Peter Puck
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Posts posted by Peter Puck
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Can anyone shed some light on why the Habs called up Nash and not Carle?
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Not too mention that most of those points have come in 30 games (27 in 30) after a brutal start to the year. I always liked Sergei, but he would have never succeeded in Montreal with his attitude. Sure we miss those points, but I'm happier having a solid, drama-free locker room.
Well I find it strange that he seems to be fine in the Nashville dressing room.
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I think you're jumping the gun on Sergei. He's hot now, but let's wait and see how he does over the longer haul, shall we? The same could be said of Latendresse, who apparently contributed to his own injuries this season by showing up to camp - wait for it - out of shape. As for Streit, you are obviously bang on; that was a huge mistake. Of course, many of us failed to see the mistake at the time, dwelling instead on Streit's dodgy play in his own end.
Funnily enough, I don't really miss Koivu. We had him for his entire prime and he was clearly on the downside when Bob cut him loose. The present team has sufficient leadership and character and him sticking around may have made it harder for that leadership core to take over. None of this takes away from Saku's tremendous contributions as the lone bright spot in the darkest era in Habs' history. We emphatically should not retire his sweater, but there should definitely be a Saku Koivu Night or some other means of honouring him properly, sooner or later.
I'm surprised to realize this, but the two that I 'miss' - by which I mean, that I'm kinda nostaligc for - are Kovalev and, somehow, Komisarek. In hockey terms, I take Gionta over Kovy is a micro-second, but for sheer entertainment, Kovy never disappointed. (Even his bad seasons took on the character of a tragi-comic psycho-drama). The career arc of Komisarek, meanwhile, is a major disappointment to me. I really thought he was going to become a fearsome, punishing, elite shut-down defenceman and the backbone of our D for years to come. Clearly I could not have been more wrong, but Komisarek seems to epitomize for me all the hopes I felt for Gainey Rebuild 1.0, and all the disappointment that it ultimately brought. In the end, it's not Komi I miss so much as the hope he represented. In my mind he is the symbol of a uniquely bittersweet phase in my experience as a Habs' fan.
Well maybe I'm still jumping the gun but Sergei scored twice more last night in a 3-0 win over Detroit including a highlight reel short handed goal.
He's now got 14 goals and 16 assists for 30 points and is +4. Plek is our top scorer with 43 pts followed by Cammalleri with 31 and AK with 29.
I'm not really surprised since I thought he was pretty good with us.
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Actually, it appears as if they've scrapped the joke that was the rookie game which is nice - he's just in the Skills contest which I assume is being changed. My concern is the media as you can bet at least most of the following questions will be asked, quite possibly more than once:
1) "P.K., Don Cherry has called you out several times for hot-dogging. Have you seen the comments; what are your thoughts on them?"
2) "Craig Rivet, a former Canadien and respected veteran in the NHL feels you need to tone it down. Your thoughts?"
3) "What did you say to make Mike Richards hate you so much?"
4) "Seeing the response you got Tuesday night, do you feel safe now in Philadelphia?"
5) "Who started the shenanigans in practice that saw you and several different teammates nearly come to blows before the midway point of the season?"
6) As much as I really don't want to write this, I think some idiot will ask... "Do you think some of the players' and fans' angst towards you has to do with your skin colour?"
I could keep going on but this is my biggest concern. The fact that Subban earned this replacement nod will be superceded by all the negativity that's gone on around him this year. The Montreal media will shy away (they know most of the answers already so why ask again) but with other local and national outlets there, the odds of him becoming a story beyond his on-ice contributions seems more likely than not. That was the mental note I mentioned in one of my posts yesterday, especially when it pertains to Subban. That's why I'm not overly thrilled he'll be there, I've just got a bad feeling someone will say something stupid and set off more unwarranted negativity.
It looks like all he is going to do is participate in one of the 6 skills competition. My guess would be in the hardest shot competition. That would mean all he's going to Raleigh for is to take 2 slap shots.
edit: Actually on rereading it looks like he will also participate in the shootout challenge.
