illWill

Call it whatever you like, but the fact remains that his cap hit was a hindrance to his team. The very second I heard what he signed for in Montreal I hated it. Liked the player, hated the contract. Up until the upcoming season starts, he was the highest paid dman in the league despite not even being in the conversation for the best, even arguably the 4th best on his own team. You're saying that because Poile signed other players for too much money, that is why Subban got dumped? That just proves my point. Show me one team in the league who doesn't have some payers that are over paid. This is a cap world, and nobody on the Predators took up more of the cap or underperformed more compared to their cap than Subban, that's why he got dumped. Poile was willing to eat 3 million (!) just to get rid of him, you're telling me that he couldn't find somewhere for Turris or Bonino? In NHL history there have only been two trades involving a player making 9 or more million per season, and they were both PK Subban. But yes you're right, he wasn't a liability to his team because the Preds didn't have to send other assets with him to get rid of him.

If a trade for Gostisbehere doesn't happen, then I'm good with 6-7m for Jake Gardiner. There is no reason to go into this season without addressing the LD, with all of the cap space and assets we have. Here's a thought, I wonder what the odds are that Karl Alzner remembers he is an NHL player and can actually contribute to the team.

I agree that the Habs are better with him and would not want to dump him as a negative value player. He did miss a chunk of the year and it was scary, but I thought he responded admirably. Look at Price's numbers with him on the ice vs off the ice. Also his intangible leadership value is off the imaginary charts. I also agree that PK has great playoff numbers, I actually picked him way too early in one of my drafts because of this reason. However you can't just say PK's teams have made it further because of him, whereas Weber's teams didn't make it as far because of him. We are comparing player vs player. Two different players with different skill sets. One got dumped because he was a liability to his team, and one is still the captain of the Canadiens and thriving....

Thank you for your actual response, and not a passive aggressive down vote. Of course there are several factors in play here. Nashville traded for a defenseman who makes more money than he is worth, so they had to dump him. They are also stacked at D, and have been for some time, so that point is also moot. I am not even going to talk about the possible locker room issues, as that is purely speculation. Trolling? This whole site was trolling for two years until this past season where it was clear who was the beneficiary of the trade. It has been a long road for us trade defenders, so I don't think basking in this glory is too much to ask for. How is Weber coming off a down year again? Is it the Habs being more successful with him in the lineup? Is it him on pace for 20 goals in an injury shortened season? I look forward to your answer. Playoff series won by each team? TEAM being the key word here. Please elaborate why Subban propelled his TEAM to more series wins, but then got dumped off to the Devils for garbage

To be fair, I would down vote this post as well if I argued for 3 years about how bad of a trade it was and it skewed my whole opinion about the organization. It sucks being wrong I imagine How about our Captain Daddy Weber being on stage with management announcing our first round pick? What a great moment!

72 pages of debate in this thread alone plus the countless times it cropped up in others, and it all ends up with Nashville sending him away in a cap dump. We can now officially put this baby to bed. The end

I would like nothing more than to trade that 1st rounder towards a trade for Gostisbehere. Pay whatever it costs

Rumored discussions between the Wild and the Penguins for a trade possibly involving Kessel and Johnson for Rask and Zucker. https://www.tsn.ca/report-minnesota-wild-discussing-trade-for-phil-kessel-with-pittsburgh-penguins-1.1310522 You have to believe picking up RW Kessel and LD Johnson is likely something Bergevin is at least kicking the tires on. He definitely wouldn't overpay for such a package but should be inquiring. Johnson is crap but fills a position and taking him on is the cost to acquire a ppg player. I'm still upset we didn't end up with the Lindholm and Hanifin package from Carolina last year somehow.

Not a whole lot on this list that would help us unfortunately. I'd take a run at Kessel for sure depending on the cost and would send a prospect to get Panarin in a sign and trade or negotiating rights. Wonder why Subban is on that list? ?

I wonder how the best GM ever in history David Poile feels about being eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. I mean, every move he has made in the last half dozen years has been brilliant in comparison to our dummy GM, so how can the Preds lose? What happened to Tampa? I thought there was no point for any teams to load up at the trade deadline because the Cup was already handed out to the Lightning. One of the best regular season teams of all time didn't win 1 playoff game? Surely we all had Colorado over Calgary in 5 games. It wasn't too long ago that the Avs were in the hunt for 2 shots at the #1 draft pick, but I guess they had other plans. Carolina predicted by most to finish near dead last in the league going to game 7 with the defending Cup champs? What a bunch of jerks spoiling our preconceived notions of what a winning team is. Man I wish the Habs were in the middle of this chaos, I like my team and I think they would have just as good of a chance as any to make a deep run.

Just read that Crosby and Malkin are the only untouchables in Pittsburgh, I wonder what it would cost to get Kessel. Ylonen, Lehkonen and our 1st round pick?

I don't think there is any question that if you can land a Karlsson as a UFA for 10-11m, you take that all day. I also believe Bergevin will make an offer if he is still available, it's just a matter if Karlsson would consider Montreal as a destination. Have to assume the Sharks will try to resign him after giving up all those assets to acquire him and I don't blame Karlsson if he doesn't want to leave sunny San Jose

I hope you are referencing the Toronto media and not their credentials when comparing hall of famer Larry Murphy and pretty good defenseman Jake Gardiner

Thanks. To me it was fairly obvious that 2017-18 was pretty much the worst a season could go for a lot of reasons, and that there was a ton of room to improve this season. I have to say though that I am quite surprised they surpassed by expectations by one point and 6 goals scored I'm just joking around, you won fair and square. Love the new signature proclaiming your victory haha

Come on, should be Price is Right rules, you go over you're out! I got the record closer, gotta count for something? Came down to a stinking goal lol. Congrats Habnut

#karma

Anyone with any sort of good luck ritual, we need you to bring it out tonight. I'm talking Joe going to the game, spinning logos on here, lucky underwear, whatever it takes. I'm meeting up with a buddy of mine to watch because we have a great record together in big games.

Depends on your definition of optimistic I guess. But I don't think a 1 in 2.5 chance of making the playoffs makes someone a fool for thinking it can happen. Imagine me saying Mr. Cucumber, you have a 40% chance of winning the lotto 6/49 jackpot for 50 million, would you be a fool if you got excited?

Y'all are forgetting all the cap space that wasn't used this year, and the abundance available next year when assessing this team

Flew my 7 year old boy and myself up to watch this game. I've seen a lot of great Habs games in person but it may have been my favorite of all time because of how much he enjoyed it. I even caught a stray puck during warmups that was likely off a crossbar and we didn't see coming till last second. And most importantly I didn't spill my beer!

I came here to post something like this. I'll just make my way out now

I watched a video on YouTube where a guy adjusted every NHL team to reflect if every draft pick went back to their respected teams. The results were interesting, as you can see the composition of the rosters. Boston would be a powerhouse, Nashville would have the best defense of all time likely, for example. I didnt verify anything here and I dont know why he has Juulsen and Weber up front, likely most prolific to choose from. So either Montreal needs to draft and develop better at forward, or MB has been making great trades and signings, or both.

I look at it this way; if Montreal misses the playoffs they have around a 3% chance of moving up in the draft. And if they do make the playoffs, they have a way better chance than that to go on a run. I know which way a winner would pick and which way a loser would pick