keep evans and trade him at the deadline. you can put gignac on 4th line wings and remove lias andersson.

It's not the optimal scenario but a realistic one !
Make sens for me

that all looks plausible but i think armia gets the same as the rest. a third. ish

I really doubt it, but maybe...

Personally, I think MTL needs more depth, rather than trading depth to bring AHL'rs up. Injuries happen, especially to this team.

Slafkovsky - Suzuki - Caufield
Newhook* - Top6Forward - Dach*
Roy - Dvorak* - Armia
RHP* - Evans - Anderson
Pezzetta - Gallagher

Matheson - Barron
Guhle - Kovacevic
Xhekaj* - Savard*
Harris*

* indicates players that have missed significant time with an injury this season. You need to have depth in Laval to replace these guys and Laval needs players too so they aren't wiped out when MTL takes them.

I would not have Andersson and Gignac penciled in as forwards to make the team out of training camp next season. MTL should probably try to clear one spot on defence though, Struble Hutson and Mailloux are probably all ready for NHL action. I would not carry 8 defenseman as you did, young guys are better off playing significant roles in Laval than being 7th or 8th defenseman.

Edit: Plus you want a competitive training camp, you want guys challenging for jobs.

Very mature arguments.

I just see a logjam at the AHL level as well. I think there are quite a lot of junior-league players in our development system looking for a seat in Laval (See my other post from today which you have also commented on!)

I don't really think depth is our issue. We are trying to develop Laval into a perennial contender as well which is impacting our willingness to call up deserving players.

Our issue, which you have touched on, is a lack of enough top 6 talent to fill out our top 6 with everyone healthy, let alone with injuries.

Do the Habs go shopping, I would like them to, but I know I am in the minority and Kent Hughes was pretty clear, it's not the time. I doubt it becomes "the time" between now and the draft.

I missed when Hughes said it was not the time, I think he said he something along the lines of he is sick of being a seller at the TDL every year (Suzuki agreed)... to me that means we should expect improvements to be made this offseason.

My laval lineup looks like this:
Farrell - Gignac - Perreault
Heineman - Andersson - Mesar
Kidney - Beck - Simoneau
Tuch - Davidson - Nadeau*
Condotta / Legare

*Trade Norlinder for Nadeau?

Hutson - Mailloux
Trudeau - Reinbacher
Engstrom - Fluery*
Tourigny

*Trade Ylonen for Fluery?

Farrell is a trade chip for me personally, if he goes you could bump someone up the lineup. Also any injuries in the organization (NHL or AHL) means the depth in Laval gets effected, so guys will be moving up unto bigger roles at times throughout the year.

I seen you had Beck as 1C and personally I think we need to pump the breaks. Mysak, Davidson, Kidney, etc. were all scorers in junior too and adjusting to the pro level wasn't as easy as it seemed.

In the same post TDL media availability he was asked about acquisition and he said he cannot wait to be a buyer, but that the team isn't there right now.

Personally while I like Berkley Catton (reminds me of Suzuki, but a little smaller), if they draft him or another player at that level he's not gonna help this team be competitive for 3-4 years. I would totally trade that pick for immediate help (if not a Zegras, someone of that caliber) and then go and overpay for a Reinhart.

I really don't buy that this team is not able to make the playoffs and that we need a full 5 years to complete the rebuild.

I like your point on Beck and the adjustment. I was not trying to say it will definitely be those lines, but more that mix of players. I trust JF Houle to figure out the puzzle.

That makes sense, I probably didn't see the full quote then because obviously they aren't ready to be buyer's 'right now' but in the offseason that could change. They have lots of cap space, too many prospects, and a surplus of defenceman so an acquisition of a top 6 forward seems very likely to me.