You think maybe all the coaches hes had over the years might have a reason for not trying him at center?

Also, the habs are in a touuuugh spot cap wise moving forward huh

no way niku paquette perreault are in the lineup over poehling evans kulak wideman

I would take Vejdemo over Paquette not gonna lie
Paquette = Dwight King

Not really, they'll be fine

I want to see what Niku can do before ruling him out in favor of the other 4

15 mill to sign 4 d men, 4 forwards + giving Suzuki a hefty raise is not fine. And that’s without Weber coming back, which has to be at least a possibility

Even going with your 4 and 4 they have to sign, which is actually 3 and 2, you are assuming there will be no trades in there. Weber only comes back for another cup run this season if there is one otherwise he's not coming back IMO. Wideman, Perreault, Kulak and Chiarot are all question marks going into next season.
Drouin after this season has one year left at 5.5Mill and if he struggles won't resign close to that anywhere. Then again if he does well, ups his trade value and that money goes to Zuc's.
All that and we never addressed the Drouin at Centre which is a no go, not again.

The habs have 8 forwards and 3 D signed for next year, so it’s actually more like 4 d men and 6 forwards, given that teams don’t really roll out a roster of 20.

I think Weber is likely to retire, but I don’t know him. Neither do you. The possibility of him coming back can’t be completely discounted.

Of course the habs can make trades. Duh. Just like every other team. That doesn’t mean that they aren’t in a tough spot with the cap moving forward. If they want to lock up Suzuki long term, it will probably cost 8M. That puts them in a position where they’ll need to move out salary to fill out the roster.

Yes but there are 5 RFA's in that list just to qualified, never mind offer sheets for now and 1 is Zucs.
Lot's of guys that are ready to make the jump to the NHL level on entry level contracts.

The Weber situation was already commented on, if there is one more kick at the can he'll be there but I do think that's it. That we can agree on!

Well ya, isn't that the point though. Don't say they are in a tough spot when they aren't. Trades, and not resigning guys fixes all.

So by that logic there has never been an NHL team in cap trouble. Just trade guys, easy. Well, sure. It will be easy for the habs to get under the cap next year. It won’t be easy for them to do it without getting worse. If suzuki is signed long term, and Weber does not come back, the habs will need about 7 entry level deals inserted into the lineup, in addition to the ones they already have. That’s a recipe for disaster, not success. Who are these guys that the habs can insert into the lineup no problem?

Are you calling suzuki zucs? Are or are you referring to someone else? Let’s just use the guys name so i know who the heck you’re talking about.

Teams get in to trouble due to terrible contracts such as signing guys like Alzy, or Alzner for instance.
Habs have a great core but in a cap world cannot be maintained just like every other team so they will have to find ways to keep the team competitive if that means one more run this year and then a drop off.
I loved what they did last season but personally don't think they will come that close this season, I can only hope they do though!
They never fully rebuild so yes it's sign a good player or 2 and slowly work to fill in the blanks getting better picking up player like Perry and Staal. there are always player like that floating around in addition to the Norlinders, Brooks, Poelings and Ghules of the world to name a few.

So, that didn’t really answer my question:

You’ve gotta fill 7 spots with guys making under a million. 7. Who are they?

Why would they need to sign 4 dmen? By this time next year, at minimum 2 of 5 entry-level guys will be ready and playing... ie; Guhle/Norlinder/Brook/Harris/Struble

Will they though? How do you know? The vast majority of AHL d men, even ones that look good don’t wind up making it. The ones that do often have growing pains. But lets say they’re just perfect and break all the trends and they’re good to go. It’s not like they don’t count against the cap. They’re still contracts.

I am well aware their contracts will still count on the cap lol The fact of the matter is they have 3 guys on the back end signed and playing big minutes, the bottom 3 guys will be making 750-950 most likely, other than Romanov who may make 1.5-2m. As for how do I know they'll make the team or not? I don't. Just like you don't know they will be in trouble. Everything is speculative.

So again, where do you see that they will be in trouble after signing Suzuki for 6-8mil and filling out the bottom-6 of their F core like the leafs have done year after year with league minimum contracts?

As I’ve said a half dozen times by now, IF they sign suzuki long term, it’ll of course cost at least 8. So 7 million left with 9 forwards, and 3 d men under contract, they would need to add minimum four forwards (but probably five), and four D. Those guys could be internal options. Nevertheless, those eight players would need to average a cap hit of under $957,604. Is that possible? Sure. It’s above league min. But injecting that many ELCs or low cost vets is going to mean that the team sucks.

So ya, i do know the habs are in cap trouble, because I’m capable of doing math.

How do you know it'll cost them 8? How do you know they'll sign him long-term?? You're just guessing like the rest of us lmao

But yes you can add, well done very clever of you. Here's your gold star ⭐

I never said i knew they were going long term. See that word up there that i put in caps. It’s two letter, so shouldn’t be that hard. The word is “IF.” 8 is a given if they go long term with him, because, duh. Maybe they bridge at 5 or 6. Still kinda screwed in that situation.

LOL, ok so now you're argument isn't "IF they go long term with suzuki, what will they do? They are so screwed!" ... it's "well if they go long term OR short term they are screwed"

This is truly next level stuff you're spewing

All I’ve given you is facts. Nothing is really subjective here. I think they’re in a very difficult spot with suzuki bridged, and an even more difficult spot if he’s extended long term. The team you made kinda proves that.

Literally EVERYTHING you've given is subjective.

Weber coming back is a very real possibility = opinion
The habs can't execute any trades that will alleviate some cap space = opinion
They're screwed if they sign suzuki long-term = opinion
They're screwed if they sign suzuki short-term = opinion
This team sucks = opinion

Stick to counting, you seem to be better at it

In order:
1. Never said Weber was coming back. Him coming back being a possibility is not subjective. He hasn’t retired, so it’s possible.
2. Never said habs can’t execute trades that will alleviate cap space (because that doesn’t make sense), nor did i ever say they can’t make trades that will alleviate the cap crunch…i said the exact opposite. You’re making that one up.
3. Never said the habs we’re screwed if they signed suzuki long term.
4. Never said the habs were screwed if they signed suzuki short term.
5. The team you made sucks. Yes, that’s subjective, but it’s really obvious.

Haha I like the last sentence, made me laugh! :P

Can't believe how much arguing this post generated !

No arguing here, just constructive criticism of thing that we can't know or will never happen one way or the other! That is why the site is here, cheers to making such a controversial post as it turned out.