If you are saying rebuilding, keep going. I would also move Alzner, Petry and Schlemko.

keep alzner or petry without 1 there you'll stunt the youths development like Beaulieu and Tinordi all over

Ugh! Petry is good on Offence but terrible in d zone coverage and Alzner is playing like a 5 d-man but getting paid like a top four. I hear what you are saying, I would prefer to go get a veteran D, like John Carlson (pricey I know), Calvin DeHaan or Jan Rutta. If you want a strong 6 d-man I would go get Andrew Nielsen with the Marlies. He plays nasty, does PK, clears front of net, has size and is much cheaper.

Alzner for all his blunders and **** ups its usually relateted to being forced to play with such an offensive partner.Alzner is the shut down D pairing guy he was in WSH and if we use him like this and on a PK Unit as a leader its likely he'll succeed without petry as jeff alone is a -11 on PP as the only D on points in 102/125 minutes spent like that. Petry is over worked tho in his defense
while Alzer lead PK Alzner-Benn and Alzner-Weber has been their best when they are able to each play their own special teams game apart.
which is why i would have had Petry and Him split up and mentor a youth while they can have the ice time . Mete-Petry and Alzner-Jerabek .

my point is simple both have value but only Alzner fills a role that hasnt been since we were last contenders in 2014 and had a top 10 shot blocker in the NHL to bail price out.
Alzner sucks with the puck but without it he's got a solid game for 2nd pair which is which i suggested moving out the easier of the two contracts to move knowing there is 3 replacements for Petry in the top 10 of this years draft alone so getting Mete-Weber , Alzner-Boqvist, Benn-Jerabek for next years starters gives us mentors , respectable shot blockers ,speed,goal scoring and special team guys (Alzner -Benn PK Specialists ,Mete and Boqvist likely PP regulars ,Weber and Jerabek likely to play both .)

I can see your logic and train of thought. Not sure I would put Mete with Petry. I am not a Petry fan. Yes he skates well but a d-man needs to be solid in his own end as well. If Habs get Boqvist, can he play right away next year? It is funny you posted this because I was just looking at all the UFA D-men for next season. Everybody is going to go after Carlson and Green. They will overpay. But underneath those guys, there are five d-men worth pusruing if you can move out Petry and save the 5.5 cap or reallocate it the contract to go get 1 or 2 d-men required.

Boqvist like Dahlin has been playing in the SHL they are the same age but Dahlins rookie SHL year was last year , Boqvist's rookie year is this year .


Dahlin is said to be the best Swedens ever produced compared to Nik Lidstom a great all around D,will put up respectable offense but not and Offensive D but a playmaker similar Lidstrom
Boqvist is called a Erik Karlsson clone as he travels a similar path,similar skill set and like Erik his defensive game is where he needs the most improvement this could mean another year over sea's

Boqvist like Karlsson is still growing and is a great investment we can bring up 9 games if he thrive's we keep him if not give him a year in the SHL
i mean if we get Dahlin sweet but Boqvist is a beauty of a Consolation Prize who will have people got PK who ?

Petry to me is the guy you move either way there is value there with Alzner he could steady 2nd line as long as we dont play him over 19-20m and keep him
from play the puck to much then he's really pretty solid . really i'm kind of good with Alzner and Weber being our remaining D leaders move out the petry's ,benn's ,schlemko's
and let Mete,Jerabek ,Juulsen and Morrow step up .Juulsen is projected to be an Alzner type 2nd pair D so that is a good mentor for him plus Mete and Jerabek can learn a lot from Weber.

i want us to shed our old layer and build around the youth with Gallagher being the old guy on forward , Alzner and Weber on D and Price in Net
build around Chucky,Drouin,Shaw ,Mete,Juulsen,Lehkonen,Hudon and who we draft this year top 10 (hopefully) while keeping 4th line in tact to give the new
guys 3rd line minutes coming in like CJ did in BOS for years with Thorton-Kelly -Campbell on bottom causing havok taking eyes of the rookies .

to me you sell the rest for whatever you can because with Jake Evans ,Nikita Scherback and and Joonas Naatinen all having their best years in their Development
all needing a contract next year and 2 Right handed Right Wings and 1 Left Handed Left Wing . Bitten and Pazzetta are having great years in their final Junior Campaign and
will be playing in AHL next year. Ryan Poehling as a Rookie NCAA center went 21 pts in 22 games and is looking sharp plus Hawkey and Primeau thrived in net at the NCAA level
to the point MTL has to move out a Lindgren ,Fucale or a Mcniven because Hawkey and Primeau look better then any of them with Hawkey having a consistency you rarely see at all levels and in his 3rd year NCAA
where as Primeau has just had an outstanding rookie campaign .

