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So this will be just my 25th season as a Habs fan, after living in Montreal in 2000/01, so for me cups are things that live in my kitchen. I started with a team with massive injuries, starting Juha Lind and Patrick Poulin as 2nd line wingers 🤦‍♂️. So I can offer a slightly different perspective I suppose. Who can predict the future, but the key phrase for me that has come through in buckets since Gorton & Hughes took over is humble professionalism. Their approach is measured and has less bluster than Bergeron era, less of the chaos of the Gauthier era and less of the legacy expectations of the Gainey era. Gone is the lack of respect that these eras had towards players and their families, now sensible conversations are had before trades, players know where they stand and don’t get traded in between periods. They have made Montreal a desirable workplace and at the end of the day, that is what it is a workplace. I have never blamed stars staying away from Montreal because it was terrible workplace, not because of the taxes, but because players were commodities. i don’t know whether the future will bring cups or not, but I sat on a subbed in Greece looking forward to October like never before. 🔵⚪️🔴

Of all the trades made by Montreal GM's since I have been a fan (a long time) the Gomez trade is the biggest head shaker for me. At the time Gomez's contract was 7.35 Million, salary cap was 56.8 million. His contract was 13% of the Habs market cap. The equivalent today would be about 11 Million (your Hutson, Huberdeau comparison is a good one). Gomez scored 58 points the year before and was turning 30. Gomez's contract should have had negative value but NO Gainey threw in their best defense prospect and a good two way forward in Higgins. That trade was absolute sheer lunacy!!! Sometimes trades turn out badly but you can understand the thinking at the time. At least I could understand the rationale behind the Drouin-Sergachev trade, Drouin scored 21 goals early in his career with Tampa, was still only 21 or 22, drafted 3rd overall and looked like a top 6 forward, Sergachev at the time was a good prospect. The trade turned out badly but at the time I could see the reasoning behind it. The Gomez trade was horrible right from the start, 13% of your market cap for a 60 point, 30 year old centre!! In my opinion the worst trade by a Montreal GM I can remember. Just an awful trade!!

This makes sense. Hage was the target. Eiserman unexpectedly slipped. Hence the 2nd sweater. Still. Hage was the origional target.

Anderson doesn't work anywhere...but if he is ever going to rebuild his career, he should start on the 4th line, focusing on physicality and the defensive end of the game. Get back to being a beast along the boards and carving up guys behind the play. Maybe some offensive jam will follow, or maybe not. But that has to be the foundation. The last time I was this excited about the actual roster was September 2020. The last time I was this cautiously optimistic about the future would have been about 2013. Objectively speaking, though, this is probably the highest per centage of potentially high-impact talent that the organization has had since the first Gainey rebuild; and we have good reason to think that this group will work out much, much better than that one.

I would not pay Laine on a line with a winger who cant pass. That said I also dont think Anderson should be on the 4th as he needs to rebuild some value. Cauf - Suzuki - Slaf Laine - Dach - Newhook Roy - Dvorak - Anderson Armia - Evans - Gallagher

One of the most electric moments of my fandom. I will also never forget

I don't think a team that has picked 5th, 5th, and 1st in the last three drafts should be offer sheeting anyone.

Bogalot. I know you want to win this argument, but I think your making all of these comments based on a leaked initial ask by the agent. They are pretty baseless. I raised an eyebrow when I heard the ask as well, but if I were you, I would let this one go. He extended a full year before he had to. He didn't hold out until September 2025. It's a reasonable contract with a bit of risk, but overall it's not worth all of this baseless character assassination.

This thread is specifically to discuss the past.

Personally, I think we should just let the convos flow rather than try to regulate them too much - as long as they don’t veer into personal attacks between posters (or, of course, racist/homophobic/misogynist speech etc., which have, mercifully, never been issues here).

Condolences to his family and friends ... and especially to his sister, whose wedding they were to attend today ... imagine having your wedding anniversary (even if the ceremony is re-scheduled) be an annual reminder of your brothers' deaths. A reminder to us all to both (a) think twice before getting behind the wheel after consuming alcohol ... you are rarely if ever as sober as you think, and it can take so little an impairment to result in tragedy ... AND ... (b) to always drive with caution ... this might even have happened were the driver sober ... too many (selfishness/self-importance?) drive with a lack of patience.

From what I read, it wasn't a motorcycle accident...they were riding bicycles and were killed by a drunk driver, who attempted to right-hand-side pass another driver that had moved over to give them space. The night before their sister's wedding too...just horrible.

