hockeyrealist

In a galaxy far, far away Plex goes to Tampa as suggested for the one and only hope for the rebellion, sergachev. as bergy planned all along.

Agreed all around. a friend pointed out return on investment for Byron this year would be sick from an investment standpoint. Could be same thing for Benn too. some teams will over pay for these guys this year in hopes of making a push and there is no reason to hold them as their return will most likely onmy diminish.

Well the original commment said 3-4 years, but yes I believe he has the skills and physical strength to be a strong contributor into his thirties. But it all comes down to cost. i don’t think he cares about Bergevin but I do think he cares about family stability as he’s come out and said. And I believe him when he says he wants to be part of the solution in Mtl. the returns people on the site expect for him are ludicrous and what he would return now is unacceptable. nobody is giving a young future #1 C and more for him which is the consensus on what is acceptable from this site. That is asset management, PLEASE... a player people here say is garbage and needs to go cause he’s washed up at 29 is going to somehow bring back 2-3 future core pieces??? Nevermind he is and has been the habs onlyconsistwnt threat and therefore easy to target for shut down down by other teams. Get him some support as a contender would have for him and he is elite. Is he worth 7 million into his 30’s, not imo but if he will stay for 6 I think the value is better to keep him. If team continues to suck he is still a valuable commodity at 31 with a fair price tag.

Drouin isn’t a centre tho, so that is part of the problem. give max a north-south centre with speed and watch him flourish.

Finally a voice of reason. imagine the bitch fest this site would be when price is celebrating his second cup with another team.

I love how even a gdt turns into a ‘’trade so and so’’ pouting party on here. Also love how commentors assume we can flip just about any player for young talent, as though teams are just dying to give up young twenty somethings that they’ve begun grooming. How about the team explores the idea that Max (who apparently loves Mtl, just moved downtown with his young family) accepts another sweet deal of a contract and we hold onto the only certified goal scorer we’ve had in the past Oh maybe a decade. Hes still quite young and by moving the bloated Contracts of Plex and Shaw at least combined with available cap space try to find a decent centre or even two mediocre ones and stop trying to love our only offensive weapons. You’d think we were an offensive powerhouse the way commentors are calling for trades of max and Galchenyuk. How about supply them with some talent regardless of their native tongue and let them bloom like any other team would. the d Corp needs to be blown up but max is still relatively young, a proven offensive talent and has shown enormous patience, accountability and leadership (yes I know it is rare to hear that) in the way he has handled the teams and his own failure this year. He shouldn’t have been made captain but that isn’t his fault, this team should have stuck with four assistants. He has worn the c with pride, dealt with media with upmost patience and honesty and I really think the added pressure of that affected his game and once that pressure reduced a bit as everyone wrote off the season he was able to hold the stick a little looser and find some puck luck. Pax, Galchenyuk, Gallagher, Drouin, lekonen, Huron make a great top nine winger set. Trade Shaw and Plex, and being in some centre help and this team is not far from competing for years to come.

Except he punches with serious power the few times I’ve seen him go. Weise brought some physicality but Desl is another level of strength and viciousness it appears. Hes grown on me, check out the scrap with Rinaldo I believe to see a good example of how hard he throws them. Def a good reminder to opposition to keep it in line. Either way if you’re only bringing a few goals to the table you’d better bring something else. Scary that some of my fave habs players to watch this year are fourth liners.

Agreed but the Bruins are much quicker now and I see Emmy getting left behind as they blow by him these days. Lucic wouldn’t be able to keep up on the current roster.

When I look at the lineup, and forget the past few months of play, the forward group looks like it could be competitive with four fast lines and some skill. Could wreak havoc for opposing d. Obv this hasn’t been the case for any sustained period. Makes me consider what is causing this and why the team hasn’t solved it. Of course easy answer is lack of #1 C , but I personally think that damage can be overcome or minimized at least. To the eye test it seems there is too much perimeter play and shooting with a lack of pressure on the opposing net. Lots of ‘’one and done’’, lots of shots but not enough high quality chances? Need some net drive, puck hounds. Ideally not just Gallagher. Looks like a lack of smooth entries dues to weak outlet passes, which aren’t catching our fleet-footed forwards in stride? Obv we had that for 900 plus games in #79. Gave away a couple possible replacements and haven’t recovered yet. Thats what I see and would address with some roster adjustments and intensive coaching. The d corps presently is scary though. Mete and Schlemko pairing seems like a high risk situation (as do the rest haha), hopefully the high reward makes it worthwhile. The top d in the lineup tonight would ideally be a #4 depth-wise? Optimistically, I am hoping that a few big game challenges like this next bunch are, is what it takes for this group to rally around each other and hit one of those 10-12 game win streaks that we’ve missed this year and make a season of this yet.

