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Entertainment? This man is going to electrify the Bell center just as often if not more than anyone in the past 10 years, make no mistake about it.

Imagine for a moment, If we hadn't traded for Drouin and the current line up was without Radulov and Markov Pacioretty - Galchenyuk - Gallagher Lehkonen - Danault - Hemsky Byron - Plekanec - Shaw Hudon - McCaron - Martinsen/Mitchell Sergachev - Weber Alzner - Petry Schlemko - Benn that makes you comfortable? you think that Line up is any better than the one we have now? You think Sergachev would thrive from being forced into a spot he may not even be ready for? To get chewed up by other team's top players, and look at that top 6, thing of beauty that is. So tell me now with a little perspective, how important for next season keeping our best prospect looks in comparison now. Sadly when I look at that line up I realize that our weakest position there isn't actually Center anymore, but RW, how messed up is that?

He slots in nicely on the 3rd line now, behind Drouin and Gallagher.

I don't dislike this signing at all, a one year trial to see if an injury plagued but productive forward can have himself a bounce back year in our top 9 is fine in my books. look at it as a Radulov replacement and you will hate it, but thats not what it is

Unlike McDonaugh though, we didn't just trade Sergachev for Gomez here, its Jonathan Drouin, a super young, extremely talented, top 20 under 23 in this league type of talent. You want to talk about finding elite dmen being difficult, but oversee the fact it is dificult to find any elite talent. We had to poop the bed to get the only elite young talent we have on this team in Galchenyuk, now we also have Drouin, who is likely even a knotch above. Getting a player like Drouin is also not easy, we have spent 10 years drafting forwards with far less impact than him, yet in those 10 years we managed to grab McDonaugh, Subban, and Sergachev, tell me again about the unmatched difficulty in finding elite d-men vs forwards. Make no mistake, Jonathan Drouin has just as much chance to be an Elite top line forward in this league as Sergachev has to be an Elite top pair Dman, maybe even more so. Let us not forget that reality and trick ourselves into thinking Drouin is a decent consolation prize, we may have very well spent the next 10 years drafting forwards not even of his caliber.

I'm going with the optimism here, Radulov and Markov both end up unable to actually say goodbye to Montreal, and come back. Also, No one is taking Plekanec off our hands, so I say we use what we got, give the old turtle neck one last season to show he can crack the 40 point mark, and last season was just a fluke. Pacioretty - Danault - Radulov - because that line worked as good as it did last season, i'd say keep it together for the whole year, yes Danault is not an ideal top line center but he is all we have that worked extremely well with the two wingers, work with what you got. Galchenyuk - Plekanec - Drouin - yup i'm giving Pleky one last season with quality wingers to show he ain't finished, he is also going to be required to clean up the many defensive breakdowns the two dynamic kids will be causing. That said, i'm all for letting them go nuts in the playground and reap the rewards as long as someone of worth is babysitting. And as mentioned earlier Plekanec ain't goin no place this year, and i'd rather give him a last shot and spend 6 mill on a second line center than a 3rd. Lehkonen - Shaw - Gallagher - Shaw looked his best in awhile when he was centering the 3rd line in the playoffs, i'd go with it again, and give him some quality young wingers with offensive upside to see if we can't get a 3rd line capable of producing pretty regularly. Hudon - McCaron - Byron - McCaron and Hudon have a connection and Byron is well, Byron, this line could end up being dynamic and dangerous on some nights. The mix of Size, Speed, and Skill are meshed well between the 3 players and could be intriguing. Mitchell and Martinsen are my extras, while Scherbak is my speed dial call up if an offensive top 9 player goes down to injury. On Defense Markov - Weber - pretty obvious here, they played very well together last year when paired, and Markov showed by reducing his PK minutes to virtually nothing that he could handle top pair 5 on 5 and PP with little issues. Alzner - Petry - this duo should mesh very well, Alzner will stabilize this pair with his consistency, and I think Petry will play a much looser and relaxed game which will in turn help him have possibly his best year as a Hab. Schlemko - Benn - another duo that should mesh well, being polar opposite type player, they will compliment eachother very well and should provide an effective and rock steady bottom pair. Jerabek and Davidson are my extras

