tomh009
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Posts posted by tomh009
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2 hours ago, Prime Minister Koivu said:
I think we still need that bonafide, absolutely dominant, star Dman. We have a strong Dcore but it lacks that star.
Perhaps Hutson is that star
Or Reinbacher. Both are very good, we just don't know yet exactly how good.
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47 minutes ago, DON said:
I think he had commitments or LIIGA training and same boat as Koivu i guess and they didnt want to screw with their summer routine.
And odds are he will spend another year in LIIGA anyways.
And now have hired a Finnish development guy right there now to keep eye on them and Adam Nicholas can still do virtual stuff with them .
He won't be in Liiga, he'll be either in SHL or playing for the Habs (he has both contracts signed).
I do expect him in the training camp/
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1 hour ago, Commandant said:
I can confirm, that he is, in fact, a goalie.
😂😂😂
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Any feedback on the goalies from the camp so far? Especially the mysterious Vecvanags? 😊
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7 hours ago, DON said:
Rebuild aint near done, if just 1 player is all that important.
Contenders can muddle through missing top player(s), or having a top pick not really panning out, it seems.
If Edmonton is missing Draisatl, it's certainly not an easy replacement. Or Nylander in Toronto?
It doesn't meant that the rebuild needs to start over again but it would knock the current plans off the rails and delay the contention window.
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On 7/2/2024 at 8:54 AM, tomh009 said:
Basu says they were offering two years to Marchessault, who has confirmed that the Habs were under consideration until the very end. So, a Laine contract for two years should be fine even without retention.
Hughes has actually said he was willing to go up to three years with Marchessault, but not the five that the player wanted.
Clearly Hughes is expecting that we'll be in "the window" three years from now, and we'll need the cap space from the Gallagher and Anderson contracts for signing a key UFA or two, and he does not want to commit cap space in those years to an aging veteran.
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5 hours ago, GHT120 said:
That is already true for players taken in the 7th round versus those that are undrafted ... and will always the same for whatever cut-off is decided ... undrafted players are obviously somewhat less valued but do have the freedom to sign with the team that offers them the best opportunity (assuming more than one team offers a contract).
Exactly. And if you are undrafted, in most cases the teams are not knocking on your door, you need to chase them to get an opportunity to play in a development camp or similar.
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I would be willing to pay for a premium (ad-free!) forum membership.
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41 minutes ago, huzer said:
Not gonna lie, I have found the ads here a bit more intrusive than other sites.
I think it’s only on the mobile site. The desktop one seems OK—maybe because of my ad blocker?
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52 minutes ago, alfredoh2009 said:
My concern is more the tracking from all these add bots.
on the mobile phone I do not have the add-ones on the browser to protect me agains that
You can use private mode.
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From a player point of view, having a team own your rights for four years when they may never give you an opportunity (and you don't really have anywhere else to play) is not ideal.
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It seems time for this one, too.
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I saw somewhere that NHLPA would like to cut the draft down to four rounds. Fewer than seven does seem reasonable, even if the owners might not agree to four.
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2 hours ago, hab29RETIRED said:
100% agree! PLD was a guy he chased for a long time and Edmondson was another of his pickups on a deal two years too long in Montreal as well.
In the end, the Edmundson contract worked out pretty well for the Habs, and would have been better yet if not for the freak practice injury.
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8 minutes ago, DON said:
Ya, dont think can hurts him any, just is awkward playing on off-side for any d-man and over play will suffer.
Backhand cross ice passes and picking/stopping pucks off the boards on your backhand just is much much tougher.
Absolutely tougher. But some players manage to thrive there, even with those limitations.
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40 minutes ago, BCHabnut said:
Ya I hate that he isn't on his strong side this early in his career.
On the other hand, I do believe that he is improving his play on RD as he gains more experience. A top-four (or a top-two, in the ideal case) D that can play either LD or RD effectively is super valuable.
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2 hours ago, IN THE HEARTS OF MEN said:
Everything points to a top pair of
Matheson - Guhle to start the season.
It's easy to just pencil in all the D from last year as starting with Mtl as well. With that said, Lane Hutson is going to be a Hab next season to start the year i believe.
Yes ... but things may change in training camp yet. Xhekaj came from nowhere two years ago to claim a roster spot, this could happen again.
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10 hours ago, Commandant said:
We kept hearing from guys like Arpon Basu that this management isn't afraid of big money, but doesn't want to give term this offseason. While Laine is two years.
Basu says they were offering two years to Marchessault, who has confirmed that the Habs were under consideration until the very end. So, a Laine contract for two years should be fine even without retention.
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As for Laine, I think the list of potential trade partners has to be pretty short after the initial UFA frenzy.
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1 hour ago, hab29RETIRED said:
I hope they pick up an experienced coach to work with St Louis. Boucher is available now, is he an option? St Louis did play for him, but doubt Marty would have been a fan of his no forecheck that Philly exposed.
Are there any good ex-head coaches available that could act as assistants/associates/consultants, a la Claude Julien or Scotty Bowman?
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3 minutes ago, GHT120 said:
Personally, I have serious doubts that teams were offering first round draft picks for a 16/minute per game defenceman ... he is incredibly popular with we Habs fans, but I also doubt anyone makes an offer that would screw up the cap for the Habs to match.
A pick at the end of the first round is not unreasonable, it's likely only going to give you a chance at a second-pairing D whereas some might have greater confidence that Xhekaj would reach that level.
But that's a $4.58M offer sheet, and that's really rather high for Xhekaj. You'd need to drop him down in the second year to a more reasonable contract but then you can't make a qualitying offer ...
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Add Demidov (hopefully) to a similar contract and we'll have about $31M tied up in our four top forwards from 2028. Hopefully the cap will be up to $90M or so by then.
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Monahan got 5x $5.5M, glad we did not sign up for that.
Drouin another single-year contract, but at $2.5M this time. If he can produce 50+ points again that's pretty good value.
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We'll see whether Ylonen can prove himself in a different environment. A low-risk contract for Tampa as well.
2025 NHL Entry Draft
in Habs & Hockey Talk
Posted
A scoring winger is always helpful. 😊 Some combination of Newhook, Armia and Roy should be good enough for one season though--unless Hughes manages swing a trade for another young forward this summer yet.