1) all of our prospects achieve their potential.
2) we don't suffer any major injuries.
3) We draft a franchise offensive superstar this summer.
We'll have a team that is one of the 4 best in the Eastern Conference. However, I don't think it's valid to assume that all 3 of these are going to be true.
Typically, a great number of prospects fail. We typically suffer 1, 2 or 3 major injuries at any given time for several years now, and only half of top-5 picks are home runs. When we drafted Price (grand slam), our second choice was Marc Staal (home run). However, the team might have picked Pouliot if he had been available (ground out into a double play).
Last summer, I posted a thread that Hamrlik-Wisnewski would not easily be replaced by Gorges-Markov. People criticized me -- they said it was safe to assume both Gorges and Markov would play 82 games. You can't assume that. You have to assume a significant fraction of your potential is lost to injuries. It's just not valid to assume we'll be a better team next year with Markov and Gionta. We'll likely have those two players... but then we could lose Pacioretty and Price, or equivalent.
Last edited by DAChampion: 02-28-2012 at 12:46 PM.
We have a lot of nice prospects but few that will be impact players. I see only Beaulieu having a shot at being a top tier prospect.
Looking at players that can be expected to be here in the 2014-15 season (soonest I think we can contend) we have:
Line 1 - Pacioretty, Price, Subban
Line 1/2 - Beaulieu, Cole
Line 2 - Tinordi, Gorges, Plekanec
Line 2/3 - Eller, Emelin, Bourque, Desharnais, Leblanc, Gallagher, Ellis, Kristo, Bennett, Qualier, Nygren
Line 3 - Diaz, Weber, Geoffrion, Bournival, Nash, Holland, Dietz, MacMillan, Pribyl
Line 3/4 - White, Nattinen, Palushaj, Avtsin, Fortier, Engqvist, Pateryn
Line 4 - Schultz, Dumont
Line 4/5 - Conboy, Blunden
You may want to bump players up or down a level but in my eyes, that's how I see it. It is obvious that we need some top line talent. We have good prospects but the majority of them are borderline second line players or worse. Maybe one guy will impress and jump up but we have to plan that they won't.
Price, Subban and Pacioretty should be signed long term ASAP. Give them 5 to 8 year deals to decrease the cap hit if you can. Something like:
Price - Sign long term at 5,6,7,7,7,6,5,4 = 5.875M cap hit
Subban - Sign long term at 3,4,4,5,5 = 4.2M cap hit
Pacioretty - Sign long term at 2.5,3.75,4.5,4.75,5,5 = 4.25M cap hit (JVR contract)
We should also do everything we can to get get Parise and Suter this offseason. Unlikely that we get one, let alone both. But throw ridiculous money at them. Take the plunge and give them a long term deal that will attract other players.
Parise and Suter- 8,8,7.5,7,6,6,5,3 = 6.3M cap hit
You then have two more legitimate first line players and hopefully Yakupov, Grigorenko, Galchenyuk, etc...in the pipeline as another top line player.
ps - I think ultimately Plekanec needs be dealt for futures in order for this team to take the next step. Maybe not this year, but within the next couple of years. Time to get some actual value out of our good players. Stop holding onto them until they are worth nothing.
You also need to remember(and I'm sure you out of all people do) that not many people pegged Pacioretty to be in a position he is in now. I and many others thought he would develop into a good two-way passing complimentary winger. He turned into the opposite: a speedy big-bodied goal scoring forward.
The point is that development is a nebulous thing. One guy starts developing at a rate not expected and it changes the whole pool.
Next year in Hamilton we'll see Leblanc, Kristo, Gallagher, Bournival Tinordi, Ellis, Bennett and hopefully Beaulieu. Like you said, there is good depth here outside of Kristo, Leblanc and Beaulieu, but you never know who's development might take a positive turn.
Also like I said previously, the dent in our prospect pool didn't help when 6 of our best prospects graduated to the nhl last season.
I think the 2008 draft really hurt the prospect pool temporarily. With the high pick this year and the two 2nds along with Timmins at the fore, I'm really not worried(unless they fire Timmins if they they fire the current managemen team).
