Lovett's Magnatones Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 Well, obviously it's BECAUSE of Therrien that Galchenyuk has stunk, don'tcha know? After all, only Desharnais and Gilbert are responsible for their own play. Everything else is Therrien's fault. I think Gilbert has been a revelation, look how well Pateryn has played with him. And I was the guy who started a thread wanting him waved. DD is just outgunned. He would be fine as a third line wing. How about PAP-Galchenyuk-DD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Habs30/31 Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 I think Gilbert has been a revelation, look how well Pateryn has played with him. And I was the guy who started a thread wanting him waved. DD is just outgunned. He would be fine as a third line wing. How about PAP-Galchenyuk-DD Ya finally get chucky at center and give him two stiffs as wingers, atleast he'll get some center ice time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Chicoutimi Cucumber Posted May 2, 2015 Author Share Posted May 2, 2015 DD's being pretty clearly overmatched (despite relentless effort and occasional good plays), does present a significant problem. Galchenyuk has looked like a basket case and I really doubt moving him to the more demanding C position - especially considering he can't win faceoffs - is a very good idea at this point; to say nothing of the folly of putting him with a struggling midget winger (Desharnais) and a flat-footed dud (Parenteau). It's just setting up the kid to fail even worse than he already is. The only other C option would seem to be Malholtra (!). Were Bournival healthy, I'd almost be tempted to suggest giving him a go. Moot point. Once you survey the landscape, you realize we're probably stuck with DD down the middle, like it or not (too bad, in retrospect, that MB couldn't added a C at the deadline capable of chipping in some offence). Under the circumstances, I'd probably try something like Pacioretty - Plekanec -Gallagher - excellent line, don't muck it up! Galchenyuk - Eller - Weise Prust - Desharnais - Smith-Pelly DeLaRose -Mitchell - Flynn Weise can play Gally's role as 1/3 of the former EGG line; DD is between two physical dudes who may not be able to convert his plays but will at least create some room for him. Could be a line that spends a lot of time in the other team's zone. Plus, DD is better when he shoots the puck; he got two very dangerous shots off last game, one that hit the post and the other toward the end of the third (or was it the first OT?) period. This line will force him to continue doing that. Bring back Flynn, it's not like Parenteau is adding much offence anyway. Barring a breakout, I'm pretty sure that upgrading DD will be one of Zoot Suit's top priorities this off-season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Habs30/31 Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 DD's being pretty clearly overmatched (despite relentless effort and occasional good plays), does present a significant problem. Galchenyuk has looked like a basket case and I really doubt moving him to the more demanding C position - especially considering he can't win faceoffs - is a very good idea at this point; to say nothing of the folly of putting him with a struggling midget winger (Desharnais) and a flat-footed dud (Parenteau). It's just setting up the kid to fail even worse than he already is. The only other C option would seem to be Malholtra (!). Were Bournival healthy, I'd almost be tempted to suggest giving him a go. Moot point. Once you survey the landscape, you realize we're probably stuck with DD down the middle, like it or not (too bad, in retrospect, that MB couldn't added a C at the deadline capable of chipping in some offence). Under the circumstances, I'd probably try something like Pacioretty - Plekanec -Gallagher - excellent line, don't muck it up! Galchenyuk - Eller - Weise Prust - Desharnais - Smith-Pelly DeLaRose -Mitchell - Flynn Weise can play Gally's role as 1/3 of the former EGG line; DD is between two physical dudes who may not be able to convert his plays but will at least create some room for him. Could be a line that spends a lot of time in the other team's zone. Plus, DD is better when he shoots the puck; he got two very dangerous shots off last game, one that hit the post and the other toward the end of the third (or was it the first OT?) period. This line will force him to continue doing that. Bring back Flynn, it's not like Parenteau is adding much offence anyway. Barring a breakout, I'm pretty sure that upgrading DD will be one of Zoot Suit's top priorities this off-season. Great post. Would be very interested to send that line up into a game and leave them like that barring injury or healthy scratch. Give them time to play together, work together, talk on the bench, talk at practice, talk on the plane, at the pub. But Therrien would never be able to do that. Even if they all seemed to click and have some potential, MT shuffles lines regardless of the results of a game. There is absolutely no doubt that Eller should be our second line center in this series. Also should be on the powerplays second unit. If not for the coaches fixation on DD he would be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Machine of Loving Grace Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 Patches - DD - Weise Chuck - Plek - Gally DLR - Eller - DSP Prust - Mitchell - Flynn That's what I want to see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Habs30/31 Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 Pacs needs to play alot. When DD is his center it means DD plays alot......not good a thing during play off hockey. A November game in Carolina on a Tuesday night maybe. But in May against the lightning DD ia a third linewinger. btw......Bishop has one assist in the play offs. DD has two. But Bishop plays the entire pp, DD only half. