Habs decline...

A 1st round pick? Another winger for Montreal...

No. Just... no.

He's 23 with a career high of 28 points. He isn't worth a first anymore.

Our offence is good enough. If we target a youjg guy, it will be a D

In the long run, our D is much better than the attack.

I would have to disagree. Our future top 6 is better and more safe than our future top 4. The only one we know is gonna be there is Guhle, with Reinbacher having a 99% chance. Hutson could very well flop. If it happen, our D is deep, but not very good. Our top 6 is pretty much complete. Only improvement will be our 2024 first over Anderson

while it is true that Hutson and Mailloux could flop, the depth is crazy with: Engstrom, Norlinder, Harris, Xhekaj, Trudeau, Bogdan, Struble, and I would debate that most of these guys have top 4 potential. The chance that both Hutson and Mailloux flop is already weak, but the chance that at least 2 of these 7 guys don't become top 4 guys is also incredibly weak. I'd argue that Guhle-Reinbacher would be one of the best top pairs in the league, so I think D-wise, we are set, while forward-wise, we might be missing a piece in the top 6

I don't see an elite forward in our top 6, either now or future. And most teams winning the cup have at least 1 or 2. They do have a few top 6 players in Dach, Suzuki, Caufield, with the addition of Newhook and Slaf possibly.

Our prospect pool has no one with top 6 potential imo. Roy, Kidney, Farrell, Heineman, Beck, Mesar are probably all 3rd liners if they make it. The rest isn't really worth mentioning. Our strength is in defense.

I'd say habs should package some of them with some of our d prospects to acquire that needed offensive talent, now or before we get into playoffs mode. (Which is probably 2-3 years away)

Caufield has 50 goals potential. Suzuki is a 1c. Slaf looked like a superstar. Newhook will have 70 pts.

Keep in mind we will draft in the top 10 this year and the forward we’ll get will have elite potential

Look, I love Caufield, maybe he will maybe he won't. We'll see. Slow down on Slaf, he needs time and consistency. Also slow down on Newhook, 1 game doesn't make a season.

I honestly don't trust our management to draft an elite offensive talent. They don't seem to be interested by that, they rather play safe.

I do have to disagree with you. Unless you define elite as top 15 forward in the league, MTL has elite talent. Cole will definitely be elite, most likely being a consistent top-10 goal scorer for a while. Slaf is still to early to tell, but he could end up being a top 10 winger in the league if everything goes right. Newhook, Suzuki should be good top 6 guys, putting 60 and 75 pts respectively. And personally, I see Dach becoming the projected Getzlaf he was drafted for

I mean, CC got 47 in his last 82 games. Fully obtainable. Slaf is a first overall pick looking excellent. Newhook is the best player on the ice every time he is there

Cole is probably the closest we have. Dach is indeed looking great, but too soon to tell for sure. Suzuki I agree about 60-75pts-ish, but Newhook it's way too soon to tell, 1 game isn't enough.

But I do mean top 15-20 in the league. Look at the previous cup winners, except STL and BOS, they all had top offensive talent. (Eichel, Crosby, Malkin, Kane, Toews, Kucherov, Stamkos, Point, Kopitar, Mackinnon, Rantanen, Ovechkin, Backstrom). That's what I mean by top offensive talent.

Of course there is exception sometimes, but most likely you will need someone to carry the load and I don't think Montreal has that. They need that 1 top offensive talent, it's just crazy to me that since 2012 we had 5 top 10 picks and we still couldn't pull it off.

I'd argue VGK didn't, Eichel was just a ppg guy last year, more of a top 35 guy than a top 20. With MTL's defense I do think we can win the cup with having 2 80 point guys (2 of 4 Slaf, Dach, Cole, Zuki) and 4-5 60 pt guys

Eichel clears anyone on the Habs roster though..

Look maybe I'm wrong, and it'll be possible with those forwards but it seems like wishful thinking, which isn't exactly reality. But I guess we'll have our answer when they will be ready for competing in playoffs. Cause in the end, season is fun and all but what really matters is the playoffs.

We also have a really terrible goalie tandem..

I believe that when MTL will compete, we will have at least one player better than 2022-23 Eichel.

Let's hope so, cuz it's gonna be rough if not

I see where you could be scared, but with 4 guys with 80+ point potential, probability is on our side that at least one will be a consistent over ppg guy