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What do we think of our Canadiens now?


REV-G

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I know only 10 games into our season is a very small sampling but I thought we could evaluate every 10 games or so and see how we do for the entire season. The biggest question will likely be, can we keep up this speed, buy-in and work ethic for the whole season.

 

The positives:

- after 10 games we have had a much better start than last year with a 6-2-2 record for 14 out of a possible 20 points.

- we are both a very fast and young team. We have seemingly very quickly become a team that successful NHL teams are made of. Young and very fast with some skill.

- we have some good and exciting surprises with a number of our players: Max Domi, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, MIke Reilly, Victor Mette, Noah Juulsen......

- some veteran players who at this point are playing much better than last year. Jonathan Drouin, Thomas Tatar, Carey Price.......

- the players seem, at this point, to have "bought all in" to the system the coaches have introduced.

- the coaching staff: 1. the new additions of Dominique Ducharme & Luke Richardson seem very well received by the players and they have improved us [according to the players].

- the new system: we are much more fun to watch and we seem to be playing to our strengths.....speed, a strong forecheck, a good back check, paying attention to helping the "D".

- young players not yet in the NHL. I'm thinking Suzuki, Ryan Poehling, Cale Fleury.....we should see a few more, one or two young guys at least, make the jump next year.

-  we seem to be accomplishing a "rebuild" on the fly without having to go years and years at the bottom of the league.

- the two key trades we made, Max P and Alex G., at this point are very much in our favour. I know that can turn around quickly, but 10 games in we have to declare we have a big advantage at this point. We'll see after 20 games if that has changed.

- we have done very well without Weber and Schlemko. 

 

 

The negatives: [this section may be small now but has the potential to grow as the season progresses.

- if our play continues this way, more or less, we will not get a really high top 5 draft pick next June which most of us expected.

- the disappointment and no games in for Nikita Scherbak. 

- maybe...Andrew Shaw? Too many penalties, undisciplined, possible trade material? He has been good with Kotkaniemi though.

- what happens when Weber and Schlemko return? Who has to leave? 

 

Thoughts? 

 

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I like your list of positives.

 

 

Id add a couple things to the negatives.

 

The penalty kill needs to be improved.

 

Too many penalties from the likes of shaw, hudon, deslauriers, peca... the guys playing on the fourth line.  This leads to less minutes for the line.  They need to play and play responsible hockey to earn the coaches trust and play a lot of minutes.  Our team will be exhausted playing this style if they cant roll four lines.

 

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1 hour ago, Commandant said:

Our team will be exhausted playing this style if they cant roll four lines.

 

This was a concern for me during the Therrien years and it seemed to happen. By playoffs, the team was beat.

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Hi Rev-G,

I am very pleased with the progression of this team; but I am trying to keep a critical eye for aspects that would prevent them from becoming a solid cup contender.

For example, I am a bit concerned with the size of some players and their ability to play through bigger teams: Tatar, Mete, Peca come to mind. 

Galagher and Domi are very capable of playing big, but there are still too many players on the team that can't 

 

I am very happy with the defence group, but we do not have enough point producers. 

 

Beyond that, I am also  keeping an eye on Laval through the updates on this forum; I hope we get two solid NHLers from the farm team and the prospects for next year so that we can trade lesser players for draft picks in 2019

 

I think the team is alright, fun to watch again. 

But the goal remains to win a cup. We are still far from that 

Edited by alfredoh2009
Typos, poor for point...
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8 hours ago, REV-G said:

I know only 10 games into our season is a very small sampling but I thought we could evaluate every 10 games or so and see how we do for the entire season. The biggest question will likely be, can we keep up this speed, buy-in and work ethic for the whole season.

 

The positives:

- after 10 games we have had a much better start than last year with a 6-2-2 record for 14 out of a possible 20 points.

- we are both a very fast and young team. We have seemingly very quickly become a team that successful NHL teams are made of. Young and very fast with some skill.

- we have some good and exciting surprises with a number of our players: Max Domi, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, MIke Reilly, Victor Mette, Noah Juulsen......

- some veteran players who at this point are playing much better than last year. Jonathan Drouin, Thomas Tatar, Carey Price.......

- the players seem, at this point, to have "bought all in" to the system the coaches have introduced.

- the coaching staff: 1. the new additions of Dominique Ducharme & Luke Richardson seem very well received by the players and they have improved us [according to the players].

- the new system: we are much more fun to watch and we seem to be playing to our strengths.....speed, a strong forecheck, a good back check, paying attention to helping the "D".

- young players not yet in the NHL. I'm thinking Suzuki, Ryan Poehling, Cale Fleury.....we should see a few more, one or two young guys at least, make the jump next year.

-  we seem to be accomplishing a "rebuild" on the fly without having to go years and years at the bottom of the league.

