hab29RETIRED

I think the Habs will match at $3 contract. Not sure if Xhekaj would sign - I think he was making more at Costco😁

Jarmo was fired more for the Babcock debacle - that's what broke the camel's back. Friedman talked about this. Ownership left mgmt do their thing, but didnt like being embarrassed. After that, jarmo was not going to stick around if they lost.

If that's the case, it's a good thing we turned it down. I had read earlier that Philly made an offer. Friedman also said in one of his podcasts that a team offered a first for wifi.

The year before he was injured, but still scored 22 goals and 52 points in 55 games. The year before that, he was also injured, but still scored 26 goals and 56 points in 56 games. Those are the numbers I'd expect from him. So I would say that Vincent MAY have been an issue the same way DD was an issue with Caufield. Gaudreau also had a significant decline under Vincent. Kent Johnson and Bouquist also regressed. so no, I don't think it was bullshit. Read and listen to some Terry Ryan interviews on what he said it was like playing for Therrien and how it affected his mental health.

Do we know if Michkov had to pay to get out of his deal, and if he did, how much it cost? ordinarily, my preference is to have an 18 year old play another year overseas. But if Demidov is kept out of the KHL again, I'd rather bring him over to be with us, or even in the CHL (but that obviously won't be an option). Are we allowed to do a Laval only contract? If so, is that still capped?

I think it was reported Philly had offered that. If that was the case, and had we made that deal, we could have drafted Buium!

It's really a captain obvious article, with no real insight or support from anything that anyone on the Habs said that Barron has the inside track. Barron is waiver exempt. Mailloux is not. Therefore, Barron most likely to stay up and will be given a chance to prove he belongs. No shit!

We don't know what he went into the player assistance program for - but I imagine frustration over his performance and play probably played into it. Most of the Columbus media are very negative on how he treated/handled his players - Handling of Laine is one of them. So if he's asked I pretty sure he would have a negative view of Laine.

Oh, I agree he walked into a tough position, but pretty much all the skilled guys struggled under him. I actually went to a game in Columbus last Fall (beautiful arena!), and that was a team that had zero structure and the only guy who looked good was as Werenski.

For me, whatever he did as a player was erased during his tenure as a coach. Roy wasn't the only one moved becuase of Tremblay. Turgeon was moved becuase of Tremblay as well. We went from having Turgeon, Damphouse and Koivu to not having any centre depth until now.

Or he could have been part of the problem and be biased against him. Most Columbus media are very disparaging in their comments about Vincent.

I still hate and always will hate Tremblay. The guy is, was a d d always will be a dick.

I'd rather have Michkov/Leonard and Demidov.

I want another scoring winger - which would probably necessitate moving at least one Dman.

I know he isn't with the Habs, but I guess this signals that we probably won't be pursuing Laine.

I agree. We've given up on young dman far too often. I'd rather see what both can do.

I don't want to move a Mailloux or Wifi this year, until we see if Dach can stay healthy and be the 1B centre. If he can't, than Mailloux may be what needs to moved to address that need. I also want to see what he can do at the NHL level. I also think it will be helpful to see if the surgically repaired wifi shows so progress this year.

I didn't realize that was the holdup I thought the Friedman had said he was a guy who could have been moved at the draft?? he definitely would be my choice of the forward to pick up to play with Dach.

I'd rather see if we can get Laine cheap if we don't ask Columbus to retain. It would also be good if we can move a forward out as part of the deal - preferably Dvorak, Anderson, and Gallagher- I know the chances of moving the last two are probably slim to none.

I wouldn't give that package for Zegras or Necas. They are both to close to free agency and while they would probably want to break though the Suzuki cap, they aren't the type of players I'd want to break the current internal salary structure for. Not sure if I'd even do that for McGroaty - we have to be sure we can sign him. And I think that he's a guy our think Winnipeg needs to move, so there should be a discount factor on the fact they need to move him. He could always decide to stay in college for another couple of years and be a UFA. I love Ehlers, but he is to close to being a UFA. I want nothing to do with Marner, if past history is any indication, he will be looking for $12m/yr.

Player development or lack there of has played a huge factor in the our draft failures. But, I think organizational philosophy does as well. There have been so many many players we have drafted over the years that a big part of the assessment both by management and our scouting department that didn't even mention a players offensive potential, it's been a lot about character. I for one am sick of hearing how a prospect, whether it's Chipchura, Higgins, McDonough, or Komisarik, or Timordi is that the highest form of praise about the player is that the player can be the future captain of the Montreal Canadiens because of his character. when I'm looking at who we are drafting, that is the farthest thing on my mind. I want a Lafleur, Robinson, Shutt, Naslund, Type of player - none of whom were captains. Busy all are highly skilled and productive players. That's what we should be focusing on. the next step for sure is developing a player. It starts with guiding the player before they join the organization, and has to continue with coaching both in the AHL and NHL. The coaches we have hired have been horrible. It's been well documented and reported how Therrien treated Terry Ryan in the AHL, and 20 years later you can see in the habs tv show of Subban asking Therrien to explain what he wants from him, and all he gets is more chewing out then coach. Thats not how you develop a player.

Other teams like the Bruins and lightening found high end talent with late first rounders and in later rounds. We found a grand total of three in the last 15 years - Gallagher, Subban and Pactioretty. What separates the elite teams from the middle of the road to bad teams is good scouting AND development. our philosophy for too long was trying to find good Bob Gainey's and Mike Keanes rather than elite players for a LONG time. It also seems that most potentially skilled guys we drafted over the years were very small guys. Our European scouting was behind the times from the get go, and outside of Mats Naslund, Dahlin, V. Bure and Koivu, in the earlier years we didn't really have a lot of picks or success. Most Europeans we did draft were guys mostly with 3rd line potential like De La Rose. We used a top ten pick on a Russian twice - one in the best draft ever, and passed over consensus higher rated guys, and than Sergechev,, who we traded for the great French hope.

I see Barron - along with Harris that are the two guys we move for help up front.

With a guy like Hutson, you have to have guys that have higher hockey IQ for him to have success. I'd also rather not expose him to career AHLers who are borderline hockey players and will be looking to make a name for themselves by taking out an elite prospect. i think Horton is one of those guys you either had to leave in college to physically get stronger, or bring him straight up to the NHL. Reinbacher is the guy who may benefit from more time in the AHL if he doesn't earn a spot with the Habs at the end of training camp.

For sure about Dach. If he is not healthy, or isn't a legit #1b/#2 centre, the rebuilt will be stalled until we get that guy. We also need a scoring winger to play with him. Maybe Roynwipl become that guy, but it would help Dach if there was an established scorer to play with him.