tomh009

It may be the PIT will slip. But if they want to grab that spot, they'll also have to beat out NYI, BUF, PHI and DET, all of whom are just as much in the mix as the Panthers are. FLA won't be able to rely on one or two teams faltering to slip into the playoffs, they'll need to outplay five other teams.

He's still a prospect, not a complete player, and he still plays that way (I think). But the Habs' scouting team clearly saw high potential in him, one hopes that they are more skilled at identifying player potential than I am.

They have nothing to tank for, but they also have few assets they can trade. 2026 first? Caps, Pens, Isles, Sabres, Wings all ahead of them by percentage, and a tough second-half schedule. They have their work cut out for them.

Will it really be significant, compared to Guhle?

So, the rest of the season for Slafkovsky and maybe also for Evans. Ouch. And Armia and Drouin for another few weeks doesn't help, either.

Is it too late to put in a request for a late Wi-fi goal?

5th or 6th, doesn't matter all that much, but it'll be nice if they are worth something.

Probably ... there was some traffic though so not clear how well he saw it. But he's saved a bunch (half a score!) of far more dangerous ones so it balances out, only one goal but xGA is 1.95.

Hugo runs a tight ship!

I think those rumours are more trade proposals ("Habs should try to trade for X because Y") rather than anything involving actual discussions between Hughes and other GMs.

It looks like we might see Allen back in net.

You never know who might end up being picked up at the deadline, could be someone we think is totally impossible.

Drouin missed the morning skate but isn't he expected to play? I would think Pitlick would move to wing with Droun at centre.

The fallacy in this is that while Xhekaj cost us nearly nothing, not even a draft pick, replacing him would not be as easy and certainly not as cheap. The same issue applies in the Premier League, too, selling a player only makes sense if you have a solid pipeline of replacements in your academy team. That's kind of the same as investing in the stock market: you shouldn't decided whether to sell based on how much you paid for a stock. Instead, you should consider its future value. So, if you can "sell" Chiarot, for example, for a first-round pick because other teams are desperate, you should probably do it because his future value will be lower than it is now. But how much you spent on Chiarot really isn't relevant.

And, on top of that, we have a solid set of draft picks for what is reputed to be one of the strongest draft classes in recent memory. (You did kind of mention it in talking about centres, but we have 11 picks already now, even before the trade deadline.)

It could well be. But we don’t even have a backup yet …

We’ll need two goalies. At the moment we don’t have any sure-fire prospects. Primeau looking increasingly unlikely. And I very much doubt any of Dichow, Dobes or Vrbetic are NHL-ready in 2014, even assuming that they work out.

A bit early to anoint him as a #1, but he's certainly making a good case for being a part of the Habs' future. At 26, he's just entering the prime years for a goalie, so if he can continue raising his game he could well be part of a contending Habs team. But need to keep in mind that he his save percentage has been around .890 in the past (although the Florida years were fairly small samples) so it's not clear yet whether he can sustain this improvement.

If we were fighting for a playoff spot, sure. But as a development opportunity, I’d put Ylonen next to Suzuki, and Dach between Dadonov and Armia (who have both played better recently).

Ylonen looked pretty good in the half a dozen shifts that he played with Suzuki and Caufield so that could be an option as well. I'm sure they want Dach to spend more time at C yet in order to assess what role he will play for the long term.

But three centres on PP1? Suzuki, Dach and Dvorak (plus Drouin and Caufield).

It's as if they started skating around like headless chickens once they couldn't clear the zone.

A freak injury off the faceoff. Hopefully not serious and we'll see him back yet tonight.

I want to see what kind of adjustments St-Louis can make in the first intermission. Their game plan is not working, can he find a way to fix it?

Capfriendly has their current roster (23 players) at $75.1M. Add $750K for a non-roster player (Skinner), $750K for IR (Ryan), $750K for Lucic's retained salary and $3.4M for buyouts for a total of $80.7M. They can clear some money by sending Skinner and a roster player or two to AHL but it seems that it will only get them to about $79M.