Don't forget Kidney too!!

Slaf up, Kidney, unless traded for Dubois, would take Slaf's spot in this ahl roster.

First off Bravo , most fans dont know our system worth a damn
I'd give you a 70% on replicating coach Houle's Defensive style and Gritty system.

Heineman at his Pinnacle is a 3rd line guy, nothing more .
Good prospect but in no reality should he start over the 6 players ahead of him
Many of whom are projected top 6 guys .

He is Lehkonen with Armia's skating style (good for sudden bursts end to end but not good at navigating traffic with his speed like Lehkonen or Byron made look easy.)
Amazing piece to have especially going forward as he's what we all want Ylonen to be , but is more likely to develop into that player first IMO.


That said you didnt sign enough players to skate a NHL roster before you made your line's.
You are ignoring the habs needs leaving them to sign more players on a team basically at the contract limit with 48/50 signed and always 3-4 signed each draft.
We arent losing many contracts outside Byron and Drouin assuming we dont re-sign Tierney or Monahan that leaves MTL in a position where we couldnt pursue players like Jake Livingstone.

We need Ylonen's and Richard in the NHL gaining value for a trade as neither fit our needs long term with Heineman and Teasdale being way better upgrades as they're high end bottom 6 types who thrive in the Chaos . Ylonen and Richard are top 6 guys who struggle to adjust to such a role and when they do its just barely adequate, Good players just we dont have the use for them a COL , EDM or TBL would

Caufield-Suzuki-Anderson
RHP-Dach-Gallagher
Hoffman-Dvorak-Gurianov
Pezzetta- Evans- Ylonen
Belzile (i think Armia's bought out this summer as its the first time its been cheap enough to @ 33k, 1.03, 1.43 and 1,43 million over 4 years )

So for your Laval Roster that leaves you a Ylonen down .


Slafkovsky -Mesar -Farrell (Farrell is like Shaw and Mesar like Danault. One's a winger who can help with Faceoffs, the others a Center who needs it for a few years )
Richard-Abbadonato -Simmoneau (seperating Pacirotty/Desharnais 2.0 under Houle is likely a no go though as Richard/Abbadanato always roll out together)
Heineman-Mysak- Roy (Special teams leades on PK and PP)
Condotta- Jared Davidson -Teasdale (Tough ,Fast and high volume Goal Scoring with a top WHL Leadership guy whoi leads an Allstar cast of players drafted ahead of him as a top 10 WHL scorer.)
Stephens (im not sure we dont just dump him as im pretty sure he has issues off ice cause he's become a liability day to day.)


Defensively suspect re-signing Schuneman as he was a great ECHL plug who upon call up rose all the way to the NHL during injuries cause he could play RD.
Once we got RD his role was significantly reduced behind even Trudeau and Beaudin battle for a spot on 3rd paid with Alex Green.
Once Allard showed up his 3rd pair RD role was lost as Bowey and Dello hold down top 4 as better options then Schuneman .

Trudeau-Dello
Beaudin- Mailloux
Norlinder-Struble(he'll be developed as a RD to play beside Harris as he did in NCAA helping both secure a role in deep D core )
Sund(we didnt acquire the 27 year old for no reason , i feel he'll be joining the team whether i think he's ready /good enough or not)

Important to note Engstrom is hungry to get to the next level of competition.
After his season ended with the opponents coach saying he's the type of player that makes Sweden proud because he's so hard to defend from a coaching POV.
His first reaction ? to see if the Junior team he trains with in the building can us him in their playoffs so he doesnt have to quit playing hockey until August.

Engstrom is an athletic freak who trains with 2 teams then himself in the gym and on the ice daily with coaching staff often having to kick him out as they shut down the arena .
SHL as much as it helped the runner up for Rookie of the Year its only helping him because he can train with 2 teams and coaches with additional support .
MTL can offer him the perfect enviroment between coaches and arean's in MTL , Laval and Brassard this kids head will explode .
I feel he'll be coming over soon because AHL /NHL is a 10-11 month a year thing where you're playing a lot and this kid lives and breath's hockey in a way i only ever remember seeing from Lidstrom in DET.


We also got Kostenko who Kovalev is teaching French of in the KHL helping him prepare for the jump to the NHL(he actually just said his coaches so i assumed Kovalev)
He's preparing for the Jump to the AHL level i'd say as soon as this upcoming year but at the latest 2024-25 season


Thats assuming MTL doesnt move players at the Draft as im guaranteeing Hughes will be very active in a deep draft like this where RD and Goalie's liter the 2nd to 4th rounds.
With 48/50 Contracts and only 4 coming off the books though he'll be looking to Parlay some of the Quantity into Quality at the draft

Kidney can play like Suzuki an extra year and 100% should as it buys him time to add another 5-7lbs like last year.

I trust you on this as you seem to know a lot more than me on the subject!

Some people follow NHL players learning all about them.
Im more interested in seeing the evolution of players from start to finish.
I'm a Pro Wrestling fan so its not surprising the long game to me justify's all the sketchy stuff up until the big payoff.

Its why i can tell you Dobes isnt ready .
He's done everything Primeau did but to a lesser degree.
Primeau was 8th best in the NCAA as a rookie and #1 as a Sophmore willing the Mike Richter Award.
Dobes was top 50 and top 20 his first 2 years and at this pace might match what Primeau did if he plays all 4 years.
That said i know MTL wishes they left Primeau in the NCAA longer to work on his Cardio and Conditioning as he wasnt ready for the Starting position of a team that plays in a league that has 82 games a year when he's used to 30 games a season .(which he didnt play all of)

IF we value Dobes we wait .
The hope is he'll be ready to play Tandem with Primeau one he settles in after a couple seasons behind Monty