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Habs vs Wings


Neech

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Not a bad game so far. 

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The power play actually looked pretty good that period although they didn't score.  Kulak's goal certainly gives them some breathing room and they need it.  As much as they haven't given up a lot of shots, the ones they've allowed have been quality opportunities.

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22 hours ago, Chris said:

Tatar has arguably been the best and most consistent forward for the habs, LW for sure. 

 

Shocked me for sure, didn't know much about him when he arrived. 

 

I love Tatar's smarts. A thinking man's player. And I've learned something from the Tatar-Pacioretty contrast. And it's this: you can't build a team on inconsistent players, no matter how great they look when they're hot. 

 

Bergevin's team relied on both Patches and Galchenyuk as key offensive drivers. Then he went and added Drouin. That meant three major cogs simply could not be counted upon to have an impact on any given night. Patches was the best of the three by far, but routinely went through long stretches where he almost literally did nothing. Then he'd go on one of his unbelievable tears and look like a superstar. Yes, he'd get 30+ goals per season. But he was fundamentally unreliable because he was so streaky. (It's telling that he never really had a big playoff; the roulette wheel never landed on 'hot streak' for him in April). The other two were much worse, individualistic players who blow hot and cold almost from shift to shift.

 

While Bergevin droned on about 'character,' the real problem was *consistency.* Players like that are complementary guys, best added to a core of rock-solid, reliable contributors. Instead we were asking them to be the core. It was the same error we made with Kovalev.

 

Guys like Tatar and Domi may not generate the eye-popping season totals of a MaxPac or dazzle like a Drouin can. But they are upgrades because they can are top-6 FWDs who can be counted upon to be effective game in and game out. That is a much better foundation. Those are guys you can win with.

 

 

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4 hours ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

 

I love Tatar's smarts. A thinking man's player. And I've learned something from the Tatar-Pacioretty contrast. And it's this: you can't build a team on inconsistent players, no matter how great they look when they're hot. 

 

Bergevin's team relied on both Patches and Galchenyuk as key offensive drivers. Then he went and added Drouin. That meant three major cogs simply could not be counted upon to have an impact on any given night. Patches was the best of the three by far, but routinely went through long stretches where he almost literally did nothing. Then he'd go on one of his unbelievable tears and look like a superstar. Yes, he'd get 30+ goals per season. But he was fundamentally unreliable because he was so streaky. (It's telling that he never really had a big playoff; the roulette wheel never landed on 'hot streak' for him in April). The other two were much worse, individualistic players who blow hot and cold almost from shift to shift.

 

While Bergevin droned on about 'character,' the real problem was *consistency.* Players like that are complementary guys, best added to a core of rock-solid, reliable contributors. Instead we were asking them to be the core. It was the same error we made with Kovalev.

 

Guys like Tatar and Domi may not generate the eye-popping season totals of a MaxPac or dazzle like a Drouin can. But they are upgrades because they can are top-6 FWDs who can be counted upon to be effective game in and game out. That is a much better foundation. Those are guys you can win with.

 

 

This is definitely the difference between last year and this year.  Consistent effort.  The issue now is that the forward lines are built on balanced attack without any game changer on any of the lines.  This works very well when there is balance, but a Tatar flu bug or byron injury throws off that balance worse than a team with a couple super stars.  I look at it like Crosby + Malkin + 7 complimentary players. 2 out of 9 players are key to success.  If one of the other 7 is hurt, one steps up and all is well.  In Montreal 7 of 9 players ate almost equal.  If any one of them is hurt, it is immediately felt. 

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1 hour ago, BCHabnut said:

This is definitely the difference between last year and this year.  Consistent effort.  The issue now is that the forward lines are built on balanced attack without any game changer on any of the lines.  This works very well when there is balance, but a Tatar flu bug or byron injury throws off that balance worse than a team with a couple super stars.  I look at it like Crosby + Malkin + 7 complimentary players. 2 out of 9 players are key to success.  If one of the other 7 is hurt, one steps up and all is well.  In Montreal 7 of 9 players ate almost equal.  If any one of them is hurt, it is immediately felt. 

 

Since a game changer will not likely be forthcoming, I think the way forward lies either in upgrading on the top-6 guys we do have, or making sure we have guys  in the bottom six who are good enough to be top-6 players.Ideally we’d do both - but neither is easy to achieve. Then again, upgrading the blue line would probably make an even bigger difference.

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The blueline needs an upgrade. 

 

A few things are happening right now which is leading to losses and making things difficult for the team. 

 

1) Shea Weber is not the same player he was in December and january.  Is he nursing an injury?  Was he running on adrenaline when he first came back and now the full year off the ice is catching up to him? I'm not sure what it is, but he's not been his normal self in his own end. 

 

2) The forwards are not coming back and giving the same back pressure that they gave through January.  They aren't playing the same 200 foot game that made them so tough to beat.  This back pressure helped to hide some of the deficiencies defensively, especially on the left side of the defence. Now the deficiency is more exposed. The main issue here is the forwards are running out of gas from the style that they have been playing all year. 

 

3) Jordie Benn has had a great season as a 3rd pair RD.  Even though he is a left shot, he is better on the right side for some reason. He specifically is exposed on the left side, and in the top 4.  This has been a story with him throughout his career. 

 

They are going to need to find a way to sneak out enough wins the rest of the way with this going on.  The thin roster is having an issue late in the year.  As depth improves up front with guys like Suzuki and Poehling and others coming in, this should help in future years.  But the defence also needs to get a little better, especially on the left side, so it is not so exposed when the forwards aren't perfect with backchecking. 

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