Do you even remember anything from 2007?, pacioretty was a first rounder, 1 , not some 3rd round pick everyone hopes pans out, now get this, back then, people were saying you can COMPLETELY compare this kid to an erik cole type player, and im not joking, the fact cole is on our team at all for us to compare and see how similar they really are is just coincidence.
They SAID he could be an erik cole, and hes becoming what alot of people HOPED he could become, i really dont see what you thought people hoped he would be? That was smart drafting, the other pick timmins took in that same first round ahead of him, mcdonaugh, and ask everyone how hes doing at the NHL level, regardless of what orginazation hes in.
SK keeps saying people in Nashville are a lot nicer than Montreal in the two interviews I have seen. Are people in Montreal rude or something, or is this guy just a punk filled with bitterness ?.
SK keeps saying people in Nashville are a lot nicer than Montreal in the two interviews I have seen. Are people in Montreal rude or something, or is this guy just a punk filled with bitterness ?.
Yeah, I'm sure he just loved what was written about him in the papers and what was said about him on TV.
Looks more like the people given the pens and the mics in Nashville aren't for the most part pompous douchers.
SK keeps saying people in Nashville are a lot nicer than Montreal in the two interviews I have seen. Are people in Montreal rude or something, or is this guy just a punk filled with bitterness ?.
Saying people are nicer doesn't mean everyone else isn't. I've never been to Nashville, I can't comment on their general politeness.
Do you even remember anything from 2007?, pacioretty was a first rounder, 1 , not some 3rd round pick everyone hopes pans out, now get this, back then, people were saying you can COMPLETELY compare this kid to an erik cole type player, and im not joking, the fact cole is on our team at all for us to compare and see how similar they really are is just coincidence.
They SAID he could be an erik cole, and hes becoming what alot of people HOPED he could become, i really dont see what you thought people hoped he would be? That was smart drafting, the other pick timmins took in that same first round ahead of him, mcdonaugh, and ask everyone how hes doing at the NHL level, regardless of what orginazation hes in.
Trust the guy.
I remember 2007, but do you remember the beginning of last season? Very few on this board thought he was going to be an nhl player and there are threads to prove it.
Like I said, you never know the develoment path a player will take. Pacioretty was never much of a goal scorer in the ahl and just suddenly exploded. I remember he would rarely even take any shots early on.
Never been to Nashville but there's that southern politeness stereotype that might be true. Plus people aren't obsessed with hockey there which means less unwanted attention.
And of course no cancerous media to make said hockey obsessed population think he's some sort of mafia gangster.
SK keeps saying people in Nashville are a lot nicer than Montreal in the two interviews I have seen. Are people in Montreal rude or something, or is this guy just a punk filled with bitterness ?.
This is part of the culture of American Southerners. Good manners and hospitality were(and apparently still are) emphasized as very important in everyday conduct. Of course, it is weaker now, but still there.
Saying people are nicer doesn't mean everyone else isn't. I've never been to Nashville, I can't comment on their general politeness.
I guess he meant it in a hockey related way, media. The guys interviewing PG yesterday were cupcakes. I don't think the media is as tough as they used to be. Papers and talk shows are a different thing.
I've been a long time habs fan but today is a sad day for me after seeing Hal Gills interview about AK. 5 years ago we had a top rated farm team and prospect pool and today we are back to the Houle Tremblay era and looks to me like a long way to get back to where we were. I have little or no faith in the current management team and the with the press and their epectations of habs players I can't see how it will ever get any better.
Price, Subban, Pacio, Eller, Pleks, Derharnais, Beaulieu, etc. is FAR from sad.
This is part of the culture of American Southerners. Good manners and hospitality were(and apparently still are) emphasized as very important in everyday conduct. Of course, it is weaker now, but still there.
It's not like people was spitting in his face on the street in Montreal. If anything I remember seeing Sergei in the stands when I went to see the World Championship in Quebec city and he had hired bodyguards and he sent the word outthere he didn't want to be disturbed. Guy acted like a primadonna.
