Commandant

Plus/minus is a terrible stat to use cause it counts ENG against, which is going to be worse on a bad team. So hes hurt there by being on the Habs. It also doesnt isolate for goaltending, or being on a bad team 5v5, or SHGA, etc... Add into it the fact the habs have been a one line team since Dach has been hurt and his level of competition is higher than anyone else. If we look at the more advanced defensive stats Suzuki has been playing Selke level defense for the Habs. I have less than zero concerns on his defensive game.

I still think there is more there l but obviously St. Louis doesnt trust him so its best for both sides to cut bait

Im fairness, the Canucks are on a massive PDO bender so the other shoe is likely to drop at some point.

I would be very surprised if he played this season given there is nothing to play for. That said some light skating is probably good to start rebuilding his muscles that he hasnt used in months.

He reminds me of Saku

The season isn't over, but Barkov, Granlund and Kakko. He has an outside chance to be second with only Barkov ahead. He's also ahead of Laine, which is a good person to be ahead of, considering he was trending as an elite NHLer prior to injuries and now off-ice issues.

Konsta Helenius now has the 4th best season ever for a 17 year old. https://twitter.com/1ereronde/status/1755303569975075000

Slaf is the real deal.

Slafkovsky is proving why he was taken first overall. Hughes got it right despite taking size. Dach hasnt stayed healthy but when he has been, has shown he has talent. He didnt prioritize size over talent there. HuGo used high picks to trade for Newhook, draft Mesar and Hutson. He also took Beck who is 6'0". I dont see him blinded by size.

Both are against the "code" in their respective sports. The code is stupid in both sports.

Im with GHT. You gotta earn your icetime Mysak is in his third AHL season and has never proven to be a top 6 AHL player. Kidney needs to dominate on the third line and that would prove he needs more ice time. Etc. Go out and earn the spot.

Of the leafs fans complaining about Grieg. How many are Blue Jay fans who celebrated Jose Bautista's bat flip?

Ok, the risk should be you get an opponent who is fired up and beats you the next game. The risk shouldn't be that you get crisschecked in the head, or you get attacked, or you have to fight cause you scored a goal.

Meh.. I don't have issues with that either. This is pro sports, not children. It might be classless in kids hockey, but these are highly paid professionals. If you don't like your feelings being hurt by giving up goals, play better.

I disagree entirely. He scored a goal. Its not up to a team to decide if you disrespect them by doing the thing that is literally the point of the game, to score goals. If you don't like the way the other team scores a goal.... don't let them score a goal. Sorry that shooting the puck hard instead of passing it into the net hurt the Leafs feelings.

Bell owns a share of the Leafs and owns TSN Rogers owns a share of the Leafs and owns Sportsnet. Its deeper than just the media money, the businesses are literally intertwined

Getting another 1st round pick who could develop into a top 6 forward doesnt prevent you from getting an elite talent if one becomes available On top of that the team has A good first line... slaf, suzuki, caufield and everything else is a question mark. Dach needs to stay healthy. We dont really know what Newhook is over a long sample. Roy, Heineman, Mesar, Beck are prospects and nothing is guaranteed. In fact if two make it and two bust, we will have done well here. Thats quite simply not enough top 9 forwards... saying no to a good prospect, acquired for basically nothing more than taking on a comtract (ala monahan) is silly.

Why is it Bourque vs Mesar. The Habs would have both after this trade. We need talent. Not every prospect will work. You increase your chances of one of them working by having both and letting them compete for.spots.

Roy had a better junior career than Beck and he wasnt ready to be in the NHL. Let Beck spend some time in the AHL. Checking fellow teenagers is one thing. He will need to learn how not to be overpowered by men before hes NHL ready. I dont want to rush him

Look right now we dont have enough top 9 forwards... or even enough top 6 guys. Id add more and not worry about having too many. If that becomes the issue we can cross that bridge but with so many unknowns from Dach to Newhook to the prospects etc... not a bad idea to add a guy who can play a two way game and score 60 points.

Mesar is a winger in the pros IMO. Beck is a centre.

Evans and Gignac are what they are. They can fill in at times but are fourth liners. Their age doesnt suggest much more than what we've seen. Mesar is a guy i mentioned as a possible top.9 forward. 30+ games without a goal for Ylonen, i think we are seeing hes not a top.9. Kidney, Farrell have a ways to go in the AHL as they have been pretty ordinary so far but they are rookies. Beck looks promising but hasnt even hit the AHL yet (same is true of Mesar). They are a bit away from the NHL and both are maybes more than sure things

The thing is right now we keep talking about how this team sucks cause its essentially been a one line time. Ok, we have our one line. Ok, Dach and Newhook are top 6 forwards who haven't been healthy, you'd hope to have them. You still need four more solid players to get to 9..... With the trade, I'd hope to fill one of the 4 holes, and hope a draft pick, a prospect or two coming through the system and maybe another acquisition would do it. I'd also be cautious of anointing Beck as the third line centre. We all hope he can be that, and his trajectory so far is good but he's still a 19 year old junior player, we've seen many who looked good and took time in the AHL or never made it at all.

My third line centre is probably getting nearly as many minutes of even strength play as the guys in the top 2 lines. Going 1D and 4Fwds on both PP units, I need 8 forwards for the PP, so two of my third liners (and ideally the centre to help win faceoffs) are going to be used on the PP. I'm not opposed to having a good third line centre. Many here wanted to re-sign Monahan, who would have been the third centre next season. This is a younger player, with less injury concerns, who might even be better. That's what I'm looking at here. And yes, he won't get the first line wingers, but he should get some talent. Lets look at the 2025-26 season. This is what I would hope for after such a trade. Top 3 lines worth of forwards...... (9 in no particular order).... Suzuki, Caufield, Slafkovsky, Dach, Newhook, Mittelstadt, (Roy, Mesar, Heineman, 1 would be in the trade and hope 1 develops), the 2024 first round draft pick (ours), and one other prospect coming through or one other acquisition on the free agent market/Trade By that time, you'd have cleared some bad contracts and hope Anderson could also be moved to make room for that 9th forward. I think we need 10 or 11 guys we feel comfortable playing in our top 9 as injuries will happen.

I look at it this way.... You can pay ___ Million for your top 3 centres. Some team might be paying 13 million for matthews and 11 for Tavares and then have to go cheap on their #3. Or McDavid/Draksaitl, etc On the Habs could you pay 8 for Suzuki, 5 for Dach and 7 for mittelstadt and stjll come in cheaper and have more money for wingers and defense.