Rip, Kk’s gone

Now let's turn those assets into a player better than Kotkaniemi.

MB will do Dvorak, which while he’s better short term is a bad move long term

9/10 the team that gets the better player in the trade wins. Who's to say Kotkaniemi every becomes anything more than a 3rd line center? Montreal wins now and is unknown in the future. I'd rather be Montreal here than Carolina.

https://youtu.be/YxxM99-m58s

This just got recommended to me on YouTube.

Ouellet, Jo, Price, Petry, Gally, and Lehky are the only players left. 😭

(Byron and Armia were injured)

So the Red vs. White Scrimmage is 3 weeks away from today. (And weirdly after our first preseason game)

My guess for the lines:
White:
Drouin - Dvorak - Gallagher
Hoffman - Evans - Anderson
Perreault - Paquette - Belzile
Myšák - Dauphin - Bourque/Hillis
Romanov - Savard
Kulak - Brook
Norlinder - Ouellet
Belpedio
Price
McNiven

Red:
Toffoli - Suzuki - Caufield
Lehkonen - Poehling - Armia
Harvey-Pinard - Dea - Ylönen
Pezzetta/Baddock - Vejdemo - Teasdale
Edmundson - Petry
Chiarot - Wideman
Guhle - Schueneman
Fairbrother
Allen
Primeau


Khisamutdinov is under an NHL contract and isn’t listed here, Bourque is under an AHL contract and is listed here. I think this could likely happen, given the fact that Kevin Lynch, who was on an AHL contract was at habs camp ahead of players on NHL contracts. Also I expect Khisamutdinov to play in the ECHL this year.

This would be the first time in a habs jersey for:*

- Christian Dvorak
- David Savard
- Mike Hoffman
- Cédric Paquette
- Mathieu Perreault
- Jan Myšák
- Kaiden Guhle
- Corey Schueneman
- Chris Wideman
- Jean-Sébastien Dea
- Louis Belpedio
- Mattias Norlinder
- Arsen Khisamutdinov/Gabriel Bourque

*Practice jerseys don’t count.

Also, this isn’t including the fact that a bunch of these players will likely play in the preseason game the previous day.

I’m pretty sure MB is entering the last year of his deal so what happens, MB has been a pretty good GM though i think we could use a new face, imo we should move MB to like president of hockey ops or some other part of the team and have a new GM

Rumours are that he'll be extended (three seasons) during the first week of the season.

Probably to be expected since we just went to the finals but i feel like we need fresh blood at the head of the team, MB had his chance and while he’s been pretty good, i think its time for a change

You trust that guy?

He got Mailloux, Perry and Dvorak right I'll give him that.

yeah true, still feels like he popped out of no where

Eric Engels, a more trusted source, said a three-year extension was offered during the summer too.

Oh, I didn't see that.

When Bergevin was asked about the center line, he included Ryan Poehling's name for the first time in a while, along with Dvorak, Suzuki, Evans & Paquette.

So he agrees with most of the fans that he’s a shoe-in for the NHL roster.

So I just noticed that the habs have announced Christian Dvorak’s number. After 7 years of being reserved for 3rd pairing LHD, number 28 has broken out of its box. (Nathan Beaulieu, Mike Reilly, Jakub Jerabek, Marco Scandella, Jon Merrill)

Rookie camp is finally back, after 2 years! https://www.nhl.com/canadiens/news/27-players-to-participate-in-canadiens-rookie-camp/c-326083356

The invites are:
C - Tag Bertuzzi
C - Mika Cyr
C - Charles-Antoine Roy
LW - Thomas Caron
LW - Isiah Campbell
RW - Avery Hayes*
RW - Brenden Sirizzotti*
LD - Charles-Antoine Pilote*
LD - Arber Xhekaj
G - Alexis Gravel
G - Ivan Zhigalov*

The others include:
7 players under contract with Montréal
3 players under contract with Laval
6 habs CHL prospects

*These players cannot be signed by Montréal this year, and will re-enter the draft next year.

I really hope the habs sign Xhekaj, because that is a great name. (So is Sirizzotti, but Montréal can’t acquire him until the draft)

Also, there are 2 people named Charles-Antoine, and 2 people with the last name Roy.

I’m surprised Chicago let Gravel’s rights expire, he could be a good pickup, Tag Bertuzzi could also be an interesting player

I realize MTL is close to the cap : approx 400k (with 23/23 roster and Poehling in, we're at 3.8m but Byron will eat 3.4 when he comes back from LTIR).

But with Entry Level Performance Bonuses (Romanov up to 637k, Caufield up to 300k, Suzuki up to 537k), we can consider we're already over the cap.

From puckpedia : https://puckpedia.com/salary-cap/entry-level-performance-bonuses

"A" Bonuses are worth $212,500 each, to a maximum of $850,000 (maximum 4 achieved). They are achieved by each of:

Forwards

-20 goals

-35 assists

-60 points

-Top six in Time on Ice among forwards (in total and/or per game) on team (minimum 42 games)

-Top three in +/- among forwards on team (minimum 42 games)

-0.73 points per game (minimum 42 games)

-End-of Season All Rookie Team

-All Star Selection

-All Star MVP

Defensemen

-10 goals

-25 assists

-40 points

-Top four in Time on Ice among Defensemen (in total and/or per game) on team (minimum 42 games)

-Top three in +/- among defensemen on team (minimum 42 games)

-0.49 points per game (minimum 42 games)

-Top two among defensemen on team in blocked shocks

-End-of Season All Rookie Team

-All Star Selection

-All Star MVP

Easy targets for our players :

Caufield gets 20 G (200k)
Suzuki gets 20 G (200k) 35 A (200k) top 6 TOI (reach his max for a total 537k)
Romanov gets top 4 TOI (200k) top 3 +/- (200k)

That's 1,1m in bonuses, so most likely bonus overages to come

So I'm asking you, which bonuses will our ELC players reach?

Caufield and Suzuki easily make max bonuses imo but Romanov is a hard guess, depends on if he plays 2nd or 3rd pairing for most of the season

Yeah Suzuki and Caufield will almost definitely reach all of their bonuses. And to hit all his bonuses, Romanov just has to be more healthy than the rest of the D. Although there’s still a decent chance he only hits one or none of them.

Also, a note on the overages is that for Montréal it doesn’t matter how close we are to the cap, since we have Weber on LTIR, every performance bonus earned automatically becomes an overage.

I mean Gravel’s save percentage has gotten worse every year since he was drafted, so I’m not surprised. As someone who’s watched him play in Guelph, don’t expect much from Bertuzzi.

Gravel could definitely be Trois-Rivières’ backup next year though.

And any of these players could be options for Trois-Rivières if there’s mutual interest. (Other than the ones who are still draft eligible)

And now for the most important part which I might enjoy way too much, numbers!

We have: (among others)
21 - Kaiden Guhle
49 - Rafaël Harvey-Pinard
53 - Jan Myšák
59 - Mattias Norlinder

Guhle is spot on. I’ll say for everyone to not buy any Norlinder jerseys now, because there’s a good chance he gets a new number when 6 becomes available and/or when he makes the team and Bergy tries to give him a low number.

Now, the lowest numbers a vailable for the habs are 15, 24, and 32.

Joël Teasdale will probably take number 24. 15 might be Jean-Sébastien Dea, and if not him Bergevin could assign it to someone like RHP if he makes the team.