Montreal Canadiens

[Axeman33]

I'm not sure how much Ducharme brings but time will tell. He hangs his hat on winning the Mem Cup with a stacked Mooseheads team and he bolted town after all his key guys graduated. You or I probably could have coached that team to the Cup win.

[ericdaoust]

Some thoughts on Niemi signing:
1) Zero risk. If he's not fit for the job just waive/demote him and call up Lindgren. Depth in goal makes so much sense. Behind Lindgren is who? Fucale? McNiven? Yikes!
2) 950k is no accident, any player paid 950k or less goes to the minors without cap penalty. The team is protected.
3) He fit well in Montreal. Intangibles really matter with goalies and he clicked in this environment somehow. It worked so why not try it again?
4) Lindgren can still win the backup job. As mentioned, goalies clear waivers all the time and Niemi isn't a golden boy by any means. The only time a goalie gets claimed is when there's a major injury that needs immediate attention.
5) That said Lindgren still has (I believe) 43 NHL games left before he is no longer exempt from waivers. So he can go down without risk.

[evans334]

Habs reportedly signed two defense men.
No official details from the team yet.

https://www.habseyesontheprize.com/l...oda-plzen-habs

Moravč?k is 23 years old and is a left-handed defenceman. He is 6’4, 212 and had five goals and 11 assists in 52 games. He added three goals and four assists in 10 playoff games and had a goal and two assists in eight games at the World Championships. He has played 189 career games in the Czech Extraliga (11G-28A-39P) at the senior level.

Sklenička is only 21 years old, and despite his age has already played 148 games in the Extraliga (10G-21A-31P). He is also a left-handed shot and is 5’11, 181. He had three goals and 11 assists in 49 games this season. He added a goal and an assist in 10 playoff games. He had two assists in eight games at the World Championships.

[ericdaoust]

Anyone know anything about them? I don't know anything, however they seem to be among the lesser-rated undrafted free agent signings. Better players have signed elsewhere.

[evans334]

Anyone know anything about them? I don't know anything, however they seem to be among the lesser-rated undrafted free agent signings. Better players have signed elsewhere.

https://www.habseyesontheprize.com/a...deo-highlights

[ericdaoust]

Yeah it's basically what I was thinking. Two depth dmen, not the cream of the crop when it comes to undrafted free agent signings.

[fungchen3]

Meh, limited risk signings. If one pans out to be a decent player, it was worth it.

[ericdaoust]

Habs re-sign Rinat Valiev to one-year contract.

[evans334]

Because I'm bored at work I'm going to be an arm-chair GM.

Let's say cap goes to 80$, that leaves us 18$ million in cap space.

Forget the JT dream and Kovalchuk rumors and we just sign the top available centers and for arguments sake we re-sign them at the amount of their previous contracts.

We sign:
Paul Stastny 7$
Tyler Bozak 4.2$
So approx 11.2 million.

Forwards rounds out something like this?

Pacioretty - Stastny - Gallagher
Galchenyuk - Bozak - Drouin
Lehkonen - Danault - Shaw
Hudon - JDLR - Byron
------
Scherbak - Froese - Deslaurier

We've got 6 million left in cap space to round our d-core to replace or add to something like this?

Mete - Weber
Rielly - Petry
Alzner - Julssen
------
Schlemko

Sign one of maybe Emelin or Hickey?

Depending on the length of the contracts that doesn't seem so bad for forwards, but the D is still suspect.

[ericdaoust]

No Emelin. Last thing this team needs is another clumsy dman who can't move the puck. Hickey would be alright though.

[lucafen4]

Because I'm bored at work I'm going to be an arm-chair GM.

Let's say cap goes to 80$, that leaves us 18$ million in cap space.

Forget the JT dream and Kovalchuk rumors and we just sign the top available centers and for arguments sake we re-sign them at the amount of their previous contracts.

We sign:
Paul Stastny 7$
Tyler Bozak 4.2$
So approx 11.2 million.

Forwards rounds out something like this?

Pacioretty - Stastny - Gallagher
Galchenyuk - Bozak - Drouin
Lehkonen - Danault - Shaw
Hudon - JDLR - Byron
------
Scherbak - Froese - Deslaurier

We've got 6 million left in cap space to round our d-core to replace or add to something like this?

Mete - Weber
Rielly - Petry
Alzner - Julssen
------
Schlemko

Sign one of maybe Emelin or Hickey?

Depending on the length of the contracts that doesn't seem so bad for forwards, but the D is still suspect.

When JT falls through, I can fully see them going after Statsny - good fit too IMO & he'll want to A. get paid, B. be a #1C... I don't see Pleks listed & both sides have said they want a reunion - game 1 is game 1000 of his career - he'll be a Hab for it.

just to clarify - it's Mike Reilly - not to be confused with Morgan Rielly

[evans334]

If we sign Pleks for anything more than 950K than I want nothing to do with it.

He is a shadow of his former self and it's time to look for another solution.

[ericdaoust]

Personally I'd rather give a chance to Danault and de la Rose in the 3/4 roles. So there is no place for Plekanec on this team. Although the GM might sign him anyway and bury de la Rose in the press box just because.

[rufio.85]

With his strong playoff, I really fear a Stastny signing...
It'll probably too long and too expensive for what he can really bring, which is not a true #1 center pedigree.
I agree with giving Danault a real chance to seize the #2 centre position.
It's not an ideal solution, but he plays a responsible game and he meshes well with a shooter like Pacioretty - he could conceivably do a good job with Lehkonen for instance.

[Thunder]

Stastny makes total sense IMO. Not the legit 1C we're all hoping for, but beggars can't be choosers.

As for Pleakanec, Zadina was quoted in La Presse saying he'd love to have him as a mentor. He's played that role with Lehkonen, and he could definitely play it with a fellow countryman.

Re-signing him is definitely not indispensable, but I'd be okay with it.