i think i'll start with our needs:
1. a #1 center if we can get one
2. better size up front (we have too many soft players)
3. a top-pairing dman
4. price has to be very good for $10.5 mill
5. coaching
1. tavares would be nice but i think he's a longshot. don't think we can pry one that isn't a prospect with a risk like eller was. drouin has improved but is he a #1 center? a #1 wing, fine. he's going to need at least 1 power fwd who isn't soft if he plays c. even if he continues to improve there, we need a good #2 c & it's not danault. danault is a keeper but not a #2 c.
2. drouin is not big. if we keep gallagher, lehkonnen & byron (3rd line), then something has to be done with a. shaw, hudon & carr. they're not good enough for our top 6 & if ur small, u have to score. stone is a ufa & he would add some nice size & scoring up front. idk about van riemsdyk or the others. i don't mind dlr, deslauriers, l. shaw or even froese in our bottom 6. they should be big & tough to handle. at times our 4th line has been our best for that reason. max is a bit soft. i hope we keep him unless we can pry someone like draisaitl away in a package. prob dreaming there. i don't think galchenyuk likes being roughed up & he could use a big guy on his line too. it's nice having deslauriers around. he can always be plugged in from time to time to dissuade opponents from taking liberties. scherbak looks fragile to me & needs to take a big step up anyway. big mac has been disappointing so far. have they coached his confidence out of him? too bad we lost radulov last yr.. he's exactly what we need.
3. mete might be ok on the top pair. he's an elite skater & having a healthy weber as ur partner sure helps. mete is going to need to put up points tho. petry has usually been fine & juulson looks promising. alzner is prob staying & that leaves reilly, benn & schlemko, lernout or valiev to round things out. meh. our top 4 might be very good. if we get the #1 pick, that'll change things. i'm also intrigued by evan bouchard. the kid has good size & has a real cannon. he had 87 pts to lead the london knights. team captain too. that's 30 more pts than sergachev had in his draft yr.. he's a right-hand shot. don't know if he could play in the nhl next yr.. of course, nobody thought that about mete either. there's a few smurf dmen prospects in in the draft this yr but i wouldn't want more than 1 back there & mete is already here.
4. i'd trade him if i could. overrated. overpriced. outplayed regularly this season. you have to outplay ur competition if ur going to survive in the playoffs. there's a number of guys that could play well behind our team canada defense & shine like price did.
5. fire julien. he's been awful. clean house. i'm tired of watching sloppy play & turnovers. this has been mb's big mistake & i don't think he's made other big mistakes (well, price's new contract is problematic). trading patrick roy, chelios, leclair, langway & engblom - those are big mistakes. at least we can recover from julien. he's a coach.
i don't think we need wholesale changes to get back to the playoffs. i didn't think the habs would turn out like this this yr.. didn't think edm or nyr would either or that colorado would make the playoffs any time soon. the draft is likely going to be of limited help next season. that means we need a good ufa for which we'll overpay (who wants to come to montreal???) or we need some trades (more than 1). we have cap space & lots of picks so we have some tools to use. we have a good pool of young guys who can improve too.
the red wings head coach said u need 3 elite players to win the cup. interesting. i wouldn't incl price in there. weber, yes. max has been an elite goal-scorer but he wasn't this season. drouin & galchenyuk may be possibles but not so far. drouin was a nice acquisition. this draft may provide a future one. i think we have some excellent ingredients to return to the playoffs with better coaching. we need to pick up some good, big players yet this off-season. my concern is that mb will take risks with his job on the line & make a big mistake.
