xXx..CK..xXx

Let’s get over the fantasy bit. The point is that Domi is offensively better than Danault. Domi career 55 ppg 👌 Danault career 42 ppg 😶 Based on those numbers alone, who should be more deserving of playing top line minutes? Everyone loves Danault. That’s fine. But the Habs are a better team when our first line center is someone of Suzuki’s offensive potential rather than Danault’s. I want offense from my first line. It’s very simple. If Danault is a regular on the third or second line, you won’t hear me complaining. You’ll only hear him. If that type of thing is going to hinder his future vision with the club, he can be shown the door, and hopefully for something in return. I certainly am tired of him being our first line center and based on our results the past few seasons, everyone else should be as well. I would be more than happy to face any team in the NHL in a playoff series who has Philippe Danault as their first line center.

It’s easy to attack the fantasy point and I expected that but it is not ridiculous to state that the average fan picks Domi higher than Danault. Therefore, it is not true that Danault is “far and away the better player” as you falsely concluded, even if it would be true that he is a better player overall. It’s like the +\- stat. The debate against it looks weak when the person that states +\- is the most useless stat completely overlooks the context it’s being used. There are times where the stat can be relevant. I am confident Domi will end up having a better career than Danault. I guess we will just have to let that play out.

Radulov, Benn, Seguin, Pavelski, Klingberg, Heiskanen... Dallas has some exciting players. Eberle was Mr. Cardiac as a junior on team Canada. With that being said, I’d say Dallas can actually be an exciting team whereas NYI are indeed more of a “boring” team to watch. I digress when I say this, but Dallas is built very similarly to how I would build a team as a GM. It’s not necessarily the reason they are where they are but they have talent across the lineup, including their “over the hill” veterans like Perry, who I think can be invaluable during a cup run. They’ve been going with more skilled veterans than other teams for a few years now (for example Spezza), and it has finally paid dividends for them. I am not sure that other teams will copy that philosophy, however, in that the league seems to be getting younger. I’ve always been a fan of having a good mix of skilled veterans though (like Kovalchuk), and it seems to have worked out for them this year.

The fact that there’s even a conversation, albeit not by everyone, that there’s even the possibility that Suzuki would supplant Danault on the 1st line by next season, says more about Danault than Suzuki in my opinion. The team, in general, needs more offense. Danault is, or has been, a 1st line center and has 1 career playoff goal. That’s not good enough. Keep him on the third line all you want, but then I don’t know why we would be crying about the possibility of losing him. I don’t agree that Danault is by far and a way the better player and I say that all the while being aware how good his stats can be 5 on 5, in addition to his all around game. There is a reason Domi would be selected above Danault in any fantasy draft, and it’s because of offense. He also does bring grit, can get under the opponent’s skin and is willing to drop the gloves, which means offense is not the only thing he brings to a team. Most people look at the players, see where they are in the lineup (Danault 1st line C) (Domi 2 or 3rd line wing, or 4th line center) and judge them in that way. That’s fine and there’s nothing wrong with that. I see two players, one of which is playing higher in the lineup than they should be, and the other who in the playoffs was playing lower in the lineup than they should be. There’s no question in my mind that Danault’s numbers have been inflated playing on the first line. Domi had 3 less points Last year in the same amount of games but was not playing on the first line. He would have had 50+ in 71 games with Tatar and Gallagher. I say all this while knowing and understanding that I am in the minority. But I am not going to simply overlook Domi’s 72 point season and call it an aberration just for the sake of doing so. I am willing to let the future play itself out, and if Domi is on the team next year, I am confident he will have an oustanding year like he did 2 years ago. Danault, I can pencil in for 55 points next year, knowing there’s no way he’ll ever do more than that offensively. Domi, as long as he can put the puck in the net as well, easily has that 55-75 point potential. I am not so sure how it’s clear as day that player 1 is far superior to player 2 when looked at in that way.

⭐s to the cup final

I saw a poll result just now that has it as roughly a 66.x% vs 33.x%, or 2 to 1 in favour of keeping Danault over Domi. It’s good to see that at least 33% of the people agree with my side. I already know the all round capabilities of Danault, but Domi’s offensive potential is “potentially” the best out of any Hab. It’s easy to forget all that with the way this year and in particular the playoffs went, but when Domi continues to electrify next season, I’ll continue to feel the way I do now. Electrify and Danault will never be two words I will use in the same sentence.

I’m well aware of Danault’s defensive play but in my own opinion, his defensive play isn’t as strong as Plekanec’s, which is a random thing to bring up, but it means that I feel as though Danault’s defensive prowess is hardly irreplaceable. Danault has also stated that he’s ready for an offensive role and while it is a positively thing mentally for him to feel that way, my point is being enlightened; we will have an offensively minded, defensively capable 1st line center taking up minutes from someone else with more skill. (I am actually one who prefers veterans but in this case we can go and probably should go with Suzuki) If Danault remains on the third line and we slowly begin to forget that he was ever a first line center for our team, he’s welcome to stay. If he continues to get thrown into the role of 1st line center every time someone else experiences a slump or gets injured, then I’d be interested in seeing what type of return we could get for him.

