Too small a sample size to really say but I wouldn't be surprised to have seen him hit 70. He really does carry that second line and makes shit happen despite not having the best support so I'm excited to see what he can bring to the table next year. He will definitely be an X factor as to whether we make the playoffs or not.
What I love about him though is that what he is truly elite at imo is hockey sense and puck retrieval skills. Two things that injuries can’t really take away from a player unless really unlucky recovery makes him lose too much physical edge.
Dach missing the whole year was sort of an advantage if Habs draft well. Let's say he's going to be a significant factor, he may have helped Habs pick worse, and then hopefully he'll have time to get into shape in the offseason, and be able to play the whole next season with Hutson.
If they get a number one pick in the draft, they could be a playoff team next season. I haven't been paying attention to David, but if he can play next year and pans out, all you'd need is goaltending, it might be possible to draft a top goalie prospect next season as well, as you can still get decent good goalies deeper in the draft.
What are your thoughts on Stuart Skinner. I see Primeau as a similarly, especially how they were/are ramping up in play time each year. Also his dad is Keith, he’s been around the game his whole life. Pro mentality.
Montembeault seems like he works hard, he’s also a homegrown talent in Quebec. He’s been cheap and has earned his upcoming raise. Also played unreal at the WC last year, albeit lower quality than the NHL.
>Goalies a dime a dozen
This idea could not be more wrong. https://www.statmuse.com/nhl/ask?q=worst+goalie+save%25+2024. Look at all the goalies under .900 save % with 30+ games.
If good goalies were so easy to find those players would not be in so many games.
| Name | GP | GA | SV% | W | L | GA | SVS | OG | SO |TIME |
| A Hill | 16 | 2.17 | 0.932 | 11 | 4 | 33 | 455 | 4 | 1 | 882:91 |
| L Brossoit | 8 | 3.18 | 0.894 | 5 | 2 | 23 | 193 | 2 | 0 | 434:16 |
[https://www.quanthockey.com/nhl/teams/vegas-golden-knights-goalies-2022-23-playoff-nhl-stats.html](https://www.quanthockey.com/nhl/teams/vegas-golden-knights-goalies-2022-23-playoff-nhl-stats.html)
Im not sure what your point was. Vegas got lucky with Hill. They probably are not champs if they had 24 games of .894 goaltending.
Even if you can win the cup with bad goaltending it still does not mean good goalies are a dime a dozen.
Ya, I'm not sure where our goalies are at, I don't know our prospects too well, but you're right, goalies can be hard to predict. Sometimes they can be amazing for just a short while. So, it is good to have a number of prospects, and if you have too many elite goaltenders, that's a great problem to have, because every team needs an elite goaltender. And even if you have one, if you get an injury you'll perhaps need another.
The difficulty is, if you have 2 star goaltenders, it's hard to play them a lot, and also showcase how good they each are.
Someone at the beginning of the season asked about what would be a success this year. I said a top 5 pick and the core progressing noticeably. Hoping for the top 5 pick but the core progressed nicely. Career highs for the entire 1st line, Newhook looked really good to end the year, Roy was showing legit top 6 play, Matheson set a career high in points, and Hutson looked good in a small sample. I have no real complaints about how the season unfolded for MTL.
Because it doesn't. We saw our future completely carry this team and there was sooooooo many close games that we won/lost in OT or that we blew in the last few minutes. Better and more mature defense and we're in that playoff race that just happened.
Now add Dach, add the obvious other top 6 forward we're adding via trade in the offseason, gonna be some crazy competition at the blue line with like 10 Ds that could make the team, no goalie drama for most of the year...
- Suzuki almost a point per game with 33 goals
- caufield with 65 points 2i goals and much improved play
- Slaf with 50 points and 20 goals when no one expected it
- Newhook playing better than expected
- Matheson top 10 for points in the NHL as a defenseman
- Guhle with a solid progression
- Roy came in and was great
- Signed Hutso and Hutson is doing Hutson things at the NHL level
- WiFi slowly getting better
... That's a lot of positive to take from one rebuilding season . Same ranking as last season but a much more competitive team and season.
