Things just picked up FAST... - Multiple HUGE Habs updates

Things are picking up fast as we have multiple Habs reports including Elliot Friedman on the recent episode of 32 Thoughts speaking on the Lane-Hudson extension and reveals what the price will likely be for Hudson's extension if he signs an eight-year term. We have to get into exactly what Friedman said and how it could affect the Montreal Canadiens going forward but not only that one reporter Anthony DiMarco from the Daily Faceoff once again links Montreal to an Anaheim center that has been at the center of so many trade talks that plus a brilliant update on Alexander Zhuravsky our top pick in the 2025 draft. All that coming up in this episode of Habs Digest. Just want to take a second though to say thank you for being part of the 22,000 subscribers now on the channel. Oh it's an exciting time to talk about the Habs and thanks to you for making this exciting but also thanks to reports like this we have Habs enthusiasts here on Twitter saying Alexander Zhuravsky is not on the pre-season tournament MHL Polpar team roster so it means he will get tested in the main Salafat KHL team camp which started on the 1st of August. Keep you posted for more details and this is pretty awesome. Now not to say that this was unexpected because of course Alexander Zhuravsky had a great year in the MHL last year you know Nadi Vondemilov levels are great but 50 points in 45 games including 24 goals with some of the highest pure skill one of the best pure skill I should say in that league. I mean again the highlights for Zhuravsky were off the charts but it was really in the playoffs for Ufa Salavat where he came up he only got one assist in seven games in the playoffs but their head coach basically said like this 18 year old 6'1 he's skinny he basically forced his way to play because of how good he was doing the effort he was putting in and how he was changing the momentum of the game when he was on the ice and it's guys like that that make you really take a second look and say wow like 18 year olds it's rare for them to get that kind of time right the guy we picked 34th overall the guy that we traded up in the draft to get we traded 41 and 49 for this 34th overall pick and a later selection in the draft because we had him as a first round talent the Montreal Canadiens had him at 16th or 17th overall so a guy that had that much skill last year in the MHL signs are pointing to him probably not starting the year in the MHL we don't know he very well could play in the MHL maybe VHL but it's looking good it's looking like that seven game playoff sample for the big club in the KHL is paying off and we can very well see Alexander Zhuravsky make that lead to the KHL and who knows what kind of numbers he could put up we know his skill is out of this world it's a matter of making that decision making a little bit better and just you know bulking up a little bit to play against those big adults those rough players there in the KHL and I think we could be in for something special so leave some thoughts on Zhuravsky because I know we're all pumped for Alexander Zhuravsky if you want Alexander Zhuravsky to play on a line with Ivan Demidov hit the like button on this video because stats have shown that when you like the video good things happen to the Montreal Canadiens let's move on and I want to go on to Elliot Friedman actually first now there's Mason McTavish stuff there's Elliot Friedman stuff you can jump around we got timestamps for that reason but I want to start here and Elliot Friedman you know what we'll make it full screen why not haven't done that in a minute Friedman said I think with the cap going up the market is getting reset initially the Canadiens probably wanted Lane Hudson under Nick Suzuki and now you look at the deal Noah Dobson signed if Hudson's going to sign for term it's probably going to be up closer to Dobson and this is very interesting to hear now again I don't I don't think any of us thought the lane train would come in at under Nick Suzuki not at this point not after a rookie season that was just so good that like you know he was literally breaking records he won the Calder trophy he was getting Norris votes still snubbed from the I'm still a bit bitter about that and I think I will be until that team is announced maybe we'll see him probably not anyway but you know to know that the Montreal Canadiens are gonna have to pay up for Lane Hudson look we knew that already but the fact that Friedman phrased it this way I don't know maybe I'm overthinking this and again it's just Friedman's thought but he tends to have a pretty good feel about these things so you wanted to have Hudson maybe under Nick Suzuki but now and now we signed Dobson it's probably gonna be closer to Dobson and that phrasing is interesting because again Noah Dobson signed an eight-year 9.5 million AAV contract with Montreal as a lot of us know so Lane Hudson a lot of us were saying like you know probably 10 11 maybe 12 million I mean the guy deserves a lot of money but if we're talking around Noah Dobson numbers there's actually a world where I think it could come in a little bit lower now I know a lot of you guys are thinking the Montreal Canadiens like you want to be here you might take a little discount to help the team win if he does that awesome but another thing I wanted to show here is that when it comes to Noah Dobson after his rookie deal he had 51 points in 80 games like this guy signed a three-year four million dollar per year bridge deal to get him to RFA status there after that 24-25 season that was this past year right his contract expired so Montreal's deal with Noah Dobson eats up way more UFA years and Dobson is a little bit older at the end of this contract so you know at the end he might get less money than Hudson would at this point so there's different leverages right you bought up more UFA years with Dobson but if you sign Lane Hudson tomorrow for the extension again this season would still be on his rookie deal like this season here it would still be on his like 1 million dollar per year deal but if you signed him to like a 10 million dollar deal for eight years you're basically just buying him until he's 30 years old on the dot whereas Noah Dobson you're