Permanent Rumour Thread

[Commandant]

RD and Centres being more rare than wingers and left D is slmething thats been true for a long long time.

 

Centre is the hardest position on the ice to play IMO.

 

As for right vs left shots, more people are left shots.

 

The one position I see changing is goalie.  Its becoming more rare than it was 10 years ago (effect of a combination of the crackdown on equipment, loss of canadian goalie talent, and more teams using 1a/1b instead of starter/backup model).

 

 

[Commandant]

As for spreadsheets.  I dont expect you to do 6, 7, 8 sheets.  You are one person and a GM is doing this with a staff and as a full time job so its not a criticism of you or me asking you to do more.  Im just pointing out how I believe good GMs plan these things 

[alfredoh2009]

Interesting:

 

TSN insider Pierre LeBrun said we can draw a straight line between the Canadiens landing Alexandre Carrier and trading David Savard.

[image or embed]

— NHL Trade Talk (@nhltradetalk.bsky.social) December 19, 2024 at 7:45 PM

 

[Prime Minister Koivu]

7 minutes ago, alfredoh2009 said:

Interesting:

 

 

I think 99% of fans expect Savard to be traded. To me the Carrier trade was about replacing Savard over the next couple of seasons. 
 

I used to speculate that Savard might get a contract from Montreal because we need him next season at the very least. 
 

With Carrier here I no longer think Savard will be back. Savard will be traded and I wish him well. Thanks for blocking seven million shots

[DON]

So we will have Carrier and thats it.... on the right side?

[Prime Minister Koivu]

19 minutes ago, DON said:

So we will have Carrier and thats it.... on the right side?

Next season I expect:

 

Guhle - Matheson 

Hutson - Carrier 

Xhekaj - Mailloux 

Struble

[alfredoh2009]

32 minutes ago, Prime Minister Koivu said:

Next season I expect:

 

Guhle - Matheson 

Hutson - Carrier 

Xhekaj - Mailloux 

Struble

my take is:

Matheson-Carrier (minute munching Ds)

Guhle-Hutson

Xhekaj/Struble-Mailloux

 

[Butterface]

32 minutes ago, Prime Minister Koivu said:

Next season I expect:

 

Guhle - Matheson 

Hutson - Carrier 

Xhekaj - Mailloux 

Struble

I’d agree with above.. unless they get an offer for Matheson they can’t refuse. I suspect they will draft a RHD with their second highest pick.

 

But he won’t be in the show for a bit.

[Commandant]

I think you draft Best Player Available, and worry about positions later.  This we must draft by position is a sure way to make mistakes in the draft. 

[Butterface]

2 hours ago, Commandant said:

I think you draft Best Player Available, and worry about positions later.  This we must draft by position is a sure way to make mistakes in the draft. 

Yeah, but I’m looking to move up in the draft and get the best RHD we can…so I expect he will be equal to talent around him

[TurdBurglar]

Interestingly enough Dreger was saying the trade for Carrier adds insulation for the RD and opens up the possibility of Matheson being traded as well.

 

The LD is too talented to run Matheson, Guhle and Hutson on 3 different pairs and neither of the 3 has excelled on RD.  Right now, with a year left on a great contract, Matheson's value probably will only go down from here.

[DON]

27 minutes ago, Butterface said:

Yeah, but I’m looking to move up in the draft and get the best RHD we can…so I expect he will be equal to talent around him

You assume Habs will still have the Flames pick on draft day and its not shipped out as part of package for a top-4 NHL RH d-man.

Seems lots of good d-men get chosen in 2nd round anyways, so why trade up for one in the 1st?

[Habs Fan in Edmonton]

14 minutes ago, DON said:

You assume Habs will still have the Flames pick on draft day and its not shipped out as part of package for a top-4 NHL RH d-man.

Seems lots of good d-men get chosen in 2nd round anyways, so why trade up for one in the 1st?

 

If there is a guy you really want then you try and trade up, no guarantees it works but the higher the pick the better your chances. The Habs were really high on Hage last year so they traded up, time will tell if that was the right move but Hage is looking pretty good so far. 

 

[Habs Fan in Edmonton]

48 minutes ago, TurdBurglar said:

Interestingly enough Dreger was saying the trade for Carrier adds insulation for the RD and opens up the possibility of Matheson being traded as well.

 

The LD is too talented to run Matheson, Guhle and Hutson on 3 different pairs and neither of the 3 has excelled on RD.  Right now, with a year left on a great contract, Matheson's value probably will only go down from here.