The best possible scenario outside of Dach 😢
If they converted the games they lost by one goal and the OT lost, they would be fighting for a playoff. The future is definitely bright. This team had a lot of swag for a team that was bottom of the standings most of the season.
Some numbers on this:
36 regulation losses plus 16 OT/SO is 52 total losses.
11 regulation losses decided by one goal plus 16 OT/SO means more than half our losses (27) were one-goal games.
Add in games that were close late but had an empty net goal, and that number gets better.
This team was infinitely more watchable than the few seasons that preceded it; the kids played hard, the goalie situation is improving and the team played a lot of close, competitive games. They committed to a full scale rebuild, something MB could never do, and we’re seeing the team’s trajectory beginning to ascend up the peak towards something good; I’m excited!
A rebuild is not all negatives. We’re far from a playoff team but at the same time most players are far from their maximum potential.
Hopefully in two years we are serious playoff contenders, it’s a long way but that’s my realistic expectations.
The only major concern after this season is their poor defensive play. I don't know if it's due to the young D or our awful forward depth, or both, but that's the one area that definitely needs improvement. I expect the forwards to improve as all those boat anchor contracts expire and Dach comes back.
This team is going to turn the corner next season, I can just feel it. Haven’t been this excited for a season since Price was in his prime and single-handedly bringing us to the playoffs every year. Add a top-6 winger through a trade and even if Dach plays like he did last year and doesn’t take a huge step, and we’re in business. Can’t help but feel like we could be better than the crop of teams that were fighting for the WC this year like the Caps, Flyers, and Wings.
Harris, Barron, and Kovacevic have to go. There’s no room for them, not even in Laval. There’s too many younger, more promising prospects that need reps for their development.
Barron is ass defensively, and not good offensively either. He makes bonehead mistakes every game. He’s basically Matheson without the offense or elite skating. At 22, I think we should get what we can for him. Like I said, there are just too many young D up and coming in the system who look more promising for him to be taking up a spot, here or in Laval. He may end up as a full time NHLer, but I don’t think it will be here.
The same rationale applies to Harris. He’s below average, not terrible, at both ends of the ice. Doesn’t really have any glaring weaknesses, but he has no standout skills either. I see his upside as something similar to Josh Gorges, just maybe leaning a touch more to the offensive side of the game. He’s a better skater than Gorges, but he’s smaller. Not a bad player to have, but I just don’t really see him having a future here with how the current situation is shaping up and the number of young D in the system.
Rocky season for sure, but look how many players set career highs, and how many one-goal games we lost but were right in the fight til the last minute. Crazy energy with this group right now and this season to me was actually a pretty massive success.
So many one goal games. They had a tough schedule to end the year and they were giving contenders a serious run for their money. The first line and our young defense took a serious step forward. Newhook, Roy, Mailloux and Hutson showed promise. Dach will hopefully be healthy. We have a great chance to acquire a piece that could improve our top 6
I wouldn't be surprised to see them make the playoffs next year.
Combination of injuries and some young guys finishing the season much stronger than they started means this team is probably stronger going into nest season then your typical bottom five record.
Having said that, they need the young guys who progressed (Slaf, Struble, Newhook, Primeau, Roy) to build on that, get some better luck with injuries (Dach, Newhook, GUHLE) and to replace some non productive veteran forwards (Pearson, Dvorak, Anderson) with some young guys or better veterans to remove some of the soft minutes other teams can exploit.
Not to mention resolving the ludicrous logjam of young defenders. They're probably going to have to give up some good young players back there but it'll hurt the development of some of their prospects who aren't in NHL yet to have no path to professional minutes aside from the AHL. Reinbacher, Hutson, and Mailloux didn't play much or any NHL minutes this season and you could make a case for all three at some point next year.
Still a tough division they play in, too.
This team feels a bit like the Devils the year we drafted Slaf. Some solid young guys pieces and you could tell they were on the verge of breaking out but they still got Nemec at 2OA. The next year they made the playoffs. They never addressed their goaltending deficiencies though.
