Machine of Loving Grace

Yeah, he's a speed demon Q wasn't a big fan of. Coyotes likely hoping he becomes their Arvidsson. I could see him playing with Galchenyuk.

True, I'm still thinking everyone is like Montreal where if a guy even said he wants to play centre in a videogame he will get the shot over Galchenyuk. EDIT: After talking to Blackhawks friends, Hino is less Danault and more Byron. Super fast.

Bergevin still highly values him. He won't give him up for cheap, but I could see that happening.

He looked quite good in Sweden from what I heard.

Not surprised. Good deal for Coyotes to get a super cheap cap eater. Also clears Kruger which tells me they are 100% committed to Galchenyuk at centre. Surprised they let go of Hinostroza when there was a lot of talk he was a second chance for Chicago with Danault.

All the best to Despres, who has NHL skill but concussions not his fault. Just know the team was bad and that Ebert would be the guy I would want more.

Bratislava Slovan was a garbage club last season, allowed the most goals against in the KHL. It was a pretty NHL style D there with Meszaros, Barker, Ebert (who was a damn good Spitfire) and Despres. The guy to scoop from that club was Ebert, but he's now in the Swedish Elite League. I think he'll come back to the NHL next summer and have a real shot somewhere.

Plekanec trade went relatively well.

I would be fine with lottery protected.

They had a deal at the draft that fell through so NYI is a possibility.

Rangers waited until the deadline with Rick Nash, who was having the worst season his career at age 33 (he still hasn't been signed this summer) and the Bruins still gave up a 19 year old defenceman, Ryan Spooner, and a 1st round pick (Rangers agreed to take Beleskey to help Boston's cap but that's something we'd do too). The deadline next year I'm not sure who will be available. Skinner and Panarin are potentially better and both younger than Pacioretty, but after those three? It falls down to Vanek, Hagelin, McGinn, Raffl, and Byron. There won't be much available. If Pacioretty gets to the deadline and Skinner/Panarin are gone, he's by far the crown jewel of the left wing free agents at the deadline. Winger wise he's competing with Eberle, Simmonds, Nyquist, and Zuccarrello. So no matter what he's sitting pretty as one of the Top 5 best wingers at the deadline, maybe top 3. The Islanders and Vanek was a special issue. It was the worst kept secret in hockey that Vanek wanted to sign with Minnesota. Buffalo knew it and was happy to trade him. Garth Snow thought Vanek would change his mind playing with Tavares. He didn't. Snow then tried to get back as much as he gave up for Vanek and everyone was balking until all he had in front of him with an hour or so to go at the deadline was Bergevin's 2nd rounder and Collberg. Bergevin should get a great return for Pacioretty. This might be the easiest thing he will have to do at his job. I would personally rather he get traded now than later so there is no mystery to how bad the team will be and that this is indeed a tank season, but if the team waits on it and waits for maybe Pacioretty to rip it up in his contract year and we get even more value for him? That might be better. Either way, the only way Bergevin screws this up is if he insists on a roster player who can come in and contribute immediately and we get a lesser return on draft picks so Bergevin can brag about getting Jason Zucker or something like that. Otherwise? I'm not worried.

To Pittsburgh Max Pacioretty Jordie Benn To Montreal Carl Hagelin 1st Round Pick 2019 2nd Round Pick 2019 3rd Round Pick 2020 Anthony Angello Pittsburgh gets themselves a big upgrade at LW, and Montreal takes Hagelin's cap to make it work for them. Habs also give them an extra D which they need. The price is steep with a 1st/2nd/3rd, as well as Angello, but that's what it should cost to get Pacioretty when you are weak on the left side and need to clear cap space. Pittsburgh has been absolute trash at the draft anyway so they won't miss the picks anyhow.

At this point I don't think Bergevin has much agency. I think he wanted to re-sign him (he was still trying to negotiate with him up to the draft) and now there's no negotiation? I think Molson didn't want him re-signed. I feel like Bergevin's last move that was his was the Domi/Galchenyuk trade. Everything since feels like it's not his call. Or rather, he can't do anything without Molson stamping it. There were a lot of reports on who Bergevin was negotiating with at free agency, and he signed none of them except Peca and Ouellett. If the goal was still to make the playoffs, Pacioretty would be re-signed and we would have went hard at De Haan and likely picked up a Roussel when he didn't need to. Instead, we're pretty much sitting still with the same roster as last season's disaster, minus Galchenyuk. Sorry, I'm skeptical this is Bergevin's chosen strategy.

8x8 is the rumour.

I don't blame you. That said, Julien Brisebois got in the league very young, I think he was still in his 20s when he came to Montreal. He knows the team. He isn't known as Yzerman's right hand man (that's Verbeek) but he has been important to Tampa for years and works with their development and drafting. If you look at the Lightning, they draft quite well, and they are often developing undrafted or low drafted players. Brisebois plays a role in that.

If Molson told Bergevin they just needed to accumulate picks this season, that tells me Molson's eyes are opened. He's gonna find a GM that actually wants to build from the ground up. I figure Julien Brisebois wasn't ready to leave Tampa.

Yeah Brisebois will try to get a ring and then explore his GM option of becoming the prodigal son returning to Montreal.

$9.5M is fantastic for Kucherov. Tampa needs to get rid of Callahan and Coburn and Palat while likely moving either Johnson or Miller to fit Karlsson. Lots of D going UFA next summer. Doubt they keep Gourde. Amazing they still have Foote and Raddysh in their system. Move some of those guys for space, get Karlsson, no excuse to not be the Golden State Warriors of the NHL.

For sure, I don't mean to sound like I was criticizing. He was only in NYI for a single year and their defensive problems were already there, and most of the players were hurt. But the way he played the defence was pretty much the only way you could. Those guys weren't gonna shot block and they certainly weren't going to cut down lanes. Better to just let them loose and hope you outscore your competition. He's a good hire, a definite upgrade to JJ, and if there's some real improvements seen, I think he gets courted for a head coaching gig somewhere.

He was a run and gun D-coach in Long Island, where the defence sucked.

Has Montreal ever gone 10 years without a top goalie? Like, in the history of the team? I don't know, much like how Boston never worries about finding a star defenceman and Pittsburgh never worries about finding a star centre, I don't think I'll ever worry about not finding a top goalie. Plus Cayden Primeau so far looks like a real deal great young goalie. That hole might already be filled. While we don't have a Weber calibre defenceman in our prospect pool, he will probably be 35 by the time this team starts trying for the playoffs again. Why keep him? Because it's harder for you to let him go?

Richardson is a quality hire. He's an on the cusp of an NHL coaching gig but just hasn't impressed anyone yet. If he turns the Habs defence around or something like that, he'll get scooped for a head coaching gig. I could see him replacing Torts when he's inevitably fired in Columbus.

2019 and 2020 are drafts to be excited about, and drafts in which we should have as many first and second round picks as we can collect.

"It's never going to happen" is what Leafs fans said before they got Matthews. Either way, like I've said, I'll be more than happy to settle for Cozens. Who wouldn't want a right handed 6'3" Yukon Territory centre potential superstar?

It's an expression. Other forms have existed. Fail for Nail Skid/Suck/Slide for Stamkos Tank for Tavares Crash for Connor Rhymes and alliteration