If I was the Habs' GM...

3421 Views 20 Replies 6 Participants Last post by JL, Dec 27, 2008

JL

Discussion Starter · Aug 7, 2008

This thread was/is one of the most popular on the Habs' forum, so I thought that we'd start a similar one here.

The purpose of the thread is to discuss what we would consider to be fair trades, signings, call-ups, buy-outs or any other move we'd make if we were the Montreal Canadiens' GM. It doesn't have to be based on trade rumours or anything, it can be 100% made up!

The fun part of it is to try remaining under our cap, while trying to be fair for both teams in filling needs on both sides.

Have fun!

1 - 20 of 21 Posts

JL

Discussion Starter · #2 · Aug 7, 2008 (Edited)

August 6, 2008 | 11:58am ET
Tampa still searching for defenseman
TheFourthPeriod.com

he Tampa Bay Lightning continues to look for ways to improve their hockey club even further, as they search the trade market for a defenseman.
Brian Lawton, the club's VP of Hockey Operations, is believed to be scouring the league for a veteran blueliner.

So far this off-season, the Lightning has added the likes of Ryan Malone, Gary Roberts, Olaf Kolzig, Matt Carle, Radim Vrbata, Vaclav Prospal and Mark Recchi.

Source...

We have loaded up on defensemen this summer. Tampa Bay needs an experienced defenseman but they're tight against their cap space. We need a good face-offs' center with size, especially if Sundin doesn't sign with us.

To Montreal:
Chris Gratton

To Tampa Bay:
Francis Bouillon

Note: I'd rather give Dandenault, but he's played forward all season last year and he most likely doesn't have the value Bouillon has.

My lines (without Sundin) would be:

A.Kostitsyn - Plekanec - Kovalev
Tanguay - Koivu - S.Kostitsyn
Higgins - Gratton - Latendresse
Begin - Lapierre/Chipchura - Laraque/Kostopoulos

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Æn7ropy

· #3 · Aug 9, 2008

I'd retire after the first pay check and hand the job to Gainey

He's doing a good job and I would be horrible, like every other back seat GMS in the province hehe

JL

Discussion Starter · #4 · Aug 22, 2008

I was reading this and it got me thinking...

ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER: Curtis Zupke reports Teemu Selanne's situation is tied to Mats Sundin making a decision on his own future. It's believed the Ducks could try to move defenseman Mathieu Schneider's salary to make room for Selanne but the trade market could hinge on where Sundin ultimately signs.

SPECTOR'S NOTE: Sundin said he'd make a decision prior to the start of training camp, meaning that we've got at least three more weeks before we know his fate, and how it'll impact potential moves such as those noted above for the Ducks.
Source...

Yes we are thin at center, but if Sundin doesn't sign with us, I'd like to have an experienced player like Schneider to play on our top 4 and to man the point on the PP, replacing Streit. Yes he's overpaid, but his contract expires at the end of the season. I don't expect that teams are lining up offering something big to Burke, so a pick might be all it takes to get him. I'd do it.

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JL

Discussion Starter · #5 · Aug 28, 2008

Maybe I should rename this thread: If JL was the Habs' GM... :laugh:

Anyway, I was working on something here... which goes exactly with what Bob Gainey was saying yesterday about his Plan "B" having to do with the teams that are over the Cap, the teams in a bind, not in a good position to negotiate. First, let's recap...

If I'm not mistaken, the Cap is set at $56.7M and teams are allowed to be up to 5% ($59.535M) over the cap until the start of the season, then they all must be under the cap. All figures below were taken from nhlnumbers.com

Anaheim at $58.013M
Need to shed $1.313M by start of season, less what they'll pay Selanne. Trading Schneider would allow for about $4 million for Selanne

Todd Marchant C 34 2.518 UFA
75GP 9G 7A 16PTS -3 14:49TOI/G 49.2FO%

Mathieu Schneider D 39 5.625 UFA
65GP 12G 27A 39PTS +22 22:17TOI/G

To Montreal:
Mathieu Schneider
To Anaheim:

Mid range prospect and/or draft pick (they can't take on salary)

Calgary at $58.179M
Need to shed $1.479M by start of season

Adrian Aucoin D 34 4.0 UFA
76GP 10G 25A 35PTS +13 20:57TOI/G

Rhett Warrener D 32 2.35 UFA
31GP 1G 3A 4PTS -2 13:25TOI/G

To Montreal:
Adrian Aucoin
To Calgary:

Mathieu Dandenault $1.725M
Prospect or pick

Chicago at $59.208M
Need to shed $2.508M by start of season

Martin Havlat L 27 6.0 UFA
35GP 10G 17A 27PTS +4 18:35TOI/G

To Montreal:
Martin Havlat
To Chicago:

Chris Higgins $1.7M

OR

Robert Lang C 37 4.0 UFA
76GP 21G 33A 54PTS +9 18:25TOI/G 53.1FO%

To Montreal:
Robert Lang
To Chicago:

Kyle Chipchura $0.943M
Prospect and/or pick

Philadelphia at 61.217
Need to shed $1.682M by September, then an additional $2.835M by season start

Mike Knuble R 35 2.8 UFA
82GP 29G 26A 55PTS -3 18:54TOI/G

Derian Hatcher D 36 3.5 UFA
44GP 2G 5A 7PTS +4 21:05TOI/G

None of them address our lack of #4 defenseman or depth at center.

Washington at $58.955M
Need to shed $2.255M by season start

Michael Nylander C 35 4.875 3yrs
40GP 11G 26A 37PTS -19 19:09TOI/G 49.2FO%

Viktor Kozlov C 33 2.5 UFA
81GP 16G 38A 54PTS +28 17:34TOI/G 45.9FO%

Tom Poti D 31 3.5 3yrs
71GP 2G 27A 29PTS +9 23:28TOI/G

To Montreal:
Tom Poti
To Washington:

Prospect and/or pick (not much room to take on salary)

San Jose at $56.926M (assuming that Vlasic's $3M doesn't kick in until next year)
Need to shed $226,000 by season start

Kyle McLaren D 31 2.5 UFA
61GP 3G 8A 11PTS +3 18:21TOI/G

I don't feel that McLaren would be a #4 on our team.

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AMinnes

· #6 · Aug 28, 2008

JL said:
Maybe I should rename this thread: If JL was the Habs' GM... :laugh:

Anyway, I was working on something here... which goes exactly with what Bob Gainey was saying yesterday about his Plan "B" having to do with the teams that are over the Cap, the teams in a bind, not in a good position to negotiate. First, let's recap...

If I'm not mistaken, the Cap is set at $56.7M and teams are allowed to be up to 5% ($59.535M) over the cap until the start of the season, then they all must be under the cap. All figures below were taken from nhlnumbers.com

Anaheim at $58.013M
Need to shed $1.313M by start of season, less what they'll pay Selanne. Trading Schneider would allow for about $4 million for Selanne

Todd Marchant C 34 2.518 UFA
75GP 9G 7A 16PTS -3 14:49TOI/G 49.2FO%

Mathieu Schneider D 39 5.625 UFA
65GP 12G 27A 39PTS +22 22:17TOI/G

To Montreal:
Mathieu Schneider
To Anaheim:

Mid range prospect and/or draft pick (they can't take on salary)

Calgary at $58.179M
Need to shed $1.479M by start of season

Adrian Aucoin D 34 4.0 UFA
76GP 10G 25A 35PTS +13 20:57TOI/G

Rhett Warrener D 32 2.35 UFA
31GP 1G 3A 4PTS -2 13:25TOI/G

To Montreal:
Adrian Aucoin
To Calgary:

Mathieu Dandenault $1.725M
Prospect or pick

Chicago at $59.208M
Need to shed $2.508M by start of season

Martin Havlat L 27 6.0 UFA
35GP 10G 17A 27PTS +4 18:35TOI/G

To Montreal:
Martin Havlat
To Chicago:

Chris Higgins $1.7M

OR

Robert Lang C 37 4.0 UFA
76GP 21G 33A 54PTS +9 18:25TOI/G 53.1FO%

To Montreal:
Robert Lang
To Chicago:

Kyle Chipchura $0.943M
Prospect and/or pick

Philadelphia at 61.217
Need to shed $1.682M by September, then an additional $2.835M by season start

Mike Knuble R 35 2.8 UFA
82GP 29G 26A 55PTS -3 18:54TOI/G

Derian Hatcher D 36 3.5 UFA
44GP 2G 5A 7PTS +4 21:05TOI/G

None of them address our lack of #4 defenseman or depth at center.

Washington at $58.955M
Need to shed $2.255M by season start

Michael Nylander C 35 4.875 3yrs
40GP 11G 26A 37PTS -19 19:09TOI/G 49.2FO%

Viktor Kozlov C 33 2.5 UFA
81GP 16G 38A 54PTS +28 17:34TOI/G 45.9FO%

Tom Poti D 31 3.5 3yrs
71GP 2G 27A 29PTS +9 23:28TOI/G

To Montreal:
Tom Poti
To Washington:

Prospect and/or pick (not much room to take on salary)

San Jose at $56.926M (assuming that Vlasic's $3M doesn't kick in until next year)
Need to shed $226,000 by season start

Kyle McLaren D 31 2.5 UFA
61GP 3G 8A 11PTS +3 18:21TOI/G

I don't feel that McLaren would be a #4 on our team.

I think some of these teams are so close already, it's quite possible they will move a couple of lesser guys, possibly waive players, rather than give up high end talent.

JL

Discussion Starter · #7 · Aug 28, 2008 (Edited)

AMinnes said:
I think some of these teams are so close already, it's quite possible they will move a couple of lesser guys, possibly waive players, rather than give up high end talent.

It's possible, but they'll have to replace them anyway. Let's say a team is $2 million over the cap... they can't just send down two $1 million players to the minors since they'll have to replace them with 2 players at league minimum (around $500,000 if I'm not mistaken), so they'd still be $1 million over cap.

If they chose to buy some players out, once again part of the salary will count against the cap.

So the easiest way around that is to trade for prospects and/or draft picks, hopefully trading from a position of strength, like the Ducks' suggestion here where they'll still have Pronger, Neidermayer and Beauchemin as corner stones if they trade Schneider.

AMinnes

· #8 · Aug 28, 2008

JL said:
It's possible, but they'll have to replace them anyway. Let's say a team is $2 million over the cap... they can't just send down two $1 million players to the minors since they'll have to replace them with 2 players at league minimum (around $500,000 if I'm not mistaken), so they'd still be $1 million over cap.

If they chose to buy some players out, once again part of the salary will count against the cap.

So the easiest way around that is to trade for prospects and/or draft picks, hopefully trading from a position of strength, like the Ducks' suggestion here where they'll still have Pronger, Neidermayer and Beauchemin as corner stones if they trade Schneider.

That is true (unless they waive guys), you can't allways go with the small guys, and Schneider looks like he's going to go. I don't know why the Habs would want him, they've got an awesome PP, and he'de just add another 5 mil (even though I've always liked Schneider's play). Honestly, the Habs are fine, they just need more experience for the young guys, and Kovalev needs to give a crap like he did last year. Whatever they add to get to the cap is only going to make them better, but on a team that has such good cemistry adding a big name isn't always the best thing. Really only a couple of tweaks here and there and they should be good to go.

