But whom did he play against SMH ?
Your ignore the point made to deflect , again i wouldnt do that.
I'd just make a counter point not try to argue a player on the top line facing top line players doing more at the same age as Necas is a negative.

Context will always matter.
Like you arguing Necas success was dependent on his teammates.
Then when confronted on it deflect it on to Caufield lol
Its a sign of Defeat

Necas is great and i pay him the respect he deserves, thats where we differ
I never called him less then in fact i called him currently better then but pointed out Caufield youth's on his side
I pointed out the contextual comparisons between the two who started at the same age in the NHL and showed the difference in rate of growth
Caufield went all the way from 4th line to 1st to AHL to 1st line again in his Journey and still finished ahead of Necas at the same age

MTL and CAR differed in developmental choices is the main reason why as MTL wasnt happy with Caufield settling for bottom 6 minutes hence the AHL stint.
He came back and has earned his top 6 role ever since as it lit a fire under him

Necas maybe slightly better now by 3pts there or 1-2% on CF/FF there or a fraction of a point on P/60 but he's 2 years older and Pro 2 years longer. . . It'd be sad if he wasnt ahead of him. Caufield as he rises will continue to grow under MSL who made a career out of using his size and skill to his advantage despite being so small.
So i feel a lot more confident we'll continue to do whats best for Cole Development as a Top line player, Can CAR say that?

Caufield has that working to his advantage for sure but he stepped up and took that role , it wasnt handed to him.
He took that role originally beside Toffoli and Suzuki but he solidified it was his beside no one as he's been pushed by MSL Publicly.
MSL was judged for giving Slaf the spots Caufield usually shoots from and he said "1 trick pony's dont last in todays NHL"
MSL went on to say he expects more of him and wants to push him to adapt to all situations.

Your Coach ever make public declarations about Necas being a key player he's investing the same effort in to challenge him like that?
In 2 years time he'll be where Necas is just as a more dominant Goal Scorer

While I think they’re pretty close and as of rn would take Necas, Caufield actually had a better PPG at the same age

Necas age 23: 0.51 PPG
Caufield age 23: 0.75 PPG

Necas age 22: 0.77 PPG
Caufield age 22: 0.78 PPG

Necas age 21: 0.56 PPG
Caufield age 21: 0.64 PPG

In pace and ppg, Caufield smokes Necas

Ah yes the better ppg at the same age.

Necas ppg at 20 : 0,56

Caufield ppg at 20 : 0.64

Necas ppg at 21 : 0.77

Caufield ppg at 21 : 0.78

Necas ppg at 22 : 0.51

Caufield ppg at 22 : 0.75


Not only are you wrong, but by quite a lot (except the second year, where the difference is pretty much nothing)

I think Necas is great but i just dont see him fitting in
What we need is either Monahan or Toffoli back for 1-2 years or both.
Or go after McBain in ARZ and or Torpochenko in STL to give MTL a solid 3rd line to create space for the other lines.
McBain and Torpochenko whether you play them with Armia, Anderson or Dach next year that 3rd line will be a hard hitting line with some speed to it to go with their size.
They're players at the right age that play the right style that MTL can build up while the youth develop

If we make those moves we wont have to give up a roster player we dont want to in order to make a deal.
Both players are good but not that good. More of a high draft pick and a prospect or something along the lines of that base package.

Necas is great i just dont see how he's a fit , even though i really want him to be... i just dont see it

I think he would be a great fit with Dach, but I don’t think he is necessary. I really like McBain. I feel he could be a solid 2c and become a 60 pts player a la Hagel.

Another option is Holtz, who shouldn’t cost that much more than what we paid for Newhook and could bring some necessary scoring into the team.

Montreal’s have 2 needs rn. 1 is secondary scoring, and with Mesar, Beck, Heineman, etc. coming up and the addition of a player like McBain or Holtz, we’ll be good. 2 is a superstar 90 pts forward. I love Suzuki but ideally, he is our second or third best player. This issue can easily be resolved with a good first round pick. Celebrini, Demidov or Catton would be ideal. If not, Lindstrom, Eiserman, Igilna, Helenius and Connelly have that potential, but the likelyhood of that happenning is lower

Suzuki's Capable and consistent
As our D becomes more consistent and our Goaltending Tandem gets comfortable together
We'll see Suzuki get better as he has every since year since entering the NHL
Sure sometimes its not by much of a margin but its still constant improvement from a player who's there every game , every year.

