@Kotkaniemi15 @SevenLeg @GMs @math731 @Blazingbat11 @Campabee @MaxDomi13 @F50marco @Suzuki14 @Howisbergevinstillhere @Bigphil @CLR @DriveFor25 @MTLaveragefan @ColonelX @HabsForEver

A follow up to the one @Kotkaniemi15 posted earlier, since our draft position changed
IMO most of these options are good and realistic, what do you think we should do?

I voted move up but I think only as far as 5-10th and try to lane either Perfetti or Holtz for added scoring. We are loaded with playmakers and need goal scoring

I'm of the mindset that you always draft best player available barring very obvious situations. At 16th its virtually impossible to know who will be available. IMO no point moving up in the draft unless its in the top 12 and that's going to be too pricey. Anything after 12th is as good as 16th so its pointless. Realistically looking at what MB is probably gonna want to do this offseason, I think I'm not opposed to trading the pick outright. I wouldn't but based on what MB is probably gonna do anyway, might as well trade it in a package for the right player.

trade the pick for immediate help or in a way bigger package for first OA (which could also means trading up)

Can’t think of any team ahead that would trade down to acquire picks. If we trade 16 it should be a part of a big deal, maybe domi and 16 for a legit talent. As for my order at 16:
Jarvis(highest talent, reminds me so much of marner and barzal) he could be a huge piece moving forward.
Holloway(big, physical, 200 foot player, he became a leader of Wisconsin as one of the youngest in the league)
Mercer(amazing hands, high end offensive potential who can play solid d)
Schneider(very strong/physical shut down d)
Foerster/perrault( a bit of a reach but both could be high end scorers)
Anyone else and I’d be pissed

I hope to heaven and back that we don’t take Askarov, but Bergevin and Timmins have implied it’s a possibility
My ideal scenario(hence my user flair) is to trade down and take Foerster, and hopefully get Jake Neighbours with the second we’ll acquire. I’m also up for packaging our pick with Domi for Laffy or a high end talent.
I think what Berge will do is take a conservative approach and take whoever falls. It’s not a bad strategy, and we could end up with a steal

Jarvis Quinn won't be there at 16th. The choice will be Holloway Mercer Gunler Perreault Bourque Guhle Schneider probably, MTL really likes Mavrick Bourque from what we heard. @Howisbergevinstillhere I wouldn't mind Mavrick Bourque, I heard good things about him but personally I can't judge him, he's a prospect I never saw play ( gonna watch some highlights tonight ). Holloway isn't good enough offensively to be taken 16th OA IMO but he's what we need, big body can play any position. I wouldn't draft Guhle because we have Romanov Norlinder Struble Harris and Schneider is a Juulsen 2.0, not the RHD needed to replace Weber Petry later. Guess it would be between Mercer Bourque, hopefully we don't miss for that pick

I wouldn’t touch gunler or bourque. Holloway actually has a lot of offensive talent. Look at his last 10 games, 4g5a which is very good production especially for a draft eligible player.

My strategy would be draft BPA at 16 and try to acquire other 1st Round picks by trading Tatar/Domi. Use cap space of those trade this year (Hall, Dadonov) or next year (dreaming) ovy? Haha

My list would be:

The Obvious Top 12 Players
1. Jarvis
2. Holloway
3. Mercer

Then it drops off a bit IMO. I really hope (and I think it’s likely) that Guhle and Schneider are picked before 16th. I also hope (and don’t think) that Askarov doesn’t drop.

Trading up is unrealistic, and trading down doesn’t make sense. I wouldn’t be opposed to trading the pick outright, but only for the right return.

At 16 I do not move (Up or down), end of discussion. We don't need to trade down because of our plethora of existing picks and do not need to trade up if it isn't inside the top 8 which would/should cost too much. Where I do not agree with some is that the pick shouldn't be traded for immediate help because we're going in our third and final year of the retool and we all know MB has stuck to it through storms for a long time and I don't see him changing his mind.
As far as who to pick at 16, as mentioned by F50marco we can't really know who's on the the board but if I'm looking at teams ahead and their needs or what they usually do you can guess (Everyone knew Knight was going to be a Panthers before the draft). Odds that Toronto takes a RD (Schneider/Barron) are around 95% and I'm safe on this prediction, 5% left could be on a LW. Odds of Edmonton taking a center, about 0% but a winger makes tons of sense, then we can go on and on about each team.
I've said it many times, Holloway to me feels like a copy paste of Poehling, a big bodied C/LW with good offense at his level and leadership skills. It's not a knock on him but if we grab him I think Poehling day's are numbered. Jarvis' would be a boom-or-bust pick as would be Lapierre and Barron.
Now who would I grab? I personally think that some GMs will take in consideration the league the prospect will play in 2020-21 and that it might push the Europeans up the board and NCAA prospects lower because of the stability of the leagues and the effects it could have on high/middle tier prospects. I'm taking McKenzie's board to see who ''should'' be on the board at 16.
1. Schneider (I know Toronto takes him doe)
2. Reichel
3. Jarvis
4. Holloway

Wtf! Reichel ahead of Jarvis and Holloway.

