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Dudley Leaves For Canes, Canadiens Win 3rd Overall Pick! |
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The Canadiens offseason changes continued as Rick Dudley left the Canadiens after 6 seasons as Asst. GM and Sr VP of Hockey Ops for a similar position with the Carolina Hurricanes.
Dudley was brought in to much fanfare as he was highly regarded as one of the NHL’s best evaluators of talent and potential. There have been some pretty astute picks made by the Canadiens over the years, but unfortunately not too many first round home runs to speak of.
Now, whether this was a result of Dudley’s choices, Timmins choices, or the acting GM picking who they want rather than who his staff recommended is going to be an eternal mystery to me until I’m working for an NHL team and am privy to some hot gossip. Either way, I was always a believer in the Dudley and the reputation that preceded him.
Dudley finally moves on from the Habs after almost moving on a few years ago for the Buffalo Sabres (I think?). At that time though, the Canadiens sweetened the deal by offering him a new contract and a promotion to VP to keep him in Montreal. I’m sure that came with a fantastic raise as well.
But, now the Dudley era is over and with the recent promotion of Timmins it’s highly likely that the Canadiens knew that Dudley was looking for a new challenge and now we know that challenge is in beautiful North Carolina with the cash strapped Hurricanes. It’s presumed that Dudley will be restricted from working for the Hurricanes until after the draft.
I wish Dudley the best with the Cane’s.
The Canadiens won one of the coveted top three spots in the Junes NHL Entry Draft that will be taking place in Dallas on June 22nd and 23rd. This is fantastic news for the Canadiens organization as the likelihood of moving up was not as good as they were to move back. The odds of the Canadiens moving back from their 4th overall slot were over 50% so even though it was only a one slot move, it should be considered huge.
It’s big in that Montreal will be able to acquire an elite, likely NHL ready, dominant scoring winger in one of A Svechnikov or F Zadina. Both players scored at almost a goal per game pace in their respective leagues (edge to Svechnikov’s 40 G in 44 games) and are highly regarded, offensive F’s who drive the play from the wing.
I’ve already seen some folks on social media doing their best to unsure they pass their glass half empty mentality on to the masses as they lament the fact these two elite scorers aren’t centers. They have try to make sure we all know that it doesn’t matter who is picked because its Bergevin doing the picking so one of them is surely going to be terrible based on that highly educated opinion. These types represent the worst of our fanbase, media, the internet. The Canadiens won one of the coveted draft lotto positions and they still aren’t happy….
They must be a joy to be around.
I won’t subscribe to that though. I’m quite happy that the Habs are assured one of those two elite, team changing forwards. I can understand some of the sentiment from other more well intentioned fans and media in speculating that the Canadiens could use a player like B Tkachuk, J Kotketniemi, or even trading down a bit and drafting a high end D man while acquiring a top end player(s).
I love that people are creative in the ways they want to see the Canadiens improve. All reasonings have validity and can be explained fairly succinctly as well. The Canadiens fan community has some great ideas and shows that not everyone still has a sore bum from the trade of their favourite player 2 seasons ago. Those types want to see the entire team sink into a lake of fire because of a GM and that is simply illogical and spiteful. It’s a sad way to conduct yourself really. In life you have to learn to take the good with the bad, and you have to be able to cope and move on otherwise you will find yourself angry all the time.
But I digress…
As far as what I see happening in the remainder of this Canadiens offseason? Well, I think they will draft either of the two elite Forwards I mentioned earlier. I don’t see the Canadiens moving the 3rd overall pick unless it’s a unreal overpayment and that’s unlikely to happen.
I see the Canadiens moving on from current Captain Max Pacioretty, but those of you who have stuck with me all season knew that already. With the Canadiens bringing in an elite scorer, I expect that Pacioretty could be moved for a teams 2nd line C and a package of picks and prospects.
Someone like R O’Reilly in Buffalo comes to mind with the Sabres stacked at C with Eichel and Mittelstadt. Even the Islander’s could be a possibility depending on who’s available by the time they draft at 11 and 12 overall, but I would want both those picks for Pacioretty at minimum. Either way, Pacioretty is an asset that’s about to be cashed out as the Habs will shift the leadership role exclusively to Weber and Gallagher’s shoulders, exactly where it should be.
I think the Canadiens are likely going to grab two steals in the early 2nd round as well, someone like 18 year old winger D Bokk. Bokk is a player that screams steal to me much like Boeser did to me a couple years ago. Now, I’m not saying Bokk will be a Boeser, I’m simply sharing my thoughts on a draft eligible prospect. He’s done well in his draft year putting up 41 points in 35 games on his SuperElit team before scoring 6 G and 5 A in 8 playoff games. Both totals led his team. He is currently listed at #28 on ISS list and #31 on McKeen’s Hockey. A definite possibility to either slide to Montreal at #35 or Montreal could package two of their 4 2nd’s together to move up to ensure they get him.
So, according to me, this offseason will see the Canadiens add elite scoring through the draft, move the Captain for help and prospects, and load up in the 2nd round of the draft.
Oh! Almost forgot! Sign John Tavares! Geez, how could I forget that part! Sign JT by handing him a blank cheque and a slew of endorsement deals. Duh. This GM thing is easy man, I don’t know why the Hurricane’s won’t return my emails….
Go Habs Go!
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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