The Montreal Canadiens Say NO To THIS NHL Team…

The Montreal Canadiens Say NO To THIS NHL Team…

betonline.ag proud sponsor of the program. There’s Marco Demo. Happy to see everybody. I’m Sean Star. You know, we’re talking about Stanley Cup odds. The Edmonton Oilers, brother plus 300 to win the Stanley Cup right there with Dallas and Carolina is next. How about the Toronto Maple Leafs? I understand they lose game three in overtime, but a valiant comeback by the Maple Leafs. Um, I’m not here to tell you to to put a dollar down on Toronto, but let me ask you this before we move on. Is this the year the drought ends? The Canadians the last Canadian team to win the Stanley Cup? The Edmonton Oilers are knocking on the door again. They’re another odds on favorite. I mean, how realistic do you put the Edmonton Oilers chances of winning the Stanley Cup this year, Marco? How realistic? Again, to me, it’s just the inconsistency in goalending. I It bothers me. It will always bother me. Now, now granted, Pickard has been great for them, right, in in in this run, right, Skinner? Good enough. He’s been good enough. And so, to me, you know, I think they cannot move forward without getting a goalender. So, in this nutshell of a situation, it’s really hard to tell because their goalending can be as unpredictable as anything. To me, you know, Dallas with Auter is just I know, you know, next level. Carolina. I mean, we’ll see about Anderson’s uh ability to stay healthy and the Toronto Maple Leafs are having their own goalending issues right now with Wool coming in um you know, looked good enough in uh game three, but or in game two, but they could unfortunately let in a couple of softies in game five, game four, and I’m just agreed not sure about that. So, when you look at the Leafs, I think the Leafs are how do how do you put this? I think the Leafs are a more balanced team. Apologies, Havs fans. Um, I think they’re a more balanced team. I think they’re a team that’s built for the playoffs now. Um, what I’m liking, and I got to be honest with you, I think the one thing that I’m really appreciating is how good Mitch Martner has been for them. Hey, no kidding. You know, like out of out of the star players on that team, Yeah. the one that makes me the happiest to see, and I know everyone would be like, “Oh, Toronto.” The happiest I’m going to see is Mitch Mner because Mitch Mner, you know, really the worst player of the top four right now for the Toronto Maple Leafs has been Austin Matthews. Yes. Yeah. And had a nice assist here yesterday. But I agree. William Knander, Morgan William Knander has been every penny since he signed that contract. Like just all day. Incredible growth from that player. Constant playoff performer for the Toronto Maples. Don’t sleep on them, but I The Florida Panthers, what a comeback yesterday. You know, they was it was 3-1. I’m just gonna put it out there. 100%. Win that game 54. That’s crazy. Um, sign up um at betonline.ag, a trusted space in the online gaming community for over 25 years. Uh, easy to sign up and firsttime depositors get a bunch of free spins, bunch of free bets, and the easiest way to get your money out. And if you’re in crypto, you your deposits get even fatter uh because uh they embrace the crypto depositors. So have a look at that online.ag. Fun to have some fun while you’re watching the NHL playoffs. The Montreal Canadians are ready to make some moves apparently. You know, we talk about calf space. We wonder about how much leeway the Canadians are going to have. How aggressive is the management team led by Jeff Gordon and general manager Ken Hughes. What is their plan? One thing they’ve told us, and I do appreciate this, and I try to tell people as often as I can, kind of pay attention. Jeff Gordon and Ken Hughes, when they speak, they leave some some crumbs that we can pick up and we can say, “Oh, maybe this is what they’re thinking.” Jeff Gordon has been kind of open, Marco, when he speaks about what he envisions his team doing this summer. And one of those strategies, as he’s mentioned, is the RFA market, aka the infamous offer sheet. So before we get into viable players that perhaps aren’t a pipe dream, are grounded in reality, let’s start with how grounded is Jeff Gorton in reality when it comes to the actual viable strategy of offer sheets. I mean, he he let the cat out of the bag. He’s telling everybody, “Mind your P’s and Q’s cuz I’m watching you, so be prepared.” So, let’s start there. Let’s talk about how viable is an offer sheet in today’s NHL. I thought of an offer sheet was more viable in a flat cap situation. Yeah. And I think when you look at, you know, the cap going up to the way it is, there I believe is 20 teams that have 20 million or more to spend this summer. Okay? You know, so it’s going to be hard to swindle them unless some of these teams spend egregiously between now and say July 2nd, right? And so I think you have to see where the dust settles first, right? Like the Oilers had cap space and then chose, you know, to ignore Dylan Holloway and and and and Philip Broberg, right? They had the cap space to sign them, but they just they decided to go and sign Jeff Skinner for 3 mil. I’m pretty sure that 3 million