I see him more like Bergeron just looking for his Krejci to back him up on 2nd C
Monahan's a great interim Middle 6 guy but long term not the answer
Mcbain though has all the intangibles that make him a real good fit which is why Hughes was trying to sign him so hard after his NCAA stint

On a 4 line team with Slaf, Caufield, Dach,Newhook, Roy stepping up and Beck, Mesar, Kapanen and possibly even F.Xhekaj stealing a spot at Camp ... MTL has a lot of irons in the fire.
If half those later 4 break through we're sitting pretty and Florian Xhekaj is having himself a coming out Party since Switching to Center as he controls the "3rd circle" or "The House".
His size and Projection depending on his finish in this years playoffs there's a real chance he could take that 4th C spot and work his way up over time like Colton Sissons did.


All that said we dont have a Holtz or a Mcbain
Either would work but if we get Holtz we should re-sign Monahan for Center depth short term
With McBain im a little less concerned about that really and we got tons of wing support even if not many Young RW(that play RW anyways)

I mean Suzuki might not hit 90 this year or even Next
But with whats coming and if he keeps his Ironman streak alive then Statistically the odds are in his favor.
It really depends on our depth being able to handle and shutdown top 6 forward lines though as it will allow MSL to take advantage of Match Ups.
Thats not a Luxury he has now as he will always start Line 1 vs line 1 cause when we dont we get scored on inside 5 minutes in the 1st period.
If he can start getting better match ups i think his nearly a point per game pace takes a boost.

IF only Danault and KK had stayed we'd see by now what he's truly capable of
All that said if we get Demidov or Lidstrom .... holy crap is things gonna get Crazy in MTL for years to come

My guess in that scenario is they’d work out a trade. And then a 1 year bridge ahead of a long term extension would make sense for both sides. Especially if that’s the roster and Habs are trying to win a cup.

2 years until UFA, so, no, not that much.

For 1 year until UFA? Nah.

Agree, makes more sense to work out a deal.

Again, you're ignoring the business side which is the only reason NHL franchises exist. One season of Crosby leaving is millions in revenue leaving with him. FSG isn't doing that without an overpayment.

Pens won’t want to make an enemy out of Sid by disrespecting his wishes. That would be insanely bad business for ownership for the long term. And Sid could wait a year to leave, after the Pens piss him off, and then the Pens get zero on top of an angry Crosby.

When ppl say Caufield is small and that is somehow...this huge disadvantage?... it lets me know they dont understand how physics or the game is played.

Caufield's center of gravity is so low and he's so strong on his skates that he's almost impossible to check in transition and just squirts by you with guys swinging their arms at him then missing continually instead of using a shoulder or hip.
The problem with his size is that he needs someone like a Skafkovsky to fish out pucks.
Caufield as I said is a great piece in the puzzle to complement guys but I wouldn't necessarily start a franchise with him because you need those hard to find pieces like Slafkovsky to complement him. This is team building after all I thought on this site.
Caufield's all time low shooting percentage and league low shooting % among shooters over 200 SOG will correct itself and Cole will be a 40 goal scorer for a decade playing with Nick and Slaf. Hes top10 in shots this year and ill go over 300SOG with the shoulder injury that has clearly effected him. We've seen this before with players like Tarasenko coming off an injury before a bounce back from a shoulder surgery.

NHL orgs. exist to make money. Crosby leaving loses PIT money. Even in a single season. They would be better served keeping him for his last season and letting him leave in UFA than taking a bad deal that costs them money in the short term with no good long term. Unlike fans on here, the money to ownership is real and not monopoly money. So that is a primary factor for teams. Also why PIT and many other teams don't rebuild once their contenting window is closed.

Disagree
It just means Malkin gets more spotlight
Its like EDM when Gretzky left people talked ****
But under Messier they won another Cup (and 3 of them on NYR won another)

Crosby leaving doesnt mean less money
It just means they better sign a star in the off season with his cap if they want to cover Jersey sales
While Malkins , Letangs ,Karlsson,ext would increase
I think PIT from a financial POV could sign Fleury back to a deal and cover Jersey Sales gap short term

PIT has options especially if they have cap after the draft before July 1st when panicking franchises make bad more cheap.
Taking PLD contract from LAK for example could work