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Machine of Loving Grace

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Posts posted by Machine of Loving Grace

  1. 6 minutes ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

     

    That's a good question. Sutter might be marginally worse than Danault and certainly has less upside...Horvat is significantly better than Drouin (as a C)...the Habs are probably a bit better in the bottom two slots, but at least Gaudette has significant potential. I might in fact be tempted to give the edge to Vancouver just because in Horvat they actually have a clear-cut, unambiguous, quality top-6 natural C.

     

    Elias Pettersson has a higher ceiling than any of our prospect Cs and Horvat is better than our Cs so Vancouver is in a better situation overall still.

  2. 37 minutes ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

    If he is a legitimate top-6 C, then the trade is just another dumb-ass Bergevin debacle.

     

    This club always finds great goalies. Vezina is named after a Hab, go down the list from Plante to Gump to Dryden to Roy to drafting Theodore and Vokoun to drafting Price. Rare we go long without a great goalie, and have found hot goalies like Penney and Halak as well. Huet ended up better than the guy we moved him for in Garon. We always find them. So losing one like Vokoun doesn't hurt as much as it could.

     

    We usually find great defencemen too. I won't go through all the names but after losing Schneider/Desjardins we soon had Souray, then we had Markov. After Markov we had Subban and drafted McDonaugh. It hurt to lose McDonaugh in a bad trade but it's not like we didn't still have Subban. It doesn't hurt as much as it could.

     

    The Habs have had an eternal struggle when it comes to centres, only temporarily solved in 2004 and 2010, but usually this team doesn't have two top six legitimate centres and only three #1 centres in the last 25 years (Koivu, Damphousse, Turgeon) so having one, they should do everything possible to keep them and give them the best chance to succeed. If Galchenyuk ends up a first line centre elsewhere, or even just a top six centre, it's honestly worse than the Subban trade or Sergachev because we find defencemen. We struggle for centres. To blow it with a third overall pick? That just hurts more. So people better hope he Beaulieu's it in Arizona.

  3. 30 minutes ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

    I'm less worried that the Habs 'screwed him up' as a player, than that they refused to allow him to develop where he wanted to play (at C) despite having a crashing organizational need for C. This was truly bizarre. And if, as I say above, he goes to Arizona and plays well at C, this will be an almost ludicrous indicator of truly jaw-dropping stupidity and/or perversity -  in both the way the Habs handled him and in the decision to trade him right at the point when he was ready to take the next step. It will be proof of still more folly from a management group whose main priority has been its own ego rather than winning hockey games.

     

    2013-14. Desharnais should have been moved to the wing. Galchenyuk at centre. 82 games in the role (unless hurt) in 13-14, 14-15, and 15-16. If he isn't a top six centre after that? Then we look into moving him at the wing. Instead, the team didn't commit to him down the middle *until* 15-16 for the second half of a failed season, played him 1C the first half of 16-17, he got hurt, came back playing hurt, and aside from the final game of the Rangers series, never was assigned to play centre again for the team. Why? Because Bergevin publicly said he was no longer a centre. 

     

    Last year we saw Drouin fail for the most part at centre (gaining 10lbs hurt his speed which is why he looked better later in the season after likely dropping some of the weight), Danault be hurt, Plekanec be unable to play top six again, and see Paul Byron of all people play centre before Julien played him there. That's pure ego. Bergevin decided he would no longer play centre and was ready to play anyone over him in the role, including scrubs like De la Rose. 

     

    Arizona was 30th in goals. You know who they scored one less goal than? Montreal. And Arizona was able to get a guy who scored 10 more goals for the guy they gave up. And Arizona immediately talked about playing Galchenyuk at centre. But hey, just a bunch of idiots in the desert who have never won anything.

    • Like 1
  4. 7 hours ago, johnnyhasbeen said:

    He should be tarred and feathered and ran out of town. The only way to drive this home to Molson is empty seats. Do not attend home games this year until he is fired. 

     

    The team will just buy the seats and claim a sellout like they did last year.

  5. 1 hour ago, BCHabnut said:

    MB ruined galchenyuk? 

     

    Level of ruin depends on how good you think Galchenyuk can be, but he did publicly decide to say that Galchenyuk will not play centre, directly interfering with Julien as a coach, and Julien proceeded to avoid playing Chuck at centre at all costs. We'll see how he looks in Arizona. If he's average at centre then who knows. If Galchenyuk prospers, it means Bergevin directly held back the most vital role the club needed filled for his own reasons.

  6. 4 hours ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

    The worst thing we could do is rush our prospects along. From what I've read, Poehling is closer to NHL-ready that Kotkaneimi. But even he is not a gimme by any means.

