Habs Fan in Edmonton

Absolutely, getting a player of Paternak's ability at 25 is hitting a home run, it's very rare to get a player that good at 25. He was overlooked by a lot of teams but not the Bruins. Your point is well taken, to be consistently competitive, you have to find those gems outside the top 10 or 15 and develop them well. The Bruins have done a great job at this.

Yes they are. Another thing they have done well is trade players at the right time (ie. traded Lucic for a big haul when they recognized the game was changing). Pasternak was actually a 1st round pick (#25 in 2014 right before Sherbak) but everything else you said is absolutely correct. Getting Bergeron in the 2nd round and Marchand in the 3rd was masterful. Being a Habs fan I have always had a strong dislike for the Bruins but their management team has done a great job keeping them competitive every year.

Not surprised but excellent news. Until they sign the dotted line you never know for sure.

This is a nice story. Hard not to like Caulfield. On another Habs board they were debating whether they would trade Caulfield for Lafreniere, one for one. I wouldn't. I think Cole will thrive under the spotlight in Montreal, has the personality for it, not sure about Lafreniere. https://montrealgazette.com/sports/hockey/nhl/hockey-inside-out/stu-cowan-hug-of-a-lifetime-for-young-fan-of-canadiens-cole-caufield

Trifluvian? Good thing there is google. Had to look that up.

Great update! Don't want Arber to lose his edge.

Washington's win tonight officially eliminated the Habs from playoff contention. Not that there was any doubt before the game tonight.

Let's hope there are no 10 game winning streaks. I want a top 2 pick.

Mock drafts simply give the media something to write about and it catches our attention because we are fans. There are obviously still a lot of unknowns (ie. draft position of the teams and how those teams rank the players) which make them purely conjecture but they are fun to read.

I am no scout but I hope the Habs can nab Wright or Slafkovsky who is a beast. The draft should be fun to watch for Habs fans this year. They have so many picks that I am guessing HuGo will be looking at using some of the extra picks to move up if there is someone they really want.

This was just a great trade by Hughes, Barron for Lehkonen one for one would have been an excellent trade, the 2nd round pick (although a late one) is the cherry on top.

I have little doubt it is. Hughes knows, there were no rumours of trading Harris. All indications point to him signing with the Habs. Give him a day or two to recover from his team getting knocked out.

The problem Armia has had has been staying healthy. He seems to get hurt a lot. He has scored 66 goals in 384 games, 14/82 games so scoring 15 in a full season is totally reasonable IF he can stay healthy. He is still being paid too much but if he bounces back next year then he may have some value on the trade market.

Just seeing if people were awake.

He is playing well, might score 20 next year.

Yup, plus Ottawa and Philly win. A good night.

Will the Pitlick's pummel the Panthers tonight?

There is a big difference between being strong (ie Struble) and being speedy for a hockey player. It's also too early to say about Struble, it seemed like he had a strong latter part of the year. From what I have read it seems like the top 40 is pretty good this year and the Habs will have 3 picks in the top 40, likely top 35. Also the Oilers 2nd round pick should around the middle of the 2nd round if they go out early or if they don't make the playoffs.

It is a bad contract. You would think that Dorion is one GM who will be on the hot seat next year as this is their 4th bad season in a row. How long do you give a guy to rebuild?

Good interview, seems like a really nice young man, certainly understands French well as he took French immersion.

I expect Hughes will be patient and will look for the right opportunity to move guys like Hoffman/Drouin. I think Gallagher needs a bounce back year before there is any chance of moving him. I think he is here for a while. The important thing now is drafting/development. It is a big draft year coming up and they need to get it right/wright. I don't think they will rush Barron but they will obviously want to have a look. He has had a pretty good 1st year in the AHL. It's exciting to me to see how Suzuki/Caulfield have responded. I have no doubt they will be/are studs and are the main building blocks up front. If we can get another stud forward in the draft to eventually anchor another line then I think we are well on our way to some exciting times.

I tend to agree with Commandant on this in that it's so hard to figure out what goalies will end up making it in the NHL. Of course you scout them and perhaps target one or two, I just don't think you use a high draft pick on them as it's such a gamble. Carey Price was the exception.

Does adding Barron change our approach to the entry draft as we seem to have a lot of good young defense prospects or is it still BPA? I hope we draft high enough to get one of Wright, Cooley or Slafkovsky.

I can't see us finishing below Seattle and Arizona. We are just a better hockey team especially with Jake Allen back to provide some stability in goal. Jersey and Ottawa are only 5 points ahead. Marty is doing too good a job behind the bench.

That's true, you have always been higher on Kulak than the rest of us. We know that at least Ken Holland agreed with you (and he likely wasn't the only GM after Kulak). I never thought we would get a 2nd for him. I am happy to be wrong about that.