Jayden Struble has signed a new contract with the Montreal Canadiens.

Matheson-Savard (Good vets)
Ghule-Barron (WJC gold medal top pairing)
Xhekaj-Mailloux (BANG!)
Struble-Harris (Northeastern pairing)

Oh yeah, and Mr breaking points records Hutson.

MTL is stacked on defence for the future! Now stop trying to trade defencemen to MTL plz

Nice signing, because of left D depth I thought he was gone

Not surprising, but I did think there was a chance for him to not sign or be traded. Hard to look at that LD depth and see opportunity, but maybe he's just confident.
The hammer is going to fall eventually with some being moved out, just a matter of who.

They need to tighten up the right side but yes I agree

Kent Hughes said in his statement that they needed A clear path to the NHL in order for him to sign. Obviously there's a plan here.

I wonder if Hutson and Engstrom are going to play on the right side since ou left side is overstacked lol

Except Guhle, there's no sure shot on the future blue line of the Habs. Xhekaj isn't yet a sure-thing at the NHL level and Harris as of right now is a 3rd pairing Dman, Hutson isn't even signed, Norlinder has fallen on the depth chart & while Matheson is a top4 right now, he can be moved down if a kid pushes him down at some point in the future. So with all this uncertainty, I'd consider the left-side of the blue line quite open. It's not like we had 3 proven commodities all signed long-term...

Harris mostly played on the right side with Northeastern while paired with Struble and having a pairing of guys that already played almost three years together is pretty great For sure Struble gets some time in the A next year, after all those years we finally have the luxury of waiting our prospects out and just like Barron he'll have to prove it before making it instead of what Montreal used to do (Make it and then prove it).

there is a difference between being stacked and pottentially stacked, montreal is the later. maybe they all end up being stud, maybe not! also savard got no business being on a top pair on a stacked defensive team ( but i know thats not the point of your post)

I believe Strubble holds the record for strongest grip strength at combine.

the guy never drops his stick

(also went to school at St Sebbies with Kent's son)

More than that, Hugues was his advisor (aka agent)

I guess it’s a good thing it’s just an ELC contract

3 are already NHL level, another has NHL experience, another broke all NCAA offensive records for a defenseman, one is a 1st rounder with Europe experience and the last one dominated most physical test in the NCAA. Even if the two later become busts, others could be surprises (Kovasevic, Engstrom, Trudeau). MTL is still stacked.

Clearly there was a solid plan place that gives him the chance to play NHL games. Nothing is guaranteed, I'm sure Hughes told him "do XYZ", and you'll succeed.

My thoughts :
Our management aren’t the ones who drafted Romanov so they traded him for someone they wanted (Dach)
Our management aren’t the ones who gave Xhekaj his ELC. Maybe they move him for someone they want in the near future ? Guhle is our best dman, so he’s not moving. Management knows Harris & Struble well, highly doubt they move those guys. Our current management drafted Hutson & Engstrom, so again, doubt they move them. The LHD I would expect to maybe be on the move in a near future would be Xhekaj & Trudeau. Players signed/drafted by the Bergevin management era

i dont get how that makes sense, almost all the players were not drafted by hughes, doubt its really a reason to move any. they traded r9manov because they needed a c and he was the only valuable enough to bring something like him back.

i would argue they are still only '' potentially stacked!'' except ghule i dont think we have a sure shot D prospect, i would say hutson aswell too. being potentially stacked at D is pretty great. if we wete already stacked we would not have on of the worst defense in the league. I think its also shared by tje management since there is a lot of rumor that they draft Another D in the first round.

I’m saying if a lot of d makes it, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Xhekaj go before others

This whole thing makes little to no sense. They moved Romanov because they thought the team had other guys who could play the same way for less money (Either this year or the next) while they didn't have any centers that could play like Dach for less. Bergevin traded Sergachev the very next year he picked him in the top 10 and I'm sure if I dig I can find dozens of trades like this one making your statement of "He drafted this guy in the 5th round so it's much more likely he's trading Xhekaj before him" completely off track. Norlinder had highlights reels in Sweden too so let's pump the brakes on Engstrom a bit.

I’m not saying they have more value than Xhekaj or they wouldn’t trade them before him, I’m just saying don’t act surprised if Xhekaj is the dman getting dealt in the future