NDF: (3) Winnipeg Jets vs. (4) Montreal Canadiens | Canadiens win series 4-0

[ShawnAntoski]

1 minute ago, oldnews said:

I'd say Holtby struggled. and Hamonic had a horrible start here (but picked up his game as the season progressed....Schmidt, however, did not 'struggle - he may not have produced what some people expected, but otherwise was solid, played a lot of challenging minutes, didn't have flattering production but struggled is a stretch.  In a normal, healthier season as opposed to having parachuted into this past covid year, those two will be fine (if Hamonic returns).

Somewhat I agree; and I would like to see how Schmidt will do with a different staff (if the rumours of a more veteran assistants are being looked into).

[ShawnAntoski]

3 minutes ago, wallstreetamigo said:

He has made a lot of bad moves though through the years though.

 

We should be hopeful that Benning can rebound like that.

 

Definitely dont think the haircut and red suit are Benning's style though lol

Just mainly commenting on this year.

 

Although, both seems to like the gelled slick back look.

[ShawnAntoski]

5 minutes ago, oldnews said:

?

It will be a tough road to get past the Knights/Avs but not impossible; hopefully the time off will not affect Prices' performance moving forward.

Edited June 8, 2021 by ShawnAntoski

[oldnews]

Said it in the offseason - I'm glad Toffoli wound up in Montreal.  A team/build that was really coming together.

 

The made some simply great additions along the way - to add to an unreal big 3 of Price, Weber and Petry from the net out.

 

Tofu, Anderson, Edmundson, Chiarot, Staal, Perry...

to go with some nice takeaways from before...Danault, Armia, Byron, Tatar...

And some youth that really bring a spark/energy - to a group that already had a high end sparkplug like Gallagher.

 

Underlying all of it = that Habs foundation - that timeless style of hockey that never gets old to watch...

[Elias Pettersson]

13 minutes ago, wallstreetamigo said:

He has made a lot of bad moves though through the years though.

 

We should be hopeful that Benning can rebound like that.

 

Definitely dont think the haircut and red suit are Benning's style though lol

I agree with this.  Bergevin looks like a genius right now but he has made some horrible moves in the past.  He's been around longer than Benning and when you are around that long you will make some big mistakes but also make some big hits.  Bergevin is the one who traded Sergachev for Drouin.  I think that is worse than Benning letting Toffoli go in free agency.  His drafting hasn't been that great over the years either.

 

But you have to give him credit for the moves he has made over the last couple of years that have really turned the Montreal franchise around.  Shea Weber, Josh Anderson, Nick Suzuki, Joel Edmundson and of course Toffoli, just to name a few off the top of my head.  He deserves alot of credit and Montreal is lucky that they had the patience to keep him around.

 

Aquilini seems to have the same patience as the Montreal ownership with Benning.  Maybe Benning will turn things around as well, starting this summer.  It's going to be a big summer for Benning.  He needs to hit on a couple trades and free agents to take Vancouver into the playoffs next year.

Edited June 8, 2021 by Elias Pettersson

[50 Years and Counting]

15 minutes ago, ShawnAntoski said:

Still hopeful for the future but this offseason will say alot about JB.

Last offseason said it all about JB. in one word..... incompetent.

[ShawnAntoski]

8 minutes ago, 50 Years and Counting said:

Last offseason said it all about JB. in one word..... incompetent.

Yeah, last off season was a downer cause the TT lost stings - atleast, the Holtby deal was only two years worth of overpayment (still a year too long - imo - and hopefully Seattle picks him up).  

 

Incompetent is Buffalo - they seem to be headed for another rebuild if the rumour are true about some of there young stars.

 

Perhaps a more fitting word: ambivalence ?

Edited June 8, 2021 by ShawnAntoski

[wallstreetamigo]

4 minutes ago, Elias Pettersson said:

I agree with this.  Bergevin looks like a genius right now but he has made some horrible moves in the past.  He's been around longer than Benning and when you are around that long you will make some big mistakes but also make some big hits.  Bergevin is the one who traded Sergachev for Drouin.  I think that is worse than Benning letting Toffoli go in free agency.  His drafting hasn't been that great over the years either.

 

But you have to give him credit for the moves he has made over the last couple of years that have really turned the Montreal franchise around.  Shea Weber, Josh Anderson, Nick Suzuki, Joel Edmundson and of course Toffoli, just to name a few off the top of my head.  He deserves alot of credit and Montreal is lucky that they had the patience to keep him around.

 

Aquilini seems to have the same patience as the Montreal ownership with Benning.  Maybe Benning will turn things around as well, starting this summer.  It's going to be a big summer for Benning.  He needs to hit on a couple trades and free agents to take Vancouver into the playoffs next year.

