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2020 Playoffs - Projected Habs lineup


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31 minutes ago, alfredoh2009 said:

One Of These Things (Is Not Like The Others)
One of these things is not like the others,
One of these things just doesn't belong,
Can you tell which thing is not like the others
By the time I finish my song?

 

Chiarot - Weber
Mete - Petry
Ouellet - Folin
Olofsson - Juulsen/Brook
Kulak-Fleury

 

Pick the third pair to play against Pittsburgh 

 

 From those pairings ... Kulak - Fleury

 

Reports are that Juulsen has played very well ... wouldn't mind his getting a shot at some point in the series ... expect Kulak ends up with Petry once he gets his legs/wind back ... he is stronger defensively than Mete and Petry will be facing as much Crosby or Malkin as possible ... but as defence is not Mete's forte, being on the third pairing with a weaker partner might not be ideal ... personally, I'd roll the dice on Juulsen - Brook, even if they are both RHD ... but it wouldn't shock me if it ended up being Brook-Ouellette ... would have played together some last season and Ouellette's assets are two of Julien's favourites ... veteran and defence

 

 

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9 hours ago, Commandant said:

Brook struggled in the AHL this year.  I think him and Olofsson are two players we wont see unless its an emergency.

 

And definetely not on his wrong side.

 

It would shock me if he plays

 

My bad ... VERY BAD ... meant Juulsen - Fleury ... and it wouldn't shock me to see Fleury-Ouellette who would have played together at some point over the last two seasons ... all based on Kulak moving up and Mete moving out

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Basu said they had special teams practice on thursday, basically full 1/2 hour PP.  Ended up tied 1-1.

You have them outnumbered and cant find an open man for an easy goal in 1/2 hour? (the one PP goal was said to be a rebound).

 

Has Muller ever coached a good PP, or is it more a matter of not enough skill?

 

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32 minutes ago, DON said:

Basu said they had special teams practice on thursday, basically full 1/2 hour PP.  Ended up tied 1-1.

You have them outnumbered and cant find an open man for an easy goal in 1/2 hour? (the one PP goal was said to be a rebound).

 

Has Muller ever coached a good PP, or is it more a matter of not enough skill?

 

 

They'll probably credit it to ace defensive coverage 🙄

 

Muller may be an issue, God love him. But the fact is, since about 1995 the Habs seem to have oscillated between either being strong 5-on-5 and terrible on the PP, or being weak 5-on-5 and relying on special teams (that was Jacques Martin's formula: special teams and goaltending). This tendency to solve one problem while creating another probably goes beyond coaching and, indeed, speaks to a dearth of talent. You're talking about a franchise that has not had a truly elite forward on it since Koivu blew out his knee. (OK, we had two years of vintage Kovalev, there *is* that).

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It’s quite a simple analysis.

 

When one looks at power play goals in the entire league during the past 5 years, the Habs have had 4 players in the top 50.


1) Alex Ovechkin 

2) Steven Stamkos

.

.

.

39) Shea Weber

42) Alex Galchenyuk

44) Max Pacioretty

47) Tomas Tatar

 

Shea Weber is one of only two defensemen in the top 50 along with Ekman-Larsson

 

Power play assists we currently have no one


1) Wheeler

2) Kucherov

37) Subban

 

Power play points

 

The Habs have had 0 players in the top 50 when combining stats from the last 5 years.

 

In short:

 

1) The power play has to run through Tatar and Weber. Our coach better be drawing up creative plays for each of them. Multiple different scenarios for setting them up to score. I don’t care if the other team knows Weber is going to blast a shot. I want the other team to be scared that he will. I don’t want to see Weber faking a shot to Drouin on the point. I want Weber or Tatar being set up for goals. Hopefully in creative fashion. We don’t have time to try someone new being the go to guy prior to the play-in. No one else on the team has proven that they fan finish consistently on the PP.

 

2) The team has never recovered from Markov’s loss on the power play. Galchenyuk and Pacioretty as well, but to a lesser extent since we still have two players capable of scoring on the power play. I want to like Drouin but he is no elite set up man (yet) and neither are Petry nor Mete. We never replaced Markov and Subban’s passing/setup skills in the offensive zone on the power play

 

3) While point 1 and 2 stand true, our power play is perhaps too reliant on our D for scoring. Only us and Phoenix have defensemen so high up in the PPG category over the past 5 years. We do lack the high end offensive skill on the power play and it’s Weber/Tatar or bust.

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2 hours ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

 

They'll probably credit it to ace defensive coverage 🙄

 

Muller may be an issue, God love him. But the fact is, since about 1995 the Habs seem to have oscillated between either being strong 5-on-5 and terrible on the PP, or being weak 5-on-5 and relying on special teams (that was Jacques Martin's formula: special teams and goaltending). This tendency to solve one problem while creating another probably goes beyond coaching and, indeed, speaks to a dearth of talent. You're talking about a franchise that has not had a truly elite forward on it since Koivu blew out his knee. (OK, we had two years of vintage Kovalev, there *is* that).

A year of Radulov ? A few years

of « get no respect » Paciotetty ?

 

rodney-dangerfield.jpg

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21 minutes ago, alfredoh2009 said:

A year of Radulov ? A few years of « get no respect » Paciotetty ?

 

Radulov, that's true.

23 minutes ago, xXx..CK..xXx said:

It’s quite a simple analysis.

 

When one looks at power play goals in the entire league during the past 5 years, the Habs have had 4 players in the top 50.


1) Alex Ovechkin 

2) Steven Stamkos

.