getting until he's like 33 right that's the difference here so you know that could very well change the the monetary value and I think like with a lot of people talking about the Lane Hudson extension if it's even a dollar under 10 million this is a sentiment I saw online I agree with it too if it's under 10 mil I'd say that's a steal like you know there are some people oh will he replicate it I don't see any world where he doesn't this dude was like the primary focus for a lot of defense is like hey stop him and he still went out and broke records for rookie defenseman scoring so you know very interesting if Lane Hudson hey here's my question to you and I want to see your comments down below if Lane Hudson got a carbon copy deal of Noah Dobson's deal would you be okay with that I think most of you would be okay would you consider that a steal I think I would like I think there's a world where something like that could happen I you know if he comes in less than that who knows I see some people theorizing since you're buying up fewer UFA years maybe you give them a little less I don't know but listen leave your thoughts down below there's a lot of talk about Lane Hudson I cannot wait to see what's going to go down here I hope he signs before the season but speaking of other moves that might happen before the season well in fact moves that will certainly happen before the season we got to recircle back here and talk about Mason McTavish because he's been at the center of so much conversation this off season not just from the Montreal Canadiens but from other teams around the league Anaheim and all the teams that are linked to him like yo yo you want that top six forward he's an RFA and we know his status has to be figured out before the season starts he's a restrictive free agent either he has to sign in Anaheim or he gets an offer sheet that he signs and Anaheim matches or doesn't match or Anaheim says listen we just don't really want to pay you that much so we'll trade you and as the days go by it certainly feels like the Mason McTavish thing is just not that much closer to being resolved there's pretty much no rumors of you know him getting really close to an extension in Anaheim not yet and again it could very well happen tomorrow for all I know but you know with the reports of teams still hunting for a top six players Frank Cervalli recently said and John Shannon saying the first week of August is when we're going to start seeing things pick up they say we're in the first week of August now this is the week where things are going to start picking up we have a report from Anthony DeMarco of the Daily Face Off quote the Canadiens are a club that I reckon will be keeping close tabs on McTavish's ability or availability and again as Jeff Merrick said just about a month ago maybe not even a month ago now he said look Mason McTavish is as available as he's ever been and so as we continue to move on here the Montreal Canadiens continue to surface as the number one team that is talked about in the Mason McTavish sweepstakes why because he is the best to see target that we know could very well be on the market because we heard Frank Cervalli talk about how Mason McTavish is probably going to be available again Jeff Merrick and so many other people we haven't heard it directly from Anaheim and then they run a pretty tight ship they pull off some interesting trades in the past we don't know really what's going on behind closed doors McTavish played a lot of third line this past year but could very well be higher in the lineup on another team in just 17 minutes a night this guy put up 52 points to 76 games and our fans here on the channel during a live stream earlier this offseason voted him as the top to see target of all players available on the market a lot of them are no longer on the market because this was a couple months ago but you guys voted him as the top guy for Montreal and as these reports keep coming out that Montreal is the one team that will likely be investigating Mason McTavish I started to say hey it's getting real because you add Mason McTavish to this core of this team now what it would cost I don't know it would cost you a lot because this guy is really good just because he might not have a future in Anaheim does not mean that Anaheim will trade him for pennies on the dollar you're gonna want good talent now they're making some weird trades bringing in some veterans again Ryder and Truba and like it's kind of interesting what's going on there though they still have some really really really good young players there as we all know again Leo Carlson's coming up and doing some good stuff among other guys but you know if McTavish doesn't have a long-term future in Anaheim which again is what we're saying if if if Montreal is just once again right at the forefront will we trade Kirby Dock for him is that something you guys would be up for like who's the best player on the Montreal Canadiens roster that you would trade for Mason McTavish that's my simple question to you I'm not talking prospects I'm talking on the roster itself I can show you again these are your options who is the best player that you see here out of all of these lines that you would trade for Mason McTavish at least be a centerpiece because you know they're probably not going to do a one-for-one deal unless you give them a lot of talent back but then again hey young talented forwards like Zach Bolduc might be available for a player that Montreal's okay giving up on like we did Logan Myu and you know we have lots of center depth coming up to the McTavish is obviously a lot more established but there's a certain number of guys that I absolutely would give up and I want to hear your guys thoughts because that'll do it for this episode of Habs Digest the updates just came all of a sudden here at the beginning of August just like we thought it would first week of August maybe I think we're in for a big week and I hope that you stick along for the ride but if you enjoy leave a like comment most importantly subscribe we're trying to get to that 25k I know it's far away but thank you for making 22k happen thank you for tuning in every single day all off season one I've been your host Josh Goss and I'll catch you in the next one