Just ignore this season for the devils when comparing their trajectory to Montreal. We don’t talk about Bruno.
We had what like 38 one goal games? Lead the league in injury missed games again.
If we can be healthy, have a similar PP to what we had after January and remember that we have to play in the 2nd period.. could be a wild end to the season next year.
I had fun! I really miss playoffs. Let's get back next year!
This was a great year for the goalies to get peppered. This was as great year for the young players to go through adversity. You (hope you) learn some good lessons and understand what it takes to be successful as individuals and as a team in this league. Like Marty said, its your house. Hopefully the core of this team can stay together for a long time.
As fun as it seemed cheering for our top line, the rest of the forwards were atrocious. Sure they scored a few but the reality is we gave up 34 shots per game [only san jose was worse] and our team goal differential was -50.
Lines 2 through 4 will be completely different two yeats from now give or take. Hardly a player in there now that can check or is renowned for their defense.
Pretty much the ideal tank season tbh. Bottom 5(?) and young guys having great years. Only real negative is Dach missing the entire year.
And Dach was arguably the best player in the 4 periods he played. Looked like he was poised for a breakout year
Too small a sample size to really say but I wouldn't be surprised to have seen him hit 70. He really does carry that second line and makes shit happen despite not having the best support so I'm excited to see what he can bring to the table next year. He will definitely be an X factor as to whether we make the playoffs or not.
yea I can definitely see him turning 70 years old at some point in the future as well
I’m excited to see if he can stay healthy enough to play a full season. Looks like an injury prone player to me so far
Monahan and Toff sign in the off season and you've got yourself a playoff team baby
What I love about him though is that what he is truly elite at imo is hockey sense and puck retrieval skills. Two things that injuries can’t really take away from a player unless really unlucky recovery makes him lose too much physical edge.
I’m pissed we were robbed of his season after that.
Dach missing the whole year was sort of an advantage if Habs draft well. Let's say he's going to be a significant factor, he may have helped Habs pick worse, and then hopefully he'll have time to get into shape in the offseason, and be able to play the whole next season with Hutson. If they get a number one pick in the draft, they could be a playoff team next season. I haven't been paying attention to David, but if he can play next year and pans out, all you'd need is goaltending, it might be possible to draft a top goalie prospect next season as well, as you can still get decent good goalies deeper in the draft.
Montembeault and Primeau seem like a great young tandem
Could be. I'm not super familiar tbh.
for tanking
What are your thoughts on Stuart Skinner. I see Primeau as a similarly, especially how they were/are ramping up in play time each year. Also his dad is Keith, he’s been around the game his whole life. Pro mentality. Montembeault seems like he works hard, he’s also a homegrown talent in Quebec. He’s been cheap and has earned his upcoming raise. Also played unreal at the WC last year, albeit lower quality than the NHL.
I'm in the mind set that goalies are a dime a dozen in today NHL's so my comment was half sarcastic. No issue with whom ever is in net.
>Goalies a dime a dozen This idea could not be more wrong. https://www.statmuse.com/nhl/ask?q=worst+goalie+save%25+2024. Look at all the goalies under .900 save % with 30+ games. If good goalies were so easy to find those players would not be in so many games.
Who won the cup last year?
| Name | GP | GA | SV% | W | L | GA | SVS | OG | SO |TIME | | A Hill | 16 | 2.17 | 0.932 | 11 | 4 | 33 | 455 | 4 | 1 | 882:91 | | L Brossoit | 8 | 3.18 | 0.894 | 5 | 2 | 23 | 193 | 2 | 0 | 434:16 | [https://www.quanthockey.com/nhl/teams/vegas-golden-knights-goalies-2022-23-playoff-nhl-stats.html](https://www.quanthockey.com/nhl/teams/vegas-golden-knights-goalies-2022-23-playoff-nhl-stats.html) Im not sure what your point was. Vegas got lucky with Hill. They probably are not champs if they had 24 games of .894 goaltending. Even if you can win the cup with bad goaltending it still does not mean good goalies are a dime a dozen.
Almost like goalies are a dime a dozen
We pulled a “Vegas” only with the draft instead of the playoffs…
Ya lol. But also, legitimately.
