Équipe: 2022-23 Canadiens de Montréal

Date de création initiale: 28 juin 2022

Publié: 1 juill. 2022

Mode - plafond salarial: Basique

After a season which saw the habs cruise to the SCF, the team would then find themselves dead last in the league just the next season. Although this may seem abysmal, additions of MSL, Jeff Gorton and Kent Hughes have seemed to really turn around this franchise. They have a couple of peices to move, and just need to press that reset button a very little bit, and look to contend no later than 2024-25.

To start off, I have signed re-upped multiple depth peices on cheap deals. Pezzetta and Scheuneman were some big surprise players for me, and could surprise more this year.
I then re up Rem Pitlick and Romanov, two guys whos play I really liked last year. Pitlick has the speed and the offensive skillset that absolutely matches up with this team, and an energy line that has Pitlick-Evans-Anderson gets me super excited. Romanov has the awesome hard noseness that is so well suited on this team, reminds me of Emelin. I could see him with this team well passed the bridge deal I gave him.
I have also given Primeau two-years. I would definitely be lying if I said I hadnt started to give up on Primeau, but I think he proved again in the AHL playoffs that he has talent, but still struggles to transfer that to the NHL. This is a good opportunity for Primeau to prove himself. He will possibly be given some time as backup at the start of the season with Price as a question mark, and if he struggles there he can get back down to Laval where he has had success. The habs can be patient with him. I have also done a trade and sign with Dipietro, have a look at my trade explanation for more details there.

I have also decided to draft Wright. Honestly, I have no clue what we are going to do here. Off of pure skill, I have Slafkovsky RIGHT NOW, but in 3-5 years times (which is more what the habs should be worried about) Im not sure if thats still the case. I prefer the skillset of Slafkovsky and honestly prefer him as a player, but I think a 1-2 punch of Suzuki-Wright may be too hard to pass up on. Post draft I will be remaking this and I look forward to seeing which way they decide to go.

My first trade is Jeff Petry. I have him going to dallas in return for Ty Dellandrea and Dallas' 2022 2nd Round Pick. Some people may go straight to calling me crazy for this, so hear me out. A guy like Petry has a lot of value in the market right now in my opinion. Of course not as much as if he wasnt abysmal in the first portion of the year, but Petry is a guy who has proven to be a reliable top 4 d for the last several years, and had a great breakout last year. Undoubtedly, he was awful in the first part of the year, but if he ahd played like he had in the last portion of the year, this could be a very different package. Definitely recency bias, but I personally like this package. A mid 2nd rounder, and a former first round pick who has struggled to find his place in Dallas, for Petry at a 50% reduced contract, why not?

Then I have Drouin to ANA in exchange for PIT's 2022 2nd Round Pick (53rd Overall). I personally still see a lot in Drouin, probably more than most, so maybe he isnt worth a low 2nd but Im sticking with it at the moment. I like his fit with ANA. He will fit great in the middle 6, and if he can finally get that breakout season with ANA, then he will most definitely get pkaying time on the first line. As much as I would love to keep giving the guy chances, he simply deserves a better opportunity and a change of scenery. It will be nice for the habs to get that cap off the books as well. I could see the habs trading him for a high second somewhere else though that will mean they will likely have to retain 50% or at least close to that. I could see Colorado as a fit since him and Mack played together in the Q. I dont see this trade as a necessity for Montreal, but more of a necessity for Drouin.

Mike Hoffman is one of the musts to get rid of in my opinion. He is abysmal defensively, and about all he can do is score. He plays lazy and I hate players like that. Trade him for whatever we can get. I see Buffalo as a possible suiter as they are definitely looking for options in a middle 6 wing position, and I see Hoffman fitting fairly well. The full trade is Hoffman and the 26th overall pick this year (via CGY) to Buffalo for the 16th overall pick and the 74th overall pick. When I do a multy asset trade, I always like to compare them to show exactly what I value them at and how I have formulated the package. I value Hoffman at a 2nd in the market right now. That 2nd is then pushed to an early-ish 3rd to move up 10 positions in the draft. In another perspective, Buffalo gets to drop roughly 20-30 spots in the 2nd to the 3rd to drop 10 spots in the first round. Buffalo of course have another 1st (9th Overall) so this will not impact too too much.