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Stogey24 Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 Patches - DD - Weise Chuck - Plek - Gally DLR - Eller - DSP Prust - Mitchell - Flynn That's what I want to see. I can't see P.A going out of the line up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kuternoga Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 Patches-Eller-Weise is my top line. Try this Therrien. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Habs30/31 Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 I can't see P.A going out of the line up Again you mean? Patches-Eller-Weise is my top line. Try this Therrien. Hmmm. Like to see it. With the 453 combinations we have seen why haven't we. Because Eller is not permitted to play with Pax by the looks of the last 3 years. Patches was once quoted that "DD is the best center I have ever played with. Who is the other one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IN THE HEARTS OF MEN Posted May 3, 2015 Share Posted May 3, 2015 Pacs needs to play alot. When DD is his center it means DD plays alot......not good a thing during play off hockey. A November game in Carolina on a Tuesday night maybe. But in May against the lightning DD ia a third linewinger. btw......Bishop has one assist in the play offs. DD has two. But Bishop plays the entire pp, DD only half. lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IN THE HEARTS OF MEN Posted May 3, 2015 Share Posted May 3, 2015 patch plex weise galcxhenyuk eller gallagher prust DD smith pelly delarose mitchell flynn PP1 subban left half wall eller down low galchenyuk right half wall markov left point patch right point 2nd unit gallagher left wall DD down low plex right wall subban left point petry right point Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IN THE HEARTS OF MEN Posted May 3, 2015 Share Posted May 3, 2015 we had them on the ropes in the 1st period and couldn't make it count.... thats why we lost forget the quick whistle, missed chances posts etc.... we need to get out of this goal scoring slump and i really think the EGG line could get all 3 going.... -plex and patch play very well together and both log tonnes of minutes including PK combo -EGG line has already shown in the past of being successful but MT broke them up to guess what?? help DD get out of his slump. -insulate DD on the 3rd line and get him protected between 2 really tough wingers in DSP and prust -not sure about splitting prust and eller as they have been playing well but playing well and scoring results are 2 totally different things. i was most frustrated last night when on a 2 on 1 to win the game galchenyuk decides to shoot blocker side in the smallest of spots instead of flipping the puck to weise who is crashing the back post wide open... watch the play and you'll see what i mean... bad decisions all around by galchenyuk and anyone calling for this guy to play in the middle is mad. he scared to go into the middle of the ice right now. he is the definition of a perimeter player at the moment. oleg petrov 2.0!! he needs gallagher on his line because gallagher's will and desire to win every shift is contagious! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toronthab Posted May 3, 2015 Share Posted May 3, 2015 Boy, a lot of grousing on here. MB sucks, everybody sucks, blah blah blah. Although TB was the better team for most of the third period - odd considering they were supposed to be "tired" and we are supposed to be a "third period team" - the bottom line was that the Habs had by FAR the greater number of really dangerous scoring chances, at least as far as I could see. We can rag on Pleks and DD all we want, but they played darned well. Frankly, I thought everybody on the Habs had a good game - even favourite fan whipping boys like Gilbert - except for Alex Galchenyuk, who stuck out like a sore thumb for his boneheaded individual plays and continued overall futility. It's a tough loss, but what are you gonna do? Bishop played great (except for the Patches goal), got a couple of posts early...it happens. Ultimately it was an excellent hockey game from two rather similar and well-matched teams and could very easily have gone the other way. There's no justification for ragging on anyone on this squad (except maybe Galy. Like that'd happen). I'm haunted by Plekanec's shot from the slot and Weisse's OT chance, though. Those are the kind of opportunities this team needs to put away. And both players are capable of doing it. Still, you're going to have losses like this in a playoff run. The key is to bounce back just as strong or stronger. Let's go get Game Two. Ya, exactly.. sure we want the win,.. want success. but we had success and at least two bad calls affecting goals.. Markov early and the winner. We out chanced them considerably and were it not for penalties, they were whupped by our team. Its hard not to be attached to success and the "w" in the column, but the fact of the matter is we outplayed them considerably and are very well poised for the series. I frankly did not think we could play such a great game against them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toronthab Posted May 3, 2015 Share Posted May 3, 2015 I'd like to add my input to the "Desharnais sucks" point of