xXx..CK..xXx

Tough to see Perry go. Would have loved to have him for the next two years.

I did not even think of Weber when I thought of this signing as being a “meh” signing. Again, it was his 0 goals, 0 assists and -8 statistics from his most recent time in Tampa. Personally I tend to encourage Habs players and get annoyed when fans put our own players down. This is simply not a signing that excites me.

I can’t really find myself using Dougie Hamilton and David Savard in the same sentence when I see 0 G 0 A and -8 with Tampa last season. I know, he’ll bring more than points, but still. This is a meh for me.

Why are you so jealous? Who cares if that’s what she is doing. Mind your own business and move on with it. No one could care less about your opinion that no one agrees with, or have any pity that your emotions have been hurt over this.

Not sure if we are looking at the same thing here but Wideman had 46 PIM in his prime, not 46 points.

That has nothing to do with the discussion. The question was why wasn’t he picked up, and the reason was cap hit combined with age. Hamilton would have been picked up were he exposed with a 10 million cap hit because he is also younger. And if he would not have been, then I simply disagree with Francis’ approach.

One has to combine that dollar value with age. If Carey Price was 28 years old like Hamilton and had no previous injury concerns, they would have taken him.

Right before we pick, I’d like Raty

Kassian? (Not that he’s an a-hole but was more of a risk on the character side)

It depends on your definition of impact player but I would define Drouin as a useful player. I am also not going to shy away from the argument that he can be an impact player. Because I’ve seen him be one before. It has nothing to do with expectations but he could definitely get hot during the right time, and he has before. If anything the only time Drouin and reliable come up in a conversation, is simply when someone is bringing up out of thin air that Drouin can’t be relied upon. There’s no one here that’s really arguing the other side. Domi can’t be relied upon either, but he once had a heck of a year. The same can be said for anyone. Tatar was our leading scorer one year, and then a healthy scratch in the playoffs the next. So it’s not like it can be argued that this is some sort of “Drouin gene” that we are discussing. I wish the best for Toffoli, but we’ll see if he can keep things up as well. I could also discuss Anderson and some of his ugly statistics throughout his career.

Who said his issues were fan/media related? As it’s really likely that this wasn’t the issue.

I’d like to take you back to 2015-2016 where Jonathan Drouin single handedly dominated the eventual cup champions (Pittsburgh) in the conference finals. That year, the Tampa Bay Lightning took Pittsburgh to 7 games in the conference finals. In Game 7, Pittsburgh won 2-1 against Tampa. Who scored the lone Tampa goal in Game 7? Jonathan Drouin. Pittsburgh eventually went on to beat San Jose in the final, and judging by Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau’s career, it’s safe to assume that Tampa Bay would have a cup if the rest of Drouin’s team showed up. Take a look at that 2015-2016 playoff bracket as well as the game 7 score sheet, and you may learn a thing or two. This wasn’t only a statistical thing as well. I remember from the eye test, Drouin was better than Crosby during that series. In the end, this is coming from someone who disliked the Sergachev trade after defending the Weber trade. I wanted Sergachev to fill in for Markov. With that being said, it is an entirely false assumption to say that we wouldn’t have made the final if Drouin was with the squad.

$5 million is what I would have said as well. I personally don’t mind if we don’t have him back. That’s not based on this season. I’ve felt that way for awhile.

I’m sad about this situation. As the playoffs were nearing an end I was going to make a post that while I was Weber’s biggest fan, his age actually seemed apparent to me during this run. I knew he was injured but he also shot a 100mph shot into Goodrow during the final, so there was more to it. It seems moot to say it now even though it had been a thought of mine, but one couldn’t have expected it to be this bad.

I am fairly confident that the majority of the players on the team do indeed feel that way and that’s more important than the perspective of some fans and their personal vision of what a contender looks like. There have been so many negative posts concerning the Habs over the years that have been proven completely and utterly wrong, that it’s almost not worth replying to those comments. Of course those who say the Habs will win the cup next year with their rose coloured glasses are just as delusional. With that being said, stating that the Habs need to improve is an obviously true remark but that can be said for any team, including Tampa. The Habs are going to be an even tougher team to play against than this year as their young kids have another year of experience under their belt. That comment is also coming from someone (me) who loves veterans. Caufield and Suzuki (and KK) are only going to get better and I am confident that we will continue to add some pieces after the run we made this year. There should only be room for optimism heading into next year. Whether or not things pan out, time will tell.