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Summer 2014 Target UFAs


sim.on

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Brad Richards is too small, you are too funny HabsFan. :nuts:

But, wasn't real serious anyways, just he is 'available' for Leafs or some other irrelevant franchise to give him a 5 year deal.

A 3rd pairing d-man on Columbus, better demand less $$ than Markov, but get what you pay for.

But, Nikitin is younger and bigger I will grant you that and d-options are very thin on the market.

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Are you saying you wouldn't trade a center if a better one came up?

It depends. How much better are we talking? Are we talking about acquiring Ryan Johansen, a 60 point, 21 year old superstar who is only going to get better and the only guy we have with anywhere close to his potential is Galchenyuk? Or are we just making a minimal upgrade in offence to Desharnais, Plekanec or Eller? When we still need to get Galchenyuk moved to center and add more depth to our wing, it's just silly to be looking at all of these broken down centers and act like we should even consider it.

I haven't heard a single center I feel is imperative for Montreal to add, and that includes Joe Thornton and Jason Spezza. At their age and cap hit and baggage, it's just not going to be worth it for what we'd have to give up. Our focus needs to be on the wing when our center depth is this deep.

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It depends. How much better are we talking? Are we talking about acquiring Ryan Johansen, a 60 point, 21 year old superstar who is only going to get better and the only guy we have with anywhere close to his potential is Galchenyuk? Or are we just making a minimal upgrade in offence to Desharnais, Plekanec or Eller? When we still need to get Galchenyuk moved to center and add more depth to our wing, it's just silly to be looking at all of these broken down centers and act like we should even consider it.

I haven't heard a single center I feel is imperative for Montreal to add, and that includes Joe Thornton and Jason Spezza. At their age and cap hit and baggage, it's just not going to be worth it for what we'd have to give up. Our focus needs to be on the wing when our center depth is this deep.

So you wouldn't trade DD for Thorton? or Spezza? not saying it could be done just checking to see how good you think our centre position is cause I don't think it is that good. We have lots of guys but Eller is still an unknown quantitiy, Briere is finished, Pleks is still good but on the slow slide, Galchenyuk is still learning, who exactly is our #1 centreman? DD ? then I think we have a problem Houston. I really like the little guy but #1 centre? come on. We have a problem at centre and have had for some time. We need to solve it. We also need a scoring winger. And a real top 4 defenceman besides Subban. Emelin is very good but.... Markov is going downhill fast, Gorges is really 5/6 , Weaver 5/6 I don't see top 4 defencemen.

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Brad Richards is too small, you are too funny HabsFan.

I just don't think he's what the Habs need!

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Neither do I Habfans and just keep hearing size thing over and over, but really if a forward is skilled, can score 20+goals and backcheck even a little bit, who cares what size he is.

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So you wouldn't trade DD for Thorton? or Spezza? not saying it could be done just checking to see how good you think our centre position is cause I don't think it is that good. We have lots of guys but Eller is still an unknown quantitiy, Briere is finished, Pleks is still good but on the slow slide, Galchenyuk is still learning, who exactly is our #1 centreman? DD ? then I think we have a problem Houston. I really like the little guy but #1 centre? come on. We have a problem at centre and have had for some time. We need to solve it. We also need a scoring winger. And a real top 4 defenceman besides Subban. Emelin is very good but.... Markov is going downhill fast, Gorges is really 5/6 , Weaver 5/6 I don't see top 4 defencemen.

As I said, for what they bring at their ages and contract, it isn't worth upgrading for the cost it would take to bring them in.

Gorges statistically, especially advanced statistics, is much better than 5/6. He's a top tier defensive defenceman.

We got to the eastern conference finals with DD as our top offensive center. Where did San Jose and Ottawa get with Thornton and Spezza?

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Well everyone is entitled to their opinion. I personally have not heard of Gorges as being a top level defenceman, but I don't suscribe to advanced stats. He is great shot blocking defenceman who is not very speedy, not very big, he is a very servicable defenceman. Good leader. I don't think I need to say anymore about DD. He would not be the #1 center on very many teams.

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Josh has ben a top 4 d-man for a long time and does fine.

I did not say he was a bad defenceman, there are few teams he would be considered top 4 on. But I know you love the guy so I expected you would disagree.

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I like Gorges, a lot, for all he brings, but what he doesn't bring is top 4 tools. He should be a 5 or 6, but could eat heavy minutes in situations that warrant his skill set, PK, defending a late lead, etc, but not in a top 4 role.... outside of Subban as a budding star, who has speed, size and pysicality, and Emelin's hitting, we are missing size and speed on our defense, all the Markov, Weaver and Gorges love is commendable, but none of them bring size, or speed. Markov is still so elite, on the mental side of the game, and offensively, he has to be top 4, so out of Gorges, Weaver, Tinordi, Beaulieu, Pateryn, how do we improve our defense for next season? Is Weaver even signed yet? Markov isn't either. Is Nikitin a better option than our young guys? Do we trade a shipload of assets for a legit top 4 guy? Wtf is the solution?

