Big changes are coming for Montreal...

Some big changes are coming for the Montreal Canadiens and specifically with the Habs bottom six with players set to return and Nick Suzuki and Ivan Dimitrov. There are some insane decisions that Kent Hughes and Marty St. Louis have to make but also on the trade front as we have a lot of noise surrounding Nikita Kucherov. We're going to catch you up to date on all that plus as we mentioned a little update on Nick Suzuki and Ivan Dimitrov from today at practice as the status well he hasn't confirmed. To be, uh, been confirmed to be out for next game. Well, Suzuki at least. The Dimitrov update, maybe not so great, but we're going to dive into all of that and more coming up on this episode. And the big theme of today is that moves are coming, changes are coming, and some, could it be a trade? I don't know. You know, Kucherov's stuff is maybe a little slower going, but what's very immediate is the fact that Montreal, like they have healthy players, players are going to have to sit. And look, after a game like yesterday, you start to wonder like which guys could sit. You know, Marty was asked a lot about this game and I don't want to. Spend too, too much time on this. But like, I want to also just say how kind of I feel positive about this. Martin's like, look, the league happens fast. They don't care what you go through. It's embarrassing, but you move on. You fix what you can. It's all about self-correction. That's the thing. You can't let this dictate what happens next. And what I love too about this, Jesse, is that we do get some solid news. Suzuki was out there skating again. He's listed officially as uncertain for this upcoming game. So, you know, we take yesterday. Throw that in the trash, we look ahead, and what I will say is that looking ahead looks a whole lot brighter than what ever happened last night. so you're telling me there's a chance Nick Suzuki plays first in the next game again probably not best if they rush him back he's deserved a little bit of time off but he's gonna be back here soon he's just gonna provide such a lift for the team even though again we have went five oh and one without him again he's gonna be back Ivan Dimitrov that's a whole other dimension for this team here as well but again he's just been playing so good before the injury um we're talking about 12 points in nine games plus 6 rating, just doing it on all parts of the ice here as well. But we know the team has been trending as a whole with him in the lineup, and that's why we want him back as well, right? 7-1-2, so got to feel like it's imminent here coming in, and of course, we cannot wait for it. No, and the Habs have been doing such a good job of just winning the games that they kind of need to win. Again, yesterday, notwithstanding... Montreal has done a good job to keep themselves right there near the top of the Atlantic, still ahead of Tampa, but yeah, behind Boston, which I don't know what kind of magic they have. It just feels like they can never, yeah, it's weird. That's not sustainable, right? The other thing, though, is this was, I think, a day or two ago. Demidov has been seen recently in a walking boot still. We're still not sure, but he has been skating. There was a real video yesterday of him skating, so we'll keep an eye on all that. But let us know what you think about this down below. And I did want to highlight a comment from yesterday as well, because you know we do read your comments from Joe. The Habs played 57 good minutes of really good hockey. The Jets played 60-plus minutes. Felt sorry for Fowler, but go Habs. You know what? That's it. That's all we can say. Yep, Fowler maybe deserved better, but the Habs, hey, you got to play the full 60. That's fine. Go Habs. That's what we're trying to dial in. This team is very exciting. Coming up very soon, and especially when you look at the potential trade talks, because we've got to go back to Nikita Kucherov. We're not going to talk about this every single day, because there's not an update every single day, but there was a great article from Marc Dumont talking about some of the possibilities and stuff, and just highlighting again some of what the insiders have said and what Kucherov has said. We have this quote here, which is one of the big ones, actually, especially coming from Montreal fans here, knowing what it's like about the team culture communication. Kucherov said it was never about the money for him. It was more about poor communication and respect. Over the last four months, we've had two conversations. We know one thing, Montreal, they will respect their players. And we know, too, these players are taking discounts. Now, obviously, he's going to get a ton of money. And will that come from Montreal? Who knows? But Pierre LeBrun said he wouldn't shock him if the Habs were on the trade list. There's zero chance Tampa would ever trade into a division rival, but it could be something to keep in mind. Come July 1st, we've heard Friedman link him here. And while maybe Mark Dumont and some other people think it's less likely he ends up in Montreal, Jesse, the cap space works. Even if we sign him to like 18, 20 million next offseason, like there is absolutely a world where we could do this. I don't know how you're feeling about this, but the more noise, the more I'm just excited for something to happen, whether it's here or not, but that we definitely have to keep our ear close to the ground, because it might not even end this season. This probably will drag right out until July. There are some parallels here where when our head coach Martin St. Louis left Tampa, it was also through a trade request. That being said, I find it very unlikely that a Tampa would trade us to him or also be that the fact that we would just get a chance to sign him in free agency. You got to feel like any team that's going to trade for him is going to want to get a deal, extend him over the long term. We're talking about Nikita freaking Kucherov here, an amazing elite talent. That being said, it's like if it were up to Nikita Kucherov, he would absolutely, I feel number one, want to come to Montreal Canadiens. If he's not playing in Tampa and again, why is that? Of course, we have the communication that he's looking for. He knows the culture that we have. But again, Nikita Kucherov is a winner. That's where it really comes about. He's looking at Montreal as a place where I'm not just going to win one Stanley Cup. I'm going to win several of them at the end of the day. He's got a relationship with Martin St. Louis. He played 39 games before that trade request. A whole other crazy story we'll need to get into another time. And then obviously, like we could offer. Tampa a lot it needs to be said it also needs to be said that Michael Hage obviously would be included in that with a whole bunch of other players here as well um so again you have in Michael Hage somebody that could help your team which in all full rights should be in the NHL right now um and then just so many other players which you gotta feel our