Changing the Lineup for Next Year

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Created by: corson

Team: 2020-21 Montreal Canadiens

Initial Creation Date: May 20, 2020

Published: May 31, 2020

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

Description

Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is crazy (or something like that). I know we are getting good results from the first line of Tatar-Danault-Gallagher but maybe we could get better all round results from a little line tweeking.
Firstly I signed Domi to a short bridge contract which is probably a mistake since I want to put him on the top line. I think that the Habs should try to put Domi as the center on the first line with Tatar and Gally to generate more offence for us. Domi put up great numbers 2 years ago playing with Shaw and Byron I would like to see what he could do with better wingers (Tatar>Byron and Gallagher>Shaw). Domi just needs to work on his face-off percentage and stop take as many selfish penalties.
I know that Danault has great chemistry with that line but I think his offensive stats are inflated from being on the top line. I would pair Danault with Lehkonen and Armia and use them as a shut-down line against the other teams top line and in penalty kill situations. Lehkonen and Armia have very strong 2 way games to complement Danault's game. So in actual ice time Danault line would be the first line, since CJ would always put them out whenever the opposing team plays their top line. Maybe this way Danault could finally win the Selke trophy we know he deserves.
This leaves Kotkaniemi as the odd man out. We could put him on the 4th line playing 10 minutes a game but I think he would be better served playing 20 minutes a game down in Laval. Hopefully KK can dominate in the AHL build up his confidence and perfect his game, we could call him up when there are injuries to our top 3 centers. We would have to figure out what to do with the log jam situation at the center spot in the 2021-22 season. My thinking is that if KK does dominate in the AHL we can trade Tatar at the trade deadline, move Domi to LW and put KK on the 1st line with Domi and Gallagher.
I think it would be best to keep Evans on the 4th line since his ceiling is to be a bottom 6 NHL forward anyways.
I brought in Kovalchuk as a 1 year stop-gap to hold the roster spot for 1 year for Caufield, according to all the rumors we have already all but signed Kovalchuk already. Hopefully Caufield would be ready to go for the 2021-22 season and grab that spot on the second line.
For fun I listed who I think are our top 10 prospects in the Habs system under the LTIR field.

Free Agent Signings

RESERVE LIST	YEARS	CAP HIT
Caufield, Cole	3	$925,000
Romanov, Alexander	3	$925,000
Struble, Jayden	3	$925,000
Olofsson, Jacob	3	$825,000
Norlinder, Mattias	3	$900,000
Ikonen, Joni	3	$900,000
Harris, Jordan	3	$700,000
Fairbrother, Gianni	3	$750,000
Houde, Samuel	3	$700,000
McShane, Allan	3	$700,000
Fonstad, Cole	3	$700,000

RFA	YEARS	CAP HIT
Domi, Max	2	$4,500,000
Evans, Jake	3	$1,000,000
Juulsen, Noah	1	$950,000
Mete, Victor	3	$1,250,000

UFA		YEARS	CAP HIT
Kovalchuk, Ilya		1	$3,000,000

Trades

MTL

Allen, Jake

Additional Details:

Frees up some cap space for St.L to help sign Alex Pietrangelo.
I understand that St.L doesn't want to just throw Allen out but with the flooded goalie market right now, and most teams cap situations, not sure they would get many other offers to move Allen's contract.

STL

Olofsson, Gustav
2020 3rd round pick (WSH)

Additional Details:

Montreal needs a back-up goalie who can handle a 30 game workload and look reasonably good doing it. We are a bubble team and can't afford to throw away games with a sub par back-up.

Buried

Karl Alzner: $3,550,000 ($4,625,000)

Draft	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Round 7
2020
2021
2022

