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Line-up I'd like to see in Oct.


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I have a feeling that Streit will be used as a forward again for most of this season.

Damn I hope not ! Would be a total waste of young talent for Chip, Grabovski, etc.

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Maybe Bob is loading up so he'll be able to make some multi-player trades?

Maybe Markov's wife has a thing for d-men (after all, she did marry one) and she convinced Andrei to stay while making an under-the-table deal with Gainey - so now he is stacking up on defenceman; the cheaper they are, the more he can get. It's worth thinking about, no?

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Markov

Komisarek

Hamerlik

Bouillion

Brisebois

i think these will be our top 5, the others will fights for spots

Dandy, Gorges, O'Byrne, Streit

I personnally this O'Byrne will only get a taste of the nhl for a few games this year.

Streit will probably get to play exactly as he did last year, between both forward and defense. I see him playing on our powerplay with the likes of brisebois, hammer, markov........possibly a forward playing the point.

Gorges will be given a chance, this guy was able to crack san joses lineup, i think he will play here.

Dandy will become what Janni N was last year,a fill in.

So basically if O'Byrne is in the AHL, that only leaves one dman in the pressbox, with streit playing forward some games, you have to expect injuries.

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I don't think we need to worry about our clogged roster impeding the progress of young players. IF a young player has the credentials and clearly makes a case for himself at camp as both NHL-ready and having a high upside, I'm sure Bob will simply move a veteran to make room - either to get a draft pick, or an asset to relieve other weaknesses in the organization.

It's called depth. And it's been Bob's modus operandi ever since he got here. You can never have too many assets.

In any case, there's always too much optimism about prospects around here. I remember when Marcel Hossa was heralded as a future scoring machine, Mathieu Garon was the second coming of Patrick Roy, and people were pissed that Bob dealt away 'young stud' Josef Balej for Kovalev... :lol:

One interesting question is how you rank our bottom-end D. O'Byrne excepted, I'd go like this:

1. Streit

2. Bouillon

3. Brisebois

4. Gorges, because he's young

5. Dandeneault

But you could debate the ordering of these all day - if you had nothing better to do :rolleyes:

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Eh, so who really was envisioning Brisebois back on the Habs lineup for October...?

I wish it was a nightmare...Maybe the nightmare will turn into reality...but i distinctly remember being at a Habs game and everytime he touched the puck he got Booed. I was one of the Boo-ers FYI lol. I just don't see how he is going to be beneficial...I think his only benefit right now might be lending his shoulder to Markov who is still crying about the departure of Souray.

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I wish it was a nightmare...Maybe the nightmare will turn into reality...but i distinctly remember being at a Habs game and everytime he touched the puck he got Booed. I was one of the Boo-ers FYI lol. I just don't see how booing is going to be beneficial... I think his only benefit right now might be lending his shoulder to Markov who is still crying about the departure of Souray.

fixed that for you

Edited by simonus
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Maybe Markov's wife has a thing for d-men (after all, she did marry one) and she convinced Andrei to stay while making an under-the-table deal with Gainey - so now he is stacking up on defenceman; the cheaper they are, the more he can get. It's worth thinking about, no?

markov's divorced.

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Maybe that's why he stayed in Montreal. Where else can a sour-puss potato-faced grouch who can't express himself in any language (including Russian) be mobbed by 800 beautiful women while walking down the street just for being an extremely talented hockey player?

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Lahti/Ryder - Koivu - Kovalev
Higgins - Plekanec - A. Kostitsyn
Lahti/Ryder - Latendresse - Smolinski


Now, I could be more specific about line 4 and the defence. But this gives you the general idea. My main hope in this equation of lines is that Lahti is as good as Selanne stated he was in the Finnish newspaper interview he recently did.

See you all on Sunday. I'm going to cottage country for the weekend. :)
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Oh what the hell... probably already posted it ... But I keep on writing them everywhere on the bus... on the job... while on the toilet

Ryder move to Left (if not add traded player) and Lahti to the right

Ryder- Koivu - Kovalev

Higgins-Plek-Kosty

Lats -Smolinski-Lahti

Begin-Lapierre-kostopo

If I'm not mistaken, on paper, those are our top 12 skaters

if we spread our 4 top four D men evenly this is what we get

Markov-Brisebois

Ham-Dandy(Streit)

Bouillon-Komi

Otherwise we go for the top pairs

Markov-Komi

Ham- Brisebois

Bouillon-Dandy(Streit)

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Memo to Mr. Gainey:

Dear Bob, I believe I found the missing link:

1908071820eu0.jpg

:popcorn:

Just trade Kovalev, Halak and a first round pick for Nash and Leclaire. It worked for me in EA07.

