GHT120

This year was a unique opportunity to get a #1 overall pick without cleaning out veterans to tank ... NEVER suggested the coach/team should "tank" against Pittsburgh, just expressed my preference that they not win because of the relatively unique opportunity that presented this season ... next season is not a practical tank target, it takes a couples of years IMO, especially with the extremely short off-season this year ... but if the team again has virtually no chance of making the playoffs as the deadline approaches I would again hope for the team to slide further ... but if they are in the hunt next January/February I would not ever hope for losses.

Hardly, it is what TO did ... move out veterans with value ... take back bad contracts for premium payoffs of picks/prospects and target to bottom out for a strong draft

Now ... since neither of us will ever convince the other to change our view, how about a new topic ... where do you stand on Bergevin ... see what happens until his contract is up, extend him or look for a replacement?

Think I have ... don't just randomly tank just to try to get the first overall pick, or do it every year until you get that pick (which could be Yakupov-ish) but rather look ahead for the next few drafts and plan the tank with that draft as the target

Which is why proper tanking is to be strategic strategic and target a draft with a couple of elite players at the top ... NOBODY with any proper understanding of the concept of tanking has ever suggested just tanking every year just because they want to tank ... despite what opponents claim

If the Oilers win the second lottery ... do they want another top prospect or immediate help? What do they need? McDavid, Draisaitl and Nugent-Hopkins all played 22-23 minutes per game in the play-in ... only those three and Yamamoto played more than 11 minutes per game 5-on-5 ... they may be looking for top 6 forward depth ... on defence, Adam Larson has one year left @ $4.167M but was 4th TOI and Russell one yr @ $4M at 5th place TOI ... not to mention James Neal with 3 yrs @ $5.75M ... AND ... Oilers are tight-ish with the cap if they want to improve their roster If MB thinks he can either live with Neal on the third line, or move him with some AAV retained, that could be one way to approach it ... say Domi for the first overall, Neal and Puljarvi as a starting point for talks? Have heard/read talk of Edmonton being hot for Gallagher

Until the Habs opponent is decided, this seems like the most appropriate place ... Stamkos not expected to play against Flyers today ... and is an unknown quantity going forward ... he is only 5 months removed from "core muscle surgery" ... wouldn;t be shocked if he is out until 20/21 season ... big plus for Habs if Bolts get past Flyers

Absolutely ... and while I do not predict it will happen, neither would I be shocked if Weber is traded next summer (maybe in some way related to the Seattle draft) ... but I do subscribe to the "move them one year too soon rather than one year too late" theory

Agreed ... on the 4th line Max plays centre ... although they could assign Evans the defensive responsibilities to free up Domi to push some offence

Don't disagree ... but then Domi stays at 4C ... Drouin and tartar aren't moving to the 4th line

I'd do that deal

I'll agree to disagree about the relative merits of sacrificing the shot at #1 (guaranteed #9) for "making the 2020 playoffs" (despite MB's carefully constructed team having an abysmal season) ... I'll be cheering unabashedly now, because it is now what is best for the team ... and that is what both sides of the "tank" issue really want ... But totally agree with optimism for the future of defence corps ... eager to see Romanov, Juulsen and Fleury next season ... with Norlinder, Harris, Stuble in 21/22 and beyond ... even Fairbrother is somewhat intriguing

Team Tank as you call it doesn't want to tank every season, it wants strategic planning to tank in seasons with 2-3 elite players available ... like 2016 (Matthews, Laine, Dubois), 2015 (McDavid, Eichel, Marner), 2010 (Hall, Seguin), 2009 (Tavares, Hedman) ... no reason to suck if the reward is Yakupov/Murray/Galchenyuk ... this season is reputed to be another "good" draft ... as is the 2021 draft. Sure, there is no guarantee that you get the top players, but it isn't like the last 26 seasons been a rousing success with the "hope to make the playoffs and see" approach ... with an occasional glimpse at a chance for the Cup Finals (twice) ... I was good with that for a long time but finally lost faith ... even with a decent collection of prospects for the first time in many, many years I don't see the Habs becoming any more than "a playoff favourite and see" team ... I can advocate for a rebuild while cheering for the players/team if management is happy with the hamster wheel they are on.

