If they go back to normal divisions, that team likely doesn’t make the playoffs.

lol. doubting us again. if they play allen, make the moves i suggested, and suzuki, kk, caufield, romanov, continue to grow, they'll make it. oh and if they can win some OT games, that'll help. they arent a regular season beast by anymeans, but they'll sneak in.

Admittedly it’s going to be really amusing when Montreal wins the Stanley Cup this year and misses the playoffs next year with pretty much the same team.

Buffalo probably doesn’t need to add a pick for Drouin. He’s not even with your team right now. Which kind of surprises me, you’d think you might want to come back to help the team win the Stanley Cup.

They were 18th in point percentage this season, playing in one of the worst divisions the NHL has ever seen, and exclusively in that division. They were 24-32 in the regular season playing in that garbage division, getting to beat up on vancouver and Ottawa. They won one more game than Ottawa did this season. Even including the playoffs, they’re one game under .500. Over the past few seasons they’ve basically been a rounding error away from the Buffalo Sabres. But they got put in a division where 4 out of 7 teams made the playoffs, and 7 out of 7 teams were kinda bad. Then they got hot. And kudos to them, the way they’re playing right now means they deserve to be there. They’ve earned that right. But getting hot for three weeks isn’t going to make me forget the last three years. Now they’ll be in a division with boston, toronto, tampa, and florida. A divisional playoff spot is almost out of the realm of possibility without major changes. So they’re fighting with some really good teams for one of the two wildcard spots. No longer is it, “just be a hair better than Calgary, Ottawa, and vancouver.” I don’t think think the habs are favorites to make the playoffs next season.

i can argue that due to covid and a horrible schedule, backed up by injuries to key players, they just sneaked in. next year will be tough, but after making teh finals, there is no way habs management, with cap space, picks, and prospects will not make moves to ensure that that they make it to the playoffs next year. expectations will be ridiculously high. management knows that. ownership knows that. plus they made a good run this year without trading any key assets or players. their young guys can only get better from here. they'll make the playoffs again. maybe wild card, but as good as florida is, they don't have a decent goalie. boston is getting older and slower. toronto is a regular season team. tampa will be good again. so yeah they'll sneak in and do damage again. but theres no chance they'll miss it, even if price is injured, jist becayse they have allen.

i doubt that. drouin is going through personal issues. i dont know what those are. get him out of mtl and he'll blossom. buffalo needs to add the pick because drouin is the better player.

I think this is just way too assertive. To say they “will,” sneak in, and they, “will,” do damage is just way too confident. They might. They might get hot again at the right time. But the point remains the same. A couple hot weeks doesn’t just totally negate a few sucky years. They’re 4-2 against good NHL teams this year. That’s good. If they get dummied in the final though i think expectations should be lowered.

I have no doubt Montreal will do anything they need to to remain competitive. But my bet is they will lose Jake Allen to Seattle. So your linchpin safety valve in goal will be gone. You’re going to need a new one. We all know what happens when you couldn’t rely on your back up and had to play Price too much.

they'll get dummied in the finals because its tampa. tampa;s that good imo. but, they beat vegas. so all that talk about a weak division or lucky habs is bs. vegas beat the avs and minny.

not an issue. they have cap space to sign other goalies or trade for good ones. they have the assets as well. lots of good goalies are on the market and habs arent afraid to spend.

That Dunn offer would not be competitive.

how about a 2nd instead of a 3rd?

Josh Brook and the MTL 2nd would certainly get you at the table, if not get the deal closed. Fleury's not bad or anything, but Brook is more the right cup of tea, I think.

We don't need a D coming back for Dunn. The only reason he's up for discussion is because we don't have enough D slots to protect with Faulk, Parayko and Krug

They'd certainly accept an exempt RD with at least decent size who can skate, pass, defend and make good decisions (Brook, Woo, etc.). I just don't think Fleury quite has all those tools in his kit.