view. TSN had the following about his game last night: David Desharnais - The Montreal centre started 69% of his even-strength shifts in the offensive zone, yet was on the wrong end of the possession game (11 shot attempts for, 28 against, 28.2%) in the Game One Double-OT loss to Tampa Bay. It seemed like he was getting his ass kicked on faceoffs more often than not last night, so I looked that up. When you eliminate his 3 easy wins when taking draws against wingers, he was 7/16 (44%) overall. The killer was that he was 0/4 against Brian Boyle in the offensive zone, which if memory serves, twice got our already struggling powerplay off to a bad start. He's contrbuting nothing out there. For God's sake, MT...cut this bum's icetime and consider leaving him on the bench for the PP! And if you put the three he won back in, then he's 10 for 16. Look, I'm not a huge fan of DD, but I've been noticing a really strong effort from him through all the series, and tonight he very nearly put it in twice for us. I thought he played very well. So Boyle beat him .. OK. Boyle beat him, but I think he played another really good game. And I've always highly valued Pleks incidentally. And most players out there did no ring a rocket off the post, or facemask of either goalie, so noticing competent offensive tries is not a worthless thing. He played well. The whole team played well. We played quite a bit better than TB, which I like a lot. Go gettem Habs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toronthab Posted May 3, 2015 Share Posted May 3, 2015 I'm still surprised we took out Ottawa in game 6. I was reading entrails, and divining omens and portents, tea leaves and chrystal balls, .. and they were all coming up ugly. Not like my sisters but still , very ugly.. Sure happy to have had that one all wrong! Don't be discouraged after an excellent , really excellent effort yesterday. The score is sometimes a very limited barometer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Habs30/31 Posted May 3, 2015 Share Posted May 3, 2015 we had them on the ropes in the 1st period and couldn't make it count.... thats why we lost forget the quick whistle, missed chances posts etc.... we need to get out of this goal scoring slump and i really think the EGG line could get all 3 going.... -plex and patch play very well together and both log tonnes of minutes including PK combo -EGG line has already shown in the past of being successful but MT broke them up to guess what?? help DD get out of his slump. -insulate DD on the 3rd line and get him protected between 2 really tough wingers in DSP and prust -not sure about splitting prust and eller as they have been playing well but playing well and scoring results are 2 totally different things. i was most frustrated last night when on a 2 on 1 to win the game galchenyuk decides to shoot blocker side in the smallest of spots instead of flipping the puck to weise who is crashing the back post wide open... watch the play and you'll see what i mean... bad decisions all around by galchenyuk and anyone calling for this guy to play in the middle is mad. he scared to go into the middle of the ice right now. he is the definition of a perimeter player at the moment. oleg petrov 2.0!! he needs gallagher on his line because gallagher's will and desire to win every shift is contagious! Saw that. The pass was there. Chucky never considered passing it. Weiss had a tap in. Ya, exactly.. sure we want the win,.. want success. but we had success and at least two bad calls affecting goals.. Markov early and the winner. We out chanced them considerably and were it not for penalties, they were whupped by our team. Its hard not to be attached to success and the "w" in the column, but the fact of the matter is we outplayed them considerably and are very well poised for the series. I frankly did not think we could play such a great game against them. blaming refs like we never had a bad call work in our favor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Habs30/31 Posted May 3, 2015 Share Posted May 3, 2015 And if you put the three he won back in, then he's 10 for 16. Look, I'm not a huge fan of DD, but I've been noticing a really strong effort from him through all the series, and tonight he very nearly put it in twice for us. I thought he played very well. So Boyle beat him .. OK. Boyle beat him, but I think he played another really good game. And I've always highly valued Pleks incidentally. And most players out there did no ring a rocket off the post, or facemask of either goalie, so noticing competent offensive tries is not a worthless thing. He played well. The whole team played well. We played quite a bit better than TB, which I like a lot. Go gettem Habs. "noticing a really strong effort" yay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JCPetit Posted May 3, 2015 Share Posted May 3, 2015 Patches-Eller-Weise is my top line. Try this Therrien. It's mine too. Quite obvious that it should be tried IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JCPetit Posted May 3, 2015 Share Posted May 3, 2015 Reading the comments here, it all comes down to what I complained about numerous times: we need better centers. DD is an obvious problem, but Plekanec should not be our 1st line center either. He has great work ethics and good skills, but is not a great playmaker; 2nd line would be fine with him. Eller is definitely more of an asset than DD, but he won't be able to raise his play to the top line. I would do it for these playoffs, but it just shows the weakness of our position. Anyhow, it would probably be an improvement over