This fucking team...

[E.L.]

Dobson to me sounds exactly like what Oilers fans said about Petry when the Habs got him, and frankly, he turned overnight into a top pairing defenceman. The kind of guy who carries the puck a lot so everything is magnified, but more often than not he’s creating plays. Ditto Mike Matheson.

Martin St. Louis was gushing. These Habs are all about the quick transition game and that’s Dobson’s forte.

[Chris18]

Maybe their system will who him to be a real star. I kind of hope so. Always liked him. He just makes some real boneheaded plays sometimes. Maybe the Isles put too much pressure on him? I don't know. The Dobson Wars on Isles sites will last years. Some are so happy he's gone and others are losing their shit. Pretty funny to read.

I read that Dobson said he wanted to stay with the Isles but they couldn't find common ground. The rumor all along was that he was asking the Isles for $11M. No clue if that's a true number, his starting point, or a hard line for him. Seeing him take 8x$9.5M has Isles fans screaming that Darche is an idiot and he should have kept him. They have $22.7M in cap space, and like 6-7 roster spots to fill. If he took up half the space, they'd be totally screwed. This is a product of Lou being too loyal to guys and not really getting the Cap.

So best of luck. Dobby is a free, uhhh, a very expensive elf.

[E.L.]

Habs need a left-handed centre, and local boy/former Hughes client Joe Veleno was just bought out by Seattle.

I think the Habs are aiming higher, but if they can’t find a middle sixer, Veleno is 25 and has the defensive numbers to fill the gap. But he’s a black hole with the puck.

Maybe it’s because we grew up in the same neighbourhood (Matheson too), but I always liked his game in junior and I think there’s more in there, even if he’s just a 25 point defensive centre with a mean streak.

[E.L.]

Veleno was working out with Suzuki and Demidov in Hawks gear today. My guess is he’s got an offer to replace Pezzetta on a one-way deal, but since July 1 is tomorrow he’ll see what else is out there.

[BLUE]

Whats the deal with Pezzetta? We could use him lol.

[E.L.]

Whats the deal with Pezzetta? We could use him lol.

Very good forechecker for 8 minutes a night. But he doesn’t score and takes a lot of penalties. He’ll also drop the gloves. A decent 13th winger you can plug in for 40-50 games a year.

[E.L.]

Jordan Kyrou’s no trade has kicked in. He was not traded to the Canadiens.

[E.L.]

Habs do make a trade with the Blues, sending Mailloux to St Loux for Bolduc. Both teams trading from strengths to fill weaknesses.

[E.L.]

Habs add backup goalie Kaapo Kahkonen and pest Sammy Blais on one-way deals. Hughes showed last year with Barre-Boulet that a one-way deal ain’t nothing but a number: he played the whole season in Laval.

Primeau will get a shot to salvage his career in Carolina.

Armia, Dvorak and Pezzetta signed elsewhere.

[E.L.]

Sportsnet and Athletic have the Habs as winners this offseason. They resisted the urge to fill the gaps with expensive 30-year-olds and added a 25-year-old Top 4 defenceman and a 22-year-old middle six winger.

Management isn’t delusional about where the team is in their rebuild, even though they made playoffs.

They’ll give Dach and Newhook another shot, which will make us all uneasy, but considering what was out there, I’d bet on them over a lot of other players.

Pray for 22-23 Dach and 23-24 Newhook.

[E.L.]

Caufield-Suzuki-Slafkovsky
Bolduc-Dach-Demidov
Laine-Newhook-Kapanen
Anderson-Evans-Gallagher
Blais

Guhle-Dobson
Matheson-Hutson
Xhekaj-Carrier
Struble

Montbesonen

Reinbacher first call up.

How I see it. Might add another depth centre in case of camp injury.

[Stinky]

I think that Reinbonker makes the team outta camp and Streusel goes somewhere far away.

[E.L.]

I think that Reinbonker makes the team outta camp and Streusel goes somewhere far away.

They have so far pushed their top prospects on the big club without minor league time: Slaf, Lane, Guhle, Demidov. Reinbacher might get treated differently because of the knee, but they won't let him rot in Laval. Latest I think he's up is December unless he plays like shit.

Guhle-Dobson
Hutson-Reinbacher

Will be the top 4 eventually. Just a matter of time.

[E.L.]

Habs have reportedly said no thanks to Veleno and Kuznetsov in their quest to find a left-handed centre.

In an interview, Gorton kinda suggested the market will get better in November when teams fall out of playoff contention, but of course, the Habs could be one of those teams if they're lacking in centre depth.

[E.L.]

One crazy thought I had is Danault coming back. Two years left on his deal, still an elite defensive centre. But he only scored 8 goals and Holland wants a big name forward coming in, so Danault feels like an easy scapegoat.

I don’t know if Danault’s problems with the Habs started and stopped with Bergevin, who inexplicably ran him out of town, but if the Kings threaten to use that 10-team limited no-trade, wouldn’t Danault prefer coming back here?

[E.L.]

Never mind, local boy comes home: one year, 800K for Veleno.

Still just 25. Pierre McGuire thinks he got jerked around by coaches with radically different philosophies: played well under Lalonde, sucked under Blashill.

He’s got wheels, and he could be programmed to play a simple defensive game.

[E.L.]

Hard time figuring out who Laine best fits with. You’d think he and Dach could find chemistry as big, slow offensive guys, but they were awful together last season. Of course, they had one good knee between the two of them.

I’d consider trying them again with Demidov as the go-to offensive zone line, or put Newhook between Laine and Demidov.

[E.L.]

Dach had a setback and probably won’t start the season. Last year on his deal. Not good.

Big chance for Oliver Kapanen.

[E.L.]

Laine is 100 per cent healthy after dealing with shoulder, knee and mental issues in recent years. With a contract year coming up I think he’s going to score 30 minimum if he can stay locked in.

Marinaro linking Jared McCann to Montreal. Never really sure what Seattle is up to. They loaded up at centre so McCann is a bonus on the wing. Makes Matheson money for two more seasons, so the obvious trade possibility is there, but McCann is Seattle’s Bill Karlsson in that he had a big first season and has dropped off since. Doesn’t have the defensive chops, either.

[E.L.]

Carey Price got his 5.5M bonus paid out today, meaning there’s only 2.5M left on the books in the final season of his contract. For a team with 10.5M in cap space, he’s available.

Rumour today was San Jose would be interested for two reasons: they’re at 49 contracts and could unload a couple on the Habs, and they’re so barely over the cap floor that they couldn’t dump guys at the deadline, so you want that cushion.