Thing with Anderson, even when he was producing he always seemed like the third wheel. He always was always out of sync with his linemates. He was accepting using his size and speed, but couldn't actually mesh with anyone. He should have been traded the year before, even though he had a reasonably decent year, because the guy just does not have any hockey sense. His like the tin man without a brain in the wizard of oz. if somehow he is in a position this year where he gets productive, we should IMMEDIATELY trade him. Doesn't matter how big he is. Hockey IQ is just not there. And at his salary, you do need a hockey brain!

Learning from Kucherov

Richer was a ridiculous talent but inconsistent as you say. Muller is the kind of player you go to war with.

IF Roy is on the 2nd line AND they are productive, Armia-Newhook-Gallagher would be a decent third line. I'd the young D look good, we could be in a wildcard spot. Lot of ifs!!!

Finally figured how to do it ... need to do one by one. Ugh.

I still believe he traded Huet cause he thought he was getting Hossa and Hedberg out of Atlanta, and that fell through and Hossa went to Pittsburgh with Dupuis and Colby Armstrong as throw ins. Atlanta wanted to use the Hossa trade to dump some other players and money, and Gainey thought he was taking a goalie in the deal. Obviously i can't prove this, but its my belief on why he traded Huet when he did.

It's like the Demidov situation. Even in the draft video, they said they don't expect Demidov to be there at 5.

Love the enthusiasm and I am the most optimistic that I have been in years -Thank You HuGo! However, as someone else said, I am tempering my expectations for a few years as they have not done anything yet! - Dach appears to be made of glass; - Hutson has not proved anything; - Laine is potentially damaged goods; - Reinbacher has not wowed anyone yet; - Cole has not scored as expected; - Goaltending is mediocre; - D-men are young playmakers and unproven at keeping puck out of the net.. etc. The odds are that one or more of these guys will disappoint; thus I prefer to be cautious rather than at over-hyping at this point. I am ever hopeful but have been let down by years of poor drafting, so maybe we are just seeing a competent management for a change - for that I am thankful. Sorry to be a Denis Downer and I hope they prove me wrong. BTW, I have been a fan since 1968 (56 years) and was spoiled in the 70's. Maybe my bar was set too high with those magical teams.

Top 10 ranking by one scout after the Hlinka/Gretzky Cup https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/an-early-ranking-of-the-top-10-prospects-for-2025-nhl-draft/

Id have done something similar to that... it basically breaks down, in Habs equivalents to 1) one of the goalie prospects not named fowler, 2) the calgary pick (the pick sj gave up is the vegas pick and top 10 protected) and 3) owen beck (equivalent to david edstrom) for askarov and 3rd.

The video came out 2 months after the draft. It's carefully curated and edited. Every player is the guy they wanted and no one got sniped before them. There is some insights to be found on why they took the players they did. But there is also a grain of salt in that this is produced by the team and they arent going to show you the disappointing parts when something didnt work.

Disagree, 1st of all he needs to have the money available. Matching Holloway and Broberg makes that tough.

Of course, The player doesn't want this typically though. Because the way qualifying offers work. Better to backload the deal for a higher QO once they are rfa again.

*** IF *** he would have taken that I expect HuGo might well have gladly offered it. I would prefer EVERY player be locked up long-term at a cheap rate ... but describing the pay in that way explains why players would never sign such a contract.

I honestly couldn't believe it when I saw the details. When I heard of the trade I wasn't upset that the Habs got Laine but I was worried of who or what they had to give up to get him. After I saw the info I felt silly for being concerned. It would have been better if CBJ had retained some of his salary, but then the price would have been significantly higher for them to have done that. Even though Laine is now paid more than Nick for the next 2 years - over all I'm certainly thrilled with this move. Yep, 100% that. It's like Habs traded Harris for a 2nd and had to take Laine off CBJ books. Right on, the Habs are slowly turning into giants!!

Caufield - Suzuki - Slafkovsky Laine - Dach - Roy Armia - Newhook - Gallagher I could be very happy with that top nine (assuming, of course, that Laine and Dach play to their potential).

Wooo that's an awesome.deal. Harris is all.we give up and we get a 2nd.

I wonder if he's the Holloway replacement at less than half the cost. That's a pretty minimal return for Podkolzin though. If they match Broberg, don't match Holloway, waive/demote Josh Brown ($1M), and LTIR Kane, I think that gets them into compliance for now with a 22-player roster. It creates the hassle of freeing up $5.25 million when Kane can come back but that would let them kick the can down the road.

