GHT120

Hopefully that will be in a normal cap world ... I think Savard is gone after 24/25, at the latest ... they will need a veteran throughout the transition to the youngsters ... wouldn't trade him now or next season out of fear of the extension.

A nice handkerchief might help

I love fellow Trifluvians, but he turns 27 in December ... any haunting most likely to be done at the AHL level ... if he doesn't break through to the NHL next season or the year after I could see him returning to Laval for the final few years of his pro career.

He moves the puck well, but he is not the classic defensively-deficient point-producer that NEEDS a defensive anchor ... strikes me as fairly well-rounded ... I think he could be the long-term veteran presence for this evolving D-corps ... good mentor for Guhle, Harris, Barron and Kovacevic; and a year or two from now Hutson as well. Agreed That fits with an extension before/during 25/26 and a trade sometime during that deal

I expect he is Laval-bound until (a) he earns a promotion and (b) HuGo clear some NHL roster space ... see-ya early March 2024(?).

Likely slows down any trade talk.

Drouin to Colorado apparently ... one year

Didn't expect him to get that much for that long, so I guess maybe he "Jerry McGuired" it.

Tucson is a nice location to spend an AHL season, even at a paltry $225K.

👍

Or that they want to move on from him regardless.

It will be interesting to see if they take the non-LTIR approach ... and if so, how they get there ... moving Hoffman or Dvorack might do the trick ... it **might** avoid, or at least reduce, bonus carryover to 24/25 ... CapFriendly indicates a potential $4.2M in performance bonuses.

I'm actually surprised that Gudas only got 3 years @ $4M ... thought someone would go crazy ... still a healthy raise from $2.5M

Cashing in on a very good 22/23 season and Ottawa's ongoing desperation for a goaltender.

My reaction was the same as Helmethead, but you make an excellent point ... only issue will be if they need more than two retention slots at the deadline.

Good point ... just not certain why ROR would want to sign with the Habs.

No surprise ... depending on who they manage to move out, Gurianov might get an offer for well below the $2.9M that would have been necessary for a QO.

This post made me curious so I looked up Stone ... I was surprised to find that since he became a full-time NHLer, Stone has averaged only 62 games and 21 goals.

LOVE the ⚓ s ... although I would suggest Armia is perhaps more deserving than Hoffman ... his AAV is $1.1M less but he has another year left and is IMO less tradeable ... if Hoffman is healthy and has 8/9/10/+ goals by the trade deadline he will have trade value, especially with 50% retained.

Could be a good strategy, Habs would have to make room on the 23/24 roster, but I expect Wheeler and Duchene will attract interest from contending teams id they are willing to sign a modest contract.

The issue is not just cap space(*), it is also roster space ... once Newhook and RHP are signed the Habs will have 13 forwards that at this point will be expected to start the season in Montreal (in alphabetical order: Anderson, Armia, Caufield, Dach, Dvorak, Evans, Gallagher, Harvey-Pinard, Hoffman, Monahan, Newhook, Slafkovsky and Suzuki) ... Pezzetta and Pitlick are also under contract ... as well as Ylönen (RFA), Gurianov (RFA) and Belzile (UFA) who played with the Habs last season ... on defence they have 9 such "regulars (Barron, Edmundson, Guhle, Harris, Kovacevic, Matheson, Savard, Wideman, Xhekaj) under contract. They just don't have the NHL roster space next season to take on contracts ... I expect Evans would be tradeable, maybe Dvorak... otherwise they will have to move out a contract(s) before being able to take on any. (*) - To be safe, let's say Newhook gets a Dach-like deal (4yrs @ 3.3 and RHP $1M ... Habs will have about $4.4M in cap space

The references to "culture" in the post-draft de-brief by Lapointe & Bobrov makes me think that ***MAY*** have also played a role in the Habs passing on Michkov ... I see culture as different than MB's famous "character" ... character is about an individual ... culture is about an organization ... while a player with character issues obviously doesn't contribute to a good culture, even a player with no character issues could not be the right fit for a good culture.

Do the Habs have the roster space to take on contracts ... 11 "NHL" forward contracts (Suzuki, Gallagher, Anderson, Hoffman, Dvorak, Armia, Dach, Evans, Caufield, Mohanan, Slafjkovesky) ... and expect they also plan to keep Farrell, and RFA RHP ... that leaves Pitlick, Pezzetta, UFA Belzile and RFAs Ylönen and Gurianov on the outside looking in ... 13 forwards ... in the same context they have 9 defencemen (Matheson, Edmundson, Savard, Harris, Barron, Guhle, Kovacevic, Wideman and Xekaj). HuGo will have to move some current roster players to make room before they can make any "Monahan moves" (whether or not for that good a return) ... I see Anderson, Evans, Edmundson, Kovacevic and Wideman as the easiest to move if they so choose ... so I am not expecting a lot of activity ... or it will be contract-in/contract-out.