No, Logan Mailloux must not speed up the habs rebuild, Paul

As a result, three out of five Canadiens fans hope to see their club aim for (and make) the playoffs next season.

Hmm… does anyone really think the Habs will be playoff bound in 11 and a half months?

If the Habs do make the playoffs, it’ll be through the back door, through thick and thin. A bit like the Capitals and Islanders this year…

Is hitting a contender like the Rangers or Hurricanes, then getting knocked out in four or five short games, a strategy that can work in the short term? Is it a strategy that would really do any good (apart from a few million dollars in Geoff Molson’s pocket)? I don’t think so.

But at the same time, you can’t spend decades rebuilding, constantly telling yourself: we’re not ready yet. At some point, you have to jump.

In my opinion, that time will come in 2025-26. Not 2024-25. Several contracts will have expired and the team’s core will have gained enough experience. So I’m expecting another summer dominated by rebuilding, not short-term success, for the Habs.

We’re not 350 days away from competing with the Avalanche, Hurricanes and other NHL mega teams.

The Habs will (perhaps) be a contender the day Logan Mailloux, Lane Hutson, Matvei Michkov David Reinbacher and their first-round pick this summer are returned. But they aren’t yet…

And it’s also going to take some talented forwards before we can say we can really aspire to big honors.

Paul Byron puts on too much
He was one of the best players the club ever claimed in the waivers.

He always gave his all on the ice.

He was always top notch with journalists and fans.

He’s always been involved in the Quebec community, even though he’s not from here.

And he’ll probably make a good coach one day!

But right now, Paul Byron – in his new role as player development consultant – is buttering it up too thick.

Byron recently told an ICI Radio-Canada reporter that Logan Mailloux has the potential to accelerate the Habs’ rebuild.

According to Paul Byron, if Logan Mailloux reaches his full potential, he will accelerate the Habs’ rebuild. That’s what he said in a Radio-Canada interview! #LoganMailloux #Canadiens #Habs #LNH #NHL pic.twitter.com/4Q0ZGmjngX

– BPM Sports (@BPMSportsRadio) April 30, 2024

He also indicated in the same interview that Owen Beck has what it takes to be a surprise next year at the Canadiens’ camp.

Why do I find Paul Byron’s butter too thick in my eyes? Simply because journalists and fans are already very dreamy when it comes to the organization’s hopes, and it mustn’t throw oil on the fire. Wasn’t Mattias Norlinder supposed to be the next Nicklas Lidstrom?

All season long, we’ve been reading or hearing here and there that Beck, Bogdan Konyushkov, Adam Engstrom, Oliver Kapanen and so on were already NHL-calibre. That they’d already be impact players in the show if they were.

As a result, the organization often rows hard in an attempt to turn the tide and lower fans ‘ expectations of this or that prospect. Why do they do this? Because we know that, in the end, these hopefuls are likely to perform better if they feel a little less outside pressure. This is Montreal, after all…

Francis Bouillon had to skate a lot during his visit to La Poche Bleue last month. He wanted to avoid adding unnecessary pressure on the shoulders of any particular youngster.

Logan Mailloux, Juraj Slafkovsky and the pressure of being a first-round pick
The Canadiens’ coaches and management have gone to great lengths not to put too much pressure on the shoulders of Juraj Slafkovsky, the first overall pick in 2022.

However, when Paul Byron comes out and tells us that Logan Mailloux has the potential to accelerate the rebuild and that Owen Beck could make the club next year, it has the opposite effect and only increases the pressure on these two youngsters. And obviously, they’re not yet equipped like veterans to handle that pressure.

Paul, leave the excitement and optimism to the journalists and fans, and you try to calm everyone down by playing it safe. Act as if you were on the other side of the pendulum or the yin-yang. #Balance

That said, I love you the same, Paul. So does everyone else here. And I won’t hold it against you if Beck doesn’t make the team in October and Mailloux isn’t good enough to speed up the long rebuild we’re in!

Openness and transparency have their limits: those of pressure and chauvinism. Especially since if fans start calling for the rebuild to be speeded up after a few good games by Mailloux in Montreal, no one will gain anything. #LeClubNEstPrêt

In brief

– Messi in Montreal on May 11: there are still a lot of tickets on sale on the official CF Montreal website.

There are 10 days left before the game vs Miami. I think the #CFMTL pricing strategy was the wrong one. Selling tickets at the price of a season ticket is detrimental to sales, especially for the cheapest tickets. There are 2,500 tickets left and resale is saturated #CFMTL.

– Mathieu Charron (@Charron82) May 1, 2024

– If Messi’s presence in the Inter Miami squad is ever confirmed, these 2,500 tickets are likely to sell out ultra quickly, even if they are very expensive.

All the pseudo experts who “decided” that Messi wouldn’t come certainly have their influence. I think the club’s strategy will be a success once Messi arrives in Mtl. Between Friday and Saturday, the 2,500 tickets will sell without a problem.

– Victor Henriquez (@VMHcom) May 1, 2024

– Don’t bury a team too quickly.