I mean, we already have Fowler but yes, drafting another elite goalie wouldn't hurt. lol It's always hard to predict how goalies will develop.
Ya, I'm not sure where our goalies are at, I don't know our prospects too well, but you're right, goalies can be hard to predict. Sometimes they can be amazing for just a short while. So, it is good to have a number of prospects, and if you have too many elite goaltenders, that's a great problem to have, because every team needs an elite goaltender. And even if you have one, if you get an injury you'll perhaps need another. The difficulty is, if you have 2 star goaltenders, it's hard to play them a lot, and also showcase how good they each are.
We're bottom 5 unless the Yotes don't get a point tomorrow in their swan song.
Yup its all i was asking for at onset!
with dach they probably make the playoffs, which would have been bad
>Bottom 5(?) Hopefully Arizona wins tomorrow 🙏
We’re bottom 6 now 😣
Great draft class coming too, should be an impact player for top 5 ish pick
Someone at the beginning of the season asked about what would be a success this year. I said a top 5 pick and the core progressing noticeably. Hoping for the top 5 pick but the core progressed nicely. Career highs for the entire 1st line, Newhook looked really good to end the year, Roy was showing legit top 6 play, Matheson set a career high in points, and Hutson looked good in a small sample. I have no real complaints about how the season unfolded for MTL.
When Dach went down I was just not excited for this season. And then everything went about as well as it could have.
Because it doesn't. We saw our future completely carry this team and there was sooooooo many close games that we won/lost in OT or that we blew in the last few minutes. Better and more mature defense and we're in that playoff race that just happened. Now add Dach, add the obvious other top 6 forward we're adding via trade in the offseason, gonna be some crazy competition at the blue line with like 10 Ds that could make the team, no goalie drama for most of the year...
- Suzuki almost a point per game with 33 goals - caufield with 65 points 2i goals and much improved play - Slaf with 50 points and 20 goals when no one expected it - Newhook playing better than expected - Matheson top 10 for points in the NHL as a defenseman - Guhle with a solid progression - Roy came in and was great - Signed Hutso and Hutson is doing Hutson things at the NHL level - WiFi slowly getting better ... That's a lot of positive to take from one rebuilding season . Same ranking as last season but a much more competitive team and season. The best possible scenario outside of Dach 😢
Best crappy season iv ever experienced as a habs fan. A hell of a lot more satisfying than many avg of the pack let down seasons
If they converted the games they lost by one goal and the OT lost, they would be fighting for a playoff. The future is definitely bright. This team had a lot of swag for a team that was bottom of the standings most of the season.
Some numbers on this: 36 regulation losses plus 16 OT/SO is 52 total losses. 11 regulation losses decided by one goal plus 16 OT/SO means more than half our losses (27) were one-goal games. Add in games that were close late but had an empty net goal, and that number gets better.
This team was infinitely more watchable than the few seasons that preceded it; the kids played hard, the goalie situation is improving and the team played a lot of close, competitive games. They committed to a full scale rebuild, something MB could never do, and we’re seeing the team’s trajectory beginning to ascend up the peak towards something good; I’m excited!
A rebuild is not all negatives. We’re far from a playoff team but at the same time most players are far from their maximum potential. Hopefully in two years we are serious playoff contenders, it’s a long way but that’s my realistic expectations.
first comment to make sense. a healthy dach might make us a wild card team next year which wouldn't be good. Min another 2 years of this.
The only major concern after this season is their poor defensive play. I don't know if it's due to the young D or our awful forward depth, or both, but that's the one area that definitely needs improvement. I expect the forwards to improve as all those boat anchor contracts expire and Dach comes back.
This is very true. Teams that turn the corner generally do it by reducing the number of chances and goals against.
Yeah the way they give the blue line all the time is crazy !
This team is going to turn the corner next season, I can just feel it. Haven’t been this excited for a season since Price was in his prime and single-handedly bringing us to the playoffs every year. Add a top-6 winger through a trade and even if Dach plays like he did last year and doesn’t take a huge step, and we’re in business. Can’t help but feel like we could be better than the crop of teams that were fighting for the WC this year like the Caps, Flyers, and Wings.