Cody Ceci has never been "one of Edmonton's best defenders". His advanced stats in his best season have him as a replacement level player (ie you'd get the same thing from a very good AHLer on a call-up). His other seasons have all been a below replacement level player and that goes back to his time with Pittsburgh and Ottawa. He isn't good. Heck Savard isn't my favourite defender, but his analytics (which aren't good) are still better than Ceci's. He's been this way his whole career. Its not the team or the linemates that mean he's an overpaid player. Nearly every partner he's had plays better without him than with him.

I think Savard could get you a 1st and prospect with 50% retention, like Chiarot did.... so no, I'm not using the retention spot to get a couple 3rds. Plus given the number of middle round picks this team has had and the issues with signing (50 contract limit), more 2nd and 3rds isn't something I'd be interested in. Premium picks or wait and see what happens at the deadline.

In other news, the reason the Leafs have gone nowhere in the last decade has finally been revealed. It was John Tavares’s captaincy. With Matthews wearing the C, a Cup is guaranteed.

To be fair, I don't think AFP was factoring in a predatory offer sheet into their projections. Putting his qualifying offer (which is what that $874K represents) was a logical projection by them. A small raise on the base salary and a prove-it type of contract is what many in his situation often get. Broberg has 13 points in 83 regular season games with an ATOI of 12:42. A one-year deal a little under $1M is about what his true market value is with a two-year deal coming in closer to the $1.25M mark knowing there's an arb-eligible year in there. As is often the case with pricey offer sheets, it's a considerable overpayment, albeit one with some upside if Broberg can become a legitimate top-four defender.

Way too early to write Mesar off but my expectations are very low.

The nordiques got Forsberg who ended up better than Lindros. Without him the deal isnt as good, and the chances of one of the prospects being better than the main piece are low in these deals. Thats why pollock always said the team that gets the best player wins the trade.

For clarification, these aren't actually rankings from The Athletic but rather a summary of fan/public voting.

One year ago today

Guhle's attitude and leadership have been praised everywhere hes played. The character attacks are both unsupported by evidence and completely uncalled for.

Im gonna say it. "Entitled brat", "psychological questions". Dude this is ####ing insane shit that you are spewing. Its normal negotiations and both sides have done press conferences about being happy with the deal and that guhle is part of the future. I dont know where this hatred is coming from, but you are making up personal attacks on the player for no reason. Out of nowhere. Its a crazy post.

That's an insight I've never considered. As you say. How many of these player's kids are catching crap at school because of dad.

Wasn't wagering was cut off 24 hours before the round? If so, I'm not sure that particular element is the issue. It's that he leaked it period to someone who was posting who the picks were in advance.

He was in the low 30s the last couple of years in the prospect rankings. I might have moved him up a bit since he was coming off a good season but he likely would have been close to that range again.

Canadiens Prospect Ivan Demidov: Departure to NHL, Goals For the Season, Texting with Slafkovsky - Exclusive Sports News - RG.ORG "I know that [head coach] Roman Rotenberg has spoken with Canadiens management and that they have discussed my development plan," Demidov said. "I also keep in touch with the Canadiens. They ask how I am doing, how my leg feels, etc. It's a work in progress." Demidov took the ice for the first time since his injury in early August "... He has also kept in touch with Canadiens forward Juraj Slafkovsky, the No. 1 pick in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft. "He sent me a couple of messages, asked about my health, and congratulated me on being drafted," Demidov said. "He also wrote that he couldn't wait for me to come to them." Why SKA is Ivan Demidov’s best solution for 24-25 (habseyesontheprize.com) Of the 10 most recent fifth-overall selections, only three played professional hockey in their D+1 year

Hughes is clearly building a cup contending core and Guhle is certainly part of that. Habs need to plug one large hole in a top 6 forward and we also need players to hit potential such as Demidov, Hutson but we are on the right path to contention.

That would be my preference too, he won't be cheap but I think he fits perfectly into the rebuild. I am sure there have been discussions but I think Winnipeg would rather wait a year than make a mediocre deal.

Agreed. And I I wouldn't have wanted to commit to higher cap hit contract with him yet. He isn't a can't miss, and it's harder to project what his ceiling is.

I feel extremely positive with the direction of the team. Lots of questions remain like Dach and health or is Demidov really that good but I like how the new core is developing