2024-25 Montreal Canadiens discussion thread

[dlbalr]

1 hour ago, Prime Minister Koivu said:

RG media isn’t a reliable source but D’Amico generally is - although he uses RG as a source and has been wrong before. 
 

Still…HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

 

D'Amico is RG Media, that's his main outlet now where his track record has been less than stellar (like every other scoop that site has). 

 

To be fair, this isn't his report specifically (someone else wrote it), it's actually something that Larionov directly said in a press conference.

[Prime Minister Koivu]

50 minutes ago, dlbalr said:

 

D'Amico is RG Media, that's his main outlet now where his track record has been less than stellar (like every other scoop that site has). 

 

To be fair, this isn't his report specifically (someone else wrote it), it's actually something that Larionov directly said in a press conference.

I didn’t know that about D’Amico but that explains RG as often being cited. 
 

Good luck with that Mr. Larionov

[tomh009]

2 hours ago, Prime Minister Koivu said:

Peter’s criticisms of HuGo are valid and fair. Although I’m not sure how much foresight they could have had in Dach. Two seasons basically lost to one bad knee is tough to predict and not a fault in judgement per se. 

 

Good article, thanks for posting Don

And you really could not predict Primeau, either. He plays stellar in the AHL, need to have him play NHL games to see whether he can up his game.

 

Hindsight is 20/20 but no one has the benefit of that when making trades or drafting players. For me, the only significant downside was letting go of Kovacevic, but Hughes recovered that nicely by getting Carrier.

[Prime Minister Koivu]

3 minutes ago, tomh009 said:

And you really could not predict Primeau, either. He plays stellar in the AHL, need to have him play NHL games to see whether he can up his game.

 

Hindsight is 20/20 but no one has the benefit of that when making trades or drafting players. For me, the only significant downside was letting go of Kovacevic, but Hughes recovered that nicely by getting Carrier.

Yeah the Kovasevic trade wasn’t good but Hughes was planning to have Reinbacher playing but instead he borked his knee. 
 

Baron trade to us wasn’t good but flipping for Carrier was excellent and Preds fans must be pissed about that one. 
 

I like that HuGo swing for the fences

[Commandant]

Every GM is going to have good moves and bad moves, no one is perfect. 

 

The only way to judge them is the overall body of work, and its clear that the prospect pool is stacked, there is a ton of draft capital, they've signed good contracts and the cap is well managed, and the team is ahead of schedule at the NHL level.   Given how bad things were when HuGo took over, this can only be seen as a big success so far.  Yes, there is more work to be done, but their work to date has to get an A or A+ level of grade overall. 

[GHT120]

12 minutes ago, Prime Minister Koivu said:

Yeah the Kovasevic trade wasn’t good but Hughes was planning to have Reinbacher playing but instead he borked his knee. 

 

AND ... he didn't know that the opportunity to trade Barron for Laine would present itself

[tomh009]

1 hour ago, GHT120 said:

AND ... he didn't know that the opportunity to trade Barron for Laine would present itself

And he didn't know that Barron would not turn out as well as his scouting team was telling him he would.

 

Just like the draft, you can't get every move correct.

[hab29RETIRED]

9 hours ago, Prime Minister Koivu said:

Peter’s criticisms of HuGo are valid and fair. Although I’m not sure how much foresight they could have had in Dach. Two seasons basically lost to one bad knee is tough to predict and not a fault in judgement per se. 

 

Good article, thanks for posting Don

Disagree. I would have loved to have Monohan last year - if he wanted to come back as a UFA.  But moving him allowed us to get Hage. The writer did not factor that in the Dach-Monohan decision.

 

frankly, I hate the Dach trade when it was made, mainly because of Dach’s injury history going back to junior and I wanted to draft Nazar. But the start of last year when he was paired with Slafkovsky, for the game and a period he played before he first blowout his knee (I think it was against  Chicago???) , he was dominant, confident and looked like a legit 1B centre. At the start of this season he never regained his form and blow his knee again. You can fault them for the I tail trade to acquire Dach, but can’t fault them for him blowing out his knee on a freak play. You can also fault them for not getting another centre, but to make it sound like a monohon-Dach decision is ludicrous.

 

With respect to Kovacavik vs Baron, Baron had the higher upside, but wouldn’t have had much value if they moved him. they also needed to move someone to make room for Reinbacher. Again, I hated the Reinbacher pick - wanted Michkov or Leonard. Having said that, after they drafted him, and brought him over at the end of the previous year, they probably thought he could start in the NHL. Can’t fault them for Reinbacher getting injured. Kovacavik really didn’t really look like anything more than a bottom pairing dman, so have no issues with moving him to when they probably thought that Ewinbacher and potentially Mailloux was ready.

 

i don’t like every move they’ve made (didn’t like the Newhook deal either),, but they have traded for two young centres and apparently had a deal in place to bring in Zegras until Demidov fell to them. We don’t hear the crap that you can’t trade for a centre like we heard from the previous regimes, it attempts to convert wingers to centres.

 

Having said that, this year the rubber hits the road. They can’t risk going into the year with Newhook/Dach pencilled into the 2C role and none of our prospects (Kapanan/Beck), are ready and may not even be ready for the 3C role. Hage needs at least another year in college and may need time in the AHL after that. So, They need to get a legit 2C this summer. They exceeded all expectations l had last year, this is the year that matters, and. We will see if they can deliver now that there are going to be expectations.
 

They may take a step back in the standings like all rebuilding teams, but they need to fill the big hole at 2C using all of the draft capital and prospects they have built up. Frankly I’d like an upgrade at RD as well, and not hope Reinbacher will be ready, to for a top 4 role (Carrière in my opinion should be on the third pairing), but filling the 2C role is critical!

