hockeyrealist

Def don’t think anyone has a right to pin any of that loss on Kincaid. Team wouldn’t have survived first period without him playing stellar. He was forced to make numerous huge saves due to defensive laps, not just by defensemen and also played the puck Wisely numerous times to help with breakout. I was impressed by his puck handling, choosing right times and making crafty plays. He was not the issue and anyone claiming he “needs to win his share of games” either isn’t watching, doesn’t have a clue or is trolling. Any backup goalie can’t be expected to steal games when I team takes that many pénalités. Your starter is suppose to be able to steal games, backups keep you in games which is what he did. Tatar has taken too many penalties, way too useful on the ice when he is out there and team is too weak on pk to afford it. Tired of Mete playing top pairing, he’s an anchor on Weber. We should be taking advantage of Weber by providing him a good partner, not forcing him to carry a top pairing and then wonder why he’s not the stud we demand. Hard to believe there is no better left dman available than any of our options given we haven’t had a top pairing left d since Markov. Everyone knows we’ve needed one, that blames falls on Mgmt. Mete is not Roman Josi 2.0 nor will he become that. He’s not offensive enough to even play pp and takes his best effort, skill and luck just to keep up with average plays, clearing the zone. He has not impressed enough to continue to pretend that problem isn’t holding us back. if first pairing dman isn’t on pp and also not on pk, are they really a first pairing dman or just a place holder that’s somehow lasted too long in that role. He’s too small for bottom pairing and I don’t trust him with Petry who is perfect on second/1B pairing. Doesn’t leave much room for him currently. Feel like he was rushed due to lack of options and to his/team’s demise.

Agreed and it to mention We don’t need him at all. we need a top pairing dman.

I agree, but couldn’t help but quite sonI could say Ferland is tough. He will do well riding shotgun with van’s young guns in top 6. If healthy, great value. If not....

Agreed, which is partly why I was so surprised at the number of players taken. Not to mention how easily some kids dominate at that age, but that isn’t sustainable. If they were drafting kids out of Canadian high school hockey or even top-tier Midget aged players, we’d be baffled I’m sure that they’d gamble on such young talent.

Edited as was able to read on second load and wanted to pay due for the hard work and good read. thanks. stilL enjoying it.

As mentioned above, it is a big gamble for most of these kids. From what I’ve seen of him( only videos since the draft) he does move well in all direction, stick handle well and seems composed with the puck. Obv small sample size to view and against unknown competition so again insert dart board analogy. Comments about him point towards a dman that I personally like (physical, offensive, aggressive) so I will be following his development path thanks to HabsWorld and the great coverage of habs prospects made available through the site. it would suck to be a fan of other teams and have much more limited access to information.

Ahha, I should have revisited some reading material before posting. So, maybe Shaw type speed with some hands? I do realize no point comparing but first round picks always arouse my interest. Thanks.

I like the pick. I’m picturing a “healthy Byron” level of speed and jump, with better finishing/setup abilities. Im fine with that, he and Gally could be a 1/2 RW combo that drives opposing dmen nuts in 2-3 years and be productive.

This year’s team overperformed, that seems like concencus opinion around here. With thé lack of truly elite (game breaking talent) prospects (I do like our prospects but none are going to be elite to the point thy step in next year and provide significant improvement) I don’t see any improvement next year. More likely I see a regression to the mean, the career year players will probably level off so I predict another playoff miss next year. MB should be to blame, when the coach is beyond reproach (whether right or not) and the players are all playing above expectations you must look to the architect for blame. Speakig of coach. Is this coach the guy we want nurturing some young talent? Does his history support the development of young players? Goaltending: CP31 is great but he cost us points early on that resulted in no playoffs, he was brutal for first half. Literally lost us easy points early on. Upgrade at backup goalie required. Who cares about egos, we need a talented, hungry backup who will take any opportunity and run with it. worst case, CP31 plays less/year and actually lasts until his contract ends. forwards: Inabilty to produce consistent offense, yet again. Upgrades at top 6 required. d: insufficient depth in top 4 dmen, upgrades required. Soecial teams: Complete garbage power play, upgrade at top 6/coaching staff required. Im quite sure this breakdown could apply to many of the past years’ teams so again I place blame on executive team (GM/owner) for not assembling a winner. It is particularly bothersome when you also consider the cap room and outcry for improvements,and the mishandling of Markov/Radu. Imagine we’d had Marky playing limited 5 on 5 but PP specialist, and Radu is still on team. Perhaps with Radu still on board, we’d have kept Sergachev and not gone after Drouin in this scenario, boom our top six is better, left D is all of a sudden excellent. Wow, ramble and ramble. saw half of games this year. About half of those were brutal, other half the team played over the expectations and stymied opposition with speed/goaltending. While I love to see w’s and did get excited this year, once I step back and take a look at big picture I realize there is little reason to expect any significant change in results in the near future. Hopefully I’’m wrong but history tells me Management will continue to lead us down a path of mediocrity.

Interesting line of thought mentioned above. Perhaps, the cost of some extra tix gets worked into pricing of corporate boxes and the “extra tix” from that are used by the club exclusively for schools, minor sports teams, charities? No net gain or loss for team, negligible increase to the price of corporate boxes, does some good for people who may not get to see an NHL game otherwise??? Go Habs Go!

Only proven centre who I see being available is oreilly. What the price would be? No idea but more I think about it the more i think he could handle the job and is only true elite(?) centre that may be available. id trade third overall for him. But would prolly have to throw in a player, maybe a dman given buffalos roster needs? They are pretty deep at centre and had ROR slotted on third line at end of season.

Récent gazette article refers to trading the 3rd overall as a package to get immediate, professional centre. I like that idea as third overall is underwhelming imo. Dahlin and svechnikov are thé only two this year. Problem is where does this centreman come from? Not many available without trading a golden goose (price) Id unload anyone beside price, Weber and Gallagher along with the 3 rd overall for a #1 c. And I’d consider Weber for right price as well.

In a galaxy far, far away Plex goes to Tampa as suggested for the one and only hope for the rebellion, sergachev. as bergy planned all along.

Agreed all around. a friend pointed out return on investment for Byron this year would be sick from an investment standpoint. Could be same thing for Benn too. some teams will over pay for these guys this year in hopes of making a push and there is no reason to hold them as their return will most likely onmy diminish.

Well the original commment said 3-4 years, but yes I believe he has the skills and physical strength to be a strong contributor into his thirties. But it all comes down to cost. i don’t think he cares about Bergevin but I do think he cares about family stability as he’s come out and said. And I believe him when he says he wants to be part of the solution in Mtl. the returns people on the site expect for him are ludicrous and what he would return now is unacceptable. nobody is giving a young future #1 C and more for him which is the consensus on what is acceptable from this site. That is asset management, PLEASE... a player people here say is garbage and needs to go cause he’s washed up at 29 is going to somehow bring back 2-3 future core pieces??? Nevermind he is and has been the habs onlyconsistwnt threat and therefore easy to target for shut down down by other teams. Get him some support as a contender would have for him and he is elite. Is he worth 7 million into his 30’s, not imo but if he will stay for 6 I think the value is better to keep him. If team continues to suck he is still a valuable commodity at 31 with a fair price tag.