Montreal Canadiens

[ericdaoust]

Habs were eliminated but I'm still collecting points from Subban in my playoff pool. WTF???

[agentzero]

Assistant coach Clement Jodoin ''quits''. Seems like an odd move:

http://www.rds.ca/hockey/canadiens/l...dien-1.4481750

He was given the option to quit so that he wouldn't be fired. Julien wants to bring his own assistants.. Seen it before. Wish him luck!

[yougo]

If anyone think this team can win a Cup with his core are out of their mind.

Time to rebuild. Trade Price-Weber-Pacioretty. Build around Galchenyuk-Sergachev.

Trading Price could really accelerate the rebuilding process. Weber still has value, you're not gonna get back all the value lost in the Subban trade but GM's still rave about him. I'd keep Pacioretty but when this team is going to be contending he's gonna be 30+, which is usually where goal scorer start to fade.

But the Canadiens GM is Marc Bergevin, so none of this will happen. Habs will make the playoffs next season, be out by Round 2 and we'll be here in a year wondering if the Habs should rebuild by trading Price-Weber-Pacioretty.

[rataylor22]

If anyone think this team can win a Cup with his core are out of their mind.

Time to rebuild. Trade Price-Weber-Pacioretty. Build around Galchenyuk-Sergachev.

Trading Price could really accelerate the rebuilding process. Weber still has value, you're not gonna get back all the value lost in the Subban trade but GM's still rave about him. I'd keep Pacioretty but when this team is going to be contending he's gonna be 30+, which is usually where goal scorer start to fade.

But the Canadiens GM is Marc Bergevin, so none of this will happen. Habs will make the playoffs next season, be out by Round 2 and we'll be here in a year wondering if the Habs should rebuild by trading Price-Weber-Pacioretty.

If that was really their plan, they wouldn't have traded Subban for Weber. They're more likely to trade Galchenyuk and Sergachev.

[agentzero]

If anyone think this team can win a Cup with his core are out of their mind.

Time to rebuild. Trade Price-Weber-Pacioretty. Build around Galchenyuk-Sergachev.

Trading Price could really accelerate the rebuilding process. Weber still has value, you're not gonna get back all the value lost in the Subban trade but GM's still rave about him. I'd keep Pacioretty but when this team is going to be contending he's gonna be 30+, which is usually where goal scorer start to fade.

But the Canadiens GM is Marc Bergevin, so none of this will happen. Habs will make the playoffs next season, be out by Round 2 and we'll be here in a year wondering if the Habs should rebuild by trading Price-Weber-Pacioretty.

I feel like I've been seeing this same story since 1994..........except they traded Roy for a case of gatorade, some stick tape and a half-eaten caramilk bar, with no hint as to how the hell they get the caramel in there...


You can't trade Price (even though I would, since he won't re-up...because as him, I wouldn't). Franchise players like that never get traded, expiring contracts or not. I think I posted it earlier this year but even a perennial all-star like Hossa, on an expiring contract, netted peanuts in comparison to his value, and he is not the impact player that is Price. Those trades never happen or if they used to, don't happen now.

They would need Price through any rebuild. Their goalie pipeline is no good. Fucale is ok but not elite. You have to build from the net out IMO and they can't do that if they trade Price.

The problem is the team over-values its depth players. Gallagher, Shaw, those guys are 2nd and 3rd liners, not 1st and 2nd liners. Danault, Plekanec, Byron, Lekhonen, McCarron, Mitchell, Flynn, Ott and in the system, Carr, De La Rose...... that's all 3rd line or 4th.. Galchenyuk, Radulov and Patches are 1st liners.. but you need two lines like that at least and none of those players are elite. The offense needs some real talent.. impact talent... game-breaking talent, that is not on the wrong side of 26. You need to draft and develop that and the Habs haven't done that since, well, ever. The last superstar forward the Habs drafted and developed, from any round, retired in the 80s. The last impact forward was Koivu... The last very good player was Ribeiro and they ran him out of town quick.

[ericdaoust]

[Bass56]

Realistically, the Habs need Radulov to re-sign AND they need to get someone what a similar level of skill to help them. Depth is an issue but I think it's less important than getting talent to give them the extra edge they need in regards to scoring.

I love Byron, but to count on him in your top-6 during most nights is ridiculous IMO.

Patches, Radulov, Galchenyuk, maybe Gallagher and that's it... That is what you have on your top-6. When you plug in a great 2-way player in Plekanec as your 2nd center and add a hard-working Byron as the other winger on that line, you are bound to have some trouble scoring goals on most nights. Danault was a decent option down the middle too, but again, counting on his skillset as as top center is setting yourself up for failure.

