droping like flies. also how does kaiden play at rd

I have not noticed a significant difference in his play whether he's at LD or RD, which is a good sign.

Hutson-Guhle
Harris-Barron
Xhekaj-Mailloux

Guhle being able to play the right side allows a lot of flexibility because then otherwise one of Harris, X, Mailloux wouldn’t be in the lineup (although mailloux probably won’t be anyway because of other reasons)

Adam Engstrom play both side too and we shouldn't forget him!

is a johnathen kovienec a fit for next year?

Should Habs goes for Perets and shake our Goaltender depth?

Kovacevic? Everything depend on who can make the big team and if we draft another RHD like Reinbacher.

Yes

Should target Mitchell Gibson

So I'm wondering what are all of your thoughts on Arber Xhekaj? He was just ranked in EOTP's T25U25 and I feel like his votes are a pretty accurate representation of how he's seen, the panel of "expert" voters (9 people) all had Xhekaj in the 15-21 range, then the 2 fans selected to be added to the panel had Xhekaj 11 and 6 respectively and the rest of the EOTP community had Xhekaj 10 as an average (Note I had Xhekaj at 22)

@SevenLeg @zk97

This inspired me to do my own T25 U25 rankings. I used tiers and sorted the players within the tiers on which I would be more upset if the Habs lost (as the EOTP article suggests). Here's my list:

1st Line F / #1-2 D / Elite G
1. Cole Caufield
2. Nick Suzuki

Top 6 F / #2-3 D / Starter
3. Lane Hutson
4. David Reinbacher
5. Kaiden Guhle
6. Kirby Dach
7. Sean Farrell
8. Juraj Slafkovský

Middle 6 F / #3-4 D / 1AB
9. Alex Newhook
10. Rafaël Harvey-Pinard
11. Joshua Roy
12. Justin Barron
13. Owen Beck
14. Filip Mesar
15. Jordan Harris
16. Jesse Ylönen
17. Emil Heineman
18. Jacob Fowler
19. Adam Engström
20. Jakub Dobes

Bottom 6 F / #4-5 D / Backup
21. Riley Kidney
22. Arber Xhekaj
23. Nicolas Beaudin
24. Jayden Struble
25. Cayden Primeau
26. Oliver Kapanen
27. Jared Davidson
28. Logan Mailloux
29. William Trudeau
30. Bogdan Konyushkov
31. Luke Mittelstadt

So to answer your question I also had Xhekaj at 22. Funny how that turned out lol.

Slaf at 8 and Mailloux at 28 are certainly interesting choices but overall, I think that list is pretty good. I feel like people get caught up in Xhekaj’s “intangibles” and him being a fan favourite but fail to see his limited upside and how he takes himself out of position a lot by chasing hits

He's really fun on a tanking team with no consequences but yeah like you said in a game 7 situation I don't think he's the guy you want out there.

Also for Mailloux I just don't see him being a reliable NHL D. His offense is supposed to be his strong suit but even that wasn't overly impressive considering his age and competition.

I can kind of see that for Mailloux but I think his offense could earn him sheltered 3rd pair role, 2nd PP quarterback minutes. His defense is a black hole but I can see his offense translating at higher levels, also the fact that he’s a RD automatically put him over some of the other guys because I’d rather not lose RD’s since we’re weak there

That's fair reasoning. I'd love to be proven wrong (same with Slafkovsky) but we'll see...

I'm not really high on him. He lacks some obvious skills to be a top 4 but has some unique playstyle that can allow him to be a #5 or #6

Since the full EOTP list is out here was my list compared to EOTP's list (please note most of the players on my list could easily be moved up/down a couple of spots):


1. Nick Suzuki (EOTP 1)
2. Cole Caufield (EOTP 2)
3. David Reinbacher (EOTP 7)
4. Kirby Dach (EOTP 3)
5. Juraj Slafkovský (EOTP 5)
6. Kaiden Guhle (EOTP 4)
7. Lane Hutson (EOTP 6)
8. Alex Newhook (EOTP 8)
9. Sean Farrell (EOTP 15)
10. Jordan Harris (EOTP 14)
11. Justin Barron (EOTP 11)
12. Joshua Roy (EOTP 9)
13. Jesse Ylönen (EOTP 20)
14. Adam Engström (EOTP 12)
15. Owen Beck (EOTP 10)
16. Jayden Struble (EOTP 22)
17. Logan Mailloux (EOTP 16)
18. Rafaël Harvey-Pinard (EOTP 13)
19. Filip Mesar (EOTP 18)
20. Emil Heineman (EOTP 21)
21. Jakub Dobes (EOTP 24)
22. Arber Xhekaj (EOTP 17)
23. Jacob Fowler (EOTP 23)
24. Vinzenz Rohrer (EOTP 28)
25. Oliver Kapanen (EOTP 26)
26. Riley Kidney (EOTP 19)
27. Cayden Primeau (EOTP 29)
28. Ty Smilanic (EOTP 41)
29. Lias Andersson (EOTP 25)
30. Nicolas Beaudin (EOTP 37)
31. Xavier Simoneau (EOTP 30)
32. William Trudeau (EOTP 27)
33. Miguël Tourigny (EOTP 38)
34. Jared Davidson (EOTP 36)
35. Bogdan Konyushkov (EOTP 35)
36. Jan Mysak (EOTP 32)
37. Mattias Norlinder (EOTP 31)
38. Cedrick Guindon (EOTP 33)
39. Luke Mittelstadt (EOTP 42)
40. Petteri Nurmi (EOTP 44)
41. Dmitri Kostenko (EOTP 50)
42. Daniil Sobolev (EOTP 53)
43. Luke Tuch (EOTP 34)
44. Joe Vrbetic (EOTP 49)
45. Filip Eriksson (EOTP 43)
46. Yevgeni Volokhin (EOTP 46)
47. Quentin Miller (EOTP 40)
48. Florian Xhekaj (EOTP 45)
49. Emmett Croteau (EOTP 51)
50. Sam Harris (EOTP 48)
51. Rhett Pitlick (EOTP 39)
52. Blake Biondi (EOTP 47)
53. Jack Smith (EOTP 52)
54. Alexander Gordin (EOTP 54)