ROSTER

LONG-TERM OUTLOOK

EMBED

TEXT-EMBED

ROSTER SIZE	SALARY CAP	CAP HIT	OVERAGES	BONUSES	CAP SPACE
25	$81,500,000	$77,356,308	$0	$3,927,500	$4,143,692

Left Wing	Centre	Right Wing
Tatar, Tomas $4,800,000$4,800,000 LW, RW UFA - 1	Domi, Max $4,500,000$4,500,000 C, RW UFA - 2	Gallagher, Brendan $3,750,000$3,750,000 RW, LW NMC UFA - 1
Drouin, Jonathan $5,500,000$5,500,000 LW, RW UFA - 3	Suzuki, Nick $863,333$863,333 ($425,000$425K) C UFA - 2	Kovalchuk, Ilya $3,000,000$3,000,000 LW, RW UFA
Lehkonen, Artturi $2,400,000$2,400,000 LW, RW UFA - 1	Danault, Phillip $3,083,333$3,083,333 C UFA - 1	Armia, Joel $2,600,000$2,600,000 RW, LW UFA - 1
Byron, Paul $3,400,000$3,400,000 LW, RW UFA - 3	Evans, Jake $1,000,000$1,000,000 C UFA - 2	Weal, Jordan $1,400,000$1,400,000 C, RW, LW UFA - 1
Poehling, Ryan $925,000$925,000 ($850,000$850K) C, LW UFA - 1	Kotkaniemi, Jesperi $925,000$925,000 ($2,500,000$2M) C UFA - 1	Ylönen, Jesse $880,833$880,833 ($132,500$132K) RW, LW RFA - 3

Left Defense	Right Defense	Goaltender
	Weber, Shea $7,857,143$7,857,143 RD UFA - 6	Price, Carey $10,500,000$10,500,000 G NMC UFA - 6
Chiarot, Ben $1,750,000$1,750,000 LD/RD M-NTC UFA - 2	Petry, Jeff $5,500,000$5,500,000 RD M-NTC, NMC UFA - 1
	Fleury, Cale $771,666$771,666 ($20,000$20K) RD RFA - 1	Allen, Jake $4,350,000$4,350,000 G UFA - 1
Romanov, Alexander $925,000$925,000 LD RFA - 2	Juulsen, Noah $950,000$950,000 RD UFA - 1
Mete, Victor $1,250,000$1,250,000 LD/RD UFA - 1

Scratches	Injured Reserve (IR)	Long Term IR (LTIR)
Kulak, Brett $925,000$925,000 LD/RD UFA - 2		Caufield, Cole $925,000$925,000 LW, RW UFA - 3
		Primeau, Cayden $880,833$880,833 G RFA - 2
		Brook, Josh $795,000$795,000 ($132,500$132K) RD UFA - 2
		Norlinder, Mattias $900,000$900,000 LD RFA
		Harris, Jordan $700,000$700,000 LD/RD RFA
		Struble, Jayden $925,000$925,000 LD RFA
		Hillis, Cameron $838,333$838,333 ($132,500$132K) C UFA - 3
		Khisamutdinov, Arsen $795,000$795,000 C UFA - 2
		Teasdale, Joël $763,333$763,333 RW, LW UFA - 2
		Ikonen, Joni $900,000$900,000 C, RW RFA

May 31, 2020 at 11:08 p.m.

Howisjulienstillhere

Joined: Mar. 2020

Posts: 2,680

Likes: 1,448

Since ylonen isn’t in the lineup he should be in the ahl along with Poehling, making him a top 10 prospect. Next season will be so interesting for 3 reasons
1) how good is the team(can it bounce back and make the playoffs
2) with danault, Gallagher, Tatar, and Petry being free agents what happens to all of them
3) more the juniors. Who do we pick at 8 and how good are they next year, plus can kk bounce back, and Poehling find his game

And it’s insanity

corson liked this.

May 31, 2020 at 11:18 p.m.

corson

Thread Starter

Joined: Jan. 2020

Posts: 279

Likes: 169

Quoting: Howisbergevinstillhere

The Poehling-Kotkaniemi-Ylonen line was meant to be the first line in Laval. I forgot I still had them on the main roster when I started doing the top 10 prospect list.
1) I don't know if they can bounce back, I hope so thats why I watch sports. I just feel they need a change up.
2) With Kovalchuk and Allen on 1 year contracts that will free up that cap to sign Danault, Gally, and Petry. I think we may trade Tatar.
3) I left the draft pick out because it was an uncertainty. Remember I am a believer and a part of me is hoping for a shocking upset of Pittsburgh in the "Play-ins"

May 31, 2020 at 11:22 p.m.

Howisjulienstillhere

Joined: Mar. 2020

Posts: 2,680

Likes: 1,448

Quoting: corson

I honestly don’t think they should renew danault or Tatar. Gallagher sure because he’s a fan favourite. U need kk and Suzuki to play big minutes and actually develop. Petry should get a 2 or 3 year deal which is fine. And as for the pick, I know u left it out, I just put it as something interesting for next year. Bearing Pittsburgh would be great but probably won’t happen, but hey crazier stuff has happened

May 31, 2020 at 11:34 p.m.

corson

Thread Starter

Joined: Jan. 2020

Posts: 279

Likes: 169

Quoting: Howisbergevinstillhere

Yeah it will be tough for Montreal to keep Danault, I agree on that point.
On the point of the draft pick. If we pick at the 8th spot I am thinking it would be Perfetti.
Lafrenier, Byfield, Struzle, Dysdale go in top 4 leaving Raymond, Rossi, Perfetti and Holtz. I think Rossi and Raymond get snapped up NJ takes Holtz (wants RW to play with J.Bratt-J.Hughes). That leaves us to take Perfetti.

