tomh009

Those are some seriously Finnish pants ...

Newhook-Dach-Anderson on the third line? All were expected to be top-six players when acquired ...

Beyond that, road games are taxed in the US (or another Canadian jurisdiction), which both makes this more complicated--and reduces the gap to the low-tax states anyway.

Who would win in this scenario? Mostly Toronto, Edmonton, LA, NYR, NJ and Boston, the league's top seven in revenue, all in high-tax locations. Ottawa, SJ, Buffalo, Anaheim might not be able to spend any more, so would continue to be challenged by the low-tax jurisdictions. https://www.visualcapitalist.com/ranked-which-nhl-team-takes-home-the-most-revenue/

Sitting 2/3 of the games on the bench is the wrong thing for Dobes’s development. He needs to play more, and that’s why he’s in Laval.

We don't even know what will happen this season. How will Laine play on his return? Will Dach recover is 2022-23 form? Can Slafkovsky overcome his issues? Is Caufield's pace sustainable? Can Hutson do what he is doing for 82 games? And that's just for the next four-five months. I'm with CC, the number of variables in predicting a season five years away is so mind-boggling that there is (to me at least) little point in trying to figure out what they should do that year.

The issues with the defensive play are not only on the defencemen, but also forwards.

I really think the big gap was in development, not drafting. Yes, Kotkaniemi was a miss, but his last five drafts also got us Caufield, Guhle and Mailloux. And only Kotkaniemi was a top-10 pick. And Sergachev in 2016 was very much a solid pick, unfortunately the Drouin trade did not work out for the Habs--but that trade doesn't make the drafting any worse. Most of the years where people complained about Bergevin's drafting the Habs were picking late in the first round where the odds are poor anyway.

He did take the team to the finals in 2021, which really is nothing to scoff at. That was the first time since 1993 ...

Might be even less competitive if some of those USHL teams end up moving to the OHL.

Overall, trading was still his strength, in spite of this deal and the Drouin one. But, no, one needs to not panic, even when a crisis hits …

It’s not clear but he might not have found out about Kotkaniemi’s desire to leave until the offer sheet.

He would have has to find a centre in any case. And there weren’t a lot of good options as far as I can recall. It could be that the final season influenced him but I doubt he would have made a far better decision even if he were planning to renew. Just my opinion…

Dvorak was pretty much a panic deal once he lost Kotkaniemi.

Really, both Barron and Jiricek are in very similar situations: neither has been able to get consistent playing time on a weak team.

@alfredoh2009 you have been warned before. Twice. Don’t start anything and don’t bait people. Even if you might think it’s funny. Just don’t do it.

Being hard to play against because we don't give the opponents the time or space to make a play would be even better.

The forwards do indeed have work to do, the hybrid system doesn't work without them.

His work on PK does make him somewhat more valuable than a typical 4C (who can play up to 3C when needed).

Thanks! We’ll see what Hughes does.

You have heard rumours of extension talks?

Much more so, yes. 10-year career averages are pretty meaningless in predicting future performance for plain their thirties.

Last season, before the TDL ... Monahan traded for 1st Mantha 2nd (50% of $5.7M retained) Duhaine 3rd Kuznetsov 3rd (50% of $7.8M retained) Toffoli 2nd+3rd (50% of $4.25M retained) Armia's recent production is close to Kuznetsov's last year (and far better than Duhaine), and significantly better defensive attributes at a salary that is less than Kuznetsov's after retention. It would make no sense to trade him for anything less than a 3rd. Not sure how you came up with a 5th--which has basically near-zero value to the Habs anyway.

With Columbus having claimed Fabbro, apparently Jiricek is the odd man out. Does he have enough potential that it would make sense to add another young (waivers-exempt!) RD to the prospect pool? Assuming that we’re willing to give up a prospect that they would want.

Yes, I do agree on those points!