Let's get realistic here...

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Created by: Durnin67

Team: 2018-19 Montreal Canadiens

Initial Creation Date: Jun. 28, 2018

Published: Jun. 28, 2018

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

Description

Let's be honest with ourselves, big name free agents are neither signing here nor the answer for this team. Overpaying for stop gap solutions that will eventually be in the way of younger prospects only serves to set this organization back further. Grab some cheap, young players looking to rebuild their reputation and see what happens, there's no risk as the talent that will turn this team around is a couple years away, no point anchoring the team down with free agent dead weight.

Line up Duclair with Domi and see if they can rekindle past chemistry.
Give Yakupov what might be his last chance to prove he can be a NHLer.
So long as these guys come in less than 2 million per year the amount doesn't really matter. One year "show me" deals that Bergevin seems to love.

Being back Pleky to get his thousandth game in the league with the team he spent his whole career with, again keep the AAV low and term short, this doesn't hurt having him on the 3rd/4th line as a mentor/ feel good story/ actual reason to watch.

If they can manage to bring in Hickey or maybe even De Haan on a decent deal for 3-5 years that gives Weber a decent partner while Mete loss more minutes and then can slide back up to first pairing when he's a little more seasoned. And Hickey/De Haan can slide down nicely into a second pairing role in a season or 2 at a digestible number. This may be more wishful thinking than anything but the left side needs some patching even in a rebuild/ long term view.

Ship out some of the spare parts on defense for whatever picks you can load up with for next years draft.

Keep working the phones on Patches and if a sensible deal comes up pull the trigger for a good centre or defensive prospect and a pick. Again no sense trying to patch wholes by making more. Be patient, having Patches here when Kotkaniemi/Poehling/Evans are ready IS NOT A BAD THING.

Anyway this is what I think is realistic/prudent to get this team on track in the next few years. Let the younger kids play and see what we have here. Maybe the free agent gambles turn into something of value for either the Habs or on the trade market.

Free Agent Signings

RFA		YEARS	CAP HIT
Duclair, Anthony		1	$1,500,000

UFA	YEARS	CAP HIT
Yakupov, Nail	1	$1,000,000
Plekanec, Tomas	1	$1,500,000
Hickey, Thomas	4	$3,500,000

Draft	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Round 7
2019
2020
2021

ROSTER

LONG-TERM OUTLOOK

EMBED

TEXT-EMBED

ROSTER SIZE	SALARY CAP	CAP HIT	OVERAGES	BONUSES	CAP SPACE
25	$79,500,000	$67,937,975	$0	$782,500	$11,562,025

Left Wing	Centre	Right Wing
Pacioretty, Max $4,050,000$4,050,000 LW UFA - 1	Drouin, Jonathan $5,500,000$5,500,000 LW, RW UFA - 5	Gallagher, Brendan $3,750,000$3,750,000 RW, LW UFA - 3
Duclair, Anthony $1,500,000$1,500,000 LW, RW UFA - 1	Domi, Max $3,150,000$3,150,000 C, RW UFA - 2	Scherbak, Nikita $863,333$863,333 ($175,000$175K) LW, RW UFA - 1
Hudon, Charles $650,000$650,000 C, LW, RW UFA - 1	Shaw, Andrew $3,900,000$3,900,000 C, RW UFA - 4	Lehkonen, Artturi $839,166$839,166 LW, RW UFA - 1
Byron, Paul $1,166,667$1,166,667 LW, RW UFA - 1	Plekanec, Tomas $1,500,000$1,500,000 C UFA - 1	Yakupov, Nail $1,000,000$1,000,000 RW, LW UFA
Deslauriers, Nicolas $950,000$950,000 LW, RW UFA - 2	Froese, Byron $650,000$650,000 C UFA - 1