It’s just a rumour from the last page of this thread but I’d definitely be happy with keeping Domi over Danault, if it was a decision between them. Although he has stark defenders on here, I’ll come out and say that he’s no longer that underrated great pickup. His stats are decent but have simply been inflated by playing along the likes of Pacioretty, Radulov, Gallagher, and Tatar. Without playing with elite first line players, he is supposed to cap out at 40-45 points. The same can be said for a lot of players, but there are 1st line centers in the NHL who could produce 60-70 points, even if they were to be placed on a third line. My biggest thing when it comes to potentially trading Danault is that I believe having him on the team gives the coach an excuse to use him as a first line center, when he is not one. If he is, he is about the 25th to 31st best 1st line center in the league. It is a similar feeling as to why I wanted to be rid of Desharnais for a few years. The other reason is that despite myself having my own opinion about him, unless the other GMs are all thinking in similar fashion to me, I believe that Danault’s perceived value is higher than what he actually brings to the table. (I can be spared the lecture of what he does bring, because I do know there are many things he does bring) If that’s the case, and he can be a main cog going the other way when it comes to some of the names that have been brought up as potentially coming back our way, I’m all for it. When it comes to Domi, he simply has more offensive potential. He played poorly in these playoffs, but I wouldn’t judge a man, a diabetic on top of everything, by the manner in which he played during a small sample tournament, 3 months after the beginning of a global pandemic. As for the Danault defenders, 1 goal in 16 career playoff games does not exactly instil confidence in me, when he is supposed to be a top 3 forward.

Speaking of Patches hoisting the cup, Radulov with the OT winner in game 3. 2-1 stars. At this point, we’re going to have to accept that either Pacioretty, Radulov, Sergachev, or McDonagh will win the cup. I’m settling on accepting Tampa as the winner for one reason or another.

I’ll take me some Taylor Hall on the Habs, please.

Isn’t that the way the world works, in general? I’m no Pierre Mcguire fan but I’m not sure why anything you stated matters considering he likely won’t get the job. He has been an assistant coach, head coach, assistant GM, and scout in the NHL. I do think he still has knowledge when it comes to prospects as well. He won’t get the job, but yes he has connections in the league, and has had jobs in the NHL before, albeit including a couple of very unsuccessful tenures along the way.

I would be completely fine with trading Danault, and that’s way before the Gaudreau rumours. I don’t think there’s much of a “you guys” though as there aren’t an overbearing amount of people who “would be fine with” Danault being traded.

Forget sending Gallagher the other way when acquiring Gaudreau. Danault + = 👌

I’m unconcerned about actually using our available cap space 👌

May as well put the Islanders up there as well. I’m not putting anything past Trotz, at this point. It wouldn’t surprise me to see them in the final. The most obvious choice is Tampa vs Vegas, though.

I am really not sure why the Radulov discussion bothered people so much. It wasn’t me who brought him up but he was brought up as a result of his game 1 performance against Colorado. It looks like he got the game winner in game 2 for Dallas as well. The Habs were the better team for the most part in that series. If we’re not a round of 8 team, which many would indeed agree with, then I suppose the Pens are simply not a playoff calibre team. If we’re going by that logic. We shellacked Philly twice as well, so we’ll see how they respond. Although I am still going with the Islanders and Trotz in 6 games.

Nice to see the Flyers get shellacked in game 1 of their series. Islanders in 6.

https://m.ranker.com/list/russian-nhl-players/ranker-hockey Looks like I’m really so far off. To be that high on a list from a country such as Russia when it comes to hockey makes one an all time great from that country. He has been captain of his national team and is second all time in KHL scoring, since we are bringing up that there are Russian players outside of the NHL.

He is one of the greatest Russians to ever play in the NHL. This isn’t in response just to you but why is it relevant that there may be better Russians who have played outside of the NHL? The Canadiens obviously would never have had the chance to sign them. One can argue and nitpick in a snarky way that I’ve said one of the greatest players ever from Russia and that I didn’t specify the NHL, but considering the context what I meant is that the Habs had one of the greatest Russian players of all time, who has played in the NHL, on our team, and he walked. Considering the NHL is the best league in the world then yes I would also assume he was one of the greatest Russians to ever play the game. I stated that he is top 20, and yes he is better than some of the players you listed. I never said he was better than Ovechkin or any of those other top 12 players. I was also referring more to forwards but I digress as it wasn’t such a massive point I was making. That is such an easy response. Of course “no one here was in the room”. I left out the argument between Radulov and Bergevin about the timing of the offer but both sides have stated that “they offered the same as Dallas”. It’s easy to be a brick wall and state what you’ve said but where is the evidence that Bergevin offered so much more? All in all, this wasn’t a comment that we should have signed him because I understand that there’s no way to tell whether or not Radulov would have bolted anyway. The plain purpose of this conversation was the belief that we should have offered Radulov more than we did. If you guys want to pounce on me for that, so be it. The evidence I’ve seen has said we offered the same as Dallas, which was never going to cut it. Digressing the conversation about whether or not Radulov is one of the greatest Russian players of all time is pointless. I once again state that Radulov is the 20th all time Russian points per game leader in the NHL. Bobby Hull was the 20th all time point ls per game leader as a Canadian in the NHL. Is he not one of the all time Canadian greats? PS: There are so many articles that are easy to look up. I don’t come close to believing everything I read but when Bergevin himself says hr made a final offer to Markov and Radulov and won’t budge, that was a mistake in my opinion. And that’s exactly the point I was trying to make. Everyone’s okay losing him because of a (theoretical yet educated guess) figure of $500k-$1 million? That’s okay, you can all enjoy your boat. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.tsn.ca/bergevin-hasn-t-had-talks-with-radulov-markov-since-offers-1.794971%3ftsn-amp

