GHT120

Full-out bromance

Decided to look at the Pearson impact on the cap ... using CapFriendly numbers, I took ***MY*** best guesses on the opening day roster ... Blue means on the Habs' roster (22-man) to start the season, red is on IRL (not LTIR) to start the season and green means they are GO-ing somewhere else. I was SHOCKED to discover the Habs are only over by about $2.4M (unless I messed up) ... so not as dire as I feared. I expect the "arguments" will likely be about Barron vs Lindström ... and ... Andersson vs Pezzetta vs Ylönen ... but the point of this post is not those choices, but the cap impact of Pearson ... swapping out Lindström for Barron, or Pezzetta/Ylönen for Andersson makes no substantial difference. My conclusion ... it may be time to explore the cost of getting rid of Armia ... but that is a different thread.

EXACTLY why I emphasized "clickbait" ... but Journal has some of it as well

CLICKBAIT site Hockey30 ***claiming*** Primeau said: "I'm tired of playing in the American League. I know I have the level to play in the NHL. I know I can face the best night after night. I want to play in the NHL. If it’s not in Montreal, it will be elsewhere” "I want to stay in the NHL. I trained all summer to prove I was an NHL goalie." "I had a tough day. It's hard to look forward right now. I'm not in the best mental state." When asked about Primeau, Martin St-Louis reportedly said "He would have to take away Samuel's (Montembeault) or Jake's (Allen) spot. He must perform better and the performance of the other two would have to drop. I will not stand in his way, but I will not place him in front of others if he does not deserve it. He has to speak with his game, not with his mouth." Some of the "quotes" are confirmed in a Journal de Montreal article. NOTE: I've bolded what the Journal de Montreal confirms.

General caution, it is the beginning of TC ... let's wait until at least actual pre-season games before getting excited (or panicked) about anyone. Roy ***might*** make the team if Hughes is able to move a couple of veterans for cap purposes, but I expect Stephens and Anderson are ahead of him in terms of starting the season in Montreal ... I would prefer he starts in the AHL for a good stretch, and only move up after some sustained serious success. As regards Mailloux ... general caution ... Logan missed almost two full seasons of junior development ... even ***if*** he were to look great in the pre-season I expect he will greatly benefit in the long-term from a season in the AHL.

Because it works

FYI - I use Microsoft Edge with Bing as the search engine

Below for example, pasting the URL works for me: Wonder if it could be browser sensitive?

Making the "don't use LTIR to be cap compliant to start the season" even harder if they want to have a full 22/23-man roster for the first game. BTW: Was about to post the news, but:

And my other point was that few, if any, players are going to turn down an extra year, or two or three on an immediate contract hoping that they play well enough in the interim that Hughes (or ant other GM/team) is still interested in signing them after their "shortened" contract expires, or that no youngsters develop and take the role Hughes had envisaged for them.

Until they are actually UFAs he can't say anything to them or their agent, or their family, or their friends without running the risk of losing draft picks for tampering ... and few if any players will turn down guaranteed term for the hope that Hughes will sign him down the road.

I've taken to opening the Tweet and copying the URL ... seems to work fine.

With Dvorak out until November, HuGo's preference to not use LTIR to be in compliance with the cap to start the season is made more difficult ... would the 3rd and 4th rounders obtained in the "Petry trade chain" be enough to move Armia's 2yrs@$3.4M AAV?

Given the Habs are slightly above the cap ceiling, this makes it tougher to be cap compliant to start the season without either using LTIR (which they indicated they prefer not to do) or making a trade.

Meh ... other than RHP, I'm not certain that there are any youngsters who I see as part of the post-rebuild team that should be in the NHL rather than junior/AHL/Europe ... I'm just not as keen on Ylonen, for example, as many.

The trick will be being able to get under the cap to start the season with Price on the roster, which they indicated was their preference.

Reinbacher doesn't have an essentially 2-year "hole" in his development (Covid, suspension, injuries) ... there seems to be consensus that Mailloux is good at the "fun stuff", but (hopefully) thanks to the previously referenced "hole" the defensive side of his game is in need of further development ... also, Reinbacher is almost certain to return to the Swiss-A league this season, which is a much better league than the one in which Mailloux briefly (19 games) played during Covid.

My hope is not that Beck is Evans but Evans+++ ... a LEGIT NHL 3C on a Cup contender ... Evans is (IMO) a 3C on a draft lottery team and a 4C on a playoff team and maybe a 12/13 forward on a Cup contender.

Not certain I like the simple Top 6 / Bottom 6 split that is so often used ... the third line plays a very important role on good teams and are usually a distinct tier above the fourth liners ... I don't expect Beck to end up having the offence to be "Top 6" when the Habs are ready to be Cup contenders, but I wouldn't lump him together with 4th liners ... this season in the OHL will be an important step in his development ... I think he has a chance to be a step above Jake Evans.

Only the bleu-blanc-rouge tinted glasses-wearers thought he wouldn't need at least a season in Laval. As I've said before, if eventually he can't figure out the defensive game I'd try him up front.

Over/under on how many fights Florian has in the tournament?

A trade with Colorado would almost certainly involve Allen or DeSmith ... and would not likely result in them keeping Primeau as a 3rd goalie on the NHL roster.

Before trading him the Habs would have to offer him to any other teams that also claimed him on the initial waivers ... for the low, low price of the waiver fee.

Thought they had to be on the NHL roster for a certain length of time, before which they have to be offered back to Ottawa before being waived ... anyway, it is always possible that Kovacevic could be the one to be moved out ... although I suspect I am in the minority, but I'm not as "sold" on Barron as many others (although I loved the character he showed in his Pride reaction).