If you find a way to get rid of Plekanec's salary and Markov's as well, you look for a decent 2nd pairing D-man to fill in for the aging Markov (ex: Stone, Del Zotto, Russell, Campbell, heck even Hainsey or Franson) and hope that Sergachev can become your 6th. You use that cap money to land a top FA (or RFA) centre (or even via trade) and you send Galchenyuk on the 2nd line where he belongs.

Your team now looks like this:

Pacioretty - (top C to acquire) - Radulov
Gallagher- Galchenyuk - Lehkonen (if you can get an aging vet at a good price like Sharp, plug him in instead of Lehkonen and drop him to the 4th)
Byron - Danault - Shaw
McCaron - Mitchell - De La Rose (or any other depth/gritty FA's)

(top-4 D i.e. Russell) - Weber
Benn - Petry
Emelin - Sergachev (or Beaulieu/Jerabek)

Price
Lindgren

Anyways, it's easier said than done, I know! But I'm just saying that many experts are saying that the Habs must focus on re-signing Radulov... I'm just saying that that mopve ALONE will be far from enough to get the team to the next level!

[rataylor22]

I want Radulov and Kovalchuk on the same team

I don't care what team.

[Bass56]

I want Radulov and Kovalchuk on the same team

I don't care what team.

Oufffff, that would be dangerous!!! They need a top-C but I'm sure they wouldn't pass on the chance to land a guy like Kovy should the asking price be reasonable.

[yougo]

I feel like I've been seeing this same story since 1994..........except they traded Roy for a case of gatorade, some stick tape and a half-eaten caramilk bar, with no hint as to how the hell they get the caramel in there...


You can't trade Price (even though I would, since he won't re-up...because as him, I wouldn't). Franchise players like that never get traded, expiring contracts or not. I think I posted it earlier this year but even a perennial all-star like Hossa, on an expiring contract, netted peanuts in comparison to his value, and he is not the impact player that is Price. Those trades never happen or if they used to, don't happen now.

They would need Price through any rebuild. Their goalie pipeline is no good. Fucale is ok but not elite. You have to build from the net out IMO and they can't do that if they trade Price.

The problem is the team over-values its depth players. Gallagher, Shaw, those guys are 2nd and 3rd liners, not 1st and 2nd liners. Danault, Plekanec, Byron, Lekhonen, McCarron, Mitchell, Flynn, Ott and in the system, Carr, De La Rose...... that's all 3rd line or 4th.. Galchenyuk, Radulov and Patches are 1st liners.. but you need two lines like that at least and none of those players are elite. The offense needs some real talent.. impact talent... game-breaking talent, that is not on the wrong side of 26. You need to draft and develop that and the Habs haven't done that since, well, ever. The last superstar forward the Habs drafted and developed, from any round, retired in the 80s. The last impact forward was Koivu... The last very good player was Ribeiro and they ran him out of town quick.

How do you expected the Habs to find 2-3 more top6/1st line players ?

They need to trade Price. It's easy to find good/great goaltending(see Dubnyk,Talbot,Jones(See Holtby being drafted in the 4th round)).

[yougo]

In 20 years, we will compare Marc Bergevin to Rejean Houle.

Bergevin was given a Franchise goaltender, Franchise D, a top5 LW , a top3 entry draft pick. He hasn't done anything significant since.

Habs had a problem at center when he came in, and they still do.

Lay off your pink glasses, this team is doomed to be a 1 or 2 round playoff team at best.

[newfcollins]

One of the Habs biggest problems is drafting (or development).

The Habs had a great draft in 2007. Since then, they've had four players that have played any type of meaningful minutes for them: Gallagher, Beaulieu, Galchenyuk and Lehkonen. Two of those guys look to be on their way out of Montreal this summer and the other is a rookie who, despite the rave reviews, only had 28 points in 73 games. The fourth has never cracked 50 points.

It's tough to ice a competitive team with that kind of draft/development record. But aside from that aspect, why would anyone be want to blow this squad up and rebuild when the Habs can't draft/develop guys properly?

[ericdaoust]

But aside from that aspect, why would anyone be want to blow this squad up and rebuild when the Habs can't draft/develop guys properly?

That's what I often tell people when they randomly want their teams to blow it up and start over. Blowing it up is the easy part but teams don't build themselves. It takes more than just high picks to get there. The current management will run into the same issues it currently has on the other side of the rebuild.

[Dennis]

http://www.thespec.com/sports-story/...-that-coming-/

An article from last week's Hamilton Spectator about the Canadiens' farm team degrading upon Bergevin arriving.

[Bass56]

http://www.thespec.com/sports-story/...-that-coming-/

An article from last week's Hamilton Spectator about the Canadiens' farm team degrading upon Bergevin arriving.

You joined over a year ago and ^^ THIS is your first post???

Who ARE you or better yet, who WERE you ??

If this is legitimately your first post on these boards, then by all means please excuse my paranoid nature and WELCOME to the boards Dennis !! Feel free to ask any of the members for anything that you may not be fully familiar with in here.