Machine of Loving Grace

Best friends with Paul Stastny. That's interesting. I guess it made sense he'd eventually land there. What Pacioretty said about it being the right time to leave was certainly correct. Could not figure for the life of me why anyone wanted him to stick around right now. Some were surprised at his contract length but only Marchesseault has a year longer Hope it works for him.

Because he didn't do anything. The proof is history. I don't care how hard you tried. You didn't get it done. We don't gauge GMs on intent. He did not get a centre when the team was a contender. He was content with Desharnais. That's the history of it. End of story.

It was Bergevin who decided to stand still in the summer of 2014 after his team got to the ECF. It was Bergevin who decided to stand still in the summer of 2015 after his team had the second best record in the league. He could have added a centre. He could have added a real 1RW. He could have fired Therrien for a better coach. Instead he did nothing until 2016, when his big decision was to subtract Subban and add Weber.

If it was truly a problem (it isn't) the NHL could just factor tax difference into the cap. I don't think the owners have ever given it thought. This is the stuff bad teams complain about. California teams pay high taxes. Didn't stop the Kings and Ducks. Didn't stop the Sharks from making the final. Low taxes certainly haven't helped the Oilers or Flames either.

Toronto has Tavares and Marleau and the Golden Knights just got somebody's captain, but otherwise I see what you mean. Problem is, how can you name an injured captain? If they would, Markov would have been captain in 2010. The players would more than likely name Weber, but they really shouldn't have a shot to. Go without a captain during the rebuild, see who emerges. Weber would be a sensible choice until you think about how much he actually wants to play for this club.

Eight teams currently have no captain, with the Leafs going into season #4 without one. The only one that will probably fill the role before the season begins is Buffalo, and possibly Arizona.

Also he did this once

I expect Pat Verbeek to follow him to Detroit as he was more his right hand man.

There were no good candidates. Now that BriseBois is out they might be either grooming Timmins or see who else is available.

I think I went to pick Youppi! and picked Byron instead haha. Team vote is what got us Carbonneau/Chelios splitting the C and Pacioretty. Of course, the issue with Pacioretty is nobody could pick Carey Price, who everyone felt was the real leader of the team, and allegedly nobody could pick Andrei Markov. There were reports he refused the C, then he denied that, and there were reports when they chose captain they couldn't name him. In hindsight, Markov should have been named captain in 2010, with alternates for when he was hurt. Either way, he was the leader of that locker room until Price matured, and even then he was the real leader on the ice. Everyone respected him and looked up to him. I hope Markov writes a book one day, because there's so much that just doesn't smell right with Markov's career with the Habs now and I wonder what it was.

Next summer with the new GM: trade Weber to the highest bidder willing to take him with no cap retained (we will take a bad contract back but no salary cap retained on Weber), trade Price if an offer comes that makes sense. Make sure you get either first round picks or high prospects in the return. Do that, and by 2020-2021, we might be ready to compete again with a great young core.

My hope was Ryane Clowe. Depends on if he's allowed to use his abilities in the corners and in front of the net with a new coach or if he will still be resigned to goon in the post goon era role that Lefebvre wanted.

Yup, he netted a third round pick in 2021, a second round pick in 2019 (which will likely be in the 55-62 range since Vegas will still be very good) and a first round pick in 2018, which was a 30th overall pick. He also had term with three more seasons, which is why he was valued by Vegas. He didn't work out in Gallant's high forecheck and backcheck system since he's more of a pure offence guy. If you want an argument there, yeah, we should have traded Pacioretty when he still had three years left on his contract and his value would have been sky high. This trade got a second round pick from Columbus in 2019 (which I've addressed will likely be between 31-38 since the Blue Jackets are about to implode from Bobrovsky and Panarin looking like they are planning to leave), Tomas Tatar (who could have a bounce back season and be worth more picks in the future), and a 13th overall pick in 2017. We were *never* getting a pick that low from a trade deadline move. I had said before I saw no way, no how we were getting Vilardi from LA for Pacioretty and we got a guy drafted just two spots after. Who also has centre potential (but in talking to some OHL fans he sometimes takes faceoffs then plays the wing, the reverse of what Galchenyuk did in Sarnia, so the Habs might see him as a right handed LW more than a centre) but more importantly has top line offensive potential. Could we have got more at the deadline? It's possible. But the reason we got Suzuki is because Pacioretty intended on signing an extension. At the deadline he's just a rental. And we got a much better return than what Rick Nash got as a rental. Or McDonaugh. Or Stastny. Or Shattenkirk. Or Hanzal. Or Staal. Or Ladd. Suzuki, a 2017 13th overall pick, is worth more than any of the first rounders or prospects those teams got. And while Tatar struggled heavy in Vegas after being traded there, he still has five straight 20 goal seasons and a 19 goal season before that. So we downgraded from a consistent 30 goal scorer to a 20 goal scorer while also getting a 19 year old who has put up back to back 40 goal campaigns and had 100 points last OHL season and the Chicago Wolves trusted enough to play in their elimination game. I think Molson (who is calling the shots now and nothing Bergevin does is without his review and say) and Marc Bergevin got probably the best return they could with Max Pacioretty, and deserve credit for that. Had Pacioretty not been traded now, he would have been a pure rental. And at a pure rental, you're not getting a low 2nd round pick, a 27 year old multiple 20 goal scorer with value to trade in the future, and a 19 year old 13th overall pick. It doesn't happen.

