The Chicoutimi Cucumber

Oops, I thought he was up next year. My bad. He will certainly be traded before his contract is up; it's a question of when. If we wait until he's 32 he might have begun his decline, so maybe next year will indeed be a good target? Or, we just see him as a guy who plays out the string with us - allowing Hutson a luxurious, low-pressure entry into the NHL - to be moved as a rental in two years, even if that means not maximizing return.

Boy, trading Matheson would be a ballsy move, given what he means to our D. Despite all the points from the back end this season, none of our young guys plays that kind of puck-controlling, offence-generating game. Moving him out would likely transform us from a bad team into the worst team in hockey right now. On the other hand, he’s 30, and although his game feels to me like it will age well, he’s hard to imagine as part of the long-term plan. I have a higher opinion of him than some, and think that if the Habs really were shopping him around, he would be subject of pretty hot rumours. So my guess is the Habs will wait until next season, then move him as a rental. Whether that’s the way to maximize return on a player who should bring back a solid haul, I don’t know.

I know Calgary wanted a first, but that still seems like a big haul for Tanev. Good work by Conroy.

Say what you want about +/-, but I always believed it was a relevant statistic when it comes to egregious outliers. E.g., if I'm -25 and everyone else on my team is a +, that is probably telling us something meaningful about my suckage.

The Mikheyev idea is a good one, actually. It's quite possible that Tocchet looks at Andy and sees "a Rick Tocchet player."

Is there any evidence he wants out, though? All we've really heard is 1. He wants to be on a winning team 2. He doesn't want to talk contract until the season is over. Insiders have reported that he doesn't like all the speculation and chatter about his contract, suggestive of a guy who isn't crazy about an amped-up media environment; but it doesn't follow that that will be the deciding factor. If I were a Canucks fan, I'd be concerned...but not panicking just yet. (One thing that probably doesn't help is the shockingly high proportion of fans who declare that "you can never win" with Petterson, that he's not a complete player, that he's not worth a massive contract, etc. We should remember that this is the same city whose "fans" whined non-stop about "the Sedin sisters" all the way up to 2011 🙄).

I think everyone agrees we need to add a significant FW. I believe management wants to do so as well, and we certainly have assets to bargain with, so I think there's a realistic possibility that it happens.

On this Anderson to Van idea…Rutherford and Alvin just spent three years extricating themselves from the mess of Jim Benning’s atrocious contract management. I really don’t think they’ll jump right back in the sh*theap first chance they get. Now, if the Habs retain substantial salary, such that they get him at a decent cap hit, then maybe.

It’s probably good that there’s a bit of push-back, because I think most of us agree that next season the team needs to start flipping the switch from “development” to “winning some hockey games.” The media is, in effect, gently warning them that a shift in fan patience is imminent. As for this season, I really believe that MSL is overwhelmingly focused on how the kids are doing and doesn’t lose too much sleep over the veterans. When he says “this is our best stretch,” he probably means that the kids are playing the way he wants them to and demonstrating the learning he wants to see. And that’s fine - for now. I can’t really blame the vets for checking out, either - assuming them to have done so. They know the Habs are sellers, so on a human level, it’s got to be tough not knowing what your fate is.

YUP. Petterson will command a return as high as any player in recent memory. And rightly so. That guy is a frigging 100-point, 40-goal franchise #1C. And he’s 25. If I’m the Canucks, I absolutely demand a king’s ransom. Without him, they are looking at another decade in the wilderness. It either has to be the kind of return where you look at the receiving team and go, “whoa - they will be a powerhouse in 2-3 years” OR where they get something like Suzuki PLUS, such that they can reasonably claim to be at least as good as they were with Petey. Anyway: if Petterson actually wants out, it can no longer be for the reason we used to hear about - i.e., that he doubted whether management could build a winner. So it has to be the other reason I’ve heard reported: he hates the over-heated media/fan environment of Vancouver. If that’s the case, then there is no way on God’s green earth he signs in Montreal.