if we dont start moving out the dead wood then we risk losing some of these pieces in the future especially Jake Evan who can just go UFA Aug.1 if he doesnt feel MTL is going to give him the oppourtunity to play like Vesey did to NSH.

this way if we sell now and build around or current youth they'll be there in 2-3 years to mentor the Poehlings ,Bittens ,Kobersteins (starting to look good ),Fleury's,Vejdemo,Brook and all these young guys and the new guys we draft coming up. Shaw and Gallagher on offense as leaders i actually love they are all heart ,Gally motivates top , Shaw breaks in new guys on third like always its win win

Lots to chew on. Again I see your logic and lay out on paper. In net, McNiven, Lindgren and Fucale to a lesser extent all looked amazing. So why have they struggled at the pro level? I am not a fan of the current head coach in Laval. When the team was in Hamilton, I had 3 of their players as clients and I also knew the assistant coach since 1987. He is not a good communicator and he is developing the younger players in MTL`s system. Now compare that coach to Pascal Vincent, that is coaching another AHL team. He is in 1st place and his players enjoy playing for him. I have known Pascal since 1998 and he teaches the game. Look at the Stats of Buddy Robinson, another one of my clients that stayed in my house as I worked with him. He drove up from the States in the off season and we did some work together. He is doing really well under Pascal. So I strongly believe a teacher/communicator type coach is needed at the AHL level.

Larry Carriere was hired 6 months before Marc Bergavin as a direct hire by Molson
he's destroyed our system and the man responsible for Sylvain Lefebvre having a job .
if we removed Molson or atleast let MB dump the worst assistant coach in the NHL i think we'd improve


Eric Crawford has been groomed by Trevor Timmons and since his first full draft here in 2015 has picked us solid depth.
Trevor has been promoted all the way to #3 under Larry Carriere and its only a matter of time be Timmons takes over the AHL
given he and Crawford have similar visions this only means great things for our AHL for the first time in 8 years.

when Molson fired Boivin and made himself the only owner who is President and CEO i knew we were screwed

How much is Molson involved in decision making? I have no idea. What is said to the media and what is said behind closed doors are often two different stories. I lived it and saw it. I just think it is imperative we have a good communicator and teacher at the AHL level. But let`s replay this season with both Radu and Markov in the line up. Both are puck possessors and puck movers. They would have helped. So as frustrating as the season has been, it can be fixed in two short years with proper UFA`s and draft picks. The issue is will Bergevin and his team be up to it. That is the real question and based on the comments on here, many do not have that confidence.

Radulov yes , Markov no he's looked so old in the KHL to the point team Russia's OAR officials put him on the back up list only if the first 40 names submitted failed.
but then again had we kept Radulov we still wouldnt be a playoff team and we'd have another later round pick because we limped in trying to be one .

i'm so pumped about this years draft everyone in the top 5 is legit , some might even argue the top 10 but past the top 5 consensus breaks down and some people 15th picks is others 7th for example .
Dahlin,Svechnikov ,Zadina,Tkchuck and Boqvist are all legit with a LD,RW,LW,C/L and RD this means who goes top 3 is hard to say until the draft lottery positioning is known as a team with no LD might want Dahlin 1st like BUF but a team with 2 quality LD might want Zadina a goal scoring winger first in ARZ or OTT in need of a high impact forward might take Tkchuck hoping he's half the spark plug his brother is for CGY

the issue becomes all 5 stepped up for world Juniors , all 5 player well but it really depends on what that team needs.
you got physical goal scoring winger , Goal scoring wingers with elite hands and skating ability ,an Offensive goal scoring RD,a Defensive playmaking LD and a Big Power Forward RW with hands

Bergavin will move patches at the draft i think and use the pieces he lands to draft well and invest in the youth
if nothing else MB getting fired only if everyone top to bottom goes to because the longer Larry Carriere is there the more 1st round busts we'll have.

just boycott molson they forced the sale in 2003 after a few seasons of it

Rutta is not a vet. That being said I love this guy and would like to see him in the habs lineup. Offensively minded RHD is exactly what the habs need.

As good as the top 5 are no one will pass on Dahlin regardless of not needing LHD he is a cut above the rest. It's top 1 and then the other 4. I am ok with MTL not getting Dahlin if they can get Boqvist, all the offence of Dahlin but needs d zone development as stated above like karlsson. I live in Ottawa and Dahlin is the only thing they talk about like he is the only one available in the draft. Wingers can be gotten easy

everyone said that about Hirscher to and i won 50$ laughing in my friends face saying '' if NJD targeted Chucky so aggressive there is ZERO chance they pass on Nico ''
right now i am outright saying if ARZ needs a goal scoring Winger who is the undisputed best goal scorer in this Draft . they'll take Zadina

its about the teams needs , the draft's who point is to give the top pick the choice among the best not to say we've ranked Dahln #1 unanimously he's yours either way .
its just illogical

what the fans say matters little to me its what the professionals say i put stock in
every year people in MTL put their weight behind Chykrn and get pissed when we get Sergachev.(only to claim they loved Sergy all along after he's traded)
our fans are ******** i cant imagine in being any better in OTT