:glare:

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Memo to Mr. Gainey:

Dear Bob, I believe I found the missing link:

1908071820eu0.jpg

:popcorn:

Just trade Kovalev, Halak and a first round pick for Nash and Leclaire. It worked for me in EA07.

:glare:

I got LeCavalier for Kovalev and a 5th round draft pick in NHL 07

Edited by Nesquik
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Just so all of you know Lahti was moved to the prospects list on the Canadiens.co

So to assume he is a lock to make the team from camp may be a stretch also to be on the first line may be implausable.

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I'm trying to figure this out, to me the ideal #1 line is:

Higgins-Koivu-Ryder

If they click again, just stick with it. Early last year they were awesome, and both Higgins & Ryder IMO are our best wingers and I'm not to concerned about these guys getting burned on the defensive side of the puck as I am other ones. I don't want to give Kovalev "his chance with Saku", so much as find a way for this team to win with Kovalev in a lesser role.

Now for the rest of the lineup... it's about finding who works best and where. There are so many possibilities here. Some might be crazy enough to work. Some points to consider:

Can Plekanec and Kovalev work together? Or is Smoke or Lapierre a better fit? I think Kovalev works well with RH centres for some reason (Lang in PIT). It helps speed up the plays that he often slows down. When Kovalev played with Latendresse and Lapierre I thought it worked well, but obviously that line had offensive limitations. Maybe Smoke will help out?

If so, this could be that "second" line:

Latendresse-Smolinski-Kovalev

or (maybe more likely)

Kostitsyn-Smolinski-Kovalev

I know you're asking, hasn't Pleks shown he can be a great 2nd liner? Yes, but... the 3rd line is often more important, especially in the system Carbo employs. So here are the possibilities I see on the 3rd unit with Pleks at C:

Streit-Plekanec-Lapierre

Or

Kostitsyn-Plekanec-Lapierre

Or

Lahti-Plekanec-Lapierre

Or

Streit-Plekanec-Kostitsyn

Or

Streit-Plekanec-Kostopolous

Or

Kostopolous-Plekanec-Lapierre

We are talking throwing darts here. To me, you need 2 strong defensive presences to make it work. Lapierre might be the best option we have that isn't converting Streit to forward. Having Max on the line gives you the option of both a L and R handed guy for draws, as puck possession is very important in this role. I don't see Kostopolous as a Johnson replacement, I see him as a 3rd component on a checking line and if not the best fit, a 4th line energy guy. I also don't see Begin as that guy, and if Lapierre is moved to the wing than Begin is the likely 4th line C, so we'll leave him out of this equation. I can't see Latendresse riding shotgun, to me you have to either have speed or defensive accumen, and he has neither. Kostitsyn at least has speed.

Which leaves a probable grind line involving any combination of these players:

Begin, Kostopolous, Lahti, Latendresse, Lapierre, Ferland, or Murray.

But there are also many other possible scenarios.

If Plekanec is the #2 C, it's different obviously, and Kovalev becomes a nomad again. But I'll throw a wildcard scenario into the mix just for fun:

Grabovski makes the starting lineup.

This could change things greatly. Could a line involving Grabovski & Kovalev work at all? Should Grabo play wing or C (he has been pretty much exclusively a C in Hamilton & his callup)? He obviously can't centre a checking line, but maybe he can bring that speedy winger element to the 3rd line (Perezhogin last year).

Here's my opinion: I think Grabovski making the team as a C makes us more balanced. How do you figure? I'd put him in a scoring role, but a small one, maybe 12 minutes a night. Not unlike how Anaheim used their kid line. I put him with Kostitsyn and Latendresse. I'm serious here. And what about that 3rd line? Well, here's where Kovalev gets his chance with Saku.

Ryder-Koivu-Kovalev

Higgins-Plekanec-Smolinski

Latendresse-Grabovski-Kostitsyn

Begin-Lapierre-Kostopolous

Match the Higgins-Plekanec-Smolinski line against opposing top lines. You get the shutdown aspect as well as a lot of offensive opportunities. 2 faceoff men, one LH and one RH.

