REV-G

So for discussion sake, because we have many moving parts and possibilities over the next 7-8 months, and because we are clearly wanting to gather 1st round picks and or high quality prospects, I read a few things that caused me to wonder if there is a possibility that we could end up with 4 or even 5 first round picks in the next draft. We currently have two first round picks and we've all read that if Sean Monahan keeps playing well and continues excelling at winning face-offs there is a very good possibility that he will moved and if he can be a solid second line centre on a team like the Avalanche, Montreal would likely get a first round pick. That would be three. I just read today that Kent Hughes has been getting calls on Joel Edmundson. If a contending team needs a solid top 4 defenceman, I would assume he would bring back another first round pick. With the number of young guys we have on D and with Savard and Matheson, and the fact that this year isn't all about winning but more about developing, I could see them making that move while his value is still high and his history with injuries. That would be four. Then there's Dvorak and Josh Anderson. Would they move either one? I think they would get a first for Anderson, I don't know enough about Dvorak's value to be certain if he would bring back a first or not. I would think he would. I'm not sure any of us know if they want to move Anderson, but if a team is desperate and they come with a great offer, I could see it happening. I don't know about you but I'm finding this a fun year watching an exciting young team develop and grow and cheering for the young guys to do well and at the same time watching Hugo plan and trade and keep building a team for the future. Fun stuff.

I read an article recently and it listed the starting lineup for the game that night and I was a little surprised. What surprised me as I looked at the starting lineup was what I believe we still need in order to be a playoff and contending team in the next few years among the forwards, and for me our needs are still substantial. I feel good about our defence going forward with the young guys we have in the starting lineup now, in the AHL and what we've drafted. I think we've got a solid foundation in place on defence. It's the forwards and goalies that I was a bit surprised at what we're lacking. For the forwards, the starting lineup listed was: Caufield - Suzuki - Dach Dadonov - Monahan - Drouin Hoffman - Dvorak - Gallagher Slafkovsky - Evans - Armia Josh Anderson - suspended. I think we would agree that our first line is a solid, NHL first line with some elite talent emerging. But after that, looking forward I only see 4 forwards out of 9 that could be part of our young, rebuilding team. I see Slafkovsky, Anderson, Dvorak and Evans possibly sticking, but the rest of Dadonov, Monahan (he could remain as an experienced veteran??), Drouin, Hoffman, Gallagher and Armia are likely not going to be around or part of the team going forward. So what has left me wondering is who do we have coming up in the next year or two for our second and third lines? Depending on where we finish this year we could have a really good top 5 draft pick, but unless we start to lose a lot more games, there seems to be more teams than what I expected that are doing really poorly, meaning it may be harder than what many of us expected for us to finish nearer to the bottom rather than closer to the middle of the pack. It appears that Carey Price is done. If we assume that, we don't have his heir apparent. We're still lacking a young, solid, promising young goalie that could be our goalie of the future. Any thoughts on what we will or could do regarding our 2nd and 3d lines and goalies going forward?

From what we're hearing Joel Edmundson is getting close to returning to action and Mike Matheson is still about 4-6 weeks away. So the question for us is what do we do when these two veteran d-men return? The pairings lately have been: Savard - Guhle Harris - Kovacevic Xhekaj - Wideman So the question is who goes? I assume Wideman would be moved to the the 7th d-man as you don't want a rookie sitting in the press box, especially when they are waiver exempt. But what do you do for the final spot? Do you send Harris or Xhekaj down to the AHL when they seem to be doing fairly well in the NHL? Do you trade a D-man? Personally I don't think that's something they want to do because of the injuries that will inevitably come. I don't think they will send Guhle down. My guess is they begin a rotation, as long as everyone is healthy, with one of Harris and then Xhekaj being sent down and then rotate them with one being in the NHL and the other spending some time in Laval. The other option is that if another d-man gets injured then the returning players will simply fill that spot. Decision time is getting closer. Thoughts?

We all play armchair quarterback at times so even though it's only a few days into the regular season there's no harm doing what this site is here for, sharing opinions and thoughts about our team. My premise is that I wonder and probably feel that as much as I like Juraj Slavkovsky he may be better off in another league for at least part or most of this season. Two recent examples are Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Kaiden Guhle. In hindsight I'm guessing that the majority of us feel like KK would have developed and done much better if we had not brought him into the NHL when he was 18. I remember listening to Gord Miller expressing and giving examples of other 18 year olds who developed and did much better by not playing in the NHL at 18 but were sent back (somewhere) and had another year to develop. Miller felt very strongly that KK belonged somewhere other than the NHL at 18. I don't remember the names but he gave some good examples of players who were developed properly and had a much better beginning to their NHL career because of that extra year of development when they were 18. Kaiden Guhle is a good current example. He may have been able to play in the NHL last year but look at how far he progressed this past year and look at how he appears now. Granted it's still early and he could struggle, but if does struggle this year imagine what he would likely have gone through if we had kept him last year. KK is the other obvious example. If he had of been returned to Europe and allowed to develop further I think his body strength and skills would have made his NHL debut and his first year much easier and while nobody knows, perhaps he would still be with us today. I think Juraj Slavkovsky is much further along than KK was at 18, just in size and strength alone, but he's still just 18. I see him getting knocked down a lot, reminds me of KK a bit in that regard, and because we know this year is a development year, why not let JS develop somewhere out of the spotlight so that next year at 19 he can have a much better opportunity to be the type of longterm NHL player he and all of us want him to be. It's early, we've seen the rookie tournament and pre-season, and just 1 pre-season game but this armchair quarterback thinks JS should have another year of development somewhere other than the NHL. What do you think??