I love and respect your positive outlook but watching these games doesn’t Instill much confidence.

If we had shipped an established problem player who went to a new team and barely produced for a very young dman who even cracked and held a roster spot at that age we would be singing bergy’s praises so on the reverse side I think any criticism is justified.

Good point but right now it sure looks like the ceiling for sergachev is a lot higher than Drouins given his seniority and performance this season.

Good point but fact is he is excelling and Drouin is not . If it because of how he is being handled, good on the team. Why can’t Mtl handle Drouin to flourish also? Instead we forced him into a role he wasn’t suited for and continue to lack accountability for his lack of production, if it because of how he is handled than coaching and mgmnt are to blame, if it because he isn’t as good as we were told he is then mgmnt is to blame. If he isn’t in shape or mentally prepared then he and staff are to blame. Regardless he isn’t performing and sergachev is. Results are all that matter in the NHL.

This comment nails it! Any Norris candidate talk is premature imo but not impossible and kind of irrelevant as nobody is ever going to mention drouins name for any trophies so kind of moot point imo. Winning is all that matter and right now sergachev is on a winner who has a brighter future than he had in Mtl.

Lots of good points made in the recent posts here. IMO Drouin would not be part of a top 3 threat in Tampa as he was already out of favour there and they have depth that wouldn’t force them to play him there. Stammer, Kucherov, namestikov and Point would most likely still be their go to guys simply because Drouin was a problem player and really only got opportunities when injuries arose. Some very smart hockey people there saw problems with his game, particularly as a C so I do not believe he would be shining there. to say Sergachev is being played solely to ensure the lightning don’t appear to have lost on the deal is a stretch IMO once again, no professional team with sights on a cup are going to sacrifice chances to win just to protect their image. They could easily let him develop for 4-5 years before giving him the chances he’s gotten and not looked bad. Dmen rarely get the chances he’s had at his age and it is the same smart hockey people deciding he is more valuable in a sheltered role on an NHL Team that slowly developing in minors. The lightning shrewdly saw an opportunity to leverage Mtl’s desperate need for offense and unloaded an expendable (but still valuable asset) to fill a need. Bergy got taken advantage of, plain and simple. It was obv Drouin was not a key piece of Tampa’s future, yet Sergachev was a key piece of Mtl’s as is evident with the porous d corps and minimal prospects to look forward to. unless Drouin came in and performed like a true #1 Centre (wins draws, min 60 points) this was a bad deal strictly in that Mtl doesn’t have enough d prospects to justify shipping out the best and most NHL ready (even if it had been a few more years for him to actually fulfill that role). Aside from the odd eye catching move Drouin has not impressed at all and I see 100% why he was deemed expendable in TB. Not to mention the optics of being a cry baby in the way he handled limites playing time and demotions. He hadn’t earned the right to demand anything. If anything Mtl is the team that is stuck trying to justify the trade and now are stuck with him as a C because they so proudly stated that he was the answer we’ve been waiting for. Same reason we’re stuck watching our most gifted offensive player (yes #27 is more gifted offensively than Drouin, better finisher at least) playing wing. Mtl postured that they were in “win now” mode but in reality that is false since they didn’t do all they needed to maintain two of last years (and more in Markys case) best players in markov and Rads. Win now mentality would have meant riding Markov until his legs gave out and offering whatever it took to keep rads as anyone who saw him play last year knows he brought the heart and energy of Gallagher with more skill and natural ability. What more could you want? I was optimistic that Drouin would rise to the occasion but that is far from the case and I have been seriously underwhelmed by his performance and see litttle chance of that changing given his track record, history of attitude and lack of accountability. Why is it only pax who has to answer for lack of offense, rarely see the press confronting Drouin about his lack of production and team failures. Even though he doesn’t wear a letter he was brought in to be an answer and doesn’t seem to be expected to respond as to why he hasn’t been better. unless Drouin goes on to have 3 straight 70+ point seasons (after this one since it is essentially over) with a positive +/- and making his teammates better around him I think this deal was a loss for the habs given lack of prospects and total lack of mobile puck-moving d in the organization. And I highly doubt he has that in him. Hopefully I am wrong, which has occurred before haha.