Part 1 here

Welcome to CAP-HELL in the 2025 offseason!

Faksa, Armia, Allen, Savard and Evans off the book + cap hit going up as much as $92,500,000 or more.

Guhle, Barron, Slafkovsky, Starting Goalie in 2025

Fantilli, Dach & probably Xhekaj in 2026

Not to mention the cost of not having spots for Beck, Mesar, Roy, Guindon, Heineman, Ylonen to make the team. Basically you are building through UFA.

Teams have tried it before, it doesn't tend to work very well. Even the Canadiens tried it with Gionta, Cammalleri, Gomez, Gonchar and it was not a great success.

I like the players you've brought in, but they will have a mercenary culture.

Beck and Heineman, Mesar to take Faksa Armia and Evans spot Roy to be 13th forward and replace Pezzetta, Ylonen gone through trade Fantilli Xhekaj and Dach all cap controled with the raised in 2026 and if needed move Kravtsov !! It's pretty tight yes, but not impossible. I'm building a fair square top 6 and a rare flat salary cap in a top 6. Having 9,0 to 9,5% as a limit. With Ghule having a raise guys like Matheson can be replaced by Hutson. I'm playing puzzle chess level with the team. Adding that Price is gone by 2026 and goaltender like Dobes and Dishow or even Primeau will take over Allen. It's doable.

In the past 10 years what team built their core through UFA/Trade market successfully? Sabres tried it. Panthers tried it. Senators tried it. Has not been good for any of them.

I think the issue is that when everyone is coming from somewhere else, they have a mercenary attitude and not a strong affinity for their team. Also a culture develops over several years. You cannot just throw 4-5 new star players together and expect they to care for one another. It takes time.

Tampa, Chicago, Boston to bolster their top players. Here we are a year one. First we clean all the previous bad contract and then in year 2 guys like Faksa, Armia Allen Savard need to prove that they are part of the future or been replaced by our kids like Heineman Mesar Beck Mailloux. so 10 habs drafted one 2 kids like Suzuki and Dach for 12 rookies to add 4 new vets with our remaining vets. This is actually pretty close to a good rebuild.

Drafted : Beck Slafkovsky Heineman Roy Caufield Ghule Harris Fantilli Roy, Evans (pezzetta), ect.
Undrafted but from our organisation : Xhekaj
Rookie from other team : Suzuki Dach Kravtsov

UFA : Horvat Severson
Traded vet : Dubois Faksa
Remaining old core : Gallagher Armia Allen Savard Matheson Montembeault Wideman

Honestly thinking about it...

If you have Fantilli & Beck behind Suzuki, you really don't need Horvat.

If you have Barron, Mailloux coming up you don't really need Severson. He's not so amazing that he's a top pair defender.

If you have Farrell, Roy, Heineman, Mysak, Ylonen coming up soon, you really don't need Faksa or Kravstov

I like bringing in Dubois because he plays a heavy speed game and he scores. Plus he already feels a connection to our culture here and knows the Quebec fishbowl and wants to be here. As you know it's not easy for Francophone players in this market. No one has higher expectations placed upon them.

If a legit number 1 goalie or RHD becomes available we should grab them but since that doesn't happen, we should just build it with patience.

well I love building a competition for every spot in our team. All those kids can also be traded for that number one missing or sign Dmitry Nikolayev. In this AGM the goalie is no where close to where we need them but with many cool kids and giving the time to developp them through AHL can help the chemistry and the furture of our team. Its a quick but proactive rebuild for me. Horvat Suzuki Fantilli Beck all over 50% Faceoff could be a huge gain.

I hear you. It would be fun if they spend all that money on free agents. I don't know that the results would follow, but I would enjoy Free Agent Frenzy that day for sure!

if they can rebuild this fast and with those player our team is going to be a good one in 2 years or so.

This is not HuGo's vision though. They want to build a team that can challenge perennially and not take short cuts

where were the Rangers 3 years ago?

They brought in 2 guys right, Panarin & Zibanejad. With respect to Horvat, Dubois, Severson, Faksa - none of them are at the level of either of those two.

We do not have and Adam Fox... Yet. We do not have a Shesterkin... Yet.

Until we have those guys in place...All the secondary scoring in the world won't help us win.

Did PIT actually claim him? Or is that just an idea?

that was my morning idea ... he cleared 5 minutes ago Would you like him?