Recalled Rafael Harvey-Pinard recalled

[DON]

https://www.nhl.com/canadiens/news/rafael-harvey-pinard-recalled-from-laval-rocket/c-333211826

 

I think some here will be happy he is gonna get a game or 5.

The 23yr old has 3 NHL games under his belt and 1g.

 

Having good year in Laval.

64

19

32

51

 

[The Chicoutimi Cucumber]

Smoking numbers in Laval for sure. It'd be great if some of that could translate to this level.

[alfredoh2009]

13 minutes ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

Smoking numbers in Laval for sure. It'd be great if some of that could translate to this level.

 

Fumants chiffres à Laval, c'est sur. C'serait super si un peu de ça pourrait traduire à ce niveau

 

... oh! wait 🤦‍♂️

[Commandant]

I think he has a real chance to crack the roster next season.  Good to get a look at him during the training camp portion of the season

[Habs Fan in Edmonton]

He certainly deserves a chance. 

[alfredoh2009]

<sarcastic on>

another smallish 4th liner is what the Dr. ordered

</sarcastic off>

 

It is a great story, would focus lots of media attention on him during the fall training camp.

 

but to be honest, we already have lots of bottom-6 players and the Hugh-Gort plan is to improve the Habs for years to come.

 

I am not so sure he makes the roster, even if he outplays other bottom-6 Fs, I doubt Hugh-Gort repeats Bergevin's recipe

 

but I do wish RHP all the success in the world

 

[DON]

24 minutes ago, alfredoh2009 said:

...but to be honest, we already have lots of bottom-6 players and the Hugh-Gort plan is to improve the Habs for years to come.

 

I am not so sure he makes the roster, even if he outplays other bottom-6 Fs, I doubt Hugh-Gort repeats Bergevin's recipe

 

So you want more skilled and expensive checkers on a rebuilding team?

I dont get what they should do? If arnt a skilled offensive player with top six upside, too bad so sorry?

[Habs Fan in Edmonton]

26 minutes ago, alfredoh2009 said:

 

but to be honest, we already have lots of bottom-6 players

 

 

 

That is true, but if he outplays some of the other bottom 6 players and is cheaper then he will get a lot of consideration. 

[tomh009]

56 minutes ago, Habs Fan in Edmonton said:

That is true, but if he outplays some of the other bottom 6 players and is cheaper then he will get a lot of consideration. 

I'm hoping he might be more skilled and more disciplined than Pezzetta. Or is that too much to expect?

[Habs Fan in Edmonton]

26 minutes ago, tomh009 said:

I'm hoping he might be more skilled and more disciplined than Pezzetta. Or is that too much to expect?

 

More disciplined than Pezetta?  Is that possible?   

[alfredoh2009]

Ok, let's count them:

* R. Pitlick, Poehling, Evans, Armia, Byron are bottom-6, that's 5.

* Drouin is not a bottom-6 player and between Drouin, Hoffman and Gallagher one slides. That makes it 6

 

I do not think more than one makes it back out of the remaining RFA/UFAs; between Dauphin, T.Pitlick, Pezzetta at most one makes it back. RHP will still be Waivers exempt next season.

 

If Hugh-Gort trades an underperforming & expensive  forward this summer, there may be a place for RHP in the lineup, but it is not a given. Not as obvious as some claim; especially with Ylonen being waivers eligible

 

 

Edited April 21, 2022 by alfredoh2009
added Ylonen

[dlbalr]

7 hours ago, alfredoh2009 said:

If Hugh-Gort trades an underperforming & expensive  forward this summer, there may be a place for RHP in the lineup, but it is not a given. Not as obvious as some claim; especially with Ylonen being waivers eligible

 

Ylonen is still waiver-exempt to start next season.  23-24 is when he'll become eligible (or until he plays in another 57 NHL games).

[alfredoh2009]

33 minutes ago, dlbalr said:

 

Ylonen is still waiver-exempt to start next season.  23-24 is when he'll become eligible (or until he plays in another 57 NHL games).

 

thanks.

 

that puts Ylonen and Lavalagher competing for 13th forward. Not the best for development

[The Chicoutimi Cucumber]

Ideally, a team would rotate out expensive guys like Armia and Byron and insert guys like Ylonen, Pitlick, Poehling, and RHP. That’s how it’s supposed to work in a cap system.

 

HughGort knows this, but the question is whether those contracts are moveable. Byron surely isn’t. 

[Habs Fan in Edmonton]

8 hours ago, alfredoh2009 said:

Ok, let's count them:

* R. Pitlick, Poehling, Evans, Armia, Byron are bottom-6, that's 5.

* Drouin is not a bottom-6 player and between Drouin, Hoffman and Gallagher one slides. That makes it 6

 

I do not think more than one makes it back out of the remaining RFA/UFAs; between Dauphin, T.Pitlick, Pezzetta at most one makes it back. RHP will still be Waivers exempt next season.

 

If Hugh-Gort trades an underperforming & expensive  forward this summer, there may be a place for RHP in the lineup, but it is not a given. Not as obvious as some claim; especially with Ylonen being waivers eligible

 

 

 

I don't think anyone is claiming that it is obvious or a given that RHP will be here next year,  only that he has a chance.  

 

I agree that of the group,  T Pitlick, Dauphin & Pezetta, only 1 at most will be here next year, maybe none of that group. 