the current situation. Playing Chucky at center is the obvious solution to the problem, but it won't come before next season. MT made a bad decision when he put him back on the wing. The young man saying that it was his preference is bullshit. I bet that he did not like the coaches to be on his back for the smallest mistake. Let him play for God's sake. Guys like DD, Plekanec and Eller are far from perfect too. We can live with a rookie's mistakes with the talent of a Galchenyuk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DON Posted May 3, 2015 Share Posted May 3, 2015 For god's sake Galchenyuk was getting hammered every game playing centre, which added to fact he isn't good on faceoffs neither, he is still underpowered and lacking confidence, putting him as top six centre is like trying to put round peg in square hole. Habs could use a big young centre and he is as close as we got...so play him there, struggle and screw the consequences, might not be Bergevin's plan. Likewise for de la Rose, who is still very young and lots to learn playing centre part-time, is enough to expect from him 'for now'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Chicoutimi Cucumber Posted May 3, 2015 Author Share Posted May 3, 2015 Torontohab, I agree that DD has had good moments. He's giving his all, hustling like crazy, and occasionally gets through and does something. I like his game better when he shoots more; he actually has a rather good shot (and his shot came within a hair's breadth of titling last game in our favour). But all that said, facts are facts - he is just not able to be as effective as we need a top-6 centreman to be in the playoffs. He's just too small, too easily mandhandled by big, strong defencemen and the level of interference allowed in the playoffs. In short, DD would seem to be a prototypical example of one of Bergevin's 'players that help get you to the playoffs,' not a player that helps you win in the playoffs. I say this with regret, because I pull for the guy. Always did. Plekanec has been wrongly maligned for his playoff performances ever since his 'little girl' comment. Nothing wrong with his game. He's a core piece and an outstanding Hab of his era. Galchenyuk at C is, IMHO, a fantasy from those who are obsessed with the idea that ever problem this team has is Therrien's fault. If the guy can't handle the wing, then he can't handle centre; and he can't win a faceoff to save his arse. In my opinion, if MT is guilty of anything with Galchenyuk - who has enjoyed considerable ice time and massive opportunity over three seasons now - it's of being too SOFT on the kid. Galy should have had his tiresome tendency to make the individual play beaten out of him long before now. Therrien may have misjudged how good he was going to be, and thought he had so much natural talent it was only a matter of time before he exploded. The reward has been a flatlined kid still making the rookie play three years in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovett's Magnatones Posted May 3, 2015 Share Posted May 3, 2015 I bet Galchenyuk has a 2011 Seguin-esque game after all these comments. Poor DD. He's making the most of his abilities. Eller is being celebrated for having a whopping two points in 7 games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Stogey24 Posted May 3, 2015 Share Posted May 3, 2015 I bet Galchenyuk has a 2011 Seguin-esque game after all these comments. Poor DD. He's making the most of his abilities. Eller is being celebrated for having a whopping two points in 7 games. Eller does more than produce points though. He's pretty good a shutdown guy who can finish checks and create space. Desharnais is more of a one trick minature pony, whos given every opportunity to succeed in his role. When he's not producing, he's really doing nothing out there Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Machine of Loving Grace Posted May 3, 2015 Share Posted May 3, 2015 Eller has had a good playoffs, but a big part of it is Therrien giving him favourable match ups. I don't see him playing the same way with top line time against Tampa's best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Habs30/31 Posted May 4, 2015 Share Posted May 4, 2015 Reading the comments here, it all comes down to what I complained about numerous times: we need better centers. DD is an obvious problem, but Plekanec should not be our 1st line center either. He has great work ethics and good skills, but is not a great playmaker; 2nd line would be fine with him. Eller is definitely more of an asset than DD, but he won't be able to raise his play to the top line. I would do it for these playoffs, but it just shows the weakness of our position. Anyhow, it would probably be an improvement over the current situation. Playing Chucky at center is the obvious solution to the problem, but it won't come before next season. MT made a bad decision when he put him back on the wing. The young man saying that it was his preference is bullshit. I bet that he did not like the coaches to be on his back for the smallest mistake. Let him play for God's sake. Guys like DD, Plekanec and Eller are far from perfect too. We can live with a rookie's mistakes with the talent of a Galchenyuk. Amen to that JC. Standing Ovation. Eller has had a good playoffs, but a big part of it is Therrien giving him favourable match ups. I don't see him playing the same way with top line time against Tampa's best. Hows the cooaching of Therrien vs Copper looking now? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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