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All the odds are based on a simulation, done 100,000,000 times by that site. In that simulation, whoever won played no impact whatsoever on the Habs' odds for making the playoffs. I would guess that the simulator thinks both those teams are for sure playoff bound and that the Habs aren't really battling them to make it, but rather others. I've often seen that over the years, 2 teams with similar records, it's lose-lose either way which just speaking in general terms, neither helps nor hurts things unless it's a 3 pointer.
Looking at the new numbers (I'll update them in the 1st post later today) that shows the results, it stayed that way. Boston/Pittsburgh played no role in Montreal's chances of making the playoffs, and only slightly affected the Habs' projected finish.
I guess. But this seems very fishy. We are now 2 points behind Boston and they have a game in hand. With almost half a season to go, it is clear that we are battling the Bruins and also the Penguins at least as far as a simulation goes.
As I say, all we have to do is finish ahead of the Bruins to qualify for the playoffs. Since they lost to the Penguins instead of winning, it seems we are quite a bit better off.
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Hi Brian,
I am confused about the Penguins/Bruins game in the opening post. How is it possible that the outcome of this game had no change on our playoff chances.
The Bruins were behind the Penguins (but with 2 games in hand). Most importantly, if we catch the Bruins we are basically guaranteed to make the playoffs (and finish top 3). Catching the Penguins obviously helps our chances but it doesn't assure us a playoff spot.
P.P.
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This whole size thing is a red herring. Any of the bigger guys we have are dismissed as "playing small". Any big guy on another team is automatically considered as physical. Sure, we would all like to have a team of quick, fast skating, skilled, huge players with good hands and great hockey sense. The fact is, every player lacks something. We happen to have a number of forwards who are not overly big. Should we trade Plex or Gionta for Ponikarovsky?
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I agree with The C. C. and tend to subscribe to theory #4 (plus a major loss of confidence in many players).
Theory #1 (our early success was purely a product of Price overachieving) is clearly wrong in my opinion. Price is playing just about as well now as he did in October and November.
In October/November we were were giving up only 3 or 4 quality scoring chances per game. Now that number is up to 10 or more.
Price is still stopping 60% of those chances. In Oct/Nov we went whole periods without making any serious defensive errors. Now we commonly see 2 or 3 errors within 40 seconds.
I also dismiss theory #2 (the system is unsustainable). How is a system sustainable for 2 months but not for 6?
I pray #3 (just a slump) is correct. In the past few years, a number of top teams (Pittsburgh, Philly, Washington) have gone into 10 or 20 game tailspins and then recovered.
Theory #5 (a repeat of the 2009 collapse) also worries me. I never really came to a satisfying explanation for that collapse - my best guess was to attribute it to Carbonneau.
I expect we'll lose today - probably Vokoun will be unbeatable (if he even needs to be). But I am hopeful that a return to home games and the addition of Wiz will lead to a recovery.
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It is also more likely for a young unknown forward to contribute out of nowhere in the playoffs.Paul Dipietro, Claude Lemieux, John Leclair, Raffi Torres, Mark Lamb, Adam Deadmarsh, Martin Lapointe etc etc.
There are 50+ years of names of unknown forwards who produce at 2-3 times their regular rate.
Wingers have the easiest defensive responsibility on the ice. You can introduce a young/new player into a system
and have them produce immediate results. Veterans can get hot out of nowhere and spark an offense with huge goals
that convert an average offense into a strong one. In a small sample size this is a realistic scenario.
Now try to list off young/new/veteran defensemen that all of a sudden raise their defensive level in the playoffs to
a point where an average defensive team morphs into a dominant or strong one? Young defensemen have one
of the hardest jobs to do when they adjust to the NHL, look at some of the brain cramp plays PK made against the
Flyers in the Conference Finals.