Left Defense	Right Defense	Goaltender
Hickey, Thomas $3,500,000$3,500,000 LD UFA - 4	Weber, Shea $7,857,143$7,857,143 RD UFA - 8	Price, Carey $10,500,000$10,500,000 G NMC UFA - 8
Mete, Victor $748,333$748,333 ($182,500$182K) LD/RD UFA - 2	Petry, Jeff $5,500,000$5,500,000 RD M-NTC, NMC UFA - 3	Niemi, Antti $950,000$950,000 G UFA - 1
Alzner, Karl $4,625,000$4,625,000 LD M-NTC UFA - 4	Juulsen, Noah $863,333$863,333 ($425,000$425K) RD UFA - 2
Reilly, Mike $725,000$725,000 LD UFA - 1	Benn, Jordie $1,100,000$1,100,000 LD/RD UFA - 1
Schlemko, David $2,100,000$2,100,000 LD UFA - 2

Jun. 28, 2018 at 1:41 a.m.

ericdufour

Joined: Jan. 2018

Posts: 80

Likes: 17

Agree mtl is far from the top team and the cup, prefer to see a rebuild of 3 bad season than a replay of the last 3 seasons

Jun. 28, 2018 at 3:26 a.m.

The_Ultimate_Pielord

I put math in hockey

Joined: Jun. 2018

Posts: 624

Likes: 167

I don't think MTL is that far from contention. Realistically, we're a 1C and a 1LD away. Find someone ready to move these pieces (probably EDM) and we're good. Even waiting a year and grabbing Brassard could work. Klefbom's a great answer at 1LD. With guys like Max Domi, Shea Weber and 20-goal scorer Paul Byron, we have some pieces to move, especially with the rights to Danault. Middle-six Cs are a dime a dozen this year. We've got the excellent Jeff Petry on D, a couple solid top line wingers in Patches and Gallagher, and some excellent young wingers in Lehkonen and Hudon. We were 1 trade and better usage away from contending at the start of the offseason, and we're still only a couple big moves away IMO. We don't need to waste Gallagher's prime in a rebuild.

Jun. 28, 2018 at 3:43 a.m.

Durnin67

Thread Starter

Joined: Jun. 2017

Posts: 4

Likes: 0

@The_Ultimate_Pielord▾

That's kind of the problem, being a couple big moves away and really only having Patches as a big trade chip. Everyone else either doesn't have the value to bring back what they need to plug the holes or would create new holes. And frankly Max is not going to fetch a 1C and a top LD.

I'm not really talking full blown rebuild, more just looking at a transition year so to speak where by the start of the 2019-2020 season the roster looks something like:

Patches-Kotkaniemi-Drouin
Domi-Poehling-Gallagher
Lehkonen-Danault-Scherbak
Hudon-Evans-Shaw

Weber-Mete
Petry-Hickey
Juulsen-Alzner

Price
Lindgren

I mean obviously there would be a bit of movement in the bottom 6 fwds and 3rd pairing. That's just the roster I could see them looking at going into next off season. Personally I think it's at least a solid frame work given who they currently have/the moves I made here. And who knows if Duclair or Yak can find some of the potential they were suspected to have when drafted this roster only gets stronger. I'd be happier going this route than trying to fill needs via free agency or having Bergevin get fleeced on desperation deals to try to plug holes

Jun. 28, 2018 at 3:52 a.m.

The_Ultimate_Pielord

I put math in hockey

Joined: Jun. 2018

Posts: 624

Likes: 167

Quoting: Durnin67

Here's the thing: based on how EDM seems to be valuing Klefbom (very solid 1LD) Weber would fetch him + more. If we add a credible option as wingman to McD/Drai and another young winger (we easily can with Domi + pick a young winger, I personally prefer Scherbak as our offer), we could probably get Klefbom + RNH (cap manouvering may be necessary). Done. Betting on Kotkaniemi and Poehling to be NHL-ready in their draft+1 season and draft + 2 season respectively is really dicey, especially if they're to be our top two centres. Kotkaniemi's a 0.5 PPG guy in Finland, while Poehling's under a PPG in college. Realistically, they're each at least two years away from those roles. Given that Patches is 29, Petry's 30 and Weber's 32, those 2 years matter a LOT.

Jun. 28, 2018 at 8:24 a.m.

The_Architect

Joined: Jun. 2016

Posts: 2,999

Likes: 294

Ruilbuild means that Price, Weber, Pacioretty, Gallagher need to be traded

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