That's great and all. I just watched more clips and game footage of him and I don't see Top 10 prospect. I'm not going to judge him on a dumb rookie tournament but the more people see him, the less praise he gets. He definitely feels like a second half bloomer who benefited from his position in a draft weak at centre.

I do not see this at all. Top 10 what? Under 25? 23? 21? 19? Talk on Kotkaniemi is starting to remind me of Andrei Kostitsyn. I don't see what he has proven to be considered elite at this point. Strong second half of the year is turning into more and more hot air.

If he was dealt at the deadline, the first round pick we would get would be outside of the Top 15. The prospect would probably be a B prospect. We got a 19 year old, one year removed from his draft, 13th overall, right handed with experience at centre, who has a great pass and a great shot. He's better than what we could have drafted. The B prospect is now a 2nd round pick from Columbus, who might trade Bobrovsky and Panarin and crash and burn this year, which gets that pick close to the 32-40 range where you get falling first round calibre players. Tatar sucks but if he ends up not sucking, we might have a guy we can move for a 2nd round pick, maybe more. He was just moved for a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd recently. His playoffs sucked but do we care about the playoffs right now? If he pots 25 we got an asset that can be moved for more picks. Suzuki is better than any player I thought we would get out of Pacioretty. He's better than what the Rangers got for McDonaugh and Miller. Better than what they got for Nash. Better than what Ottawa got for Hoffman, better than the best prospect in the Duchene deal, I can keep going.

Tatar had been Erat 2.0 for McPhee. He was a disaster in Vegas. Barely played on their run to the Cup, not that we need him for the playoffs. He needs a big year.

This team needs at least until 2020-2021 before the rebuild can end. I want two more Top 5 picks at the very least.

Arizona wanted a centre and reached for it. Had we taken Zadina, they likely would have taken Kotkaniemi. Ottawa is bad example for anything right now. Time will tell who ends up the better prospect. Way too soon to decide if Kotkaniemi was a bad pick, but I got the feeling early on too much stock was put into his second half last year.

He played wing but I've heard he is moving to centre this season. Maybe bad info.

Personally I don't draft Kotkaniemi over Zadina. Dude was revved up to be a Hab. I think he would have given 110% to be a star here. Maybe I eat crow on that when I'm 40. But for this team? No. Keep stockpiling centres. I want Hughes or Cozens in 2019 and Lafreniere or Byfield in 2020. One of the four would be amazing. Two of the four would be the making of a real contender. Let's say we finish dead last in 19-20 after moving Weber and Price and we win the lottery for Lafreniere. In 2019 we drafted Lavoie because Price had a decent season so we got 6th overall or something. We are now running with: C: Lafreniere, Poehling, Suzuki, Kotkaniemi L: Domi, Hudon, Lehkonen, RW: Lavoie, Scherbak, Bitten, Ylonen F: Drouin (can play anywhere) Now with this depth, we realize that Poehling and Lafreniere are real deal top centres while Suzuki can pivot to the wing. Maybe Kotkaniemi doesn't pan out as a top centre but ends up a really good 2/3 C. Suddenly we are running with a lineup that could look like Suzuki - Lafreniere - Lavoie Domi - Poehling - Drouin Hudon - Kotkaniemi - Scherbak/Bitten You could even move Kotkaniemi to the wing and have him replace Domi if he busts like I expect him to. Point is, Leafs (I know I know we all hate hearing about them as they haven't won anything but hear me out) drafted Nylander and Marner as centres and play both as wingers. That's much easier to do than draft wingers and make them centres. Also if say Matthews signs an offer sheet in Arizona and is gone next summer, Toronto still has Tavares and Kadri and can move Marner back to centre if need be. That's why you need heavy centre depth. Poehling, Kotkaniemi, and Suzuki is a start. I want more.

Domi - Drouin - Gallagher Tatar - Danault - Armia/Scherbak Hudon - Peca/Suzuki - Lehkonen Deslauriers - Plekanec - Scherbak/Armia INJ: Byron, Shaw Probably close to what we see. Suzuki was playing wing in Vegas for the rookie tournament until the last game where he got to play natural C. Really shouldn't play in the OHL. If Tatar was a RW things would make much more sense. Of course, if I was coach with this brutal lineup... Tatar - Danault - Drouin Domi - Peca - Gallagher Lehkonen - Hudon - Armia Deslauriers - Plekanec - DLR/Alex Chiasson

Pacioretty - Stastny - Tuch is likely the line in Vegas.

Not crippling, just another bad contract to throw on the pile. Luckily he is just there to fill a spot during the rebuild and not what Vegas originally traded him for. In an ideal world, Tatar bounces back with a great season and we flip him for more picks. Doubt that happens but the possibility is there. Suzuki though, he does have skating issues. The team needs to be proactive about it. Get him skating better and he's a 30 goal scoring 1C in the NHL. Don't fix it and he plays wing and might struggle out the gate.

Tatar sucks. Maybe he bounces back in Montreal but he was getting scratched in Vegas and has an ugly contract. Suzuki is the score. Some will say where is a first round pick but that's Suzuki. 19, was 13th overall, has the potential to be a top six player in the NHL at centre or wing, could definitely put up Pacioretty numbers or better. I have more faith in him than Kotkaniemi and would call him our #1 prospect. The 2nd is good too. I wonder if Patches signed an extension in Vegas.