titanfan

So we trade Price but retain 50% of his salary, so $5.25 million? We sign a middling goaltender for $5.25 million. Now we are paying $10.5 million for a middling goaltender... Might as well keep Price! Retaining that much salary is crazy - and makes no sense.

I hate the KK turned into Dvorak argument. (Not a personal attack, as I have heard this often). Truth is we completely mismanaged KK. Then desperately needed someone to take his place and scrambled to get Dvorak. There was no plan to move KK for Dvorak. Saying KK turned into Dvorak is really a stretch. Absolutely Sergachev turned into Drouin. That was a move. KK was a clusterf#$k of epic proportions.

Just curious - where do you see excuses? The post is just a straight observation of the changeover in the lineup. No opinion, excuses, etc. made. Unless you are looking for excuses of your own??

Counting injuries, here's who is missing from the Stanley Cup final lineup. WOW Carey Price Shea Weber Jeff Petry Joel Edmundson Eric Gustaffson John Merril Forwards: Brendan Gallagher (covid protocol) Josh Anderson Philip Danault Paul Byron Tomas Tatar Jesperi Kotkaniemi Corey Perry Eric Stahl

'close the old boys club foxhole forever and bring les Canadiens into the modern era' What does this even mean? Forget the 24 cups? Bring down all the banners? Ban Lafleur from the Bell Centre? Might as well cheer for the Krakken then?????

My guess, and it is only a guess, that the plan is to hire the GM first and let that person and Gorton name their new coach. No point in hiring the coach first then hiring a GM who is 'stuck' with a coach they don't want. One step at a time!

Great work! Numbers always mean something. We just don't all interpret them the same way, but they always tell a story. Just because we don't like the story they tell or it is different than the one we have in our head, doesn't mean they aren't useful. Again, great work.

He doesn't speak French

Keep hearing Roberto Luongo's name mentioned....

The problem is their value gets lower every day. I just don't see it going up. Getting anything for most of the players now is better than what we have. Plus it sheds salary and lets us see our prospects. I'm not suggesting throwing our players to the wolves, but let's go young. As far as I'm concerned nobody above 22 years of age is untouchable (so born 98 or earlier). Seriously where is the value in any of the veterans. 1. There is much suckage 2. There are badly beaten players (gallagher, etc - it is a long list) 3. There seems to be no effort 4. Back to all that suckage I'd completely blow it up. Young players, picks and prospects. It worked in '86...

We have Major suckage right now!

Called up to the Habs

What seems to be missing is a long-term plan. Instead it is always a scramble (and the Habs aren't alone) Without looking at position, draft place, etc., I believe teams should be planning around type of contracts. There are really 4 types (an argument can be made for 5, but I am trying to keep it simple for his example). 1. - your top level players (on average earning between $8-$10+/million season) 2. - your tier 2 players (on average earning between $6-$8 million/season) 3. - your tier 3 players, and those on bridge deals (on average earning between $3-$5 million/season) 4. - your tier 4 players, and those on entry level contracts (on average earning between $1-$2 million/season) With an $81.5 million dollar cap hit - teams should structure their teams as follows (and I've averaged the salary per group): 1. - 2 players ($18 million) 2. - 3 players ($21 million) 3. - 5 players ($20 million) 4. 14 players ($21 million) Yes, you can juggle the groups a bit, but remember if you want less Group 4 players and more Group 3 players, you'll have to have less Group 2 players as well. Sure, it is tricky, but GMs are paid millions of dollars to figure that out. It literally is their job, isn't it? What makes this even easier is that teams know when players will graduate a level, for the most part. Entry level contracts move up to bridge deals, then move up to either tier 1 or tier 2 (depending on the player). A GM should always being looking at their team this way. Yes, the Pandemic has led to a stagnant salary cap which makes things a little more complicated, but lot's of things always factor in). Players do things on the ice (it is a game). For GMs it is in the board room (it is a business). Successful businesses have a plan, and a contingency plan (or plan B) So, what does Montreal have right now (and I'll take Weber out of the equation) (and a $5.5 m player, for example, would be in Group 2): 1. - 1 player ($10.5 million) 2. - 4 players ($23.75 million) 3. - 10 players ($35.675 million) 4. - 8 players ($7.757) Total = 23 players - $77.682 million PLUS Alzner's buyout of $1.958 million = $79.64 million Room =$1.86 million And - I did not include Caufield, or the following players who are filling in for the massive number of injuries we have now: Pezzette Poehling Belizile Norlinder Primeau Montembeault Striking the right balance is crucial. But as i aid, planning is even more important - Suzuki goes from $863,000 to $7.875 million next year.... Evans also goes up about $1m next year, but the Alzner buyout drops about $1m to even that out. Everybody else stays the same And the following players are free agents: Lehkonen (RFA) Chiarot (UFA) Kulak (UFA) Romanov (RFA) Paquette (UFA) Perreault (UFA) Some won't be back, but those who aren't will have to be replaced....

