Because he's playing well where he's at and we're trying to suck lol can't trade players for anything of value if they're just healthy scratches

Does Pezzetta really have to play though? I get that Pezzetta & Pitlick played well last year... But that was last year. What have you done for me lately?

They definitely have to play, we're not trying to win games. We're trying to develop chemistries and tank hard. If Richard is playing well in the AHL, how well are his linemates doing? Are they building confidence and fine tuning their skills? That's more valuable to this team in the long run than it would be to bring up Richard for what?

just kick out Dadonov of the team to make some space.

We can kick out half the guys to make space lol doesn't help with prospect development imo

None of his linemates in the AHL will play for the Habs IMO. The only guys who have a chance are RHP & Ylonen, and if they don't play this year it's fairly clear that next year they will be surpassed by Heineman and Roy and we simply will not have room for more than 1 or 2 new bodies.

Richard is a surprise, but a good one. Next year he'll be gone unless we show him there is a chance to make the leap. Our "established players" are not playing like they deserve their status as NHL'ers. When players see players ahead of them who don't deserve to be they can lose heart. We have a lot of injuries and we keep going back to the same depth players who are not getting it done.

I'd trade him while his value is up then, he's not in the long-term plans. Calling him up doesn't help the long-term plans either. He's 25 so he won't likely be here when we're a relevant club again, send him somewhere where he'll slot into their bottom 6 and help an actual playoff team with F depth for a pick or something.

He has zero value on the market, but why not give h a chance to succeed where Evans/Pez/Armia are failing?

Considering our goal is to tank hard, Evans/Pez/Armia are crushing it in that respect... let Laval win.

Laval ain't winning anything...

They have a better shot than MTL...

They are further back than MTL...

And yet still have a better shot...

Richard is definitely on a heater, but I think it's more likely he's the guy that gets called up after the deadline, when you've hopefully moved some top-9 forwards out and you need some bodies. Give him the 20 game audition then to see if it's just a heater or if he actually made some sort of leap. I'm leaning towards the first though - guys usually are who they are by the time they're 25, and 20 games of 21.9% shooting isn't going to change that.

Yeah but Evans Armia and Pezzetta are on a reverse heater (a cooler?!) It's not like they are playing well but snakebit, they are just playing like crap.

I prefer the idea of a development year than a tank year. For example if some of those bottom 6 guys were scoring regularly then some of the defensemen would be picking up assists. It's tough to have 4 forwards out of twelve doing very little offensively.

Still not expecting to win, but wishing to see more balance in the scoring we do get.

Fair enough, I can see your POV on this.