Sergachev for Drouin was brutal. No denying that. But at the same time, Benning wound up essentially trading Toffoli, Madden, a 2nd, and Schaller (cap dump) for literally nothing in return. That "trade" is kind of much worse.

 

I think this summer is going to show everyone exactly how much Benning has learned and whether we can be hopeful he can build an entire team. Because by the time he drafts one the older cord guys will be aged out. If he does more of the same mistakes as previously, we should all be very concerned. If he makes good moves it should help restore some faith in him going forward from us doubters.

[ShawnAntoski]

3 minutes ago, wallstreetamigo said:

Sergachev for Drouin was brutal. No denying that. But at the same time, Benning wound up essentially trading Toffoli, Madden, a 2nd, and Schaller (cap dump) for literally nothing in return. That "trade" is kind of much worse.

 

I think this summer is going to show everyone exactly how much Benning has learned and whether we can be hopeful he can build an entire team. Because by the time he drafts one the older cord guys will be aged out. If he does more of the same mistakes as previously, we should all be very concerned. If he makes good moves it should help restore some faith in him going forward from us doubters.

Ditto - trading an unknown for a known commodity; hopefully, they give OJ a legit chance this year before trading him. 

Edited June 8, 2021 by ShawnAntoski

[oldnews]

54 minutes ago, ShawnAntoski said:

It seems every moves that Bergevin did in the offseason paid off and JBs' additions had all struggled.

The thing is - the Habs had a lot of bad fortune too this year.

They were the last team to limp into the playoffs iirc.

They just happened to have some extremely good timing /fortune at the end of the season - with key players returning to their lineup for the playoffs - otherwise they finished a mere 4 pts ahead of Calgary.  Imagine the media climate in Montreal if the Habs had missed the playoffs..

 

That's the margin between being an also-ran whose head people would have wanted to see roll - and a genius that made all the right moves....

[iinatcc]

2 hours ago, canuck73_3 said:

At the same time everyone piling on Benning ignores the gaping hole on defence which was filled by acquiring Schmidt which was a bigger priority than Toffoli as nice as he would be to have still. 

Fine but I'd rather have Toffoli over Beagle, Roussel, Sutter, Baertschi or even Pearson + Virtanen 

 

There's only one reason why Toffoli isn't a Canuck right now and it's because of Benning's past mistakes in his signings. Plain and simple 

 

I believe one of the Canucks' many needs, even if Höglander and Podkolzin pans out, is a scoring winger. With letting Toffoli walk the only way Benning can acquire a scoring winger right now is either via a trade (giving away more assets) or free agency (which I predict will have a larger cap and term than Toffoli's contact with the Habs)

Edited June 8, 2021 by iinatcc

[ShawnAntoski]

2 minutes ago, oldnews said:

The thing is - the Habs had a lot of bad fortune too this year.

They were the last team to limp into the playoffs iirc.

They just happened to have some extremely good timing /fortune at the end of the season - with key players returning to their lineup for the playoffs - otherwise they finished a mere 4 pts ahead of Calgary.  Imagine the media climate in Montreal if the Habs had missed the playoffs..

 

That's the margin between being an also-ran whose head people would have wanted to see roll - and a genius that made all the right moves....

Good take - there timing has also been impeccable and the Zebras did give them some breaks - Anderson OT breakaway that was set up by a pick.

Edited June 8, 2021 by ShawnAntoski

[wallstreetamigo]

4 minutes ago, iinatcc said:

Fine but I'd rather have Toffoli over Beagle, Roussel, Sutter, Baertschi or even Pearson + Virtanen 

Benning could have acquired Schmidt AND kept Toffoli.

 

All he had to do was move one bad contract out and get a cheaper backup goalie.

 

If people are fine with Benning trading Madden and a 2nd only to let Toffoli walk, would adding a prospect to the overall cost in order to move out a bad contract to keep Toffoli really have been a worse move than letting him walk for nothing?

[Bertuzzipunch]

[Dazzle]

14 minutes ago, wallstreetamigo said:

Benning could have acquired Schmidt AND kept Toffoli.

 

All he had to do was move one bad contract out and get a cheaper backup goalie.

 

If people are fine with Benning trading Madden and a 2nd only to let Toffoli walk, would adding a prospect to the overall cost in order to move out a bad contract to keep Toffoli really have been a worse move than letting him walk for nothing?

Madden has yet to prove anything.

[wallstreetamigo]

9 minutes ago, Dazzle said:

Madden has yet to prove anything.

He has proved he is a good prospect at a position the Canucks are very weak at in terms of prospects.

 

Having not proven anything at the nhl level yet doesnt mean a bottom feeding team should throw him away for a rental.

[Elias Pettersson]

48 minutes ago, wallstreetamigo said:

Sergachev for Drouin was brutal. No denying that. But at the same time, Benning wound up essentially trading Toffoli, Madden, a 2nd, and Schaller (cap dump) for literally nothing in return. That "trade" is kind of much worse.