Howisjulienstillhere liked this.

May 31, 2020 at 11:54 p.m.

Kotkaniemi15

Former Hockey Fan

Joined: Jun. 2017

Posts: 13,144

Likes: 10,516

While a shutdown Lehkonen - Danault - Armia line works in theory, I don’t think it would translate in real life. They don’t have enough offensive skills together to make the best of what they have. They might be all good defensive forwards, but they won’t be able to match the SAT% domination that the TDG line brings. IMO Danault is better off with people that can score and drive the play in many ways like Tatar & Gallagher, and that Armia is better suited to play with someone that can get him the puck like Drouin, Domi, or Suzuki.

As for Domi, I feel like in terms of getting the best out of his line defensively, Suzuki is a far better fit than Tatar or Gallagher.

corson liked this.

May 31, 2020 at 11:55 p.m.

Howisjulienstillhere

Joined: Mar. 2020

Posts: 2,680

Likes: 1,448

Quoting: corson

Kk-caufield
Perfetti-Suzuki not bad.
Good goal scorers on each line and good 2-way c

corson liked this.

Jun. 1, 2020 at 12:02 a.m.

corson

Thread Starter

Joined: Jan. 2020

Posts: 279

Likes: 169

Quoting: Kotkaniemi15

Yeah I guess i'm just old school think when I say we need a shut down line. The game might be to fast for this kind of thinking anymore.
On your point about Domi with Suzuki I assume you mean for Suzuki to be the C and Domi on LW?

Kotkaniemi15 liked this.

Jun. 1, 2020 at 12:04 a.m.

corson

Thread Starter

Joined: Jan. 2020

Posts: 279

Likes: 169

Quoting: Howisbergevinstillhere

Kk-caufield
Perfetti-Suzuki not bad.
Good goal scorers on each line and good 2-way c

Yes I wouldn't be upset if we did draft Perfetti. It would pump some energy into the team for sure

Howisjulienstillhere liked this.

Jun. 1, 2020 at 12:22 a.m.

corson

Thread Starter

Joined: Jan. 2020

Posts: 279

Likes: 169

Quoting: Howisbergevinstillhere

Kk-caufield
Perfetti-Suzuki not bad.
Good goal scorers on each line and good 2-way c

In 2 years we could have:
Drouin-KK-Caufield
Perfetti-Suzuki-Gally
Leks-Domi-Armia
That might be a very good team to watch
Now you are almost making me secretly hope for Montreal to lose to Pittsburgh

Howisjulienstillhere liked this.

Jun. 1, 2020 at 12:24 a.m.

#10

Howisjulienstillhere

Joined: Mar. 2020

Posts: 2,680

Likes: 1,448

Quoting: corson

Plus we still have 3 second rounders. Some of them might be pretty good as well

corson liked this.

Jun. 1, 2020 at 7:49 a.m.

#11

Shanesaw9

Habs 2010

Joined: May 2020

Posts: 1,574

Likes: 988

Just wanted to point out that I believe it was actually Drouin - Domi - Shaw 2 years ago not Byron. When Drouin stopped producing Lehkonen was put in his place, but you are right Domi and Shaw were a constant.

I believe Domi started the year with Byron and Lehkonen but that didn't last long.

Having said that, I would go;
Drouin - Domi - Gallagher

Tatar - Danault - Kovalchuk

Kovalchuk had 8 pts in 8 games while playing on that line, the chemistry is there.

That leaves:
Lehkonen - Suzuki - Armia

Byron - Evans - XXX

(I'd like to see a guy like Wayne Simmonds in place of XXX. I would try to sign him to a one year deal. Gritty enough to play a 4th line role, but has the skill to play up the lineup. He could honestly play in the role of "Shaw" with Domi and Drouin if Gallagher needs to be put back with Tatar and Danault.)

Edit:
And although Suzuki is 3C he would be getting PK time with Lehkonen or Armia and PP time on the 1st unit as well.

Jun. 1, 2020 at 3:22 p.m.

#12

Kotkaniemi15

Former Hockey Fan

Joined: Jun. 2017

Posts: 13,144

Likes: 10,516

Quoting: corson

Yes, I was thinking of Suzuki at C. It might work if you put Suzuki on the wing, but I think he’s more effective defensively at C.

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