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Habs and Habs not offseason primer


yave1964

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2017-18 FINAL RECORD 29-40-13 71 points 26 points out of a playoff spot

 

The year before the Habs were the division winner as Carey Price had one of his finest years and newcomer Shea Weber was a beast. The offseason saw the addition of Jonathan Drouin from the Bolts to fillthe need for a 1C and steady defenseman Alzner came over from the Caps. 

  Nothing worked. Drouin is not a center but more of a winger as is Galchenyuk leaving the wingers confused and without a true playmaker down the middle, Price was injured and ineffective, Pacioretty saw his production slip to a pathetic 17 goals, Weber started as a beast but missed most of the year.Part of the payment for Drouin was defenseman Sergechev who looks like a steal for the Lightning. There is little if any to hang your hat on when it comes to the Canadiens season just past. Oh I guess that you can say Danault is established as a middle six forward but again, he is a winger forced to play center. Gallagher scored 31 goals so there is that. Paul Byron is a nice third liner who scored 20 goals. Hudon and Carr showed promise for bottom six roles.  Victor Mete looks promising but raw on defense.Not much but at least a faint glimmer of hope with these guys.

 

FREE AGENTS

Alex Hemsky is rumored to have been with Montreal last year and is a free agent, he is the only one who is a free agent on the team. 

 

TOP PROSPECTS

Charlie Lindgren was a mixed bag last year in net, Zach Fucale is still considered a decent goalie prospect by some but hasn't shown much if anything. 

Michael McCarron is a decent prospect but has 2 goals in 69 NHL games so in spite of size he probably isn't more than a grind line guy.

Noah Juulsen is probably the teams best prospect as a right handed shot on the blueline with speed and skill. He will stick next year.

Nikita Sherbeck is a scoring winger with 30 points in 26 games at Laval, but he only scored 4 goals in 26 games in the NHL. More suspect than anything at this point.

  In short, the Canadiens are in trouble prospect wise, a solid d-man prospect, a couple of middling goalies and a couple of forwards who havnet produced at the NHL level.

 

OFFSEASON QUESTION MARKS:

 

WHO ARE THE REAL CANADIENS? Two years ago they looked like the real deal, last year they simply sucked. IMHO they have not hit rock bottom yet.

 

SHOULD THEY TRADE PACIORETTY? They are talking about resigning him if possible, he slipped from averaging 36 goals a year over 4 seasons down to 17 last year. He has one more year remaining on his deal at only 4.5 million a year. 

 I like MaxPax, I really do, but he probably should be dealt as should Galchenyuk (if possible) to add pieces such as a top four defenseman and a true 1C or even a 2C. The team is built weird, they are top heavy on the wing with a gaping hole down the middle and an aging slow defense. Pacioretty is their best chip to fill needs.

 

WHAT ABOUT PRICE? He has EIGHT MORE YEARS at 10.5 million per season, nobody in their right mind is going to offer anything for him of close to equal value. He is still a top tier goalie but clearly aging and now on the wrong side of 30. He may be tradable but the Habs would have to eat a large portion of his deal and take back 50 cents on the dollar in value for the cap relief.

  IMHO you have no choice but to ride it out and hope he can stay healthy. A healthy Price is still capable of stealing games and this bad team needs that.

 

UMM, WEBER? I loved Shea Weber during his days with Nashville, what a beast! The problem is he is clearly in decline and has 8 years at just under 8 million a year on his deal.

  They are stuck with him, nobody will consider touching him, they just need to hope he can stay on the ice as much as possible. 

 

ANYONE ELSE? Here is the deal,  guys like Andrew Shaw, Jeff Petry and Karl Alzner are all overpaid underperforming veterans who the Habs would love to get rid of if they can find a taker. Petry may find a new home but they are probably stuck with all of them.

 

 SO TO RECAP, too many vets on long term deals who underperform or who are aging badly or both, no centers, a world class goalie who is now 30. The defense if healthy is decent so if they add a center or two and play a slow tempo game they may be okay, the problem is the game is now all about speed and they are simply not built that way. It is going to get worse before it gets better.

 

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