 

 

[alfredoh2009]

I don’t do the type of analysis I used to do; but eyeballing it, I agree with 29: HughGort has done more good moves than bad. He probably has an above .500 average but how much better is debatable.

I had fun following the AHL this season, it was a good learning experience to see the inconsistency and to be either too high on prospect when they were hot (Beck, Mailloux, Primeau) or too low when they were cold (Farrell, Engstrom)

 

To me, getting a solid 2C is paramount

[GHT120]

It has been mentioned in the media and online that being away from his family has been tough on MSL ... his son Mason was just drafted by the Sherbrooke Phoenix of the QMJHL.

 

I wonder whether Mason will try to go the "Q" route or stay in the US / and were he to make the Phoenix, would the family move to Montreal to be closer?  Just a thought.

 

 

[DON]

He is least used Hab d-man, will he play smarter and gain bit more confidence of coaches next season?

Canadiens: St-Louis Speaks About Cole Caufield, And Arber Xhekaj

 

"He’s another player who, to me, has come a long way, and he can do way more than fight. You know, people call him the Sheriff in Montreal; he’s very good at that, but there’s a lot of other stuff that he’s good at as well, and as a young defenseman, the most challenging part of the league is defending. You know, defending in short space, reading the rush, and all that. You forget that he’s still very young, and that’s going to keep improving, but he’s got a nice package. Alone without his thoughtfulness, and you know he can fight; take that out of the equation, and he’s still a very young, promising defenseman. If he has to fight, he will, but he’s learned to pick his spots. When he first came in, he felt that he had to do that, but we try to remind him that it’s part of the game, but you’ve got to play the game that’s in front of you as well. He’s learned to pick his spots, and he’s a lot of fun to coach, too.

 

St-Louis speaks about Xhekaj"

[DON]

More Hutson talk

Comparing Canadiens' Lane Hutson Rookie Season to Cale Makar and Quinn Hughes' From An Analytics Standpoint

 

Overall, this exercise demonstrates that Hutson’s rookie season positions him firmly in the same elite rookie tier as Makar and Hughes. His numbers also illustrate the importance Hutson held for the Canadiens, who trusted him in key situations. Even though he was playing in his first complete season, Hutson showed he could already be a top-pairing defenseman.

[Habs Fan in Edmonton]

On 6/15/2025 at 12:16 PM, DON said:

He is least used Hab d-man, will he play smarter and gain bit more confidence of coaches next season?

Canadiens: St-Louis Speaks About Cole Caufield, And Arber Xhekaj

 

"He’s another player who, to me, has come a long way, and he can do way more than fight. You know, people call him the Sheriff in Montreal; he’s very good at that, but there’s a lot of other stuff that he’s good at as well, and as a young defenseman, the most challenging part of the league is defending. You know, defending in short space, reading the rush, and all that. You forget that he’s still very young, and that’s going to keep improving, but he’s got a nice package. Alone without his thoughtfulness, and you know he can fight; take that out of the equation, and he’s still a very young, promising defenseman. If he has to fight, he will, but he’s learned to pick his spots. When he first came in, he felt that he had to do that, but we try to remind him that it’s part of the game, but you’ve got to play the game that’s in front of you as well. He’s learned to pick his spots, and he’s a lot of fun to coach, too.

 

St-Louis speaks about Xhekaj"

 

I like that St. Louis says Arber is fun to coach. Obviously still a work in progress but would hate to give up on him too early. 

[DON]

He is relatively early in career, especially for a d-man.

But, i still see bit of log-jam on left side, decreasing usage still seems  a sign St Louis not real comfortable with his play. And other GMs may value a fan friendly fighting 240lber more than his actual play.

[The Chicoutimi Cucumber]

1 hour ago, DON said:

He is relatively early in career, especially for a d-man.

But, i still see bit of log-jam on left side, decreasing usage still seems  a sign St Louis not real comfortable with his play. And other GMs may value a fan friendly fighting 240lber more than his actual play.

 

Yeah, his game does not seem to be improving much. Xhekaj is at an important juncture in his career with us. He needs to make the jump to being a reliable everyday defenceman. 

[Habs Fan in Edmonton]

3 hours ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

 

Yeah, his game does not seem to be improving much. Xhekaj is at an important juncture in his career with us. He needs to make the jump to being a reliable everyday defenceman. 

 

I think next year is a huge year for Arber, perhaps a make it or break it year for him. 

[tomh009]

6 hours ago, DON said:

He is relatively early in career, especially for a d-man.

But, i still see bit of log-jam on left side, decreasing usage still seems  a sign St Louis not real comfortable with his play. 

Decreasing ice time also reflects (1) the drive for a playoff spot and (2) the arrival of Lane Hutson. Matheson, Hutson, Guhle and Carrier all logged over 20 minutes per game, leaving only about 15 minutes/game for the bottom pair.

[Prime Minister Koivu]

Is it October yet? 
 

Absolutely love how hard Demidov is working. He is going to kill it this season

 

Awesome that Byron is involved as well 

[Prime Minister Koivu]

Hutson is going to be a career Canadien and when he does retire in 20 years or so I bet he joins the coaching staff. 
 

100% hockey 24/7 

[GHT120]

3 hours ago, Prime Minister Koivu said:

Hutson is going to be a career Canadien and when he does retire in 20 years or so I bet he joins the coaching staff. 
 

100% hockey 24/7 

Good chance he might then be the richest coach in NHL history