     

    Drouin-Danault-Pleks-some bum = our likeliest C configuration for 2019. Granted, it is probably the worst C configuration in all of hockey, but that's no reason to throw prospects to the wolves.

     

    Curious to see if Peca slides in as a C immediately in the lineup. Some think he can. Supposed to be blazing fast. 

  7. 39 minutes ago, Trizzak said:

     

    Or they could stop trading their future 7th round picks so that they can just pick with them?

     

    2013 was the last time the Habs didn't have a 7th round pick. 2016 they got Winnipeg's after trading theirs to Buffalo. 2017 they got Philly's while Winnipeg had theirs. 2018 they got their pick back from Philly and gave Philly their next years.

  8. I'm still 100% convinced that when Mike Smith's deal is up in Calgary, they will make a massive pitch for Carey unless he has another bad season. It just makes a lot of sense. They have a very complete team but are lost in net. Parsons and McDonald look like they won't be starters. Going big on Price makes sense for them.

     

    Calgary has a ton of centre prospects and is willing to give up first rounders for what they want. Habs could take Brouwer and Frolik to make space and flip them. I just see Price wanting out and Calgary being a comfortable destination for him, and the return being enough to feel like it wasn't a salary dump.

    • Upvote 1
  9. 43 minutes ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

     

    Seems like an overpay for Dreiseitl. As Habs29 notes, if we can get Klefbom into the mix, now we're talking. Failing that, I want some sort of young player/prospect included. Given that the Habs have thrown in the towel on contending within Weber/Price's primes, I no longer have any compunction about trading them, myself, but we have to trade them for hope for the future. Price and Weber are not 'albatrosses.' They are core pieces for any team with an eye on contending right now, and on the trade market we need to think of them as such.

     

    There is a lockout coming up. Likely two free buyouts like last time. We could get out of two of those deals at no cap cost and it would turn into Weber/Price for Drai/Talbot.

  10. 7 hours ago, hab29RETIRED said:

    I don’t think it really matters as far as the Habs go. Any sensible owner would have fired MB by now.  It doesn’t look like Molson is sensible and probably isn’t willing to eat so many years of the idiotic extension he gave MB.

     

    The rumour right now is Hunter becomes assistant GM in Detroit and replaces Holland when he finally leaves. 

  11. 1 hour ago, Link67 said:

     

    His immediate future is very likely a #2, and I can see him filling that role admirably if we do the things I mentioned previously. But the end game here is by the time we are ready, we have bonafide young elite Centers coming into those roles, and he slides into #3.

     

    It's fine if that happens. Look at Kadri in Toronto. Great contract, would be a #2C for any team with a #1 but now he plays 3C to Matthews and Tavares.

     

    Also Danault makes only $3M so if he does get pushed down it ain't like he is a heavy load eating up bottom six space.

     

    It's also possible that the guys we drafted at centre don't pan out for whatever reason. So we have to be aggressive in how much depth we create there and let them see who is best. If we don't have a C that plays a two way game, Julien will rely hard on Danault even if he isn't as offensively skilled as Poe or Kotka and that means top ES minutes.

    • Like 1
  12. 1 hour ago, TheDriveFor25 said:

     

    I agree with you. Not knocking Danault, love what he brings. But no team is winning a cup with him as their best C.

     

    The question with him is if he can be a 2C. He's an excellent even strength scorer so if he adds to that on the PP he very well could be. But three years at $3M means he knows he is in the middle six and doesn't mind. 

  13. Opening lineup and the lineup with Shaw/Byron is... ugh it's confusing.

     

    We have too many wingers. Pacioretty, Domi, Armia, Gallagher, Hudon, Lehkonen, Scherbak, Shaw, Byron, Deslauriers... That's 10 right there. For 8 spots. 

     

    Pacioretty and Byron are clearly the trade targets (I hope we see Byron and Peca together as they'd be the fastest Habs duo since Bure/Koivu) and if we move them early then maybe we could start thinking about Drouin back on the wing.

     

    Drouin - Peca - Gallagher

    Domi - Danault - Armia

    Hudon/Scherbak - Plekanec - Scherbak

    Deslauriers - DLR - Shaw

     

    Yeah it sucks down the middle, welcome to the Habs. At least that's a skill first line, a two way second and third line, and a grind line. Good for tanking while players still maximize effort/potential.

     

    My real headache is Hudon vs. Lehkonen.

  14. 1 hour ago, Commandant said:

    Chicago really needs an injection of offence. 

     

    Wonder if they would be in on Pacioretty. 

     

    No money to re-sign him with Schmaltz coming up as an RFA next summer.

     

    Looking at the league my targets would be Dallas, New Jersey, both New Yorks, Vegas, and Vancouver for long term deals and Pittsburgh, Nashville,  and Washington for Patches as a rental.

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