- the two key trades we made, Max P and Alex G., at this point are very much in our favour. I know that can turn around quickly, but 10 games in we have to declare we have a big advantage at this point. We'll see after 20 games if that has changed.

- we have done very well without Weber and Schlemko. 

 

 

The negatives: [this section may be small now but has the potential to grow as the season progresses.

- if our play continues this way, more or less, we will not get a really high top 5 draft pick next June which most of us expected.

- the disappointment and no games in for Nikita Scherbak. 

- maybe...Andrew Shaw? Too many penalties, undisciplined, possible trade material? He has been good with Kotkaniemi though.

- what happens when Weber and Schlemko return? Who has to leave? 

 

Thoughts? 

 

I am eager to see how all of the positives you mentioned ( all of which I agree with, btw) do against Tampa Bay, Washington and, to a lesser extent, Dallas this week. 

I think/hope Alzner will be waived and Schelmko traded when all of d is healthy. I would like to keep Shelmko for depth, but I can’t see him clearing waivers. 

You left Deslauriers off your list of negatives. I would like to see one of him or Shaw gone and Scherbak given a real shot 

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You're right...I forgot about Deslauriers. I found myself wondering during their last game if he has anything to give to a team like this. He would have fit better the past few years, not so much this year. I agree with what you said, give Sherbak a shot instead.  

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1 hour ago, PMAC said:

 

I think/hope Alzner will be waived and Schelmko traded when all of d is healthy.

The average NHL team needs  about 11 different d-men/yr. So why waive and trade your #6 & #7 d-men at start of season. I am for Mete to see some time in Laval asap, play big minutes down there and dominate a bit, a full year in AHL didnt seem to hurt Subban's development any.

1 hour ago, PMAC said:

You left Deslauriers off your list of negatives. I would like to see one of him or Shaw gone and Scherbak given a real shot

Shaw brings more good than bad, even though obviously undisciplined player.

Deslauries is a pretty good 4th line checker, isnt he?

Scherbak; Julien, Muller and Ducharme keep sitting him for some reason.

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46 minutes ago, REV-G said:

You're right...I forgot about Deslauriers. I found myself wondering during their last game if he has anything to give to a team like this. He would have fit better the past few years, not so much this year. I agree with what you said, give Sherbak a shot instead.  

 

Deslauriers still has a bit of value to the team.  There are going to be games during the year where having a tough guy will be beneficial (wait until they play some more of the physical Western teams).  He can take the odd shift shorthanded and there's certainly value in having the ability to drop him back to defence if they get into injury/penalty trouble during a game.  (Deslauriers was originally a d-man coming up and briefly played there in Laval last year, mostly on the PK).  He's not an ideal fit on a regular basis but he still brings a small something to the table.

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7 hours ago, Commandant said:

Id add a couple things to the negatives.

 

The penalty kill needs to be improved.

 

Too many penalties from the likes of shaw, hudon, deslauriers, peca... the guys playing on the fourth line.  This leads to less minutes for the line.  They need to play and play responsible hockey to earn the coaches trust and play a lot of minutes.  Our team will be exhausted playing this style if they cant roll four lines.

 

Faceoffs need to improve. But I'm optimistic that we this is not a major issue.

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3 hours ago, DON said:

The average NHL team needs  about 11 different d-men/yr. So why waive and trade your #6 & #7 d-men at start of season. I am for Mete to see some time in Laval asap, play big minutes down there and dominate a bit, a full year in AHL didnt seem to hurt Subban's development any.

Shaw brings more good than bad, even though obviously undisciplined player.

Deslauries is a pretty good 4th line checker, isnt he?

Scherbak; Julien, Muller and Ducharme keep sitting him for some reason.

I see your point about d depth but they are not 6-7 but 8-9.

Weber Reilly 

Petry Benn

Juluson Mete

Oulette

Schelmko

Alzner

 

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I'm pretty surprised with our performance so far, still half expecting the bottom to fall out at some point.  It no longer looks like we'll be competing for a top pick with the likes of Detroit and Ottawa, but I'm afraid we'll end up in no man's land draft-wise with a 10th place finish.  The best case scenario seems to have us squeaking into the playoffs and then being crushed by Toronto or Tampa.  Sorry to be so negative after a very good start but this roster has too many glaring holes to have that high of a ceiling.  

 

That said, our youth is giving me reason for optimism for the future.  I'm not sure where Kotka's ceiling is, but at least he'll be a reliable fixture at C.  Domi's exceeding expectations so far.  I still think we need a clear blue-chipper to round out our prospect pool, however.  

  

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9 hours ago, PMAC said:

I see your point about d depth but they are not 6-7 but 8-9.

Weber Reilly 

Petry Benn

Juluson Mete

Oulette

Schelmko

Alzner

 

On most games played, I thought Lernout was better than Alzner last year. I think that he would be a better fit as the 7th or 8th if we can get rd of Alzner

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