[Habs Fan in Edmonton]

1 minute ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

Ideally, a team would rotate out expensive guys like Armia and Byron and insert guys like Ylonen, Pitlick, Poehling, and RHP. That’s how it’s supposed to work in a cap system.

 

HughGort knows this, but the question is whether those contracts are moveable. Byron surely isn’t. 

 

Agreed.  I think Byron will likely be moved at the deadline next year for maybe a middling pick as he can be useful to a contender and there won't be much of his salary left especially if the Habs retain 50%. 

[The Chicoutimi Cucumber]

3 minutes ago, Habs Fan in Edmonton said:

 

Agreed.  I think Byron will likely be moved at the deadline next year for maybe a middling pick as he can be useful to a contender and there won't be much of his salary left especially if the Habs retain 50%. 

 

There’s always the option of burying those contracts in the minors. I forget the rules on that - you can only bury a certain number of guys, but I don’t recall the limit. Maybe Byron or Armia aren’t the ones to use that resource on, or maybe we want to save it for future moves, I’m not sure.

 

I actually see Armia as more attractive to the average NHL GM than Byron, who can still play, but is so injury-prone that he hardly counts as a meaningful asset at this point. Armia is big and strong, I can see him having some appeal as a deadline acquisition to a contender looking to solidify its bottom-6.

[Habs Fan in Edmonton]

20 minutes ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

 

There’s always the option of burying those contracts in the minors. I forget the rules on that - you can only bury a certain number of guys, but I don’t recall the limit. Maybe Byron or Armia aren’t the ones to use that resource on, or maybe we want to save it for future moves, I’m not sure.

 

I actually see Armia as more attractive to the average NHL GM than Byron, who can still play, but is so injury-prone that he hardly counts as a meaningful asset at this point. Armia is big and strong, I can see him having some appeal as a deadline acquisition to a contender looking to solidify its bottom-6.

 

I think Armia would definitely be more attractive to the average GM as a deadline acquisition except for his contract remaining, that is the issue with moving Armia. 

[alfredoh2009]

no disrespect to Harvey-Pinard, but I am more interested on the future core players: a talented top-6-F, an elite top-pair-D and a solid #1-G

 

that is why I think next year Habs will tank, trade away expiring contracts and draft high: Drouin, Allen, Byron. Maybe also R.Pitlick if he signs for one year

 

[Commandant]

Why are we assuming that all of those players will be back, not one will be traded, and that even if they are all back, none of our forwards (top 6 or bottom 6) will be injured?

 

I think we'd have learned by now that this isn't very likely. 

[The Chicoutimi Cucumber]

It's quite true that top-6/top-4 guys will be the key to the rebuild - and also that fans have tended to pour way too much energy into guys like Mete over the years. Still, bottom-6ers and bottom-pairing d-men are not irrelevant to team success by any means (remember the old adage that a team is only as strong as its weakest link). So as fans we should still take some interest in what the organization has to offer in terms of bottom-half roster prospects. 

 

Regarding RHP specifically, I remember when David Desharnais was ripping it up in the AHL and being universally dismissed as too small and slow to become an NHLer. While he was no Mario Lemieux, he did give us some useful service for a few years. So you never know.

[dlbalr]

2 hours ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

There’s always the option of burying those contracts in the minors. I forget the rules on that - you can only bury a certain number of guys, but I don’t recall the limit. Maybe Byron or Armia aren’t the ones to use that resource on, or maybe we want to save it for future moves, I’m not sure.

 

There's no limit to the number of buried players but the cap savings are limited to $375,000 plus whatever the minimum salary is at the time.  That would limit the cap savings to $1.125M for each but of course, that would be reduced by whoever is taking their place on the roster.

[tomh009]

31 minutes ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

It's quite true that top-6/top-4 guys will be the key to the rebuild - and also that fans have tended to pour way too much energy into guys like Mete over the years. Still, bottom-6ers and bottom-pairing d-men are not irrelevant to team success by any means (remember the old adage that a team is only as strong as its weakest link). So as fans we should still take some interest in what the organization has to offer in terms of bottom-half roster prospects.

And there is real value in being able to roll four strong lines -- basically we made it to the final a year ago with four solid bottom-9 lines.

[alfredoh2009]

2 minutes ago, tomh009 said:

And there is real value in being able to roll four strong lines -- basically we made it to the final a year ago with four solid bottom-9 lines.

 

last year's recipe has been trashed by many on this forum and in the media.

 

I believe that most are looking up to Hugh-Gort's plan to "transform the organization" (rephrasing, my understanding): to become a cup contender for multiple years.

 

I think it has been hinted that the new recipe requires elite talent and a solid core.

 

It does not preclude rolling 4 lines and having talent through the lineup, but I believe the short term focus in on drafting  or trading-for elite talent

[tomh009]

14 minutes ago, alfredoh2009 said:

I think it has been hinted that the new recipe requires elite talent and a solid core.

It does not preclude rolling 4 lines and having talent through the lineup, but I believe the short term focus in on drafting  or trading-for elite talent

I won't argue with these. But having the right players in the bottom six is significant, too. In our last five games, five out of seven goals have been scored by the bottom two lines. You need to have some capability on those lines, too, for when your elite players go cold (and everyone goes cold from time to time).

 

So, I'm still interested in how well RHP does. 🙂