It's already picking UP... - Report reveals Hughes MASTER Plan

Off-season reports are picking up quickly, as Darren Dreger recently on TSN Radio indicated that Montreal's not only looking for a 2C, but another position of contention within the Habs organization. We get to dive into what he said, the report, and guys coming up in the Habs system that could fill that role as well, but it's not just that. We have talks about Arber Xhekaj, coming from Stu Cowan at the Montreal Gazette, and where he fits in the future, but along those same lines, there's a recent report out of Calgary about Rasmus Anderson and one insider is indicating that he could very well be on the move a bunch of great stuff coming up on this episode of Habs Digest and Jesse we'll start with our boy Rasmus Anderson now look we've talked a lot about Rasmus Anderson in the past because hey let's be honest he's one of those guys that does fit the team there is a bit of a downside with him he's now an expiring deal just like Mike Matheson and bringing in a guy like this would create a problem for your team like two guys right there four and a half million each right at the top of lineup I don't know but Dave Pagano says that he thinks the Flames will listen on Rasmus Anderson if there isn't progress towards a new extension before the end of the month now Craig Conroy said there really is no deadline for it but you have to imagine the pressure is on if they can't get something worked out soon Jesse look you know we're not going to spend a ton of time on Rasmus Anderson today but the idea that things are maybe not going as the Flames plan does open a door for Montreal though I do wonder if an expiring deal like if it was at the deadline maybe an expiring deal now at this point i'm just not sure if that fit really is there though i do really like the term is maybe the kind of the big question of like that's the only thing that might kind of scare Kent Hughes way there's also that plus minus which is jumping out of the screen whoa minus that's a little bit of an anomaly when we kind of look at him through the course of his career much you know a little bit of an outlier compared to everything else so we'll see how that pans out you know help the Flames be a competitive team this year i think that needs to be taken into consideration but josh you're right like there has been a lot of smoke around this like for a while and i think that needs to be taken into consideration with this and when we're looking at kind of like not just setting up Demidov for success but i think setting up Hudson for success makes sense is Ghouli that guy could that compare with them top pairing right handy maybe maybe not maybe Ghouli is more of a second pairing guy even though he is really good so this is where a guy like Rasmus Andersson comes into the picture and he's kind of an ideal pairing for Lane Hudson because he can play well defensively but he can also jump in the rush as well which ideally like you want somebody like that with hudson that's the ideal world having a two-way guy like Andersson here and fans of the show will know i've advocated more of like a like more of like a third pairing as what he did Andersson not that not at that price tag but i make an exception for him because of the fit as previously mentioned here um again we we know kind of like a little bit of negatives but the same time it's like i think we also need to factor into all of it that the habs are becoming more of a destination now with hudson Demidov we already know what suzuki's doing making the playoffs etc just like looking like they're going to be good for years to come i think it's something that we also need to factor in when we're looking at this very vastly evolving situation yeah for sure and again like Montreal does want to help the right situation but you know i we i did say it was maybe a negative on the term but you could spin it in a positive way saying look you don't want to rush a guy like David Reinbacher into a role that maybe he's not ready for immediately Rasmus Andersson another note too Jesse he blocked almost 200 shots this year and with the departure of David Savard the Habs don't really have that bona fide shot blocking defenseman other than Kaiden Guhle who does a lot of it but a right shot defenseman who can do that would be very effective but leave your thoughts on Rasmus Andersson down below now that he's expiring do you see him as a fit having again guys like Matheson and Andersson both expiring at the end the end of the year is tough but we do have some nice young guys that can fill in hopefully Guhle Hudson Reinbacher on the right side to fill that role but let us know down below but we want to transition because there's a defenseman that we didn't really mention in this section but you did mention third pairing and i think Arbor Jack i fixed that bill now there was a great article linked down below from the Montreal Gazette that Stu Cowan wrote how the sheriff deserves a spot on the Canadian blue line patrol i mean as always go take a read of stu's article it's fantastic we're not going to dive too much into exactly what he said but I want to let that article do the talking for itself but I want to talk about Arbor in general Jesse because again when you look at these pairings I feel like we talk about them a bit but now that the pressure is kind of on to win we need we have to make a move at some point whether on defense or forward a bunch of guys coming up these sneaky guys that might try to crack the roster in extra more you know maybe or even Ryan Barker on the right side Struble still in RFA when it comes to Arbor I I understand the the need for him long term I feel like in my opinion he's gonna come into training camp with as big a chip on his shoulder as you can get because I think to have him being benched in that physical series I don't know he just feels like the kind of guy that's gonna be super competitive and come back and prove us all hey show that those offensive flashes that he had a couple of years ago I'm actually ready for the Arbor Jackite redemption tour if you can even call it that because I'm actually anticipating something pretty big from him this year that's spicy and I like it and there's somebody else in the form of Martin Salwee who would agree with you he's saying that this is a very young defender but he's improving quickly like Martin Salwee squashed the beat like if there was any there people sometimes think that there's like some issues between these players but like Jack guy saying himself like i'm learning stuff from Martin Sa louis all the time and just in a very recent podcast say louis had some very flattering things to say about jack guy and kind of highlighted how as he kind of matures and even jack is aware that like his timing's gonna get better so get loaded folks like put on your seatbelts because arbor's gonna line up some people with some big hits this year like the defensive part of the game is gonna come he's gonna really find that timing i find he's an undrafted