I would rather go into the playoffs with a Regehr or Bieksa and hope that Desharnies, White, Lapierre, Pacioretty,
Pouliot or Kostitsyn get hot for 6 weeks than enter the playoffs with the D core they have now
and praying if one of them gets hurt that Carle, Weber or Picard will raise their level.
I would add a D-man. This team with Regehr would be one of the best defensive teams in the league, with Hagman
does anything change?
There is a reason why we can name some many forwards (and goalies) who suddenly emerged as stars in the playoffs and we can't name any Dmen. The reason is that goal scoring stats (or goaltending stats) make these players easy to recognize and they get lots of publicity. Any dman who similarly raises his game will not be noticed by the vast majority of people and so we never hear of them. This doesn't mean that they don't exist, just that we can't name them.
I can name one: Subban, although his performance last year wasn't really the same sort of sudden emergence you are looking for.
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Well, I'm assuming we'll have one of our wins disqualified, obviously.
Uh, 41-33-8, I guess. 90 points, 8th in East.
Are we supposed to say the overall NHL rank? I see a lot of people have it, but it wasn't in the original post. I'll just say 19th, then. 8th in East is lower total than 11th in West.
It's fun to list the overall rank but I won't be counting it as a tie-breaker.
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I'm saying 43-29-10 for 96 points 6th in the East and 14th overall.
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5th annual HabsWorld points prediction contest.
Hall of Fame:
won with a prediction of 92 points when the Habs finished the year with 90 pts. If only we could have won that last game.
exactly predicted our final total of 104 pts.
won by predicting a strong start followed by a slower 2nd half ending with 99 points. The Habs finished the season in 8th place with 93 points. On September 22, 2008 Zowpeb predicted "I think we'll see a rough patch just past the mid-year point... " Wow.
correctly predicted the Habs would finish with 88 points.
Honourable mention to kaos who predicted a season record of 39-34-9 (87 pts) while the Habs finished 39-33-10.
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Rather than just predicting our regular season final points total, predict what the Habs regular season record will be. Also predict in what place in the East the Habs will finish. The winner will be the poster whose point total is closest to the Habs at the end of the season. Ties will be broken using the NHL tiebreaking formula. The place prediction will serve as a further tie-breaker.
Make you predictions before the beginnning of Thursday's season opener.
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His size is a concern - most small guys don't make it in the NHL so he gets bumped down (at least that's why I moved him down). Looking at who will be posted in tomorrow's group, there's maybe only one or two I'd put Gallagher ahead of - I do like him though.
Yes, he is small but I think he has the attitude and style of play to make it. Admittedly, I haven't seen much of him -just clips.
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21-42 look pretty good to me. But I would have Brendan Gallagher up around 15.
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I would like to see the PQ try the following. If the province is going to contribute toward a new arena in Quebec City then the new team needs to be a real francophone team. The PQ should try to require that the only players allowed to play for the new Nordiques are francophones from Quebec.
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Tampa got Desjardins as a potential callup for when Mike Smith gets hurt. They don't want to expose Janus or Tokarski to the NHL like what happened with Ramo a few years back.
Ramo's probably "recovered" from that develoopmental curve ball, but might like his KHL gig, who knows. It's possible we'll get four guys coming out of the KHL into our organization next year, as all have expiring contracts: Emelin, Ramo, Trunev and Trotter.
Maybe but I think they want to keep Janus in Florida not the AHL so that he'll get more starts and so they need an AHL backup.
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We got the better player in this deal. It is a bit of a risk because he may not come back from Russia.
As far as I can tell, Tampa needed an AHL backup for 1 year. Desjardins will probably do this job quite well. After this season they have other prospects to replace him. That works well for Tampa since he will be a UFA. So they gave us a better player who is unavailable for use in the AHL this year and who doesn't fit into their plans anyway.
I am also not sure that Desjardins fits into our plans. He looks like he may well be a career AHLer. Of course he may continue to develop and could make the NHL eventually but he is already (almost) 25.
