illWill

There is a good chance I didn't get a single pick right

Great year by a great defenseman; sounds about right

I always liked Emelin. He was a physical beast but he did come with his brain farts

A guy the Habs might consider taking who is a bit under the radar is Pierre-Olivier Joseph from the Charlottetown Islanders. He's a lanky left handed defense man who can move the puck, penalty kill and run a power play. I've seen him play dozens of times, nothing flashy about him at all but he does everything right on the ice. Great kid too off the ice, always shows up for community events and fundraisers.

I think Emelin at 4.1m is a better value than Plekanec at 6m. If they select one of those players it will help our cap hit, but the downside is those positions are already our weakness

Does that mean that he won't count against the cap? Because I believe most of his salary has been paid out already and it would seem on the surface that he actually wants to retire but they are saying he can't play with this condition to get cap relief.

I share your viewpoint other than being happy getting a 3rd for him. Not that I think he could have got more for him, just that it's disappointing that was the return for him after all these years of hope.

My concern is that a team with Cup aspirations don't have defined positions for most of the forward group. I don't feel comfortable entering the season "trying" Drouin at center to see if it works. It would be great if he was able to succeed there, but if he doesn't we are looking at another season of #1 center Danault. And if Plekanec gets selected by Vegas and Galchenyuk gets traded for anything but a center, this team is in a whole lot of trouble down the middle.

He'd be a great pickup for the playoffs for the Habs

So you're proposing putting Galchenyuk and Byron on RW because they are more effective there? Doesn't leave much room for Gallagher, Radulov or Shaw on the right side. How about rather than scouring the internet for stats, you can just tell me where everyone slots in the lineup at the current configuration.

Any professional can play any position if they need to, it doesn't mean that's where they are the most effective. You just named 4 players that are predominately LW and Pacioretty is a staple as a first line LW, so take your pick who else will play behind him. You also didn't mention Radulov, Gallagher and Shaw who are RW, so we are running out of spots for wingers.

Perhaps loading up on LW and RD is the new key to success and we just don't know it yet

Also the cap implications in play now that weren't back in the 90's. There are lots of good players that are exposed only because their paycheck is more than their cap value.

I don't recall any expansion team having as much power as Vegas has right now. It seems like they will have a competitive team right off the bat and will also have a ton of draft picks. This isn't your father's expansion team

Lol it's hard for me not to respond to such ignorance of reality. I won't make posts personal from here on out