dlbalr

I think someone will take Schmidt in the second round. It's not a perfect comparison but it's like Andrew Cristall a couple of years back, a first-round talent who slid due to his size but went early in the second.

I have to sit through it all today as we don't have anyone else for draft coverage. I'm hoping they find a way to speed it up somehow.

I know the feeling. I'd have loved to pack it in but in case the Habs took the second rounders and tried to trade back in, I had to sit through it all. Today's going to be a long one, that's for sure; those COVID drafts really dragged on and this will be that again.

Contract details:

I thought about that but at this point, the Isles are probably trying to trade up with those two picks so you don't want to have a spot where Bettman announces a trade from 6 hours ago, then immediately announces 16 and 17 are moved in a package for whatever pick could land them Hagens.

Is it just me or has this still not been made official yet? Not that it's worth worrying about yet but it seems a little odd.

It sounds like NYI wants to make a move to trade back to the top-5/7 to try to get Hagens so the belief is they want future assets to help them do that. Speculatively, that means both first-round picks could be on the table as a starting point (from both teams, 16/17 for MTL, 14/20 for CBJ).

There has been some speculation about something between the two sides but nothing much credible in terms of an actual proposal/rumour (this feels way light) so I've moved it to the proposal thread. That said, Chris Johnston on Insider Trading today said the Habs are among the teams interested in him.

Here's our annual mock draft, including guesses at Montreal's first seven picks this weekend: https://www.habsworld.net/2025/06/2025-habsworld-mock-draft/

Ristolainen hasn't played top-pairing minutes in years. He was moved up to the second pairing this season after being on Philly's third pairing the last two. You have to go back to his time in Buffalo for when he was a top-pairing guy. And Andersson would be a top-pairing player on a lot of teams.

He's not? He's been one for several years now.

In the note below the title, it says last updated June 19th. The Rangers giving up the pick just happened this morning so it makes sense that it's showing the old info. On a different note, I like the title about the blurb on the Hab/Calgary pick.

They're probably Plan A for moving Price's contract in September.

Is there a credible source with this one? David Ettedgui hasn't got one right in a long time, Cam Robinson has been wrong on some big stuff lately, and Marco D'Amico's track record as an insider is a lot more miss than hit.

Cap hit percentage is starting to get looked at a lot more now as it allows for an apples to apples comparison. If a player signed four years ago for $8M, what's the comparable now? Instead of guessing 9 or 9.5, look at the CH%, multiply that by the salary cap, and there's your equivalent money to try to negotiate up or down from. Now, with projections for two more years after next season, teams and agents can start to factor that into negotiations by using CH% multiplied by the projected salary cap for that year which is why I think there's going to be some sticker shock on the UFA contracts as it's the big projections moving forward that simply haven't been there before.

Feels like one of those 'where there's smoke, there's fire' type of situations and there's an awful lot of smoke saying Philly. despite the denials He just got his North American representation a couple of days ago so things could still change.

We did our mock draft last week for the main site (it's going to go up Thursday) and we did talk about Nesbitt at one of Montreal's first-round spots. We didn't ultimately pick him (and he wound up sliding farther than I think he will on Friday) but I don't think it's as bold of a pick as you're suggesting as his stock really seems to be on the rise.

I think that one's going to be Philly.

I think most people think Granlund would be a good fit although Tavares has the better track record points-wise (and winning-wise). But the contract cost is more than you think. It doesn't mean the Habs can't sign a free agent but if they want a UFA C, the price tag is going to be extremely steep. But yes, it's very realistic that they're quiet on the open market again. I could see them maybe signing a depth RD and that's about it if the C market goes past what they want to pay. And with Suter, as was just noted, if you want a 30-point gritty player who's good at faceoffs, that's not him at all. It feels like you want Suter to be something that he's not to justify saying you want him. If you want him, know that he's not going to be physical and you're going to need to shelter him on faceoffs. He's a decent depth guy, good checker, can kill penalties, etc, but I think you're making him out to be a much better player than he is.

Dallas is lowballing everyone because they don't have much money and are just hoping some take it. That's not necessarily a reflection of his market value. $6M feels like the absolute minimum and $7M feels possible even. Vancouver was in the $3M range with Suter and was told he's looking for something starting with a four and the Canucks have since reengaged as they're coming to the realization that the overpayments are going to be steep for centres. It's not impossible that someone gives him more than what Dvorak got with the Habs. If you want him around Evans' money, that's not plausible unless his market somehow absolutely tanks again (as it did two years ago). Here's where I think you might be confusing some people. You've talked about how you like Suter as a 3C and then talk about needing a 3C who is gritty and good at faceoffs. Suter is not at all gritty and is well below-average at the faceoff dot (42.7% this season). You've ultimately just made the case against signing the player you want them to sign.

A consistent 15-goal, 30-point player? He's reached both of those marks twice in five years. He's a guy who got more ice time in Vancouver with their centre troubles and shot at a whopping 18.1%, 5% higher than his career average. It's extremely likely that it's not repeatable which is going to drag that goal total down. He's also probably not playing 17 minutes a game with most teams so that has to be factored in. If Dvorak played 17 minutes a game, he'd have more points to. Don't get me wrong. I like Suter. He's a Swiss Army type of player that's useful to have. If he was willing to sign for 3C money, I'd be happy if he signed with the Habs. I have no reason to think he'll accept 3C money as Vancouver has already offered that and had it turned down. I don't want the Habs to overpay based on the outlier, unlikely to be repeated year and because the centre market is so weak, someone's going to. Based on your evaluation of Granlund's cost, I'm also guessing you have Suter's price tag much lower than it's going to be.

The price isn't the highest but it's also a one-year rental type of situation. He has another RFA year but if he struggles, he'll go non-tendered as a $5.75M QO with arbitration rights isn't appealing. This season being another clunker tanked his value, putting him in buy-low rental territory. We know from before that Hughes didn't want a spot where they have too much of the same type of player. So is it risk-aversion or Philly simply being more open to having extra one-dimensional players? Or is it a case of Philly thinking Zegras can still be a full-time C and Montreal not being as confident in his ability to do so?

I'm not saying make a trade proposal, I'm just asking who you think is available when all I've read the last week is GMs bemoaning the lack of available 2Cs beyond Marco Rossi who it has been established that the Habs don't want. I don't think there's a viable trade for a 2C out there at the moment. This year, yes, Suter had more points with an unsustainable shooting percentage. But over a five-year sample, he has 162 points in 364 games (0.45 PPG). Dvorak over that same time is 103 in 232 (0.44 PPG). So, is Suter really that much better offensively? He's much more durable (which is noteworthy) but I'm not necessarily buying the offensive upgrade.

What 2C trade options are out there? Everything I've seen suggests otherwise. That's why the bidding is going to go crazy for the few UFAs that are out there, so much so that signing Granlund and Suter is going to probably cost more than you might think.

He's a tough one to peg down. AFP Analytics has 2 x $2.645M which, based on how he has played so far, makes sense. But I think there's going to be some projection baked into the contract from teams who think he can be a 4/5 instead of a 5/6. I expect that will easily push the AAV past the $3M range. We're still putting together our Top 50 UFA list with projected contracts for PHR but I can say that there's a pretty big range of projected contracts since there are some varying opinions about the role he'll have with his next team. He's one of the more 'random' guys out there this year.