alone would have been enough to sign at least one of them, right? And now Jeff Skinner is like kind of there. and what a season Broberg and and and Holloway had for the Blues, right? So, like that’s the way I see it in this context. Um I think it’s going to be, you know, kind of like what the Canadians tried to do with Sebastian. They’re going to have to find a team with, you know, financial wos and try to take advantage of them. So, not necessarily a team that’s plentiful, that’s necessarily close to the cap, but a team where the player that they’re targeting and that team cannot come to terms on a deal and the team being a little bit too uh greedy in terms of their ask for the player, then you can go around them and do the offer sheet, right? Um, and you know, like we were talking about Anaheim, for example, another team potentially for, you know, and without being mean to them or whatever, but another team to consider for for such a move would be like Winnipeg with Gabe Valardi, right? with with the seasons that Gabe Valardi has had, the two seasons that he’s had in Winnipeg, would it make sense to throw 8 N million at him? Example, not saying the Canadians do this, but 8 N million at him pay, you know, because uh 9 million over five years is a first, a second, and a third. Right. Right. And keep in mind, offer sheets can only happen as of July 1st. And it’s 2026 picks. So, and it has to be your own. It cannot be okay. Oh, we have another first round pick. Yes. So, anything as of July 1st, anything under 9 uh 9.17 mil is a first, a second, and a third. Anything above uh 9.2 is uh two firsts, a second, and a third. And then anything above I believe it’s 12 million or 13 million is four first round picks. So, like when we look at the at the possible candidates here, I mean, can we we think if they had their pick of the litter, they’re looking at forwards, right? If they’re going to offer sheet anybody. Yeah. So, so before I get into that, there’s a nice little tiein here, right? Because when you look at the who’s who of potential RFAS on the market, you don’t have to go too far down any list to land on Noah Adoptson’s name. You and I have spoken about no adopt since it feels like since Christmas of 2024. And so here’s the connection. The New York Islanders have been poking around Jeff Gordon. The Montreal Canadian say Jeff Gordon is a Montreal Canadian. End of sentence. Thanks for calling. Good luck in your pursuit of finding the air apparent to Lou. So let’s talk about Jeff Gorton. The New York Islanders. Let’s talk about Noah Dobson and a potential offer sheet there. So, walk me through the New York Islanders poking around Jeff Gordon and how does that impact the possibility of trying to get no adoption? Uh, I don’t think the two are correlate the two correlate at all. You don’t think so? If if the Canadians said no, why would you know? Okay. Why would what? Hey, why would I’m sorry. Why would what? Well, just, you know, out of out of sheer stubbornness, I’ll, you know, just because the Canadian said no to me, I’m going to match whatever offer sheet they put on the table for no adoption. You’re not getting no adoption. I’ve chosen to take it personally. You said no to me. That depends, right? So, like, if they can’t come to like no adoption, you you use him as an example. I mean, there’s going to be others that I’d like to to go over, but yeah, one of the one of the key things uh to consider with no adoption is he changed his agent a couple months ago, right? Yep. So now now he’s uh with Olivier uh you know being uh you know covering him as we speak and negotiations are ongoing with the Islanders obviously on pause now because they don’t have a general manager but if they can’t come to terms he’s got I believe one year left before he could walk right into unrestricted free agency right so you just go to arbitration take your one year and then you walk right out and there’s nothing the Islanders can do and they’re going to have to trade you for less. than if you were to be traded and then sign an extension with the team that is acquiring you. And then you know like like the Carolina Hurricanes did with Miko Rantin, right? Trading him with an extension netted them Stan Cove and two first round picks and two third round picks. Well, that wouldn’t have happened if you know they wouldn’t have paid that much if an extension wasn’t included. Right. Right. So the same applies to Dobson. The only way they’re going to trade a Dobson is if they can’t come to terms with a deal. And then Noah Dobson’s agent Fi begins to former Hab by the way begins to look elsewhere like Sebastian Aaho did to try and get his money. And then it becomes a question of do the Islanders want to handcuff themselves to that kind of salary now? Yeah. as it seems like there’s a kind of a a forced youth movement from winning the lottery and then bringing in guys like Cal Richie Emania George guys like that into the lineup right like they’re going to have no choice as well as aging defenseman you know like Pel and Pollock don’t envy uh I don’t envy announcers especially in New York when it comes to that pairing but like those guys seemingly you know um on their last legs. I’m not saying that they’re