GHT120

Time to start looking for 2031 first-rounders in trades? That is when Tep is draft eligible ... Misa is in the 2025 draft.

Baron????

For however much or little it is worth

2020 may be a bit early yet ... in 2019 #31 would have allowed them to draft Shane Pinto ... so only time will tell

And if they happen to lose them on waivers (unlikely as that may be) ... oh well.

Wouldn't surprise me if the Habs knew that Bogdan Konyushkov was planning to extend ... and the goalies they drafted are on three different timelines ... one CHL, one NCAA and one KHL.

In the case of a players drafted from the Russian Federation, NHL teams hold the players rights indefinitely. That is because the Russian Hockey Federation does not have a formal transfer agreement with the NHL and transfers must be conducted on a case-by-case basis. There is, however, a non-interference agreement between the NHL and KHL that teams in one league must honor as valid still-active contracts in the other league. I believe the author is correct.

I agree that he seems a longshot to crack the top 6 at the moment ... but a 7D in the NHL makes at least the NHL minimum ($775K as of this coming season) ... not many can do better in other leagues or away from hockey.

Likely not ... but the issue may be what standard of living his pay and perks provide in Russia versus a max ELC in the states ... not necessarily a dollar-for-dollar comparison.

True ... but the GM selects who runs the scouting operation and must bear responsibility for who they hire ... and GMs do usually have final say on draft plans, so ... It's why they get pretty decent paycheques.

The latest rumour, from TSN690 yesterday, is that Michkov does not like the idea of a 3-yr ELC and may stay in Russia until he is 24, when his ELC would only be one year.

Are we still including Norlinder in that group as a legit prospect?

Los Angeles Kings sign captain Anze Kopitar to a two-year, $14 million extension | TSN Danault is the 3rd highest paid centre on the Kings for the foreseeable future ... not certain PLD or Kopitar is likely to be moved to the wing ... Phil supposedly left Montreal, in part, because he didn't want to end up as the 3C ... it will be interesting to see how it works out this season in LaLaLand.

So much depends on whether or not Montembeault truly had a breakout season in 22/23 ... some believe yes, some believe no ... we won't know until well into the season which side is right.

It was January 21, 2021 against Vancouver ... he had just scored 2g-3a in back-to-back games against the 'Nucks, after going scoreless in 3 games to start the season ... he was out until February 10, 2021, almost three weeks ... he scored 5g and 4a in the final 36 games... given his history I wouldn't take the 5 pts in 5 games as a sign he finally "broken out" ... but he dropped almost a third from his previous pts/gm (as average as it was).

CF lists 12 forwards in the main listing (including Newhook) and 3 who were on IR to end the season ... 15 total. As for Ylönen, he might win a spot this season but I just don't see him having a significant role going forward, whereas Zadina might ***if*** he gets his shyte together.

If HuGo don't want to retain salary, Hoffman might be tradeable for the infamous "future considerations" to a team with tons of cap-space who would be willing to, now or later, retain salary and trade him for actual assets.

Unfortunately, other than "we didn't see him live" we will never know what the "negatives" they saw in Michkov were, ***if*** any.

Was just saying that those are the picks that are often how GMs/scouts drafting skills/results are judged.

Apparently Habs prospects frequently get Nicholas et al's feedback/analysis on videos from their recent games, often via video conference so it is face-to-face.

But first round picks, especially top 5 / top 10, are where teams are expected to have invested sufficient due diligence to make more winning selections than wasted picks ... largely where draft accountability rests.

Looking at Cap Friendly the Habs have 15 "NHL" forwards" (counting RFA Newhook) ... I would exclude Pezetta and Pitlick right away, leaving a full roster of 13 forwards. The rumour is that HuGo do not want to have to put Price on LTIR to be cap-compliant and eligible to play their first game of the season ... I can see them trying to move Hoffman and Dvorak (although Evans may be the centre who is more tradeable) to clear the current 610K overage and make room to sign Newhook ... if they are able to do that then I could see them possibly looking at Zadina on-the-cheap, but only once space is created ... I suspect a lot of NHL teams may, for a variety of reasons, be in similar wait & see positions on any interest in Filip.

In particular, I found the clip with Adam Nicholas (Director of Hockey Development) very interesting ... starts around 16:00