dlbalr

He has 2 years of college eligibility left and has already indicated he intends to play there once again this season.

The source as far as I know is Renaud Lavoie's blog where he speculates Phoenix would have interest. As you noted, Gomez will pop up with talk of any team needing to get to the floor. Also according to Lavoie (separate article), it has been confirmed that Pouliot will go unqualified. This doesn't mean he won't re-sign as the Habs went this route last year with him to avoid arbitration. If this is indeed true (and with Lavoie, you really never know now), watch for the Habs to try and do some sort of trade before midnight tomorrow.

And now it looks like Nashville (Milwaukee) is the favourite according to Sportsnet.

My writeup on Day 2 of the draft for the Habs: http://www.habsworld.net/article.php?id=2516

I get that sense as well though with a little less offensive upside but less rawness.

I'm quite intrigued with this player, real promising offensive skill set with some upside. Lots of scouting sites had him going well before this point. I've also posted a Q and A with him on the site.

This was his last year of eligibility. In theory, he could've been signed if undrafted but according to an interview with Nygren himself, several NHL teams had been talking to him. Perhaps there'd have been a bidding war had he gone undrafted?

He is 21, wondering if the Habs will try to get him to Hamilton right away. I'm quite impressed with what I've been reading about him so far.

Habs trade 77 for 97 and 108 (which is actually their own 4th). Montreal has 3 picks in the 4th round now.

Regehr, Kotalik, and a 2nd next year to Buffalo for Butler and Byron. Buffalo's defence got a lot better. Feaster uses the savings to give Tanguay a 5 year extension. O...kay then. Early reports say $17.5 million over that term which is a decent deal. Any thoughts on the moves from yesterday? (Campbell for Olesz, Burns for Setoguchi and others.)

I believe that award goes to me... Also, though we won't have the fancy twitter-integrated chat like last night, there's always the HW Chatroom...

11 AM EST. NHL Network has the TV coverage.

They did...last year. I'd surmise that teams are leery of his lack of head coaching experience at any level (I think he was only a CIS assistant coach) and would be more comfortable giving him a year or two getting to know their prospects and learning how to be a head coach before promoting him. As long as the language requirement stands for Montreal coaches, Muller knows he'll never be the guy with the Habs so he'd be best off to go to another organization and hope to be promoted from within, something we've seen quite a bit of lately.

A scouting report, courtesy of HIO and FC:

Well, the thread title could wind up being appropriate...just not in the way we all thought. Joe Nieuwendyk, Dallas's GM has admitted the team is considering offering Muller the coaching job for the AHL's Texas Stars. Apparently, they're not the only team pondering offering Muller an AHL head coaching job.

Good to hear that things are well and you're back...though of course, you never left. I don't see Brewer and Wisniewski being compared, they're polar opposites in terms of style. At this point, I'd frankly be stunned if he were to re-sign with the Habs, let alone receive any offer of substance. Kaberle's deal (whenever that comes) may help shape Wisniewski's. As for Jagr, they will have the space whether or not they bring in/back another defenceman with the $4.9 million raise in the cap. Though the Habs will see their cap reduced again for going over this past season (which I'm 99.9% sure they did), that shouldn't have too big of an impact.

He quickly is becoming one of the more prominent players for the Czech squad; it's understandable that he's starting to have more of a presence with his compatriots. Long time since we've heard from you revvv, how have things been?

J-M Liles to the Leafs for a 2nd rounder. Liles has an iffy cap hit, that's why the cost is relatively cheap. Guess he's replacing Kaberle.

He was barely that in the KHL, players generally don't get more ice time when they come to North America. He's a 3rd pairing guy to start the year with the potential to move up later on. There's nothing wrong with that either, I like the thought of having the youngsters ease in instead of counting on them to log big minutes right away. I think this may be it for the defencemen signings aside from another Picard-type player (or Picard himself re-signing) as a hedge against injury.

$17.25 over 3 years, $5.75 per.

Voracek will improve while Schenn and Simmonds are also nice pieces but to move those 2 in order to give Bryzgalov a 9 year contract? I think Holmgren has lost his mind here, though he more or less helped undo part of the mess he made by signing so many guys long-term...to then go give a goalie 9 years.

Do they? They've sold out every game already and I'd say fan interest is pretty high. For Winnipeg (who I believe asked for a Canadian opponent), this will get them going with a bang.

The Habs do request to start each year with a road trip and the league generally tries to get good games on the schedule at the beginning. What will drum up more interest, Habs vs Winnipeg or Habs vs Islanders?

The Habs can buy out Spacek but the cap hit would remain in full. They'd pay the money the same way a standard buyout goes (2/3 over 2 years), but his cap hit would stay at $3.83. The deal's not done, not even close. The rumour has already been debunked by his agent (minutes after it came out) and considering the initial source, it wasn't worth getting excited over in the first place. Meehan said talks would continue at the draft so at this time, I wouldn't expect any news until Saturday unless one of the two sides has a change of heart on whatever the offer is currently. The good news is that he has spurned a lot of KHL offers so we shouldn't see him bolt back home which was at least a possibility before.

I agree completely he won't be the BPA as I said in the other draft thread. I don't think he'll be bad a pick as McIlrath though, Oleksiak is one of the more safe giant blueliners in the draft in recent years. The Leafs have said they'd be willing to move 25 or 30 with their 2nd rounder (39) to move up. From what Burke has said, I don't see them moving both 1st rounders to move up. Oh, and since we're now using this as the draft thread (I'm guessing as such), make sure to make your picks in our annual draft pool. For anyone wondering, I'm the defending champ. http://www.habsworld.net/article.php?id=2509