Ah, I see the Habs fan base is entering the bargaining phase with their grief.

What makes you think Canes wouldn't have tendered an offer sheet for Tkachuk too?

Not to mention that if MTL had picked a winger in 2018, there's a likelihood that Habs wouldn't have drafted Caufield in 2019. Even the Pacioretty trade might've never happened, if for instance Bergevin had wanted to retain Patches to mentor Tkachuk to become that scoring winger and future captain of that team.

There's always so many things to consider in these hindsight posts...

pacio was already gone before that draft. so he shouldve taken tkachuck to replace him.. but he still went for the C

Pacioretty was traded in September 2018, the draft was in June 2018, so he was still a part of that team.

I don’t even know if Tkachuk was BPA. Sens fans were mad when they picked him. Zadina or Hughes was BPA

I thought it was supposed to be Zadina, and then day or so of the draft there were rumors that they wanted KK as a center.

i bet those fans felt dumb after the first 10 game of brady in ottawa.. that kid is your next captain for sure

Honestly the need for MTL was a centerman so they went with the center. I can't blame him for that. But I do think for someone who preaches CHaracter incessantly like Mb does, Tkachuk was literally a better version of Gallagher waiting to be selected by the Habs. Tkachuk was SOOOO the quintessential MB player and yet he decided to go on team need. Then when we have a player in an area of team need, he seems to bring up CHaracter again....

Galchenyuk
Domi
Kotkaniemi


Honestly, I can't stand MB's philosophy on this but one thing I hate more is when a GM strays from his OWN philosophy and drafts KK over Tkachuk, trades for Drouin over keeping the big hulking dman Sergachev and gets/shows interested in getting players with shady pasts like Deangelo, Mailloux, hoffman and Voynov.

Im happy everything worked out for the Habs this year and they had a fairy tale run that was very entertaining but I'm counting down the days till MB is fired. I can't stand him and his philosophy, regardless of whether it works or not.

i can see him getting fired after he doesnt match the offer and overpays for dvorak

I think he'll match KK if the Dvorak price is too high. So MB has options right now. Fans want him to match KK, so if he does they'll be happy. Plus there is always the possibility that KK kills it this year which we can't completely dismiss. either. He will be getting #2 minutes with very good linemates and PP time this year if he is matched. Evans and Poehling are not going to push KK to the 4th line. Habs have no choice but to put KK in a the best possible chance to succeed if they match the OS. Even if they don't like him anymore and want to trade him, they'll need to make sure his value increases in order to get more value than the draft pick compensation Carolina was going to give them. Or else there was no point to matching the OS.

They might have. But that's an easy match. Canes OS Tkachuk for 8M? Fine, I'll match. The issue with KK is you don't want to match for 6.1, it just isn't worth it.

Besides, Caufield was still the BPA. That was still the good pick. The issue I have is drafting based on position. That needs to stop.

yeah most habs fans wanted zadina.

Quinn Hughes was BPA at #3 in 2018 but ok

i was giving KK 2.5M for 2.. i cant see any sane gm wanting to pay that kid like a true second line center when he isnt that yet..as of right now i think dvorak is the better player. i think bergevin wins if he doesnt cave in. dont match the offer you have a bunch of prospects and picks.. the right deal will come for sure

quinn is an amazing quaterback and puck mover but if i was ottawa with chabot... brady is my choice everyday of the week

Yeah I’m referring to who MTL should have picked at 3

Yes Zadina was mostly seen as the #3 after the "unanimous" big 2

The list below used 14 different sources to come up with an "ultimate ranking" of the prospects (an average)

https://www.habseyesontheprize.com/nhl-entry-draft-picks-2018/2018/6/20/17481500/2018-nhl-draft-rankings-consensus-jesperi-kotkaniemi-bob-mckenzie-athletic-hockey-prospects

1 DAHLIN, RASMUS
2 SVECHNIKOV, ANDREI
3 ZADINA, FILIP
4 HUGHES, QUINTIN
5 TKACHUK, BRADY
6 WAHLSTROM, OLIVER
7 BOQVIST, ADAM
8 KOTKANIEMI, JESPERI


If teams followed the "concensus" from these popular sources, Montreal would have drafted Zadina and Ottawa Quinn Hughes. Arizona would have Tkachuk and Chicago would have Kotkaniemi




See above

oups

Given Bergevin's MO, I'm almost certain he would've gone after Newhook to fill their lack of centers. Not that that'd be a bad pick, mind you.

Not to troll or anything but knowing Dorion and co, they must have done frontflips and backflips in their heads when Montreal took Kotkaniemi. Brady Tkachuk is all they are looking for in a player. The feeling must have been like winning the lottery

I'm not a huge Tkachuk fan as I prefer guys like Stutzle, Batherson, Norris, Chabot, Pinto, Sanderson, Greig, etc but I see/understand the impact a guy like Brady can have

Prety sure they slapped each other several times to see if they was dreaming

If Bergevin drafted “BPA” we would have Filip Zadina.