The thing with Xhekaj is - even if we rate him as high as a potential 2nd pairing guy, he will be no ordinary 2nd pairing guy. He brings attributes that are both rare and exceptionally valuable: (a) a ridiculously cannonading 107-MPH shot and (b) off-the-chart physical prowess. The latter, especially, is really hard to find. His specific exceptional qualities will make him significantly harder to replace than a “normal” 2nd pairing guy. All of which is to say, the Habs would be within reason to be asking a LOT to give up WiFi. (Whether this is actually the case, I have no idea). There’s maybe a slight analogy with a guy like Lucic, forgetting for a moment about that jackass’s other issues. Offensively, in his heyday Lucic produced like a 50-60 point guy - good but not great - but I don’t think anyone doubted that he was worth waaay more than a standard guy with that profile, because he was a gorilla on skates. I’m not saying WiFi is a player of that level of impact…just that his value may be skewed upward because of his exceptionally rare skill-set.

Hahahaha, I dunno...I'm starting to warm to "SUCKING FOR CELEBRINI' But I should take the W and run

WINNER??🏆 “Lackin’ for Macklin?”

But where is the internal rhyming, alliteration, or assonance, my friend? "Lose-a-rini for Celebrini" would be the Ned Flanders version...

“Cellar for Celebrini?” “Play obscenely for Celebrini?” After a loss, you “Celebrate for Celebrini?” It’s not “Fail for Nail,” I’ll grant ya 🤷‍♂️

We have to hope that it’s a question of incremental improvements to individual young players, and that eventually those improvements will tip us over the edge into better results. From that point of view, we just haven’t hit “critical mass” yet. That’s sort of what Hughes said in his presser. In effect: we like how our young players are coming along, but projecting team performance is much harder. I suspect it’s going to be a bumpy ride, TBH. Look at teams like Buffalo and Ottawa that were expected to surge forward but instead crapped out. I can imagine a future where the Habs’ period of struggling (a) drags on longer than we want (b) causes the fanbase to sour and then (c) after everyone has given up on the team, and media “experts” project “another tough year” for the Canadiens, we see the dam break and start winning lots of games. In this hypothetical future, the key thing will be for management not to panic and do a Mcdonagh/Sergachev type trade out of a sense that things aren’t working. Stay the course and stick to the process.

Couldn't watch this one because I was at a curling bonspiel...sounds like I picked a good one to skip

Again…that team had the 2nd best PP…obviously its even strength scoring was horrible but the PP was not the problem.

That could well be…but if you’re going down, at least go down swinging. Fill the place to the rafters. Make sure that, if the team isn’t viable, it’s because of a wider economic issue, NOT due to lukewarm fan interest. At this point, if the team folds, the fans will have no one to blame but themselves.

Probably. What I’m saying is that Peg fans are absolutely in a “use it or lose it” situation and should have understood this from the get-go. Ultimately, if they’re not going to games, then they will lose the team, period - and quite quickly, I’d imagine. I don’t know what their problem is. I always thought they were devoted fans. They have a surprisingly competitive team this year, they should be banging the doors down. If the issue is that the average fan in Winnipeg just can’t afford NHL prices, then that is truly sad, but it also means that they are not an NHL city, full stop.

Here we are re-litigating this argument, LOL. I was convinced at the time that Metro was being used on the PP because he was the only damned player on the entire team that actually went to the net and was willing to stand in front of it on the power play. It wasn’t a case of The Count being a village idiot - more like, his other players just were not giving him what he needed in that capacity. And look, the guy got 16 goals that year, so it’s not like he was cement hands out there. Finally: the Habs were 2nd overall in PP that year! Obviously JM was doing something right. https://www.covers.com/sport/hockey/nhl/statistics/team-powerplay/2009-2010

Funny thing about Savard - the fact that he has another year on his deal might actually be a selling point for the Canucks. They have a huge number of D on expiring deals. If they’re not convinced about re-signing Zadorov, Myers, or Cole, they might appreciate the certainty of Savard’s contract. All that said, this is just me talking; I haven’t hear any rumours linking Savard to the Canucks.

Hopefully the Nordiques stay dead. Forever. Winnipeg fans simply do not have the option of NOT coming out in massive numbers, night in and night out. I thought that was understood when they got their team back. 🤷‍♂️

I’m here listening to sports radio in Vancouver…there is a huge proportion of the fanbase that is skeptical about whether the Canucks should re-sign Elias Pettersson.

I remember people on this board absolutely eviscerating The Count for using him on the PP so much. My rebuttal was that he was the only guy who reliably went to the net, so he got the gig. 🤷‍♂️ It seemed weird to me that he couldn’t get another contract after a season in which he played a useful role on the Habs and got 16 goals, but I guess that’s life when you’re a 30+ journeyman.