 

Yes, I think Matheson's value is at a peak right now. Maybe Hughes has no intention of trading him. 

[DON]

7 minutes ago, Habs Fan in Edmonton said:

 

If there is a guy you really want then you try and trade up, no guarantees it works but the higher the pick the better your chances. The Habs were really high on Hage last year so they traded up, time will tell if that was the right move but Hage is looking pretty good so far. 

 

And the 2 drafts before that he traded away 1st picks for NHL players. 

[Habs Fan in Edmonton]

26 minutes ago, DON said:

And the 2 drafts before that he traded away 1st picks for NHL players. 

 

Nothing wrong with that if the player works out. 

[Butterface]

2 hours ago, Habs Fan in Edmonton said:

 

If there is a guy you really want then you try and trade up, no guarantees it works but the higher the pick the better your chances. The Habs were really high on Hage last year so they traded up, time will tell if that was the right move but Hage is looking pretty good so far. 

 

Again, I’ve had a few rum, but I thought they were trading up for Eiserman and they didn’t quite make it… I had to look up Hage after the pick… I’m happy with what we got.

 

 

[DON]

2 minutes ago, Butterface said:

Again, I’ve had a few rum, but I thought they were trading up for Eiserman and they didn’t quite make it… I had to look up Hage after the pick… I’m happy with what we got.

FWIW:

Eiserman 9g 15pts 16gms

Hage 10g 18pt 15gms

[tomh009]

1 hour ago, DON said:

FWIW:

Eiserman 9g 15pts 16gms

Hage 10g 18pt 15gms

Even-strength play, Eiserman 4g in 16 games, Hage 8g in 15 games.

 

Pre-draft, Eiserman was touted as the "best natural goal-scorer in the draft" so Hage is looking pretty good.

[alfredoh2009]

Nice read of Stu Cowan's mailbag column:

https://www.montrealgazette.com/sports/hockey/hockey-inside-out/article643534.html?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Bluesky

 

Evans' next contract may be too expensive for the Habs!

[TurdBurglar]

Evans at $3.4m will be an over-payment unless he cements himself as a 3rd line center, which won't be on a good team.  Somebody will probably pay him that, and probably will regret it.

[tomh009]

31 minutes ago, TurdBurglar said:

Evans at $3.4m will be an over-payment unless he cements himself as a 3rd line center, which won't be on a good team.  Somebody will probably pay him that, and probably will regret it.

Cowan's argument is that he should be paid more than Armia--but specifically more than Armia's last contract, which pretty much everyone agrees is an overpay.

 

Evans is a good 3C, but I really think that it's unlikely that he can sign an extension based on just his last 35 games. His last two full seasons were both under 0.4 points/game; counting on the current 0.65 points/game is pretty likely to lead to an overpay.

[TurdBurglar]

2 minutes ago, tomh009 said:

Cowan's argument is that he should be paid more than Armia--but specifically more than Armia's last contract, which pretty much everyone agrees is an overpay.

 

Evans is a good 3C, but I really think that it's unlikely that he can sign an extension based on just his last 35 games. His last two full seasons were both under 0.4 points/game; counting on the current 0.65 points/game is pretty likely to lead to an overpay.

I disagree that Evans is a good 3rd line C.  He's playing 4th line C behind an uninspired Dvorak, on a bad team.  Nothing about that says good 3rd line C.  Evans is a good 4th line C, that can be a competent 3rd line C, with a good defensive upside.  At his age, it's unlikely he improves to the point of being a good 3rd line C.

 

Armia's deal was signed when Armia was playing exclusively on the 3rd line with reps in on the 2nd line.

[GHT120]

48 minutes ago, TurdBurglar said:

I disagree that Evans is a good 3rd line C.  He's playing 4th line C behind an uninspired Dvorak,...

Evans is getting 1:22 more TOI per game than Dvorak ... +1:01 at even strength, +0:27 on PK, -0:05 on PP ... but Heineman and Armia are will behind Gallagher and Anderson at even strength

[Habs Fan in Edmonton]

1 hour ago, tomh009 said:

Evans is a good 3C, but I really think that it's unlikely that he can sign an extension based on just his last 35 games. His last two full seasons were both under 0.4 points/game; counting on the current 0.65 points/game is pretty likely to lead to an overpay.

 

Evans has played like a good 3C this year but certainly not in previous years. Is this just one of those years where the puck goes in for him and everything falls into place perhaps not to be repeated? It's a tough call. On the brighter side his market value at the deadline has gone up should Hughes decide he will be too expensive to resign.