Scott462

Well keep in mind we have some fantastic defensive prospects in Mete and Juulsen who will be stabilizing our back end for years to come all under the tutelage of Shea Weber no doubt. Habs generally are great at churning out great defenseman so I can understand the need to get that much needed forward.

Jerabek looks solid to me. Seems to be doing quite well on the smaller ice. I'd like to see him paired with Weber at some point. Scherbak looks lazy and unintersted. Probably needs another year in the AHL.

Idk I think both parties might have been at fault with Drouins troubles in Tampa.

Well he is not the biggest guy and might be easy to knock off the puck when going up against the Getzlaf and Malkins but Drouin is crafty so it might not be an issue, we will see. Not that Galchenyuk was known to use his size he is still young and might improve to start using his strengths more effectively.

I wouldn't say that. Drouin was known to backcheck when he had too and has the foot speed that Galchenyuk does not have to be effective at it. His size IMO is more concerning but we will see.

I think the main point I was trying to make in regards to Alzner is that we needed a good defensive defenseman on the left side that we just do not have. We have Weber and Benn and Alzner now on the left which gives a solid D man on every pair which is something we did not have last year. Now Markov. I wish we could of signed him but he's 39 and he could drop off a cliff in a second and personally is no longer capable to play 1st line minutes anymore and needs his minutes limited. I would rather like to take a stab at one of the other guys and hope Weber can mold a capable 1st line, if he can then that sets up a solid set of pairings down the line up.

I'm not that worried if that is the case Weber has a dendancy to make his partner play above his capabilities a good example of that is Emelin for a majority of the year. Still I think MB brought in Alzner specifically for Petry to have an all around solid 2nd line. Ben will solidify the 3rd with someone like Lernout or whoever wins the job during camp. Weber can play with anyone.

Scoring was definitely one of the reasons we lost I completely agree but it was also defensive breakdowns from guys like Markov /Emelin/Beaulieu who were responsible for many goals against. Alzner was injured towards the end of the year and didn't play in the playoffs. But at the beginning of the year he shared duties on the top pairing. I agree Petry had his fair share of defensive lapses which is why the second pairing was a dumpster fire with him being the only one playing defense. Now we have Alzner for that.

I bet Mitchell won.

It's not to me, Alzner was brought in to establish a true second line an upgrade on the dumpster fire that it was last year with Emelin, Beaulieu and hell even Markov towards the end of the year. Now Petry doesn't have to be the only one defensively responsible on his line like he had to be last year. I think this was an area that really needed to be addressed and was one of the reasons we lost to New York.

My first opinion of Radulov as a mercenary after he signed with Dallas this year still rings true.

Well add to the fact that they were one of the least injured teams last year that certainly played a role. I think if they come across a big injury to some of their key guys like some other contending teams had they will take a step back. But ho knows.

While I agree Radulov will probably give his all throughout his contract, the guy just loves playing hockey and competing. I still can't get behind giving him that much money and term. I figure he is good for another couple seasons for sure but by year 3-5 I think it will start to look a lot like the Plek contract. This is a guy that plays physical and with an edge. Hell you could even see it at points last year the guy is slowing down. I still think it's better to try and fill the hole we need to fill with that money. Will that hole be filled still remains to be seen.

Yeah im not too sold on going after Jagr. Their are rumours he might be retiring anyway.

Are you sure about that?