I don't even know if it works, but man it'd be fun for a while.

That's a little outside the box thinking session. I've got more, but that's enough for now.

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geez you're well connected :blink:

Not really... a couple of years ago, the habs official site listed his family as wife and son, and then last year, it just said his son and listed him as singler... Then Hickey wrote an article early last year (or was it the year before) in which it mentioned he was enjoying a visit from his son for a short while, who otherwise lives in russia...

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I'm trying to figure this out, to me the ideal #1 line is:

Higgins-Koivu-Ryder

If they click again, just stick with it. Early last year they were awesome, and both Higgins & Ryder IMO are our best wingers and I'm not to concerned about these guys getting burned on the defensive side of the puck as I am other ones. I don't want to give Kovalev "his chance with Saku", so much as find a way for this team to win with Kovalev in a lesser role.

Now for the rest of the lineup... it's about finding who works best and where. There are so many possibilities here. Some might be crazy enough to work. Some points to consider:

Can Plekanec and Kovalev work together? Or is Smoke or Lapierre a better fit? I think Kovalev works well with RH centres for some reason (Lang in PIT). It helps speed up the plays that he often slows down. When Kovalev played with Latendresse and Lapierre I thought it worked well, but obviously that line had offensive limitations. Maybe Smoke will help out?

If so, this could be that "second" line:

Latendresse-Smolinski-Kovalev

or (maybe more likely)

Kostitsyn-Smolinski-Kovalev

I know you're asking, hasn't Pleks shown he can be a great 2nd liner? Yes, but... the 3rd line is often more important, especially in the system Carbo employs. So here are the possibilities I see on the 3rd unit with Pleks at C:

Streit-Plekanec-Lapierre

Or

Kostitsyn-Plekanec-Lapierre

Or

Lahti-Plekanec-Lapierre

Or

Streit-Plekanec-Kostitsyn

Or

Streit-Plekanec-Kostopolous

Or

Kostopolous-Plekanec-Lapierre

We are talking throwing darts here. To me, you need 2 strong defensive presences to make it work. Lapierre might be the best option we have that isn't converting Streit to forward. Having Max on the line gives you the option of both a L and R handed guy for draws, as puck possession is very important in this role. I don't see Kostopolous as a Johnson replacement, I see him as a 3rd component on a checking line and if not the best fit, a 4th line energy guy. I also don't see Begin as that guy, and if Lapierre is moved to the wing than Begin is the likely 4th line C, so we'll leave him out of this equation. I can't see Latendresse riding shotgun, to me you have to either have speed or defensive accumen, and he has neither. Kostitsyn at least has speed.

Which leaves a probable grind line involving any combination of these players:

Begin, Kostopolous, Lahti, Latendresse, Lapierre, Ferland, or Murray.

But there are also many other possible scenarios.

If Plekanec is the #2 C, it's different obviously, and Kovalev becomes a nomad again. But I'll throw a wildcard scenario into the mix just for fun:

Grabovski makes the starting lineup.

This could change things greatly. Could a line involving Grabovski & Kovalev work at all? Should Grabo play wing or C (he has been pretty much exclusively a C in Hamilton & his callup)? He obviously can't centre a checking line, but maybe he can bring that speedy winger element to the 3rd line (Perezhogin last year).

Here's my opinion: I think Grabovski making the team as a C makes us more balanced. How do you figure? I'd put him in a scoring role, but a small one, maybe 12 minutes a night. Not unlike how Anaheim used their kid line. I put him with Kostitsyn and Latendresse. I'm serious here. And what about that 3rd line? Well, here's where Kovalev gets his chance with Saku.

Ryder-Koivu-Kovalev

Higgins-Plekanec-Smolinski

Latendresse-Grabovski-Kostitsyn

Begin-Lapierre-Kostopolous

Match the Higgins-Plekanec-Smolinski line against opposing top lines. You get the shutdown aspect as well as a lot of offensive opportunities. 2 faceoff men, one LH and one RH.

I don't even know if it works, but man it'd be fun for a while.

That's a little outside the box thinking session. I've got more, but that's enough for now.

wow! My head hurts just reading that and trying to keep all the possibilities straight... I just want season to start so we can see what the line up WILL be in October...

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