JL

Discussion Starter · #9 · Sep 3, 2008

In my opinion, there are two positions where we could use some help for a Stanley Cup season:

We need a centerman who can help Koivu and win some face-offs, preferably one with size who could also fill-in on the top two lines in case of an injury to either Koivu or Plekanec. Here are some options, in order of preference:

~ MIN: Mikko Koivu $$3.25 2yrs - UFA

2007-08 stats: 57GP 11G 31A 42PTS +13 20:53TOI/G 52.5FO%
~ CHI: Robert Lang $4.0M - UFA

2007-08 stats: 76GP 21G 33A 54PTS +9 18:25TOI/G 53.1FO%
~ CBJ: Manny Malhotra $1.2M - UFA

2007-08 stats: 71GP 11G 18A 29PTS -3 16:27TOI/G 53.1FO%
~ TBL: Chris Gratton $1.25M - UFA

2007-08 stats: 60GP 10G 11A 21PTS -7 12:42TOI/G 54.5FO%
~ CGY: Matthew Lombardi $1.817 2 yrs - UFA

2007-08 stats: 82GP 14G 22A 36PTS -6 17:18TOI/G
We could also use a defenseman who can truly fill-in the number 4 role alongside Hamrlik. Again, in order:

~ ANA: Mathieu Schneider $5.625M - UFA

2007-08 stats: 65GP 12G 27A 39PTS +22 22:17TOI/G
~ CGY: Adrian Aucoin $4.0M - UFA

2007-08 stats: 76GP 10G 25A 35PTS +13 20:57TOI/G
~ FLO: Nick Boynton $2.9M - UFA

2007-08 stats: 79GP 3G 9A 12PTS -9 17:00TOI/G 93Hts 93BkS
~ VAN: Lukas Krajicek $1.1M - RFA

2007-08 stats: 39GP 2G 9A 11PTS -3 18:10TOI/G

Preferably a combination of both would make of the Habs a true contender. Considering that some of those players are on teams over the cap, we could get them for very little. We also have the assets to sacrifice some roster players and/or prospects in order to get other players on that list.

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Spider-Man NL

· #10 · Sep 3, 2008

there is no way in hell I would ever trade Higgins for Havlat....Havlat is way to injury prone.

JL

Discussion Starter · #11 · Sep 4, 2008

Spider-Man NL said:
there is no way in hell I would ever trade Higgins for Havlat....Havlat is way to injury prone.

Agreed. That was my least favourite of the suggestions.

But what about Higgins and Chipchura for Mikko Koivu and Benoit Pouliot?

flyerfan2

· #12 · Sep 4, 2008

Well if i was Gainey i'd address the habs lack of experienced goaltending .

You can address all the other short comings the habs have until your blue in the face and none of it will matter until you bring in some solid proven goaltending.

JL

Discussion Starter · #13 · Sep 4, 2008

flyerfan2 said:
Well if i was Gainey i'd address the habs lack of experienced goaltending .

You can address all the other short comings the habs have until your blue in the face and none of it will matter until you bring in some solid proven goaltending.

I disagree. I strongly feel that Price and Halak can not only do the job, but do an excellent job pushing each other.

I was reading that Price has lost 25 lbs at the recommendation of goalie coach Roland Melançon, in order to be even quicker between the pipes. Price was quoted saying that he feels rejuvenated, well rested and that he felt like he had been playing for two years non-stop.

flyerfan2

· #14 · Sep 4, 2008

JL said:
I disagree. I strongly feel that Price and Halak can not only do the job, but do an excellent job pushing each other.

I was reading that Price has lost 25 lbs at the recommendation of goalie coach Roland Melançon, in order to be even quicker between the pipes. Price was quoted saying that he feels rejuvenated, well rested and that he felt like he had been playing for two years non-stop.

I guess only time will tell and when that time comes you'll be saying you were right yet again Doug.!!:biggrin::cheeky4:

Joce I'm not convinced that price's quickness was or is the problem , rather his biggest short coming remains rebound control with traffic around his net , plus a shaky glove hand both which were exposed even more so in the playoffs last year.

Æn7ropy

· #15 · Sep 4, 2008

flyerfan2 said:
I guess only time will tell and when that time comes you'll be saying you were right yet again Doug.!!:biggrin::cheeky4:

Joce I'm not convinced that price's quickness was or is the problem , rather his biggest short coming remains rebound control with traffic around his net , plus a shaky glove hand both which were exposed even more so in the playoffs last year.