done, but they’re they’re not the top pairing they once were. They were fantastic for the Islanders. So, you got to factor that in as well. There’s a lot of moving pieces. The Islanders really kind of put themselves in a situation where they went all in on an old core and now they’ve had no choice. I don’t know. I I don’t know how 25year-old leave, but you But that’s the thing, right? It really depends when you go in. It depends how heavy they want to rebuild if they even decide to go that route. But if the New York Islanders for example, like you’re like, you think to yourself, how could you let a 25-year-old go like that? The Chicago Blackhawks traded Alex Debrink, who was 24 at the time. Yeah. For a seventh overall pick, a second round pick, and a third round pick. And the GM that did that sits next to me at Habs games in Pierre Dorio. And he said, you know, I thought everybody thought that was really good value at the time. And I couldn’t understand why Chicago was doing it, but we all know today Chicago is looking to burn it to the ground, right? This is the same team that decided not to qualify Dylan Stro when he was a restricted free agent and just let him go for free for the Washington Capitals and now he’s like a firstline center. Yeah. You know, so they didn’t necessarily do that with the intent of gaining maximum value or being a good team. the Chicago Blackhawks wanted to burn it to the ground like right and we still see it to this day like burnt to the ground going to take two to three years just to get moving right okay so let let’s talk about some other names here I don’t want to spend the entire episode on no adoption but well no but like one team that I’m extremely um curious about and we’ll see how these playoffs play out is the Toronto Maple Leafs and Matthew Nas oh man he’s I mean come on dude like I like Marco Rossy a lot out of Minnesota as well. Matthew Ny, I mean, holy this second round Canadian I’m not saying the Canadians are going to do this, but if the Toronto Maple Leafs correct sign Mitch Mner and attempt to retain John Tvary, watch out. Well, that’s I was going to say like how do you how do you get it all in that sense? Like this guy, he’s a he’s a power. He plays on both special teams. Like if he’s unsigned, I’m telling you right now, if he’s unsigned on July 1st, watch out because it’s, you know, it is incredible to me. And really, you know, this is kind of the irony like where your own success kind of burns you. Yeah. So, normally when you sign a player outside of the NCAA and they jump in and burn the first year of their contract. Yeah. So, like for example, Lane Hudson, say the Canadians don’t sign Lane Hudson this summer and it gets to July 1st next year, Lane Hudson is not eligible for an offer sheet. Did you know that? Yeah. No, I did not know that. Yeah. No. Ivan Demidov, same concept. If he gets to the end of his contract, he is not eligible for an offer sheet. Why? Because he did not acrew what the NHL calls a professional season in the first year of his contract. You have to acrew three professional seasons to be eligible for an offer sheet. What does that mean? That means that when you look at a player like like like Hudson safe, right? Because he the first year of his contract, he only played two games, right? You can’t do it. Demod same concept. Thick he only played seven. When you looked at Matthew Ny, Matthew N joined the Toronto Maple Leafs at the end of the season in 2022, 2023. He played exactly 10 games. Okay, thereby turning that into a professional season, right? So now at the end of this season, he is a completely free unrestricted free agent because the Toronto Maple Leafs went to seven games and lost, right? Really unfortunate. So a guy like Matthew N, the Toronto Maple Leafs have about like 22 mil in cap space. They have to resign Matthew N. They have to resign Mitch Mner. Uh they have to come in with a bunch of other guys to fill out the rest of the roster. Correct. You know, you’re gonna have to look for value deals in certain points, but the the thing that’s going to be the most telling, Matthew NY’s faith is going to be tied specifically to what happens with Mitch Murder. What about a couple of other names there? Like I don’t know if Buffalo is right for the picking. I know Kevin Adams says that he was going to reach out to Allen Walsh like kind of as soon as the season ended to talk about the future of JJ Purka who’s 23 years old. He does not have arbitration rights uh going into this off season. I don’t think he’s a I don’t think he’s an offer sheet candidate, but he’s definitely a trade candidate. And the other name to we dropped too, the 23-year-old Marco Rossi out of the Minnesota Wild. Uh what do you know about the Wild and and kind of where they’re at in terms of financial pressure and Marco Rossy’s future? Marco? Yeah, I mean they’re going to have cap space this summer, right? I think they’re going to have about 20 million in cap space because the um the buyout penalties of Zach Perezy and uh and um Sudter Ryan Sudter are dropping. Yeah. And then the cap going up. So now they have space. But the thing is is like with this Marco Rossi had a 60point season, right? But he had like 12 points in his last 