Are you happy about Carlsson over Fantilli?

Glad to see you are feeling a bit better about things today.

I like your analysis a lot. Look, when the lottery finished in 2018, and they showed the projected top 10 and I saw Finnish Center Kotkaniemi at 8, I knew we would end up with him somehow. However, he was very raw, and although he had a great rookie year for an 18 year old, that was not the right pick at all. Fast forward to last year, I actually had no idea, I just assumed Wright but I am not upset with Slaf. Then to the lottery this year, I got the exact same feeling like in 2018, I saw Reinbacher, and immediately felt it that we would grab him. The difference between KK and him is that the former, did not strike as a legit good hockey player. Reinbacher does strike me as a very good hockey player...

I had heard things like Michkov will be a smaller Ovechkin, or this Russian kid can come in and dominate, he may be small but his talent is one that would go 1st overall in probably every draft except McDavid... You make a fantastic point and it could just be me coping , but, Michkov does not win you Stanley Cups, Reinbacher does. I liked that point because that is how I viewed this pick. They are giving the core a lot of confidence and belief and that is great to see. I like when my management does that, and if I had to address a need to win a cup, yeah I would immediately find size to bolster my Blue line. I think although he gave the core a huge vote of confidence, I still think we need another game-breaker. I call Caufield one, because in my eyes he is, but another is pivotal.

My main issue really, is not with Reinbacher, I am so happy we have him because he fills a need. My problem, is that we constantly make the same bloody mistake in the 1st round. We draft for need WAY too much especially after Hughes came out and said, and I quote: "We're going to go with the most talented player". Frustrating to hear that, and not follow through. We need to stop picking for need, unless we had 5 Michkovs, we could afford to take a need. However, we also failed at asset management. I like Newhook, but maybe one pick too many we have up.

Asset management wise, the Habs were in a huge dilemma. They regain assets at 7 and 22 hypothetically with Philly, they take Michkov, but in between them was Arizona, and they were locked in on Reinbacher which made it hard to do that deal. So they had to take the guy they wanted I suppose, unfortunately, there was no other way, or if there was LMK.

Overall, I understand the dejection, i felt it, and still feel it. No matter what if Reinbacher becomes lets say, an ELITE Two-way Dman like a Seider or whoever, the best best best version of Reinbacher may never even be worth the floor of Michkov. To win a Stanley Cup, you need Reinbacher's, to win Art Rosses and Divisions you need Michkovs. Part of me is coping, but I also genuinely like the player.

Exactly. Plus he's a Quartexx guy. Kent has the scoop on him.

We really need a solid top6 PPG type of player: Guntzel, Konecny... maybe last 3 years of Panarin!

Hold on, I agree with what you are saying. I am understanding the Reinbacher pick too, I just wanted the Russian phenom first. But, why would it matter if we want to accelerate a rebuild? Isn't the point to not rush guys? What is the point of trying to win sooner? Any benefit? Just don't know if I agree with it necessarily. For example, when we trade for guys who are 22, we have less team control of the player. We draft them, we get an extra 3 years. So why rush when we can just draft and develop slowly?

Guenztel would be good but I fear MTL will never sign him due to size!

Right now the answer is no. But give Slaf & Mesar this season to show you something before you get concerned. It takes some time to transition from larger ice.

Can Heineman be this guy... showed in Laval a lot of scoring ability

Well, we don't have to, but if it's possible, they can. Seems like they could. In my opinion, this teams window is in alignment with Suzuki's contract length. The faster this team gets going. The longer the window of contention is. To me it's that simple.

I actually really like that he's traded for young players poised for a breakout after a couple extra development years. We definitely need to shed some fwds but we also need to establish who actually fits in the lineup and who is expendable. He did say he wants to compete sooner than later and that he wants to get bigger, he's sticking to his word so I'm going to trust his process. I wasn't happy at last years draft (Dach/Slaf) but I've come to realize KH made the right moves there so I'm going to guess he's done the same thing here.

Are they only banking on his contract? Like this whole idea with paying everyone less is silly. If a player better than him became available, I would hope we pay him more. Kind of feels like if that happens, we would settle for a cheaper option. Kind of like the draft pick, go for the settle/safe pick and not take the sexy pick.

The timeline is fine, which I understand, but we also want our prospects to develop too and not trade them all for guys 2 years older.

Some really great points. I agree that BOTH Michkov & Reinbacher will probably pop in the NHL, and there will be some moments in 2027 when Michkov burns Reinbacher and we all cringe. Hopefully that happens in the regular season and not the playoffs.

I just really think they are going BPA in the playoffs and if they can't imagine the player in the playoffs, they tend to stay away. I'm not sure what they think of Michkov in terms of the playoffs, but I know from the start of this year to the end, his defensive game did not improve while his offensive game did.

I know it takes time to develop and I am OK (not thrilled) with giving him a year to adjust. I say "not thrilled" because his value goes down further if he does not improve his play this year (rather obvious to say, I know) and the Habs are then left holing the bag.

Maybe Montreal's new medical team additions are actually worse than the people they let go and Montreal has more injuries than last year, so we have a worse year. Then maybe Bedard lifts Chicago more than expected. The Columbus trades improves them significantly. Anaheim starts scoring goals. We get the lottery luck again and we are able to select Cellebrini next year. One more year of tanking. It could happen......it could..... HA!

I think the PP will improve this year. You'll see. Suzuki & Caufield will be dancing out there.

I am not sure. I like his size a whole lot and I loved him in preseason last year. Let's see what he does at camp?

It would be a stretch for him to be a consistent 2nd liner on a team that (hopefully) is going to compete for a Cup in a few years, but who knows? Stranger things have happened. I do like his AHL numbers. albeit in a small sample size.

Yes!

Idk that CH management really know exactly what the lines are going to be but I believe they're trying to build a high end top-9 instead of just a top 6. Then we're able to roll 3 lines consistently and beef up our 4th to rival any 3rd line out there. I don't really know where Mesar fits exactly yet either and maybe we do package him for someone else but I'm not sure that happens this year.

With the way they're setting cap structure, I don't see free agents in our immediate future. Nylander will was more that Suzuki and KH won't give that. He's likely stockpiling internal options until it's clearly established where everyone fits and who exactly is expendable for the final piece or two.

Laf would actually be a great fit now (don't tell the NYR fans I said that...) but the price is likely too premium. That being said I would be on board if he did swing for it and moved some of our "expendable" prospects for a guy like Laf, assuming NYR would accept a deal with what we had to offer and not request some pieces of the "core" that is being built around.

LOL. I really hope not. I want to see this team take the league by storm.

I hear you. Im not talking about the internal cap or Suzuki himself per say. But as the cap increases. Suzuki and Cole's contracts are going to dictate the window of this core. Im not saying to rush anyone, but this is why adding a Newhook instead of drafting two 17 yr olds is the smarter move at this point. Why the Reinbacher is better than maybe Michkov in 3 yrs. But again, this is just my perspective.

I am betting Roy takes that spot eventually.

I bet AZ goes Reinbacher at 6 if we didn't take him. They clearly wanted Defence and reached big on one.

He was #3 of what I was hoping for. I wanted Fantilli, which I think most ducks fans were hoping for, and Michkov was absolutely someone that I wanted if they skipped Fantilli.

Carlsson is big though, and seems safe. I’m not losing my mind, and I’m sure once the shock passes we’ll all be content. McTavish was a bit of a reach when he was picked though, and he seems to be doing fine.

I’m firmly in the “meh” category this morning.

I hear you. Seems he drafted on perceived upside. He's gonna be a good one though!