Habs Draft Nut

Last season the Canadiens made the playoffs with 91 points - good for the second wild-card spot in Eastern Conference. This season they already have 90 points with 11 games left and are still battling for a playoff spot. #Habs

@NathanW20987730 @scottcwheeler @TheAthleticNHL Scrolled all the way to 32 to see if I missed them. Wouldn’t have been surprised to see them in the late 20s. 🤷‍♂️

@scottcwheeler @TheAthleticNHL There is simply no way the Canucks are this high

My 2026 NHL prospect pool rankings are here at @TheAthletic! - Evaluations on 500+ players - Each team’s top 15 plus honorable mentions - Projections, tiers, video and more The landing page for the project as we count down from No. 32 to No. 1: nytimes.com/athletic/artic…

There is no better team to play for if you’re a player who likes bright lights. This is a random Saturday in March. If you’re UFA and want to experience the greatest high of your life, you should be looking at Montreal.

@stock_guy1 @pennypacker_h Totally fine with them doing nothing at the deadline. They’re still thinking big picture and that’s great. Holes still exist. Wish the Danault move looked better though.

@cvsportsguy @pennypacker_h Yeah, I feel like we have a very good management team at the moment. You feel like they know exactly where they’re going even if life’s predictability is still a thing. You just don’t feel panic from them.

Lots of people want Hugo to move and make the Habs more powerful this season, with the idea that Suzuki and Caufield are in their prime and that can’t be wasted. As a reminder, Suzuki is the same age today as Stamkos was in 2016, as Point was finishing his time in the WHL.

@pennypacker_h @stock_guy1 😂 Would love for the teams to both be good at the same time again someday so we can really hurt ‘em. We keep trading windows of pretty good.

@cvsportsguy @stock_guy1 Feel bad for Leafs?

@stock_guy1 @pennypacker_h So many interchangeable pairings there too and all roles are filled. And Hronek has an excellent history with Quinn Hughes (similar to Hutson). Hronek’s come so far and is just 28 and a great leader. Just makes so much sense for all teams to try and pry him away, tbh.

@cvsportsguy @pennypacker_h Hutson/Hronek Matheson/Dobson Guhle/Reinbacher or Pickford That would be sweet.

@JeanFrancoisCBA Totally. I even look at the McCarron draft and they did about the best they could. Barren wasteland of busted prospects around most of these picks. Scherbak draft got largely depleted right ahead of them. Always some luck involved.

@cvsportsguy As you said, they did ok given where they drafted. On this list, if you look at the 10 following picks after they were picked, they are all better than the rest. It’s not like if everyone was high end around them and they picked the wrong guy.

This was said by the guy who traded for a 1st-line center who has the potential to be the first Habs player in 40 years to hit 100 points. Suzuki is on pace for 101 points.

@stock_guy1 @pennypacker_h Hughes has managed that cap really well so far and this team is benefitting from a rising cap at the right time as well (plus an unselfish core). Kinda feel a bit bad for the Leafs and Canucks who pissed away what shoulda been excellent contention windows.

@stock_guy1 @pennypacker_h Cap going up. Laine coming off books. And remember, Gallagher is going home to Vancouver in this deal. 😉

@JeanFrancoisCBA There’s one star in there and a lot of depth. Not a lot of hits on the Cs and RHDs, despite the intense focus there. Wonder how well they would have done without that focus. Also, I gave them a pass on a lot of their draft history. Often they did ok given where they drafted.

@cvsportsguy It’s a weird decade but they had a lot of good stuff after drafting Kotkaniemi. They drafted Romanov, Harris, Caufield, Struble, Guhle, Dobes, Mailloux, Kapanen. Not everyone are high-end but he wanted to build from the draft and it was beginning to become something

@stock_guy1 @pennypacker_h Yes the team is developing as a true team and targeting key types. Just think about where this team would be without Dobson. But there aren’t seats for everyone, so they’ll have to keep moving some excess. Hopefully they do well managing those assets.

@cvsportsguy @pennypacker_h This rebuild is so fascinating. So many different avenues that Hugo can pursue. I do say that I love their focus on being good for the long term. It tells me they will try not to waste picks/prospects for nothing.

@stock_guy1 @pennypacker_h Reinbacher likely gets a shot next year and I’m fine with that. But Hronek would be perfect. He’s developed into someone who takes tough minutes against top players, PKs and really moves the puck up ice. That’s a big hole on this team. All pairings would be set.

@cvsportsguy @pennypacker_h I could see that. I could also see (and I’m not sure what they think of Pickford) bringing in Reinbacher for next season along with Carrier. Carrier can move up and down based on how DR plays. Then, see if Pickford can crack the lineup the season after.

@JeanFrancoisCBA Bergie was hella focused on C and RHD, and it showed in the draft too. I get the positional value, but at the same time they wasted a lot of draft assets reaching to fill those spots as well.

@cvsportsguy I hope that the GM will ask for the 6th overall pick of the last year draft. It’s a bit like complaining that a GM would ask for Demidov, had no as answer, get Luchanko and turns out that Luchanko is the best player.

@stock_guy1 @pennypacker_h Both players are under contract for one more year, so you’d have to deal them. More likely they stay, although Vancouver is the one place I could see interested in Gallagher. Gallagher + real assets in a deal for Hronek? That alone slots all the D better and buys Reinbacher time

@pennypacker_h Disagree with Carrier; he’s overplayed now and Xhakej/Struble does not help him too much. For Gallagher, it depends who is ready to move up and how much he would play and/or how it would cost to get rid of him. Let’s see what Hugo does this summer.

@_JordanDecker Tied with MacKinnon on goals past goalies this year with 40. On that note, maybe he should be out there to protect leads when the other team pulls their goalie? If we can’t stop the other team from scoring, maybe we can at least add some insurance of our own.

I knew he didn’t score an empty net goal this season, but he hasn’t scored one in his whole career!?! Ethical as hell. He’s legit, a top 3-5 goal scorer in the league.

Ridiculous. These pads belong to Jack Hughes

@JFreshHockey Really hoping Caps lean into that the rest of the way and don’t give him a pity start in the DZ.

Alex Ovechkin is 14 games away from achieving something nobody has done since data became available in 2007: going an entire season without starting a single shift on a defensive zone face-off.

@CanadiensMTL Pulling the puck out of my net.

Vous voyez ces trois-là qui se dirigent en votre direction en prolongation, qu'est-ce que vous faites? You see these three coming at you in OT, what you doing? #GoHabsGo

@FreaksRocky @Hockey_Robinson Interesting player to comp, and my fave player of all-time. Honestly, I can see some rhymes. More importantly, I really liked Viggo before and now I really, really like him, haha.

@Hockey_Robinson Shades of Saku Koivu perhaps Cam?? I haven’t had the pleasure of seeing him play myself…

Viggo Björck sits 9th on my list The size/feet still make translation a question. But he just keeps answering it with his play Dominant 1C at the WJC. Playing real 1C minutes in the SHL. That never happens at his age or size If I’m betting on a smaller C to make it, it’s him