And rational discussion is precluded when it falls to third grade name calling

Wouldn't that be WONDERFUL

Dunn is very tempting ... but with Chiarot in place, Kulak playing well with Petry, Romanov and Norlinder in the pipeline and Mete as a 6/7 LHD is Dunn a good investment of picks and cap space? The variables are of course how well Romanov and Norlinder pan out and where the Habs see Chiarot after his contract expires after 21/22

Ilya had 2 PP points (1g, 1a) in his 22 games with the Habs ... their PP was at 14.5% in that time, vs 17.7% overall ... not certain he added much to the PP I think his first 15 games (5g, 6a) were so impressive that we didn't notice that he delivered little on the PP and had somewhat cooled off in his last 7 games (5-on-5, 1g, 1a ... PP nothing) THAT SAID ... I was a big supporter of signing him and if the 20/21 was very impressed by his effort and attitude.

Much like '93 when Laffs fans shyte all over the Habs Cup because "other teams took out the real eastern contenders" and "the leafs would have beaten them if Fraser hadn't blown that call" ... this wouldn't be a REAL Stanley Cup victory

Sadly that was the only way they had any chance at all of making the playoffs via the normal route ... a quality backup (25-40 games IMO) is a necessity ... Primeau needs to get tons of work in Laval (maybe some pre-planned starts for Habs when the travel for him to join the team is convenient; noting that Price normally gets almost all the home games) so unless Lindgren, McNiven or Demchenko is that guy it will cost the Habs more cap space than in recent years ... Demchenko is the interesting variable as he is a relative unknown to the North American game.

Interesting comment I heard on TSN690 one day from a KHL player (can't remember for the life of me who) is that the KHL is a defensive league ... contrary to the perception of many for wide-ice surface leagues ... it is also often said that KHL teams often don't "feature" players they suspect will be leaving ... so his 14 points in 14 WJHC may be more indicative of his potential ... as does his winning the Best Defenceman award when the tournament was held in Vancouver/Victoria

Well ... Galchenyuk moved from centre to wing ... wing to centre ... centre to wing ... wing to centre ... centre to wing ... wing to centre (wash, rinse, repeat) 😁 😋 😏

As we beat Pittsburgh we will draft 16th or later (depending on how the Habs perform from here on in the playoffs) ... from NHL.com: Picks No. 9-15 will be assigned to the other teams that lose the eight qualifier series, in inverse order of their points percentage. Picks 16-31 will be determined by the results of the playoffs. So Pittsburgh, Winnipeg, Florida, NYR and Nashville are in the second lottery (to be held Monday night I believe), with Toronto, Edmonton and Minnesota on the brink of joining them ...

Kulak is back to what I expected after 18/19, entering 19/20 ... smart, underrated, solid defensively and capable of an occasional offensive contribution ... if he keeps this up he makes it easy to break Romanov into the NHL gently, on the 3rd pairing ... and, perhaps best of all, Brett is signed for two more years at a reasonable AAV (1.85) for a 2nd pairing defenceman

TBL are a strange team ... but I expect last season's playoff disaster will have them focused and "buying in" to whatever the coach asks They are also VERY tight to the 20/21 cap and have two significant RFAs to deal with ... Cirelli and Sergachev (I've heard that name somewhere before) ... both were 3rd in TOI in the regular season, 4th in the round-robin at their position ... they will also need three more forwards and three more defencemen to fill the standard 22 man roster ... Tampa is a pretty nice place to play so in addition to playoff redemption factor there is an almost TC-like competition for 20/21 roster spots.

As a pending RFA I would expect he would just be happy to get the best opportunity to shine ... but unless he enjoys 18/19-like success on the wing it may be an issue going into 20/21 TC and beyond