Am I crazy in thinking that if Askarov drops to 16.... Habs take the Goalie? If we follow the “best player available” mentality, that’s the obvious choice, no?

Could always use him as a trade asset, or it at least makes Primeau expendable to move.

Gms don’t actually use best player available usually.
That being said I’ve thought hard about this one. You take a potential stud goalie and keep him in Russia and maybe like Igor in New York he comes over at 24 which would be about 6 years from now and is a beast right away and replaces price. Or he takes 3 or 4 years and is the back up to price and learns while maybe playing 32 or even a clean 40/40 split depending on how price is in 3 or 4 years. You can then finish out the price deal by ltir or just an expensive backup that gets cancelled out by askarov being cheap. Now we get to the other part which is passing up on Jarvis,bHolloway and Mercer. They should be impact players before askarov and your adding a good forward to the young core of kk, Suzuki, and caufield(not counting Romanov because he’s a d, and domi and drouin are uncertain futures). We don’t necessarily need askarov as we have primeau. So are you almost wasting a pick?Or are you getting a better goalie and then trading primeau for something good when askarov is ready?How do you skip on a talent like the three above for a position that you don’t need now or in the future?

IMO, MTL's top priority over the next couple of drafts should be to prepare for post-Price era. Primeau has been a steady riser since his draft day, but he still hasn't convinced seasoned talent evaluators (Pronman, Wheeler, Button) that he's elite-level material. One can argue that goalie prospects trajectoires are unpredictable, but at the end of the day there's only one starting goalie on the team, and if he's not rock solid you better have a heck of a team in front of him to outscore the opponent.

Based on the current state of the franchise, one could argue that 4-5 years from now MTL will have 4 maybe 5 elite-level skaters - Suzuki, KK, Caufield, Romanov and maybe Norlinder. Will that be enough to convince MB to get away from the goalie-based team building we've been witnessing since he took over? I doubt it. In fact, I'm willing to bet that he's got "adding a top-ranked goalie to the prospect pipe" as a priority on his agenda. If Askarov falls at 16, I don't see MB passing on him.

Really interesting,
It’s funny because I was always really excited about primeau but when I saw him live he looked odd. I’m not sure why but he didn’t look like “the guy”, even with his great numbers. You said get away from a “goalie-based” team. Not quite sure what that means? You should always be strong at every position. It does make you wonder how he views primeau. Also age might be a factor as askarov is 3 years younger than primeau. That being said, no matter who you pick; your adding high end talent for the future. Wether it’s Jarvis, Holloway or Mercer as top 6 forwards or its askarov as a top end starting goalie. It’ll be an interesting month or so leading up to the draft

Thanks. By goalie-based team, I mean that having Price on the roster has clearly set the tone for MB's roster building decisions since he took over. He's shying away from an allout rebuild and he's saying things like "when you get in the playoffs, anything can happen" because he knows his starting goalie is dominant at times, and that its just a matter of Price getting hot at the right time to make a push for a cup run. That's also why I think he's not stripping the team for higher chances of landing cornerstone skaters; as long as there's just enough scoring power in front of him, any year could be "the year".

The more I look into it, honestly, after about pick 11-12, there’s a prey big drop, then not that much difference from 13 to about 22-23 imo. So unless someone drops from that top 12 to 16 (I doubt it), which includes Askarov, I can see plenty of different scenarios.

1. Habs use the boatload of picks they have to trade into the top 12. (To go after Quinn or Sanderson)
2. Habs trade down in the 1st to get more 2nd’s. I can see this being realistic if the Habs have a specific prospect they are targeting that is projected as a late 1st (Foerster, Wallinder) and they try and get more “darts” to land sleeper prospects in the 2nd rd. Habs then can spend most of their late picks (4th to 7th rd’s) on depth or package trades.
3. Trade 16th overall to improve roster now. Either trading it on its own or packaging it with something else (Domi).
4. Use the pick and take the best player available. (Holloway, Gunler, Mercer)

12