Zadina's scouting report says it all , he's an all around goal scorer and a force for team czech like they've not had since the early days or Jagr and i'm saying if ARZ get 1st they either trade down
or if they cant Zadina's going home with them to play with Domi-Fischer

I know. I would love to build this team LOL

My bad its not fans i am talking about its pierre maguire, pierre lebrun,craig button, and darren dreger when they are on the Ottawa area media. Your right fans can say wahtever they want. I remember when they took price people wanted gilbert brule or jack skille we must rely on the people who know, as a montreal fan it tends to be rough drafting over the years that causes faith to waiver. I see what your saying about the fans but you are also not talking about, not taking a clear best in draft player because of a perceived need. If they wanted a top end winger they could flip Dahlin or the pick to get an established 2-4th year player and picks. Its extremely hard for a winger to make the same impact a #1 d does. Look how many top wingers are on the trade block and they are not bums. Look how many number top d are on the block.

generational d prospects are not common and to not take the best player in the draft by a distance that is a d prospect seems insane. It would be like saying tampa should not have taken stamkos because they had good centers in the system already with lecavalier and richards neither near the twilight of their careers and needed another winger for them to play with and should have taken filatov or a d prospect doughty (doughty is amazing) but the diffrence in the two players was so great that it made no sense to do it. Even you as a fan a saying Zedina when he isn't even the top ranked winger by any scouting body of profesionals. Svechnikov is an elite level scoring winger 1g per game (better than zedina at 0.81 in an easier to score legue) so why Zedina? Both players fit the need but Svechnikov plays in the harder OHL vs QMJHL has NHL pedigree is bigger and stronger and arguably faster also part way through 2017 was considered to be a toss up for number 1 pick overall people will point to his under utilization in the wjhc but he is the better choice between the two even a the same position their scouting reports alone read like they are similar players. I like Zedina, best Czech since Jagr (not Jagr) but objectively speaking i would not take him over Svechnikov and definately not over dahlin. I hope the habs go after Boqvist (RHD) or Tkachuck (Wing but plays center) myself as a fan and based on their needs but if dahlin is available hope they take him. Drafts over the years a littered with best player available picks over needs and you hear GMs say it so what asked who they are drafting during the draft. Zedina is not the clear undisputed top scoring winger in the draft. You make your choice based on your assimilation of all the scouting reports/ things said about him as a fan not everyone will assimilate the information the same way as you can see above. I have also spent time watching both players to come to my conclusion in addition to the second hand knowledge that sent our way.



Its not due to rank its due to the level he plays at and is clearly better than everyone in the draft hands down no matter the position. tkachuck is a winger that also plays center and even on the wing takes more face offs than his centers do, Boqvist is a rhd both are in the top 5 should montreal take one of those two over dahlin? They are the needs of the team a RHD and a center. The answer is no.

I'm sorry i don't understand this part. Hircher was a coin flip #1-#2 with Patrick and wen't number 1 to the devils and they didn't pass on him.

As i do not agree with your drafting ideology as we have detailed LOL.
I 100% agree with your assesment here

to me i know its easy to get a LD for top 2
but finding a RD is ******* impossible as there is always 5-10 teams bidding .
you have to find a bust like Schultz in PIT and make it work these days to grab a RD .

so many of those D drafted in the past 7 years are LD
so when the Rare Karlsson like player comes around i take notice .

no one and i mean No One believe PK Subban would be top in the league when i said it in 2010
he cut his penalty minutes in half , became more of an all around playmaker under Gomez and Gonchar(his mentors according to him )
then took the NHL by Storm .

Boqvist is better then i ever thought Subban was and that is saying a lot .


now would i love to have Dahlin? 100% yes i would as unlike Boqvist he's already NHL level where as Boqvist needs a year.
but that doesnt mean if they were both at the same level this wouldn't be a closer call then what it is currently .

to me any top 5 pick makes MTL a winner

if i had to choose i'd put my money on the Offensive D because that is what MTL needs , more offense.
having the Next Lidstrom could be amazing dont get me wrong but having the next Karlsson mentored by Shea Weber is fan frickin tastic

i'd personally trade what i can if i was MTL to land OTT EDM or VAN pick and try for both (the chances of getting both is less then 2/10 but still )
i'd move out Patches and Byron with Lindgren for VAN 1st, Sutter and Dahlen or juolevi (this give VAN what it needs in net and on offense )
or Patches and a top 2nd pick for Ceci and a 1st pick

not saying they'd do those deal specifically but just saying i'd give up some big pieces to get another top 5 pick