My 2 season plan for the Habs

Team: 2020-21 Montreal Canadiens

Initial Creation Date: Aug. 16, 2020

Published: Aug. 16, 2020

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

My goal in this exercise isn't to fix everything in one off-season... that's pretty much impossible. It's identifying what we have, and being realistic about slotting players in the roles they can succeed in. Brendan Gallagher shouldn't be counted on to be a 1RW, but many would consider him a top notch 2RW (just an example).

I'm bringing in Taylor Hall as a 1LW. That puts all our LW's in their proper slot. I don't see any current UFA RWs that I would be willing to throw a lot of money at, so for the time being, I'm slotting Jo Drouin in at 1RW, even though I don't think he's meant for that role. He has potential, so he gets the benefit of getting "one more shot" at proving himself.

There's no room on this team for Max Domi. We are going with the kids down the middle, going to give them every opportunity to shine. That leaves Domi on the outside looking in. He still is an asset that can be used, so in this situation I'm using him to off load Karl Alzner. Surely, there's one team out there who can find Domi attractive enough to take on Alzer and then turn around and buy Alzner out in order to get Max Domi.

This makes the roster pretty much everything I want it to be for now. The two points I'd like to improve on in a trade scenario:
1: Upgrading our 1RW, perhaps using Drouin and a pick and/or prospect
2: Upgrading our LD. Mete can be offloaded with more assets, and make a scenario that puts Kulak as our extra d-man

With the Domi/Alzner move, and the contracts I've signed, I'm left with just under 10M$ of cap space. We could make some very interesting moves at the trade deadline with 10M$ in cap space and the cupboard of assets we've accumulated.