brobin

Sweet, looking forward to both top lines playing.

The preseason may not mean much to this season, as we don't have the real team playing. What I am worried about is the future. This is the time for the young guys to impress and by and large, they are not doing it. Clearly, there is no prospect making a case to make the team. If Lats gets in, it is not because he is awesome, but because he didn't suck as much as the rest of them. I just hope they all show some pride tonight and put in some effort. Keep the penalties down (you hear that Rivet...) and display the skills that got them this far. I would also like to see the Ribs/Kovy/Samsonov line start to gel, although i am guessing they have tonight off. That line could be the key to the season and they need to get into a groove together. Hopefully it will come together before the real season starts. I am not too worried about the goalies (although I have my doubts about Huet), since goalies preseason means very little.

LOL, well put.

Its not about winning, its about seeing some young players show promise. Its about seeing the team have some pride. As I said, i don't care if the win, but they can't score, have no PK, and the team effort seems lousy. Our defense are constantly taking penalties too. Poor discipline and a lack of skating. The only bright spots I have seen is that Pleks is playing well and Lats is trying (he is still not going to make it). I would also say that Price was good the other night. Carbo has some work to do and it doesn't sound like any of the rookies are fighting too hard for a spot so far. As the commentators said, there are a lot of guys heading to Hamilton tomorrow.

Everything you say is true, for both teams. the fact remains that the rookies are not showing anything, the commentators have continually commented that the effort is not really there, and the offense is completely gone. The Leaf vets seem to be scoring. The leaf rookies are scoring. And the Leaf goalie is playing very well. We can't say that about that habs in any game yet. How the team responds is exactly what I am worried about, they are not responding.

Well, 4 -1 now. Sounds like the habs are being outworked again. They also seem to have all kinds of trouble scoring. I sure hope Carbo gives them hell and lets them know that preseason or not, the effort has to improve. Pretty dissapointed right now in these "rookies'. Ah.. 5-1 now

Actually I think his biggest problem last year was always hanging on to it, looking to pass. That guys needs to shoot.

If our prospects and youth are so good, why have they been totally outplayed for 3 games. Are these guys not fighting to show what they can do.. so far, not much apparently Sorry for the negativity, but this is getting sad. I wouldn't mind them losing if they were scoring, but few goals and poor defense is a bad mix.

Sounds like the refs are just as rusty as the players. BS call on Ryder...

Rollie the goalie wasn't able to turn Theo around. I am certainly worried and I was last year. It was obvious to me that Huet has lateral movement issues, but he mostly got away with it. He also got lucky enough, long enough that the team played better in front of him, and he responded well. The issue is can he play like last year if the team struggles in front on him, or teams start keying in on his weaknesses? I am not sure. As for him being older, that is a plus and a minus. He will probably be steadier and calmer then a young guy, but I don't think we will see tremendous improvement in his overall skills (ie. lateral movement), since he has had a lot of time to fix it by now, and hasn't.

Brian Savage 359 points in 12 seasons Tie Domi 245 Points in 18 seasons I willing to bet that Savage's retirement gets less then 1 minute coverage on TSN or Sportsnet. (versus the 15 minute tribute to Tie Domi)

Some positives... Ribs got 4 shots and hit the post a few times. I am very glad to see he is shooting again. Last season he tended to pass so much the opponents just played the pass. His line had a lot of chances in the game, but were burned by a hot goalie. Souray - had a bunch of chances from the point and while he didn't score, he hit the net! Compared to last season, that is a good sign. Get a screen in front and those are going in. Pleks.. Pleks is looking good again. Good speed and smart plays. Danis and Price looked very good in their games..

Yeah, these first few games are really meant for the vets to stretch their groins, get the feel of the puck back, and let those arrogant young guns show their stuff. In the last few exhibition games, you tend to see teams get more serious as they are more comfortable out there and typically have the season roster on the ice.

You definitely need a mix of grooming your youth and trading some of them for vets with proven track records. To date, Gainey has done that. He got Kovalev for Balaj. Good move. Of course, whenever you do that you risk the young gun blossoming on another team and you look stupid. For example, he let Beauchemin go which in retrospect, was a shame. I do think people have to realize that we don't have any true superstars in the waiting, except perhaps for Price. That said, several prospect might have great careers ahead of them. it is somewhat of a crapshoot. People on this board constantly praise our youth and assign some pretty high expectations on them. That will only lead to dissappointment since only a few of them are going to make it. Even of the ones that do, I am not sure any of them are going to replace Markov, Koivu, or Kovalev. Gainey will have to trade some of them to get replacements for them eventually.

Nope, still 2 -1

2 - 0 boston.... Good start to the period, bad finish.

The positive is it sounds like rib - sam - kov are dominating and have had lots of chances in the game so far. They just need to bury a few.

Sounds like the only real good thing tonight was the play of Price. Huet struggled and the rest of the team didn't show up, nor did they show any discipline. Outshot 19 - 2 in the third...

Price sounds great! We might really love that guy in a year or two.

What is with all the penalties again? Seems that there is a lot of holding and hooking going on, which is a sign of a team being out skated. Seems to be the defense a lot, and not the rookies!

Huet is my biggest worry for this year. He played great last year, but it was not enough to be sure he can be consistent. Look at Raycroft. He was amazing one season, total crap the next. The difference is that he was a rookie. Huet has been around a while and though he has never sucked, last years performance was out of character based on his past performance. I sure hope it really is rust, or we are going to have a frustrating season.

The glorification of Domi on Sportsnet almost made me puke. They spent like 15 minutes on the story with lines like "how loved he was by hockey fans".. what? Leaf fans and Don Cherry, but this was not Gretzky retiring. Shit, if Saku Koivu retired it would be less then a minute on air with TSN or Sportsnet. Makes me sick.... Worse, we have to see the TSN team bolster their talent (LOL) with a true blue Leaf diehard like Domi.

I applaud Ryder's decision to start wearing a visor and I hope he keeps it on. People often comment on how some players just can't get use to them and hence they stop wearing them. I don't think any habs can use that excuse. Why? Well, if I was watching Koivu learn to deal with a loss of peripheral vision and a cataract, I think I would have a hard time looking him in the eye and telling my Captain I can't learn to play with a visor. Let's hope Saku leads by example again.

Note that his line failed to score, while Ribs line did score. I am not sure why people can't leave ribs alone. Don't you hope Ribs has an awesome season? How about Koivu.. If you honestly think some Rookie is going to come in and displace ribs I think you are dreaming. Ribs is not that bad.

Remember.. I was there that night. I was still dancing in my seat because Saku took over the pts lead about 10 minutes before when he scored. I was so pumped... Then I saw him hobbling to the bench on the most minor hit, and was bummed out the rest of the night. He never was the same and has never really met the expectations on him since. Sure, tonnes of heart. Good skill. But by no measure has he been a top 20 forward in this league since. Shame, but its time people admitted it. He is a quality center, but he would be better as our number two center behind a superstar.