30 games. Okay. And then was put on the fourth line in the playoffs. Yeah. Right. goal season as a rookie though. That’s pretty impressive, right? But again, centering Capri off, right? Right. And and Baldi and so like how much you know when Jeff Gorton said you don’t need the best center as long as you have play driving wingers. Yes. Yes. That’s that’s what they’re talking about. And I know a lot of people will turn around and be like, well then he could do the same thing with Demod because Demov’s supposed to be the next Capazov. Well, maybe yeah, but the difference with Carolina with Minnesota is they have Yol Eric, right? So like you can balance that out, right? Because they’re two different styles of players. Uh Marco Rossi and Nick Suzuki, I don’t know that they would jive necessarily well and too not I don’t think Nick Suzuki is small. I think he’s average. Yeah. Thick, right? like he’s 6 foot but like 205 207 you know having he’s he’s a you know well filled up player but then you have a smaller Marco Rossi yes 5’9 at 185 pounds so him too he’s sturdy but you’re going to want at some point and especially if you just signed Jake Evans to another four years you’re gonna want some muscle down the middle at some point and I’m not a more size guy so I’m like iffy about Arasi unless you want to play him on the wing. Yeah. Um, ultimately though, um, you know, I think a I think Minnesota would love, okay, to be offer sheetated for Marco Rossi. How about I have another name for you, right? I’m trying to we’re trying to fill the center role here, right? Talking about uh offer sheets and the potential that it could happen. Here’s a 24y old who is arbitration eligible and um was right there with AK Bars Kazan in their run to the Gagaring Cup final a couple of seasons ago. Dmitri Veronov, Columbus Blue Jackets, and what do we know about like kind of where they’re at and something I want to talk about? Columbus is an interesting team, but when I say that name, what goes through your head? 24 year old center. Uh Adam Fantelli’s uh running man. Yeah. I just you know, he was so good for them um you know, in in in pockets and really kind of came to his own. I mean, Shawn Monahan’s worked with him as well, but I just feel like offensively speaking, that’s not the player I would look at. Okay. You know, when you uh I’m sorry for typing. I’m just I wanted to see how a certain player did for the rest of the season. You know, one guy that nobody’s talking about out of Columbus that’s not necessarily an offer sheet candidate. Yeah. But that would make a world of sense. Kent Johnson. I like him a lot. Yeah, I like him a lot. 57 points in 68 games. Again, running a running man with Adam Fentil. This is a guy that would make a world of sense. Now, again, Columbus’s young forwards. I don’t think they’re going to touch him, right? I think if they’re going to overhaul anything, it’s going to be on defense. They’re going to continue that process. They’re going to continue to look for defenseman. And, you know, that’s a team that I think is going to be active in trying to trade their first round pick. We’ll get into that in a bit. But when it comes to, you know, Veronov, I just he fits that core so well. Yeah. And, you know, the way that he plays it, it’s just, you know, the I liked the fact that he kind of came in and again a 23 goal scorer the, you know, but I don’t see him very much as a center. He’s very much a winger, right? He’s listed as a center just like Mitch Martner is listed as a center, but he’s very much a winger, right? And so you factor in now you’ve got Marenko Johnson Fantily Veronov. Um Cole Cylinger is still kind of there. Sure. And then you factor in you know you have to factor in Gavin Brinley uh playing in the minors for them right now. Uh Delbell Baloo. Um you know Kaden Lindström just you know is played his first game in the WHL in like a year. Yeah, they have guys and then they still have their 13th overall pick this season. So like I think at forward there’s not much they need and they have all the cap space in the world. So like offer sheeting them you’d have to make a deal out of you know out of this world and I just don’t feel like they have the player like that the fit’s just not there. Uh that’s Marco Diko. Follow him at MN Demo with RG Media. Marco De Mo great stuff. Uh, thanks as always, brother. And we’ll be here summer months, winter months. We’re here every month. Uh, you can follow Marco De Mo on X MN Demo and check them out at RG Media where they’re hiring. So if this is something you want to explore in terms of a career, a pivot perhaps, here’s what they call an opportunity. Thank you, Marco. Thank you guys. Have a good one.

Join this channel to get access to perks:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCx7N63HCTBWijHpI-qphK3A/join

Shaun Starr and Marco D’Amico look at the restricted free agent market and wonder if it is really possible for the Montreal Canadiens to offer sheet another NHL player at any point during this off season?

-Jeff Gorton and the New York Islanders
-Is Noah Dobson a realistic target for the Habs
-Other RFA Targets for Montreal
-Minnesota Wild and Marco Rossi

More

#montrealcanadiens #nhl #sports #shaunstarr