Those are things that get fixed with experience. The more rubber he sees the better he'll get (and with uncle George in the lineup a lot less douches like Neil and Avery will be bumping him).

I still don't see how it's so likely that Price might collapse this year "because we don't know yet" is a very weak argument imo.

JL

Discussion Starter · #16 · Sep 5, 2008

flyerfan2 said:
I guess only time will tell and when that time comes you'll be saying you were right yet again Doug.!!:biggrin::cheeky4:

Joce I'm not convinced that price's quickness was or is the problem , rather his biggest short coming remains rebound control with traffic around his net , plus a shaky glove hand both which were exposed even more so in the playoffs last year.

Price's best qualities have always been his rebound control and his glove hand. Those are the first things you lose when fatigue kicks in...

And you can come out cheering him when you see that I'm right, you closet Habs' fan! :laugh:

JL

Discussion Starter · #17 · Sep 13, 2008

JL said:
Anyway, I was working on something here... which goes exactly with what Bob Gainey was saying yesterday about his Plan "B" having to do with the teams that are over the Cap, the teams in a bind, not in a good position to negotiate. First, let's recap...

If I'm not mistaken, the Cap is set at $56.7M and teams are allowed to be up to 5% ($59.535M) over the cap until the start of the season, then they all must be under the cap. All figures below were taken from nhlnumbers.com

Chicago at $59.208M
Need to shed $2.508M by start of season

Robert Lang C 37 4.0 UFA
76GP 21G 33A 54PTS +9 18:25TOI/G 53.1FO%

To Montreal:
Robert Lang
To Chicago:

Kyle Chipchura $0.943M
Prospect and/or pick

I guess it turns out that I would have grossly overpaid. Glad we still have Chipper in our line-up and we only got to give one of our two second picks in 2010 to get Lang! :thumbsup:

JL

Discussion Starter · #18 · Sep 20, 2008

Although I do like the looks of our team, I still would like to see a top 4 defenseman join our ranks and with the acquisition of Robert Lang and his $4 million contract, we don't have room for Schneider, my first choice. So...

To Vancouver:

Chris Higgins or Guillaume Latendresse (their choice)
Francis Bouillon

To Montreal:

Sami Salo
2nd round pick

As much as I'd hate to see Higgins or Latendresse go, we do have a lot of depth up front on the wing to step in.

In return, we'd get a right handed PP shot, a top 4 defenseman who can play in all situations and he still has two years left to his contract after this year. He does have a NTC and did sign a contract under fair market value with Vancouver but that was under a different management. He would most likely welcome the idea of going to a team with a chance at the Cup and to play with his national team captain Saku Koivu.

The second round pick would replace the one we had to give for Lang.

On the other hand, we have Komisarek (which I'm sure will re-sign), Bouillon and Brisebois who are all UFA's next summer.

The idea of having a top 4 with Markov, Komisarek, Hamrlik and Salo really changes my take on this team.

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JL

Discussion Starter · #19 · Dec 6, 2008

Based on the following:

STAR-TRIBUNE.COM: Michael Russo reported yesterday the need for the Wild to move defenseman Brent Burns recently to forward has demonstrated to GM Doug Risebrough he might need to shop a blueliner for a forward. Russo suggests the only d-men Risebrough could move are Marek Zidlicky, Kim Johnsson and Marc-Andre Bergeron. The latter is a UFA next summer while the former two have two years remaining on their current contracts. Russo writes he doesn't see Zidlicky or Johnsson being moved right now.

Source...

It's been rumoured for a long time that Doug Risebrough loves Chris Higgins. The Habs are deep on the wing, the Wild deep on defense, so...

To Minnesota:

Chris Higgins $1.7M (RFA)
Steve Begin $1.3M (UFA)

To Montreal:

Marek Zidlicky $3.35M

CrAcK_N_CoKe

· #20 · Dec 26, 2008

I'm wondering if we could get Brenden Witt...

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