roster we're gonna get into that like you gotta feel some sort of like package deal whether it's for Nikita Kucherov or Because you know Ken Hughes is going to cook either way. I'm not going to lose sleep over this. It's going to involve some sort of trade pact. And we've reached that critical point here for the Montreal Canadiens where you have too many guys that are contributing to the roster. The Montreal Canadiens playing good hockey. They deserve to keep going right now. So again, they're really obviously raising some value. There's a lot of benefits and maybe some injuries and other players getting some run right now to be able to show what they're capable of. So I think the Montreal Canadiens can offer something in both the short and the longer term for teams that are looking. Yeah, that's straight up in our biggest strength in a lot of these trade talks is just the sheer Quality of package that we could deliver to other teams in terms of draft picks or just young players. And you're so right. And that was, this is the big thing for this video. Like, yeah, moves, trades, maybe. But straight up, you have to make moves with your roster. You don't have a choice because we are acquiring two players coming back from injury. I mean, again, maybe, well, three with Matheson, but the D-Core is kind of doing what it's doing right now. But in the Forward Core, you have Nick Suzuki, you have Ivan Demidov coming back. And what does that mean? This is what it means. Three out of Kapanen, Doc, Florian, Jacki, and Beck will have to sit every night when Nick Suzuki and Ivan Demidov are back and healthy, assuming there are no other injuries. Just put that through your mind. That is crazy because this fourth line, they've been controlling like some games as much as 60% of the 5v5 shots. It's been very good. Beck and Jacki right now, hot hands. Jacki, both Jacki's gotten assists on Beck's goal last game. Beck has looked great. Kapanen has looked good between them. And Doc has been ill, but he was in the lineup, even getting PP1 reps, Jesse, as recently as just a few games ago. So, like, there's a lot of questions here, but, like, what do we do, right? When you talk about a roster crunch, I think all these things are intertwined, whether it's Kucherov or some other trade that maybe we haven't even thought of yet. You have three, like, legitimately talented NHL-level guys who will have to sit when Suzuki and Demidov come back because those are just better players. And I like this quote from Lauren Alpern saying, Suddenly, Montreal has something it hasn't enjoyed in a very long time. Legitimate depth with more capable forwards than available roster spots. And even Marty San Louie a few days ago when talking about Owen Beck, like, if he was at this stage of his progression three years ago, he'd probably be a full-time player for us, right? Like, there's so much love and admiration for these guys. I mean, what do you do, right? Like, is a trade the best solution? Is that less demoralizing than sending them back to the AHL or something? That's the silver lining, giving them some run right now, seeing that Owen Beck's got a heck of a shot, and he can really rip it. That's important to see at the NHL level in Montreal. Again, so important for his career, but some very important decisions are going to need to be made for the Montreal Canadiens, which are a very good and deep team. Again, the Montreal Canadiens are the team that has trailed the least, been losing the least in the season so far. So again, the Carolina Hurricanes. Are in second place right now. Another very good defensive team. Really important. We got a lot of guys that are contributing to this success right now. Again, I feel like obviously the first cuts are potentially a Florian Jacquet guy. But then from there, then it really starts to get interesting of who that third guy is. Josh, I throw Doc and also Texier into that equation to see who's really battling it out between them. Again, it comes back to that question early on in the season that we didn't need to address why because some injuries happened, right? And very much the same thing could happen again. And you got to feel like Kent Hughes is. Playing those odds that by the time Nick Suzuki and Demidov come back, this is the NHL, injuries are going to happen, even if it's just something short-term. Again, that's the depth that we have. But all being said, we're getting to a point where something needs to be done. It's a critical mass of players right now where, truly for Kent Hughes, the greatest opportunity for the Montreal Canadiens is maximizing your talent at any given spot. And right now, we're not at the point, we haven't reached it yet because we still need to see a little bit more from those players and like Owen Beck and Florian Jacquet and what they're capable of. You want to know that before you're potentially trading them, right? Because there's a risk in that as well. That being said, I think you really want to make the most out of certain spots in very strategic ways. Yeah, I completely agree. I agree, it's... But the question is like, Yeah, what aspects are they evaluating, right? Because I think so, what I love about these guys, and it makes it so tough even for me, like, I think you're right. Like, looking at a guy like Texier, he's not crazy. A guy like Kapanen, as crazy as it is, like, maybe he just hasn't been great this year. Owen Beck has three points in five games, but Texier's been part of that great, you know, French connection line. I probably shouldn't call it that. There's another line, but you know what I mean. Like, it's kind of fun to, look, we got Newsy Lalonde behind the bench. It's fine. We can call these lines whatever we want. There have been so many strengths with each of these guys, right? Texey on that third line with Deneau and Bolduc controlling so much of the play. Florian Jack, I bring you a physical element that really only Josh Anderson has in the forward group, but Florian's done it a bit better. Owen Beck, we just saw Jesse like underrated aspect. He hasn't taken a ton of them, but 57% on the dot in the face-offs he has taken in five games, three points in five games. Like this is not a fluke. And it's also getting less than nine minutes a night. All of these guys have their strengths. Kirby Doc, I know some fans are tired of him. He's maybe the most urgent guy because he's on a one-year expiring deal set to be an unrestricted free agent. That's the most obvious kind of candidate to move out. But if you want to trade him, you also kind of want to display him. So anyway, leave your thoughts down below. We'd love to hear your thoughts. Here'll be a poll. A, B, or C, who sits when everyone's healthy? Is it Kapanen? Is it Doc? Or is it Becker Jack guy, one of the AHL guys? Or is it someone else? Because it could be a guy like Texier. We don't know. Leave your thoughts down below, but that will do it for this episode. Thank you so much for tuning in every single day. I'm Josh Goss, and my co-host Jesse Poirier will catch you all in the next one.