Alex Anthopolous

We, the members of the David Savard Fan Club, ask Canadiens management to have the defenceman in the stands signing autographs at each game (home and away) for the remainder of the season. That will keep him OFF THE ICE and give him a chance to earn at least some of the ridiculous contract he is signed to!

Time to blow it up! Not just a reset or a rebuild. No need to wait and see when Price returns. Blow it up now! This isn't panic after last night's loss either, but realistically the Habs are like a Battlestar Galactica episode. 'A rag tag fugitive fleet on a lonely quest...for a shining planet' Or in this case a win or two.... There is no 'team' in Montreal anymore. Just a collection of spare parts, thrown together, hoping something clicks. We have an aging goaltender, a star defenceman who is so badly beat up he most likely will never play again (at least not with out plenty of duct tape!), Gallagher isn't far behind, Drouin who still hasn't shown he is an NHL star (but we keep hoping, and every once in a while when the stars align - there is a sign...) Then we have a bunch of third and fourth liners.... Armia and Lehknonen will never be the type of players to lead the team. Anderson, Dvorak, Toffoli and Hoffman aren't either.... Suzuki is the cream of the crop but he is no McDavid or Draisatl.... Then we have Caufield. Who could be the next Koivu...or could be the next Galchenyuk! (I'd take Russ Courtnell at this point) Our blueline is -to put it plainly and honestly - terrible! Savard is (count on it) the next Alzner. Edmundson peaked in the playoffs. Chiarot is...well Chiarot.... Petry is on his way down the hill.... And Romanov, at least so far, is far from advertised! There is nothing - nothing - to get excited about on the farm. So - blow it up. Go with an AHL team. We can't do much worse than last night. And see who rises to the top. Maybe there is a surprise! And use the blow up to land picks and prospects. As many as we can. And it is time for Timmins to go! Sorry, but his highness has had a long run - that coincides with the bleakest period in Habs history! Why are we rewarding that? Players obviously aren't being developed. Solid picks are obviously not being made (even a broken clock is right once every 12 hours). We have fallen into the Great Canadian Sports Quandry - Win now, win all the time or the fans and media will roast you! Time to sit back, fan the flames, get roasted, and BLOW IT UP!

Not ridiculous at all. I hope Caufield is the superstar we all want him to be, but as of right now - the comparisons are correct. What he did outside the NHL doesn't matter at this point. Just like it doesn't matter for Galchenyuk or Yakupov, etc.

Even at that, i would have pulled the trigger on that trade in a heartbeat if I was Marc Bergevin.

so basically - Dvorak, Poehling and the picks???

You're right. DiPietro and Dione were 2 whole years older and had amazing playoff runs that were crucial in the team winning a Stanley Cup. And both played a full season with the Habs the next year. DiPietro (22 years old) - 8 goals, 5 assists in 17 playoff games Dione (22 years old) - 6 goals and 6 assists in 20 playoff games Caufield (20 years old) - 4 goals and 8 assists in 20 games

This made a lot of sense...

Yet earlier this afternoon 'and I restate my views from the beginning of the season that rushing Caufield and expecting him to be a 30g scorer this season was premature and unrealistic'

Paul Dipietro or Gilbert Dione anyone?

Made it to November 1st...

Good point. And having no scoring leaders doesn't mean you are necessarily a bad team either. No question, balanced scoring is what helped the Habs in the playoffs. The point was just how long it has been since the Habs had a legitimate offensive star on the team. You'd think over that long a stretch SOMEBODY would have had a good season...... Thankfully we've had two goalies win Hart Trophies.