 

I think this summer is going to show everyone exactly how much Benning has learned and whether we can be hopeful he can build an entire team. Because by the time he drafts one the older cord guys will be aged out. If he does more of the same mistakes as previously, we should all be very concerned. If he makes good moves it should help restore some faith in him going forward from us doubters.

At the time of the trade it was a good idea as Boeser was hurt and Benning was trying to make the playoffs.  With a little bit of luck we did manage to squeak into the play in round and ended up winning 2 rounds and going 7 games with Vegas in round 3.  Toffoli wasn't a huge part of that success as he was hurt in the playoffs.  Boeser came back to full health and Benning had a decision to make.  He ended up qualifying Virtanen instead of letting him walk for free and he traded for Schmidt to fill the hole left by Tanev.  That took up the majority of our cap space.  He did try to go after OEL which of course would have made our defence even better, but luckily that deal did not go through as his cap hit would have crippled us for the next 6 years.

 

The other thing to consider is we traded for Toffoli prior to COVID.  COVID effectively destroyed any chance of the cap going up.  Prior to COVID they were talking about the cap going up by a few million so Benning probably thought that re-signing Toffoli, Tanev and Markstrom wouldn't be that difficult.  Unfortunately because of COVID and through no fault of Benning the cap remained flat and he got stuck in a bad situation.  Bergevin trading Sergachev for Drouin was just a stupid trade giving up on a top young prospect.  At least Benning had an excuse for what happened with Toffoli.  It wasn't stupid to try and make the playoffs and trade some youth and prospects in order to do it.  GM's do that all the time.

 

At the end of the day we got Boeser back to full heath which is the reason we traded for Toffoli in the first place and defence was a priority, so Benning didn't make an offer to Toffoli and he went to Montreal.  No one, and I repeat no one could have expected Toffoli to have a career year at age 29 on a new team.  I'm sure you didn't expect that either.  It is what it is.  The trade for Toffoli and then not re-signing him looks real bad right now because we let him walk for nothing, but at the time of the deal it looked like a good move.  Hindsight is 20/20.  We can spend the next year talking about Toffoli or we can move on and see what Benning has up his sleeve for the summer.

[Elias Pettersson]

35 minutes ago, wallstreetamigo said:

Benning could have acquired Schmidt AND kept Toffoli.

 

All he had to do was move one bad contract out and get a cheaper backup goalie.

 

If people are fine with Benning trading Madden and a 2nd only to let Toffoli walk, would adding a prospect to the overall cost in order to move out a bad contract to keep Toffoli really have been a worse move than letting him walk for nothing?

Demko was still unproven.  The logical move to make was to get a veteran who has won a Cup as a backup in case Demko didn't pan out.  Benning had to pay up to get that veteran goalie.  There wasn't a cheaper option in free agency with a better resume.  In terms of dumping a pick to clear cap space, he just finished dumping a 2nd round pick and a prospect for Toffoli, I can only imagine the uproar if he traded a 1st round pick to dump Loui or Roussel, which is what it would have taken to dump them.

Edited June 8, 2021 by Elias Pettersson

[PistolPete13]

2 hours ago, qwijibo said:

Just relaying the facts.  
 

Toffoli publicly stated he wanted to stay in Vancouver 

Benning asked him to wait but never actually extended an offer

Toffoli signed with Montreal 4 days into free agency

Benning stated he wanted Toffoli but he “ran out of time”

Why not just enjoy the Habs victory for what it is instead of piling on about the Canucks losing Toffoli? 

I’m happy that Toffoli has found some great chemistry in Montreal. Way to go Tyler.

Like many on here, I am upset that Tyler wasn’t in the Canucks long term plans. But I’ve moved on.
 

Enjoy the player while he’s on a roll. Hopefully he can keep it going.  

[Elias Pettersson]

45 minutes ago, iinatcc said:

Fine but I'd rather have Toffoli over Beagle, Roussel, Sutter, Baertschi or even Pearson + Virtanen 

 

There's only one reason why Toffoli isn't a Canuck right now and it's because of Benning's past mistakes in his signings. Plain and simple 

 

I believe one of the Canucks' many needs, even if Höglander and Podkolzin pans out, is a scoring winger. With letting Toffoli walk the only way Benning can acquire a scoring winger right now is either via a trade (giving away more assets) or free agency (which I predict will have a larger cap and term than Toffoli's contact with the Habs)

The only reason Toffoli was a Canuck in the first place was because of Benning.  He was hurt in the playoffs and didn't contribute much.  Now that he is gone and playing the best hockey of his career it is Benning's fault he is no longer here.  Like I said in an earlier post Benning's biggest mistake was trading for Toffoli in the first place.  If the trade had never occurred we wouldn't be talking about Toffoli at all right now.