I think there is a reasonable chance that Ramo will return next season to be our NHL backup since Auld may be gone.
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Personally I think it clear that Ramo has the higher ceiling.
However, I think the big advantage here is that Ramo will not be a UFA until 3 years from now. Desjardins will be a UFA at the end of this season (unless he somehow plays 28 NHL games which will never happen). We have 3 years to convince Ramo to come back.
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The Habs have since made it clear that they thought both Price and Staal were future franchise players. The scouts disagreed on which of the two to pick and Gainey/Timmons decided tht a franchise goalie is more valuable than a franchise Dman. This makes it clear they were picking what they thought was the BPA.
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He has some talent, no question. But his previous coaches in Hamilton expressed surprise at his work ethic in his NHL rookie season - a warning flag if you ask me - and Kostitsyn was reassigned to Hamilton under Carbo as well, not just JM. Then he showed up to camp out of shape and lackadaisical and demanded a trade after being sent down; following this he alienated his teammates, then slagged both them and Habs management in the press. This guy is toxic waste.
I see no reason to blame JM that Sergei is an a**hole.
Lets get the facts straight at least. He showed up to camp still recovering from an injury. He played 2 preseason games and then was sent down. When did he slag his teammates in the press? Link please. And don't point to some russian "reporter" - all those guys are unreliable nd hardly qualify as press.
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Sergei handled himself badly. What was Martin supposed to do, reward him for a poor attitude and pretty poor play?
Besides, I don't even think he's as talented a player as people say. His skills with the puck are no better than Metropolit's IMO.
Sure Sergei handled himself badly. But the Habs handled him badly too. The difference is that an experienced coach should be able to deal with an immature player. Sergei has a lot of talent - he has the skill set to be a top 6 forward. He is capable of playing with grit. He regressed under Martin but still was quite good defensively.
You ask "what was Martin supposed to do?" The answer is that Martin was supposed to teach him how to play in the NHL. Sergei has the skills and Martin failed to mold him into a player. What he did intead was drive him out of town. It's easy to say that its Sergei fault but there is no question Martin failed with him. We will see how the Predators do. I'm pretty sure Sergei has the makeup to be a good player. The coach's job is to develop that potential.
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Awww YEAH :hlogo: This looks better by the minute.
Even though it's a minor trade, I'm disproportionately happy because it's been so long since we can look at a trade straight up and say it's obviously a winner. Pending all the required signings, this deal is obviously a winner. A very typical Gauthier-type deal: small but significant improvement.
I'm not so sure we won this trade. Lots of people are down are Sergei but I still think he is the probably the best player among the three. Martin doesn't like him and handled him badly so I guess we had to get rid of him. But I think it will take two years before we know whether we got the short end of the stick on this deal.
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Because things are slow over here, I would to enter a comment from another board to get the ball rolling. The gist of the comment was that Philly and Chicago carry no Russian players. One of these teams is going to win, and be the model for franchises going forward. I would like to add that neither one carries a bevy of SMURFS, all on the same team. That should do it.
Also note that neither of these teams has strong goaltending. Yet one of them will win the cup. We need to stop wasting picks on goaltenders. Lets dump both Price and Halak (neither has ever reached a cup final) and try finding some more average to below average tenders.
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This is great news as it guarantees us a spot in next year's Stanley Cup final.
Two questions about Price's play
in Habs & Hockey Talk
Posted
All year long Price has handled the puck with supreme confidence, maybe even over confidence.
Every couple of games he has a pass intercepted while he is still behind the net (although I
think he has been better in the past month or so). My first question is:
1. Has there been any goal against directly resulting from Price mishandling the puck?
I have watched every game this year and the closest thing I can remember is the delay of
game penalty yesterday against the Canuks (which i don't really feel was so bad).
My 2nd question is:
2. Have we had a loss this year attributable to Price letting in one or more weak goals?
Again, I don't think this has happened.