Commandant

Let him play a year with Babs. By this time next year McDavid will be begging to play for Marty St. Louis.

Jeff Marek says the unnamed prospect in the Knies deal is Pickford.

No to both. Dont think we are at the point of trading up. The assets would be huge and if we.are.spending that we need NHL established talent.

Goalies are voodoo

Barzal hasn't really been a centre in recent years, he's much better on the wing. He's primarily used there. Thomas is apparently no longer available according to Andy Strickland. Larkin is unlikely to waive for any of the Canadian teams, per Elliotte Freidmann, and unlikely to waive for Montreal per Arpon Basu. Hischier is the target. Pierre Lebrun suggests if the Devils can't get him to sign an extension, Montreal is very interested.

I think you massively underrate Matthews and Marner above. Maybe not this past season, but both have had seasons where they absolutely deserved to be in the conversation.

Probably because people realized that there is more to defensive hockey than blocking shots and playing in your own end at some point. And that being purely defensive isnt the best way to prevent goals. If you have the puck, the other team cant score. So being good at both ends of the ice and playing a 200 foot game is better defensive hockey than just being good in your own end.

Only the 3rd Hab to win the award with Toe Blake and Mats Naslund the others.

Darren Dreger is reporting the Habs and Leafs had a deal but were 1 minute late at the trade deadline. The deal is now dead due to the Leafs firing Treliving. The deal was Knies for Zharovsky, 2026 1st, 2027 1st, and another prospect (not Hage or Reinbacher)

Detroit isnt trading him in the division, and he's not waiving to raise his taxes either, so it's all moot.

I think he ends up in Minnesota. A GM he trusts after the Olympics, a good friend on the team in Quinn Hughes, and a very strong team seen as close to a cup contender that is only missing a #1 C, so the motivation for him to waive his NTC will be high. And that same GM, who is clearly in win now mode with the Hughes trade, is a fan of Larkin, and needs a #1 C. The dots here just make a lot of sense.

Larkin is pretty much a perfect fit for what we need. But an American with a no trade clause? How likely is he going to want to come to Montreal vs US markets with lower tax rates? How likely is it that Detroit is willing to trade him in the division? I dont think this really does anything to change the Habs offseason other than that one more centre on the market helps supply and demand conversation (though arguably detroit is added to the demand side now too).

Garrioch is basically reliable on Sens rumours, but very hit and miss on everyone else, so I don't know how much of that to believe. Di Marco has been contradicted by better insiders like you said. I'd take both of these rumours with a giant grain of salt as far as Montreal involvement.

I'd be surprised if this was a straight dump. I expect the Habs to have to do at least one (and maybe two) of the following.... 1) retain, 2) take a bad contract back 3) add a sweetner.

I just cant see Vancouver taking him and giving us anything of value. His contract is bad. I think we need to retain or add a sweetner or take a bad deal. If be pleasantly surprised if CC is right

I'm hearing the Canucks want to send Filip Chytil back 1 year at $4,437,500 remaining on his deal. So Habs would get a little savings here. Obviously Gorton is familiar with Chytil. He's been an injured mess, though played 12 games this past year. If we could LTIR him or flip him, I'd be happier as I don't really want his contract.

He wasnt healthy when placed on IR. You dont have to take the player off IR when hes healthy. In fact you need the roster space to even do it (and cap space for LTIR)

Of course. They arent gonna say we are ready to win and willing to overpay to get those final pieces. Trading with other GMs is still a poker game. Especially with more teams needing Cs than available players. Every other GM can see the hole in our roster so Hughes and Gorton have to give the impression we are content with Kapanen/Newhook/Dach until Hage and Zharovsky are ready, unless a bargain comes along.

The Habs didnt want to use him. MSL felt he couldnt contribute to the roster They tried to trade him and even at 50% retained there were no takers. Not sure what more there is to it than that

Mostly nothing in the tank and players playing through injuries. Dobson in particular limited by his hand and others were likely playing through things that build up while Carolina had time to.rest things. Some of it is inexperience. Some of it is lack of talent... lacking a second line centre and #2 RHD. These would push everyone else down a slot and improve matchups.

Exactly. Sometimes when a team is still in the midst of the rebuild, the solution to the problem isnt on the roster and still needs to be added. So we lost to a better, healthier, well rested team and there was nothing MSL or any of the players could have done to change it. If Dobson ans others were healthy it might have been closer but they werent, and the guys in the press box weren't a solution. So now its on the players to learn from the experience and management to supplement the team with pieces we need.

Carolina was smothering us with their forecheck. So the solution was to play Xhekaj and use him big minutes? A guy who handles the puck like a hand grenade and ask him to move the puck quickly to beat that forecheck. Same with Gallagher. Literally the worst forward on the team in dealing with a suffocating forecheck like that. Once again, im glad Marty is the one coaching when i read ideas like this

I just think we need to learn the lesson from watching how the Panthers won and what teams have done to us in this playoffs, and guys like Anderson, Dach, Bolduc, Slafkovsky, and others should not be afraid to run the other teams goalies when they get the chance. If thats what the league is gonna allow, we should do it.

Slavin is probably the best defensive defenceman in the entire NHL, so to be clear, Im not saying any of the Habs D are as good as him. That said. Hes so good because of his positioning, because he takes away space, because he moves the puck up the ice and out of the zone. He has outstanding gap control and doesnt allow players into the middle of the ice. Hes strong enough to hold his own but hes not clearing the crease or throwing big hits on the boards but he doesnt have to in order to be outstanding defensively. These are all things that Dobson can do as well. Though of course not as well as Slavin. These are all things that Reinbacher does at the AHL level, though of course there will be a learning curve at the NHL level. The point though is you dont need to cross check a guy 17 times and throw big hits like Shea Weber, to be an effective defensive player. There is more than one way to do it at a high level.

In the second half of the 24-25 he looked like he was taking the next step and becoming a top 6 centre, maybe even a possible 1b type. But then this year he looked like a third liner.