Rafaël Harvey-Pinard has signed a new contract with the Montreal Canadiens.

Great contract. He was a solid top 6 producer for us at the end of the season. Hopefully he gets some solid bottom 6 minutes this year.

Awesome contract for the Habs. What a pleasant surprise RHP has been

Good contract considering what we saw with Pitlick

If he regresses fully buriable.

If you check "Bridge Contract" in the dictionnary, this would be the exact definiton

RAFAELLL HARVEY-PINAAAAAARD!! Love this hard working guy! Great signing.

RHPITBPITNHL

Except the 3-year weighted avg is over last year's sample only. We know his finishing won't remain where it is, thus his EV offense will go down, but he's definitely 2nd line complement material.

So cheap for what he brings. Grit and finishing touch.

He's "Lavalagher" no more. He needs a new nickname! "Montrealagher"? "Gally 2.0"?

I'm not good at this...

Great deal, had him pegged to get more money

Lavallagher is all grown up!

excellent

I thought... HP sauce was his moniker online?

Good contract for 2 years not one has a lot of upside had 20 points in 34 games on not a great team that has gotten better with Alex Newhook and other player including him coming back

For an outsider, what does the depth chart/ line rushes look like for Habs? Feels like they have a glut of forwards and with all the signings and new faces trying to sort it out is confusing:

Suzuki-Caufield for sure on the 1st, is it Josh Anderson, Slafkovsky, or do they keep Dach on the wing (after PPG production over 13 games together hard to ignore)?
Anderson/Suzuki/Caufield

If Dach is the 2C I could really see Newhook doing well on his LW but Monahan can't be ignored there either; or does Harvey-Pinard stick on the 2nd line wing (probably a good candidate to play his off-wing).
Newhook/Dach/Harvey-Pinard

Does that leave Monahan-Dvorak-Gallagher as the 3rd line and then Pitlick-Evans-Armia as the 4th? Does Slafkovsky start the year in the AHL?

Where does Hoffman fit in, if at all (did they miss a buyout opportunity with him?); what about Pezzetta?

Really looking for "what they will do" based on MSL coaching style and line strategy.

1st line:
Anderson doesn't have the constancy. Suzuki would like to have another center on his wing. Monahan was a good fit last season. Dach too, but management want to develop him as a center. RHP is a dark horse. Is he a depth player or can he be a 1st line energy player like Marchand to Bergy (Suzuki) and Pasta (Caufield)? Caufield-suzuki-Monahan

2nd line:
Dach is a lock. He showed glimpse of 1C but faceoffs are a problem, even if he's improving. Management said they want to increase Newhook's icetime and he looks like a good fit on LW to support him, but with Dvorak season opening injurie, he migh have to go 3C. Could Slaf makes the top 6? I dont this so this year (lets see at the camp). So RHP or Anderson on wings? Both for nowRHP-Dach-Anderson

3rd line:

Based on the past, Hoffman-Dvorak-Gallagher. Gally has the energy, Dvo the defense awareness and Hoff none of the above but a scoring ability. 2 problems. Dvo is injured and Hoffman is blocking icetime for the youth. Can Hoffman be traded/bought out? Could Beck make the team? Even if he could, I don't see the burning a contract year. Europe could be a development strategy for him. If they didn't send Slaf to the AHL last year, zero chance this year neither ...Slaf-Newhook-Gallagher

4th line:
Evans is 4C. You need to give icetime to Ylonen. Armia is the best winger available but Pezzetta brings energy. They'll do a rotation. Pitlick is the most likely to waivers. Armia/Pezzetta-Evans-Ylonen

That's my take.

Edit: I could see Beck do 9 games to buy time for Dvo to get healthy and keep Newhook on 2LW.

Awesome, thanks! Yeah I forgot to mention Ylonen also, Beck wasn't on my radar at all.

I don’t think Suzuki needs another center, per se; the third guy on that line needs to have transition speed and be good at board battles, qualities that Dach had.

I think it’s unlikely they put two small players on the top line, so HP likely goes elsewhere.

Ylonen will be waiver eligible so they need to fit him on the roster. He's a complete player, but most people dislike him because you kinda don't see him on the ice (except for some one timers on his off side), but IMO it his a good thing. Does well the "little things" and won't hurt the team on a bottom 6. The new, a bit more passive, Lehkonen...

Beck really impressed at camp last fall. A beast on faceoffs allready, not big but has some grit. Projected to be a 3C in the NHL. He was recalled from junior for 1 game last season and did just ok, and went on to be a key piece for his junior team on its way to win the OHL Championship. He can't play in the AHL next season, thus why Europe has been brought up. He could continue his development playing against men, without triggering his first NHL contract year.

If Dach is 2C and Anderson is not a good fit then who does that leave besides Slafkovsky?

I agree with you. I would be looking for board battles and net presense. This is why I wanted MTL to sign Killorn!!!! It would have been a great fit.

But I was questionned about what I though the team would do, not my personnal lines idea. Thus why I went with Monahan, who fits Suzuki's desire (a center on his wing) and Hughes plan (Dach as a center).

IMO, it will be Slaf's spot in the not so far future. But not this year.

No one but RHP... Which is how they ended the last season.

The reality of a whole season is that pieces will move around. So a little bit of everyone will be involved:

Monahan to start the season.
RHP if Monahan needs to get back at center because of injuries or after he gets traded at TDL.
Dach only if too many injuries at RW, like last season.
Slaf... in 2024-2025?

with his growing offensive output, i think this contract will look even better next season, wherein i won't be surprised by his next cap-hit. safe on all accounts, Ken Hughes has done wonders this off-season, especially looking at the Caulfied contract. the Habs will look great next season, all with attractive and fairly cheap salaries.

A name like that will get you far in life