player but not unloved why because he has that really critical position on this team i think as an enforcer where you have like sabar now leaving you need somebody to protect the the front of the net and for me that's the first guy on this current lineup that i'm looking to to have that very responsible you know very important responsibility right and i think it's very interesting to note too before he even got to the nhl like jack is the playoff guy in terms of like not just laying the hits but also there's that offensive part of the game where he's shown with no surprise that he's a playoff guy but don't expect once he kind of finds his timing to kind of be able to contribute both defensively but offensively as well i'm excited to see what's coming next because again like he's still only 24 and i know players hit their peaks at whatever whatever but again bigger guys like it's not the same for everyone someone like him who was undrafted a bit of a bigger guy like who needs maybe those timing things those skills refined a bit it can take them longer than people who have the natural skill just need to get up to speed so again i i think the current version of Arber Xhekaj guy that we saw this past season i completely understand if that's not a player that we could confidently fit into a third pairing especially if we had someone like a Nick Caufield right i could understand the rationale for that but i do see him taking a step next year just because that's the Xhekaj way it's what happens all the time right so anyway let us know your thoughts are we maybe over hyping i don't think so i think it's going to be very interesting nonetheless very competitive and that's nothing but a good thing for Arber and the rest of the Xhekaj guys and honestly everyone all of our great young prospects but jesse we got to take a little shift now into this offseason and move from defense to forward because we know 2C's the top priority but there's another thing this season now with the departure of a couple key free agents we need to shore up and that's the 3C and we have a report from Darren Dreger saying Kent Hughes is quote open for business and wants to improve the 2 and 3C position, he has a lot of trade capital now 3C is a very interesting thing for Montreal, Jesse for multiple reasons, of course we have Nick Suzuki and we have Jake Evans and that's kind of it at this point and so the question into next season will Kirby Dach be a full-time center notice I didn't say his name right and I didn't say Kapanen's name because guys like Kapanen and Beck are both young, both relatively unproven, they've looked fine in the NHL time they've got maybe not yet 3C, I'd still probably personally take Jake Evans over them at this current moment they're still young, they'll still get better but with question marks surrounding Kirby Dach, we know we want a 2C, Jesse, but to me it actually makes a lot of sense, we've focused on 2C but it makes a lot of sense to bring in a that bona fide 3C to be a really good bottom six talent to go with Evans just to bolster that if you can't find that 2C right away, what what do you make of this, do you think guys like Kapanen and Beck are maybe even already ready to take on that role, I don't think it's contingent on if we don't get the 2C that we need to add kind of a 3C there, um, but that being said like the smart move would be regardless is to add that that 3C but Josh, I'm gonna go against the grain here and I because I really feel like Evans could hold down that third kind of third line and third and fourth line I think we can use that kind of interchangeably right like they're to be playing around the same right like type of ice time there just because i feel like Beck or Kapanen could hold down that 4C, 3C if you want to call it right like again that's a little bit of a spicy take though because conventional wisdom would say they're still very young and you probably want a little bit more of a bet like that is the safer take i just think with so many young guys coming up like Beck for me is that the NHL he's good on the face off dot he's gonna be predictable somewhat i think that defensive game you can bank on it the offense is is going to come over time so i i feel comfortable with josh like having either a Beck or a Kapanen a Kapanen as our 4C like let us know in the comments if you agree because i feel like Evans can kind of hold down that that 3C and then we really need that 2C for sure we got Doc is there he's definitely tertiary option i think whether on that fourth or third line to when needed to be to go in there at center but i don't think that should kind of be the go-to uh plan going forward so i feel like it would allow us maybe just to focus a little bit more on on really that that 2C position but again we still could probably add somebody in the bottom six maybe add a little bit of um kind of robustness for lack of a better word i just don't know if that needs to be a center specifically i got i got faith in our boys yeah i mean i got faith in Suzuki and you know another name i didn't even mention is our boy Newhook right like oh well that's not gonna scream yeah well there you go put him up on the top right we'll adjust that but still like he's a guy that can play center again the biggest concern with Newhook and doc is like Newhook has played some of his best hockey with the Habs at center but also on the wing with other skilled players like some of his best time has been with Suzuki and Caulfield but he's also had good moments with like Demidov or whoever or with Line A I should say and like he's had good moments right but I don't know right and Kirby Doc and him they're both so bad on the face-off that I hate to say that so bad but they're barely over 40 percent and like especially on a team that's lost Christian Dvorak this also indicates to me that Dvorak's not coming back like I mean he could be But again, when you have so many options, it's like, and Kent Hughes is open for business in terms of getting a 2-3-C, you got to think that puts pressure on our guys as well to say, listen, this spot is not just, it's not just guaranteed for you. But yeah, I like your take, Jesse. It's like, look, I think Evans can be the 3-C. And if you get a 3-C that can put up again, the points he put up this year at whatever, 36 points, 13 goals, that's not the worst 3-C ever, especially if you're very defensively responsible like Jake Evans is at his sub 3 million cap hit. you can eat maybe a 4C like if it's Beck who comes in at a 52% face-off clip that's pretty good but listen there's we've got to stop it there there's so much we could dive into what do you think about these reports coming out a 3C do you think Montreal will go trade for one or do you think the answer is in-house seems to be leaning that way but we'd love to hear from you settle in for this episode of Habs Digest if you enjoyed leave a like comment subscribe to the channel thank you all for tuning in every single day I'm Josh Goss my co-host Jesse we'll catch you in the next one