Everyone acts like Sergachev is a sure fire thing to be a world class #1 D-man in the NHL, I live in Windsor fellas, and I can tell you while he remains one of the top OHL talents this season, he did not progress or have the season most of us thought he would. Kid still has ways to go before he can even be considered a top 4 in this league, can't act like you know he is going to be the next Ekblad, because you don't, no one does. Drouin however, has already proven to be dynamic and productive at a young age in the NHL playoffs, during NHL regular season, and most importantly without being the supporting cast of Stamkos. Kucherov and Him carried Tampa's offense last year. His ceiling is so much higher than Radulov's at this point, Drouin could easily have a meteoric rise much like the Seguins, Schiefeles, and Gaudreaus of this world. A class Radulov can no longer be a part of, his best at this stage are 50 something point seasons, Drouin's best can be near PPG seasons. While i agree if Radulov doesn't resign we are not upgraded next year upfront, I have little doubt that if Drouin already nearly out produced him last season, he will begin to out produce him by larger numbers in the coming years. At that point the upgrade of the Player for Player will become more obvious. While we still would need some top 6 help, count me as one of those who won't be losing sleep if the #1 RW in Montreal for the next 3 to 4 years is named Drouin instead of Radulov. You can count me down for losing sleep if we don't add something of worth to that top 6 in the next little while, because that would be a setback to any plan trying to win in the next 3 to 5 years.

Which is no doubt an upgraded one over last season, is that not the goal? to be better than the previous year and give yourself a better chance to win year after year? As long as I keep seeing that when each training camp hits year after year, then I will keep the pitch fork away.

i'd be willing to do 6 mill at 5 if it was literally down to that choice. If Radulov said his final counter offer was 6 mill for 5 years or I go to Dallas, i'd throw in the extra year and nothing more to make it happen.

Doesn't matter to me anymore, all I am seeing proves the complete opposite of what was being assumed for weeks now, that MB was just letting Radulov walk. He is in the hunt still, right to the end, and if Radulov goes to Dallas because they offered more with their extra cap space, then the Choice was on him, it will be Radulov who chose to take a bit more money and go to Dallas. I almost started to believe the rhetoric that MB was clueless and letting Radulov walk having only mustered a small effort to retain him. This is looking a lot more like Radulov is being greedy with his last big contract, than MB is a moron who didn't do much to keep him.

As far as i'm concerned, Schlemko replaced Beaulieu for less and brings a similar game. Alzner replaced Emelin for similar dollars and a similar game but more effective. Now its either Markov, or whoever is going to replace him, I keep seeing the mindset that Alzner is coming to replace Markov but he is not, He is replacing Emelin. We lost Emelin for nothing and we gained Alzner for nothing. Safe to say I'd rather have Alzner playing where Emelin was supposed to slot in all day any day. Its easy to turn this signing negative by twisting it around as Alzner replacles Markov but that is insanity, they are completely different players. I doubt very seriously that MB thinks Alzner will slot in everywhere Markov did, on the top Pair, on the PP, and not play any PK. Look at it that way and ask yourself if it is even possible other than blinding yourself to biased levels of hate for MB, that he could possibly think that. Alzner is coming in to be a physical stay at home presence who can log huge minutes on the PK and eat minutes against top players when paired with a puck mover. Does that sound ANYTHING like what Markov would be asked to do if he was still here? or does it sound like what Emelin would be asked to do if he was still here? Come on guys..

That is fair value for sure, if this is in fact true, then I would put much more blame on Radulov for wanting to leave than MB for letting him go.

Schlemko is a puck moving d-man with good speed and a small stature, who plays a finesse game. Alzner is the complete opposite, He plays a heavy game, outworks the opposition in the corners, doesn't give an inch in front of the net and is good at puck retrieval. If Alzner plays with a good puck mover he will be effective. that said Schlemko belongs on the 3rd pair with Benn, they compliment eachother. Alzner belongs on the second pair with Petry, they also compliment eachother. We still need the ideal player to play on the top pair with Weber, that could be Markov short term if we keep him, or it will have to be some other avenue, either way Alzner isn't that guy.

Radulov cannot be easily replaced, not even close. However does that mean you take the huge risk on giving into his demands? Though i'm not entirely decided, I'd rather not go past 4 years.

This was all i could think of when i saw the news

While I agree to a certain extent on most of your points, I just don't see enough failure in those 5 years to bet he gets fired short of a catastrophic turn of events. Not sure he even warrants it when I look at those stats, has any other GM we had since Savard done better in a 5 year window?