Seriously. I hadn’t said anything about a top x list but he is one of the top 20 Russians of all time, and easily top 5-10 active Russians. (Bobby Hull was the 20th all time Canadian points getter; is he not one of the greatest Canadian players of all time?) Let’s check the salary of those ahead of him: 1) Malkin: $9.5 million 2) Ovechkin: $9.38 million 3) Kucherov: $9.5 million 4) Panarin: $11.6 million 5) Kovalchuk: $700k 6) Tarasenko: $7.5 million 7) Kuznetsov: $7.8 million 8. Radulov: $6.25 million This is the list when it comes to points per game. I didn’t skip any names between #7 and #8. When it comes to all time Russians, Radulov’s points per game is hovering around that of Alex Kovalev’s. When Kovalev was around Radulov’s age, he was making $5 million a season. If one accounts for inflation, that number becomes roughly $6.2 million, and pretty much exactly what Radulov is making himself. With that being said, when one accounts for what Montreal may have had to offer him given taxes, it would have been $7.x-8.1 million. The fact remains that we offered him the $6.25 million contract in a “take it or leave it” manner. Given the fact that Radulov was arguably our best player, I would have offered him at least what Pacioretty is making, in the $7 million range. I can see that $8.1 million is perhaps a number Bergevin never would have went, but to lose a bonafide first line NHL player because of a $1 million dollar difference in opinion is not something I will ever fully agree with. I know those capologists on here will bring up how necessary that $1 million dollars in savings would look on the back end of his contract, but I’d rather have the player on our team. I’m fine with being in the minority but we can’t use the excuse that we have to pay free agents more than other organizations, for whatever the reason be, and then never actually do it. Instead, we had cap space saved in the cookie jar for a few years now.

I am not one of those MB bashers and in fact I don’t spend much of my energy thinking about him. With that being said, what we do know is that the equivalent of what Radulov signed for in Dallas would have costed the Habs 8.1 million. We also know that what the Habs offered was the same offer as Dallas. I can personally feel confident when I come to the conclusion that Radulov would have likely signed with the Habs for 8.1 million. I am also aware that not many fans on this board would have wanted to sign him for 8.1 million. The question for me is whether or not he would have signed for 7-7.5 million and even if the answer would be no, we then come to the conclusion that signing one of the best Russian forwards to ever play the game, a season after he was our best player in the playoffs, was not worth signing because we would be ripped off by $500k. Considering the organization failed to use their cap space for years to come afterward, it becomes hard for me to find a reason we should be worried about his salary, and consequently his cap hit.

The moment we “let” Radulov walk without any backup plan was the moment I realized we would not be able to compete for a Stanley Cup the following year. It’s not that Radulov has been so stellar with Dallas, though two 72 point seasons aint too shabby, it’s that he is one of the best Russian players of all time and we had the inside track on him. Sure, he was going to the highest bidder, but had we been the highest bidder, I am sure he would have listened more than had he already been on Dallas previously. I don’t buy into having to always worry about the end of contracts killing a team’s cap fortunes because if we always feel that way, then the team simply will never have any high end skill for any petiod of time. By the end of their contracts veteran players like Dallas seems to have accumulated can still be extremely vital secondary pieces to championship teams. 37 year old Radulov isn’t worth 8 million, however 37 year old Radulov is still more valuable than 4-5 other players we will have, combined. Whether or not Radulov would have signed is another question, but whether or not we should have signed him to an 8 million a year contradt is a huge yes for me. At the time I was fine with over 7 million and I wouldn't complain complain about a 500k a year overpayment for someone who slots in as a first line player. Those who would only offer 6 million to him were already closed minded to the idea of keeping him from the beginning. Not to single him out but since it was brought up, I would have been quite fine losing Danault had it meant we could sign Radulov into his elder years.

Not that there’s any merit to rekindling this topic but it would have been 8.1 million, and yes even without hindsight it would have been worth paying him that amount. We had 15 million in cap space, didn’t end up signing Markov or Radulov, and instead signed Hemsky to a $1 million deal and Alzner to a $4.65 mil per year contract.

Philly has 3 goals on 12 shots. Price has to shut them down in the 3rd period, right?

Was just thinking “all we need is one”