My Isles trade is post a Varlomov trade, which I see as a very likely scenario at the moment. If this does not happen, I see OTT, ANA, VGK and of course EDM as other possible destinations for this package. I see both of these players valued at around a late 3rd to a 4th. When looking at the stats, neither of these players had good seasons, and for Armia I would say that would be somewhat true, though Montembeault had an underratedly good season. Given that he had been claimed off of waivers by the habs, was the starter for a handful of games behind a god awful team with awful coaching staff, in his rookie season, I think he did quite well for the position he was in. As far as Armia, it was a down year, though he has never been able to bury a whole bunch of points on the stats sheet. I could see the habs holding on to him for the season and dealing him at the deadline if he has a step up season, even if that doesnt mean on the stats sheet. Of course age is different, but think of this as possibly a Lehkonen type move should they not trade him this offseason. For more draft capital in this kind of draft, I would do it for sure, but that is a plan B if needed.

On to the Trade and Sign of Dipietro. We have traded an early 5th in exchange for former 3rd round pick, Michael Dipietro. Dipietro is an interesting player. Hasnt really had a tremendous amount of success since his Injury in the finals of the playoffs in his last year in the O - which I was in attendance in case you were concered ;). He has been pretty poor in the NHL and nothing too significant in the AHL. That being said, Im happy giving this opportunity to him. Possibly being the starter for the first portion of the year and possibly further on if Primeau has success in the NHL. I see it being pretty unlikely he gets consistent playing time in the NHL, but if he has success in the A, why not bring him up for a bit of a tester, but definitely no rush there.

LINES EXPLANATION
Before I start, I am not an expert on the line and am much more focused on the business side of the game than the lines. That being said, I will go off of what I saw this year and what I have seen from others.
Anderson-Suzuki-Caufield is bound to happen. Habs have rejected some serious offers on Anderson meaning he has to be given a top role. This line was ran for a bit, if im not mistaken it was under Doucharme though, would love to see it come back.
Dvorak-Wright-Gallagher is a tricky one. I love the intensity Gally and Wright would bring, though I have been back and forth with Wright and Dadonov. I have chosen Dvorak simply for his experience with Gally, but this will likely change.
R.Pitlick-Evans-Byron is a type of line that is extremely underrated. In todays game, having a "shutdown" line, "energy" line or even a "gritty" line is so utile. We have covered the energy line with this one. 3 very quick high intensity guys, Byron adding leadership to the younger fellas on this line. This is likely the only one I wouldnt touch, though I could see it being the fourth line instead of the third.
T.Pitlick-Poehling-Dadonov. This is the one Im least happy about, this will obviously change. I like T.Pitlick and Poehling together, they seemed to do fairly well in their little time together. Dadonov will certainly find playing time in the top 6 or very minimum the middle 6, I just dont know where at the moment.
Edmundson-Savard: A shutdown line that I hope heavily improves from last year.
Romanov-Wideman: Hoping that Romanov can continue to play well with Wideman, I could see him getting time with Savard up on the top line.
Scheuneman-Barron: Scheuneman was a pleasant surprise for me as previously mentioned, I think he will be great alongside Barron, though I could see them bringing in somebody else to mentor Barron.

Im quite happy with this Roster Creation. It took me quite a while to do from start to finish, so feel free to let me know any suggestions/changes you have. No need to be aggressive or whatever, this is for amusement so settle down.
I would like to share a couple of names that I could also see the habs go for, and they could very well be mentioned in my next roster.
F: Beauvillier, Necas, Puljujarvi, D.Strome, Mikehyev, Kakko, Turcotte, Mittlestadt, Zadina, Burakovsky, Killorn
D: SUBBAN, Bear, Rutta, Myers, Lyubushkin, Marino, Matheson
G: Comrie, Georgiev, Mrazek

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