You realize how many teams haven't won since 93? We are one of many, I love how folks try to make it sound like its easy to win cups, that it is shameful to go 20 years without a championship when there is this many teams in the league. How many years did Chicago go before their run in the last 5 years, how many did L.A go? Boston? The reality is, hockey has changed, there are more teams than ever, less % to win, and the way teams are built, acquire young talent, is different than it was 30 years ago. But lets keep pouting on our make believe island of Sports Franchises who just can't get it together and do, what seems like, the easy task of win a Stanley Cup every 10 years. This team may not be a true contender yet, but one thing is certain in my opinion, is that we are as close to one as we have been since 93. Baby steps, doesn't matter what kind of steps they are as long as they are steps. You might stumble and bumble along the way but sooner or later you get across the room, and get a hold of that weird silver thing to chew on. OR maybe I just have too much of a postive outlook on things lol, guess i'll find out if I die without seeing another cup win

Can't have one without the other If he ices an improved team over the one that just won a Division title, how could anyone expect not to make the playoffs? I would think an improved team over the last one makes it past round one, not misses the playoffs altogether. unless there are catastrophic injuries to said roster then at that point he will get the benefit of the doubt as Therrien did when Price was gone for the season.

My thoughts exactly, there will be 30 teams who don't win a cup in 2018, 29 teams who don't reach the final. Not every GM is going to get canned for it, some GMs have been trying and failing for longer than Bergevin has. If he ices an improved club and continues to try to fill whatever needs we have going forward, then he will and should keep his job. Also i'm interested to see what a full camp/season is Julien's coaching will do for this team and especially some of its youngsters who struggled last year, Galchenyuk and Gallagher come to mind. I do agree that if the Development area of the club does not improve, and he continues to sit on his hands about it, that maybe his undoing before any on-ice performance. With that said, i'd still say he at least survives another 2 seasons before he pays for that.

I agree with the first statement 100% and it has to be the aspect o notice most, while also looking like the aspect of Subban's game that didnt always fit with how the team plays. However the second statment i have some issues with. By the time Weber reaches 36 he will still look like a better version of Markov we see right now. This is simply because even in their prime, neither guy's main weapon is speed. that is always the thing that slips away with age for a hockey player. Markov built his game around vision, smarts, and tremendous play making capabilities. all things we still see at age 37, he is simply slower than he was when he was 30. Weber builds his game around good quick passes, strength, physicality and a big shot. when he is 36 he will still hold all of these qualities, he will simply be a little less mobile and require a very mobile defence partner to help him remain very effective as petry does with markov now. The other aspect no one considers in the long term aspect is, we know what weber will make the rest of his career cap wise. Subban will need another contract when he is 33, and if he remains an elite defenceman the next 5 years, which we all seem to suggest. does anyone really think he will make a dime less than he makes right now come that time? what if his next contract goes to 10mill for a 5 year term or more? does a 38 year old subban making atleast 10 mill make you feel comfortable? because one guy in all this who DOES build his game around mobility is PK. once that starts to slip he will show a bigger drop off in his game because he relies much more heavily on that aspect to make him elite than Weber ever did.

1000% my thoughts the entire way about last season. We had below average goaltending replace elite goaltending while losing key pieces in each position for long periods of time. yet we were also supposed to continue being a good team despite losing players that are the reason we are a good team. Never understood that, now I will commend MB for taking the summer to shore up things on this team he felt contributed to things slipping so badly last year. but the reality still remains that if Price went down for the season, we lost a top 3 forward for months and a top 3 dman for months again this year. we likely dont make the playoffs again, do we slip to the bottom like we did? not likely, but making the playoffs in those circumstances would be a dogfight. And in what world does a very good team who loses its very good players still remain a very good team?

From a visual standpoint watching the game I have yet to see him play poorly. He has had some great games in there mixed with solid ones but play poorly? Not a chance.

It wont matter unless his corsi is up to snuff. Guy keeps shelling out the solid outings but gets pooped on at every turn by the advanced stats community. The guy literally made it impossible for anyone to clean up the garbage in front of Price during the final minutes but that wont show up in the advanced stats. The guy shoots and he scores, he passes when everyone thinks he will shoot and someone else scores. He generates scoring chances by putting the puck to the net. He makes the quick easy play with the puck everytime and rarely gets himself or his team in trouble.

What in gods name is Therrien doing breaking up the defense pairings when this team has yet to lose in regulation. Beaulieu, aside from his blunder against pheonix, has played pretty well.

Radulov did not dive and Weber gets called for being too strong. Almost a butchered end of the game by the refs. Luckily it didn't cost us any points