Status quo top 4 from last season isn't making us any more as a contender....

Oh yeah, Brad Richards? :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

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Pretty safe to guess, top 4 d-men is unlikely to change, but hinges on how much Markov really wants to stay or if wants to go for bigger $$/term elsewhere? Should find out within 10 days.

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Gorges is great for what he is and any team would happily have him. I personally think he'd be one of the best #5 defenders in hockey, but as a top-4 man he might be a bit stretched - as witnessed by the fact that we've never stopped debating his credentials as a #4 guy. The reality is, there is too steep a drop-off after Subban and Markov on our blueline. Heck, you can argue there is too steep a drop-off after PK, period.

Ideally, we'd keep Markov and gradually bring along Beaulieu, Tinordi, and Pateryn. E.g., if at the end of the season Beaulieu is a regular while Tinordi or Pateryn is knocking on the door, I'd rate that as satisfactory. What you want is for the youngsters to nudge aside the Weavers of the world, or even crowd Gorges back to the #5 slot. By the end of Markov's 2-3 year contract, Beaulieu should have supplanted him as the team's second-best offensive defenceman and one of the other guys decisively passed Gorges on the depth-chart. That'd be optimal, I should think.

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Pretty safe to guess, top 4 d-men is unlikely to change, but hinges on how much Markov really wants to stay or if wants to go for bigger $$/term elsewhere? Should find out within 10 days.

I really wish his demands were reasonable, I would like to see him retire a Hab but in this cap world that is difficult. 18 mill 3 years just too much. 1 year 6 mill yeah ok, then lets look at next year.

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Matt Greene and Matt Moulson or Ryan Callahan would be my choices, though I doubt Bergevin can get any of them under the Habs budget.

And then, of course, I dream that we actually have a need for a 3rd line center and we sign Saku Koivu... but we don't.

Oooookay so Moulson or Hemsky, I guess?

On defence I have no idea now. Maybe sign no one? Maybe just play Markov with Subban, Beaulieu with Gorges, and Emelin with Tinordi/Nygren/Pateryn in pillow-soft minutes.

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Guest Stogey24

I'm with you there. If we had to sign an Ottawa Senator on free agency I'd be going for Milan Michalek.

I'd go after Michalek. He's had some injury trouble but he's worth a look for sure
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The problem with guys like Moulson and Hemsky is they will likely want long term deals. If we're signing a guy he needs to either be near elite for a long term deal or just a stop gap for a year or two like Briere. There isn't really anyone in the elite status on the market. In that case, I'd be sniffing at what Vrbata, Kulemin, Michalek and Jokinen want. Also interested in Mason Raymond but he probably wants a long term deal as well. If Bergevin is getting nothing but guys wanting stupid deals he'll likely head to the trade route.

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Moulson, MIchalek, or Hemsky might be good Vanek-lite replacement and fine by me.

I could see Moulson, (will want too much money) or Michalek but please not Hemsky he simply has no character.

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If Michalek is injury free, he is one hell of a skater, and can put the puck in the net, a better choice than Hemsky, or Moulson imho...

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I really believe that if we sign a UFA it will be a second-tier guy like Jokinen...or else just depth signings. Meanwhile, the drying up of the already-lame UFA market for defencemen tends to reinforce the wisdom of the Markov contract. Ever since teams figured out the importance of locking up their young stars to long-term deals, free agency just hasn't been what it used to be.

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Pretty slim pickings for UFAs.

Looking down the top 11 forwards by points:

Thomas Vanek ... no.

Jarome Iginla would break the bank.

Paul Stastny will return to Colorado.

Jussi Jokinen will cost too much...and I'm not convinced that any player who plays with Malkin and Crosby doesn't have inflated numbers that won't translate well to another roster.

Matt Moulson - there is something there. If Minnesota signs Vanek, he might be available.

Radim Vrbata put up decent numbers playing with a terrible team. That has some promise.
Brad Richards was just cut by the Rangers. He is going to take a BIG pay cut, and if he can be had cheaply enough, I'd grab him.
David Legwand is... wait. Who? This is the problem with spending most of your career in Nashville.

Daniel Alfredson is 41. I'm turning 41 tomorrow. I wouldn't want to sign me, either.
Mike Cammalleri is a smurf. He put up more points per game than any of these other guys last year, but I don't think Montreal's big enough up front to support him again.

Mason Raymond will be back in Toronto, I suspect. He just had the second best season of his career on a lousy team, he's not going downhill. If Toronto DOESN'T snap him up, I'd consider him.

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