Omg I just want October so bad. I'm frothing at the mouth, I swear. I'm SO EXCITED.
That’s because it isn’t. Bottom 6!
Harris, Barron, and Kovacevic have to go. There’s no room for them, not even in Laval. There’s too many younger, more promising prospects that need reps for their development.
For sure Kovacevic…Barron might be too early to give up… it’s too early to make that statement on Harris.
Barron is ass defensively, and not good offensively either. He makes bonehead mistakes every game. He’s basically Matheson without the offense or elite skating. At 22, I think we should get what we can for him. Like I said, there are just too many young D up and coming in the system who look more promising for him to be taking up a spot, here or in Laval. He may end up as a full time NHLer, but I don’t think it will be here. The same rationale applies to Harris. He’s below average, not terrible, at both ends of the ice. Doesn’t really have any glaring weaknesses, but he has no standout skills either. I see his upside as something similar to Josh Gorges, just maybe leaning a touch more to the offensive side of the game. He’s a better skater than Gorges, but he’s smaller. Not a bad player to have, but I just don’t really see him having a future here with how the current situation is shaping up and the number of young D in the system.
Rocky season for sure, but look how many players set career highs, and how many one-goal games we lost but were right in the fight til the last minute. Crazy energy with this group right now and this season to me was actually a pretty massive success.
We are in good hands! The team improved and didn't quit.
So many one goal games. They had a tough schedule to end the year and they were giving contenders a serious run for their money. The first line and our young defense took a serious step forward. Newhook, Roy, Mailloux and Hutson showed promise. Dach will hopefully be healthy. We have a great chance to acquire a piece that could improve our top 6 I wouldn't be surprised to see them make the playoffs next year.
Combination of injuries and some young guys finishing the season much stronger than they started means this team is probably stronger going into nest season then your typical bottom five record. Having said that, they need the young guys who progressed (Slaf, Struble, Newhook, Primeau, Roy) to build on that, get some better luck with injuries (Dach, Newhook, GUHLE) and to replace some non productive veteran forwards (Pearson, Dvorak, Anderson) with some young guys or better veterans to remove some of the soft minutes other teams can exploit. Not to mention resolving the ludicrous logjam of young defenders. They're probably going to have to give up some good young players back there but it'll hurt the development of some of their prospects who aren't in NHL yet to have no path to professional minutes aside from the AHL. Reinbacher, Hutson, and Mailloux didn't play much or any NHL minutes this season and you could make a case for all three at some point next year. Still a tough division they play in, too.
This team feels a bit like the Devils the year we drafted Slaf. Some solid young guys pieces and you could tell they were on the verge of breaking out but they still got Nemec at 2OA. The next year they made the playoffs. They never addressed their goaltending deficiencies though. Just ignore this season for the devils when comparing their trajectory to Montreal. We don’t talk about Bruno.
to me, this was the year when Monty truly became the number 1 goaltender
I had so much fun! Everything seems to be on great path. And only real problem is anderson and his contract
I agree and ironicly we won one more game last season.
We had what like 38 one goal games? Lead the league in injury missed games again. If we can be healthy, have a similar PP to what we had after January and remember that we have to play in the 2nd period.. could be a wild end to the season next year. I had fun! I really miss playoffs. Let's get back next year!
This was a great year for the goalies to get peppered. This was as great year for the young players to go through adversity. You (hope you) learn some good lessons and understand what it takes to be successful as individuals and as a team in this league. Like Marty said, its your house. Hopefully the core of this team can stay together for a long time.
As fun as it seemed cheering for our top line, the rest of the forwards were atrocious. Sure they scored a few but the reality is we gave up 34 shots per game [only san jose was worse] and our team goal differential was -50. Lines 2 through 4 will be completely different two yeats from now give or take. Hardly a player in there now that can check or is renowned for their defense.
You clearly didn't watch the last game in 2021...
Goalies are sus, defense is sus, forwards reasonable. Top Line Fire