I don't see why we would keep him in the NHL. Give him 9 games then send him to Laval and tell him ahead of time this will be the plan. Let him and his buddy Meser (sp?) hang out a bit and let them develop. This year we should all be focused on developing players not on winning. I think everyone sees what HUGO is building and how so why rush young guys that we're excited about. We've all seen the results. I kind of remember some coach saying something like he'd never met a player who was hurt by going to or staying in the AHL a bit longer. We should not rush him. Let him develop and hopefully begin to dominate in the AHL. If he tears it up then bring him up but don't leave him in the NHL right now. We don't need to this year.

Based on what's being said here, I think we go with what we've got. If we end up lucking out or finding a true 1st that can play 60 games and do well like some of the elites have, then that will be the tandem. But if we don't have that guy we go with a platoon system and we've seen that teams can win with that kind of goaltending. I presume if we end up with the latter we'd better have a very good top 4 d-men.

It's interesting how what once was a strength could become or has become a weakness and how what was once our weakness now seems to be a strength. Marc Bergevin said it's very hard to find centers. Nobody's giving them up he said. They're hard to find. Kent Hughes found some. Now we have a plethora of centres and it seems like it will not be a weakness for us for many years. We seemed to be getting older a few years ago and now we are a very young team slowly moving out or losing veteran players we once depended on. Goaltending has been our strength for quite a few years. Now when we look down the pipe we see a void, a lack, a weakness perhaps. So my question is what do we do with our goaltending. I don't think this coming year is a problem since it will be a development year and if we lose and have a chance at the first or second pick, better yet while our young guys develop. But there are some teams around the league, Toronto being one, who never seemed to solve their goaltending problem and personally I think it's going to be a major problem for them this year. Great forwards but goaltending could be their archilles heel. We have to find our goalie of the future. Is Primeau the guy? Is one of our drafted prospects the guy. Or are we still in the hunt? How do you think we turn this weakness into a strength?

I just heard the Kadri has signed with Calgary!! Can anyone confirm that?

Is there any reason they could not still hire a "grizzled vet" coach? I don't remember the exact roles our existing assistant coaches have but is every one of them required behind the bench?

I think MSL knows exactly what he wants and he found it in SR. I highly doubt this will end up being a bad move. With all the people MSL, KH and JG know in hockey the fact they hired SR tells me they looked at a lot of people and he came out on top. Based on what they've done so far, and knowing that not every decision will turn out the way you expected, I have a lot of confidence in their ability to make good decisions. Time will tell but my expectations keeps growing that we're headed in the right direction with a solid team of leaders in management.

I agree totally. He has a wife and kids and it wasn't working for them. He stood up against the toughest guys in the league game in and game out. A very good player who I have a lot of respect for both as a player and a man. Calling him names is......... You can fill in the blank.

Ok. Maybe they've got a deal done but they have to wait for the Petry trade first. Could be interesting. From what I've read, with the cancelled pressor, maybe they thought they had a done deal for him and somethings holding it up.

I think I missed something somewhere. Did I not hear that Montreal had made a trade last Friday but couldn't announce it...Renaud Lavoie?? Is that accurate and has anything been announced?

I initially thought the same, that he'd fit onto that line seamlessly. But as I thought about it I think that is the thinking of a fan but not a coach. He's 18 and never played in the NHL and never played on the smaller ice. The thought that we'd put him out against all the best wingers in the league night after night and ask him to play the same minutes that Suzuki and CC play and then expect him to succeed??? I think that's way too much. In my mind I could see him starting on the 2nd line, maybe even platooning him there with someone else. We've all seen us rush prospects and we've seen the results. And we know what happens to those young guys in January and February when all the games and travelling catches up to them. For me the best examples of first year players struggling was Jack Hughes and Alex Lafreniere. Neither one did much their first year. So I hope we bring YS along slower, we don't need to be in a rush with him, but I still hope he stays with the big team although it wouldn't disappoint me a bit to see him spend two or three months in Laval.

For me personally, I love what HuGo and their team did in picking Slavkovsky over Wright. Not because I know YS is better than Wright but because they picked who they thought was the best pick for us, after all their scouting, interviewing and analyzing. They didn't just go with the crowd favourite at that moment, they did what they thought was best and I believe they are very knowledgable hockey men. Because they are privy to much more info that we are I trust their judgement. There is a huge breath of fresh air blowing through our team from top to bottom and I sense many of us have not been this excited or optimistic for the future for a long time. Go Habs go has a new fresh, exciting ring to it today, for me!!