Dach is 7 days older than Newhook ... after being drafted by Chicago, Dach played 152 games (19g, 40) over three seasons ... after being drafted by Colorado Newhook played two seasons at Boston College and then 159 games (27g, 39a) with Colorado, in a lesser role than Dach did in Chicago. I am optimistic.

Booked my flight to Nashville. Draft (and awards ceremony) here we come!! My two boys gonna lose it when I wake them up at the crack of dawn on Monday to surprise them.

Yeah, at that point the discussion will turn to X would have been a better pick than Y...

IMHO you are downplaying the 2021 team in order to sustain the narrative that MB was garbage. Which he was - but not when it came to assembling the patchwork, one-time-only, last-gasp roster of 2021. MB could not build an organization worth a tinker's damn, but he made great patchup moves in the summer of 2020 to give Weber and Price one last shot to win. To say that that team was not 'solid' is simply inaccurate. The D was iron-clad, the G was elite, and the FW unit had a nice mix of skill, size, youthful exuberance, and veteran savvy. Was it a powerhouse roster? No, which is why it didn't win the Cup. Was it a strong, hard-to-beat, deep veteran team? Yes.

Yeah - I've always found commentary around draft day much too lacking in humility. The cardinal example, of course, is Macguire sh*tting all over Gainey for drafting Price 🙄 Almost nobody in the media or among the fans has access to the level of information pro scouts do, and even with all the info in the world, it's as much art as science. That being said, scouts and management groups are PAID to make the decision on draft day. And if they make the wrong decision too often, or blow a crucial decision - e.g., if Slaf turns out to be a dud - they gotta wear it.

It’s not just the Leafs of today. If they win the Cup, you are going to hear about it endlessly from the media cheerleaders for the rest of your life, presented as the Greatest Moment in Hockey History when All of Canada Cheered the Team that Everbody Loves. Over. And over. And over. And over. I’ll take a slightly lower pick to spare myself that.

Game winning goals So when he scored the 2nd goal in a 5-1 game, thats a GWG too. When you are winning 3-2... score an ENG.... then the other team keeps the goalie pulled and makes it 4-3 again, the empty netter gets the GWG designation. Its a meaningless stat full of randomness. Its not a measure of clutch. I've posted multiple studies on this in the past... when you have this many years and this many players there are outliers, but the reality is that looking at Standard Deviations, there is basically no such thing as clutch, just the reality that in random occurrences and small sample size (playoffs being less than 1/5th or regular season games for most player's career stats) you get some anomalies, but nothing that is outside of expected randomness.