Habs decline. The Habs are deep on the left side of their defence corps… Guehle, Matheson, Xhekaj, Hutson, Struble… Broberg’s just not what they need.

Also pretty deep on the right side, save for a top pairing guy on a 1 or 2 year deal while Reinbacher develops

Deep in 2nd & 3rd pairing RHDmen… I don’t think they have “the guy” yet to play on a top pairing with Guehle.

I could picture….
Guehle - ?????
Matheson - Reinbacher
Hutson - Barron

Other LHD: Xhekaj, Struble, Harris, Engstrom

Other RHD: Savard (likely traded soon), Kovacevic, Mailloux

That #1 RHD that can go 25+ minutes/game… we don’t have that guy yet.

Reinbacher is that guy. Barron and Mailloux also have the potential. And if none of them get to that ceiling, Ghule already is.

Basically MTL has a future Dcore made of four 1st rounders, an offensive NCAA record breaker (Hutson), an unicorn goon (Xhekaj ) and plenty of 3rd pairing guys.

This is full house. Focus is shifted to top 6 scoring talent with size and nothing else.

What about put a good free agent in there ?

Big fan of Barabonov but that could be a slight overpayment

Would you take Levshunov over Helenius/Catton or any forwards not named Celebrini/Eiserman/Demidov/Lindstrom ?
Guhle-Levshunov
Hutson-Reinbacher
Xhekaj-Mailloux
Struble-Barron
That Dcore group is solid, but yes we are lacking talent up front

MTL is already 6th in the league in goals allowed with 4-5 defensemen under 22. We already have size, puck moving abilities and defence oriented talent. And it's only gonna get better with the high potential prospects coming up.

MTL is 29th in scoring (without Dach and Newhook but with a big contribution from Monahan and Gally on their way out) and the prospect pool is very small with Beck, Mesar, Roy and Farrell. They are all under 6 foot, 195lbs, and none of them is above average goal scorers.

The choice is clear going foward.

Only Guhle, Harris & Reinbacher can play defense tho Mailloux, Xhekaj, Barron, Hutson are all liability in the Dzone
Levshunov isn't great defensively either, so this might be a problem going forward

I agree that we need better forward prospect since I don't see any of Beck, Roy, Farrell becoming top 6 forwards
Only Mesar has the potential but it's gonna be hard for him to reach it

Barron is a 2 way defenseman with top 4 potential. Already playing big minutes and way ahead of Harris. Struble is a stay at home guy. Xhekaj and Mailloux do have brain farts sometimes, but being able to clean out in front of your net is a defensive skill. They just need to play with a more solid partner. Already way too many NHL level guys.

do u really believe that reinbacher wont be a top pair defenseman ??? based on what information ? you think you know more about hockey than habs management ???

I know you didn't quote me but Reinbacher will be paired up with Lane Hutson, either the 1st or 2nd d pairing
Guhle-Reinbacher could play 25 min a game but who's gonna play with Hutson lol Mailloux is big but both aren't good defensively

Oof, already have too many dmen in MTL why would we take Broberg, Ceci and his cap on board? And lose Xhekaj and Simoneau in the process.

Barron is horrible defensively ... he is playing with our 2 best dman because otherwise he looks like an AHLer
Yes he has top 4 potential, he just isn't there yet
Struble is good defensively sure, it's just that I see Guhle-Hutson-Xhekaj being the left side while Reinbacher, Mailloux & Barron completes the right side

theyre prospect and need time to develop , i remember when guhle got drafted everyone said his weakness is his skating and that hell need to work on his skating and now the same people praise him for his skating, its called development.

Over Catton yes but Helenius look like a stud, i would pick him Over Demidov and Eiserman.

That 1st, 2nd and third pairing defenseman scheme is overrated. Hutson might have over 20-23 with 5-6 powerplay minutes of ice time where players like Guhle and Reinbacher will get the same amount of playing time mostly at 5 on 5 and 4 on 5. After all those minutes you distribute the rest with the flow of the game. Hutson won’t be on the ice when Habs need to protect a lead, but will be double shift when they need a goal. Habs have a possible big 3 with Hutson, Guhle and Reinbacher. Then you have all those other very good prospect or young players that can fill a secondary role.

I get that but without special units, you need another top 4 dman. Hopefully Barron or Mailloux could fill that role

I think you are mistaking, Guhle skating was never an issue. He was seen as a stay at home physical dman with great skating abilities. We didn’t know he would breakout offensively. Now he is an excellent two-way PMD

I am pretty confident that both will be able to play that role with Guhle. But we need to stay patient. We will have a extremely young d-core for the next 3-4 years. Habs must absolutely hit a home run in the upcoming 2 draft. If they are able to draft a star forward then MTL won’t miss much but experience before taking the next step.

Holy overvalue of your Cap dumps, Busts and marginal prospects. Florida Montreal and San Jose GM should all be fired if they accepted those deal. Your GM is ken Holland. he gets ripped off not does the ripping