.

.

39) Shea Weber

42) Alex Galchenyuk

44) Max Pacioretty

47) Tomas Tatar

 

Shea Weber is one of only two defensemen in the top 50 along with Ekman-Larsson

 

Power play assists we currently have no one


1) Wheeler

2) Kucherov

37) Subban

 

Power play points

 

The Habs have had 0 players in the top 50 when combining stats from the last 5 years.

 

In short:

 

1) The power play has to run through Tatar and Weber. Our coach better be drawing up creative plays for each of them. Multiple different scenarios for setting them up to score. I don’t care if the other team knows Weber is going to blast a shot. I want the other team to be scared that he will. I don’t want to see Weber faking a shot to Drouin on the point. I want Weber or Tatar being set up for goals. Hopefully in creative fashion. We don’t have time to try someone new being the go to guy prior to the play-in. No one else on the team has proven that they fan finish consistently on the PP.

 

2) The team has never recovered from Markov’s loss on the power play. Galchenyuk and Pacioretty as well, but to a lesser extent since we still have two players capable of scoring on the power play. I want to like Drouin but he is no elite set up man (yet) and neither are Petry nor Mete. We never replaced Markov and Subban’s passing/setup skills in the offensive zone on the power play

 

3) While point 1 and 2 stand true, our power play is perhaps too reliant on our D for scoring. Only us and Phoenix have defensemen so high up in the PPG category over the past 5 years. We do lack the high end offensive skill on the power play and it’s Weber/Tatar or bust.

 

Excellent analysis 👍You need playmakers on the PP - not just a bomb from the point.

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2 hours ago, tomh009 said:

The Danault-Lehkonen combination is indeed a force to be reckoned with on PK. Byron-Weise is not at the same level, though.

 

Byron is an excellent PKer.

 

Weise is average. 

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As for forcing things to Weber, I fully believe that this hurts the overall effectiveness of the PP. 

 

Weber needs to be one of several options instead of the main option.  

 

That might mean he scores a few less goals, but the overall unit will score more. (and it might not even mean less for Weber, it will mean less shots, but he could end up with better opportunities if the entire defence isn't shading to him to block the shot. 

 

The most effective our PP has been in the last three years was the second half of that horrible 17-18 season when Weber was hurt.  Petry was on the point and they used a lot of Galchenyuk's onetimer in the right hand circle.  They also used down low, back door plays a lot.  Without Weber the percentage went up.  We were 28th in the league when he got hurt in December and finished 13th in the league (the second half of the year the Habs were a top 5 PP) . 

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29 minutes ago, Commandant said:

 

Byron is an excellent PKer.

 

Weise is average. 

 

Agreed ... but with some potential PKers "opposing" them on the PP units Weise, if he dresses, not likely to be a primary PK option ... hopefully

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1 hour ago, Commandant said:

Habs usually use three sets of forwards killing penalties anyway.  Its a lot of skating to do effectively.  Two units can get tired in 2 minutes. 

 

This is where the loss of Thompson hurts, he was a key on the PK
image.png
Looks like Danault/Lehkonen and Byron/Armia likely the workhorses versus Pittsburgh ... from what looks like the roster based on practices Weise/Suzuki would look like the occasional 3rd pairing ... an argument could be made for dressing Poehling or Evans on the 4th line rather than Weise if the PK is a priority

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1 hour ago, Commandant said:

 

Byron is an excellent PKer.

 

Weise is average. 

 

Yes. But either Danault or Lehkonen by himself would be far less effective, too. As a pair, though, they are very strong.

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3 minutes ago, GHT120 said:

 

This is where the loss of Thompson hurts, he was a key on the PK
image.png
Looks like Danault/Lehkonen and Byron/Armia likely the workhorses versus Pittsburgh ... from what looks like the roster based on practices Weise/Suzuki would look like the occasional 3rd pairing ... an argument could be made for dressing Poehling or Evans on the 4th line rather than Weise if the PK is a priority

 

I think Armia is the only forward that sees any substantial ice time on both PP and PK. Or did I miss someone?

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1 hour ago, tomh009 said:

 

I think Armia is the only forward that sees any substantial ice time on both PP and PK. Or did I miss someone?

 

Suzuki's minutes per game is low cause he got no PK time early in the season, but as the year went on, he became a regular on the PK. 

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If we don’t use Weber then we need to use Tatar.  
 

Armia, Gallagher, Drouin, Domi, they may pot a few but they won’t do it for long stretches on the power play. 
 

If our power play is to be good, it will be because Weber and Tatar are scoring goals.

 

I’m not asking that our power play revolve around a pass from the right point to the left point for a one timer shot by Weber. Au contraire. I’m asking that the team find more creative ways to get Weber a look. If it’s not him, find Tatar. Perhaps we don’t have the horses but I suspect the coaches could get on that as well. 

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3 hours ago, Commandant said:

As for forcing things to Weber, I fully believe that this hurts the overall effectiveness of the PP. 

 

Weber needs to be one of several options instead of the main option.  

 

That might mean he scores a few less goals, but the overall unit will score more. (and it might not even mean less for Weber, it will mean less shots, but he could end up with better opportunities if the entire defence isn't shading to him to block the shot. 

 

The most effective our PP has been in the last three years was the second half of that horrible 17-18 season when Weber was hurt.  Petry was on the point and they used a lot of Galchenyuk's onetimer in the right hand circle.  They also used down low, back door plays a lot.  Without Weber the percentage went up.  We were 28th in the league when he got hurt in December and finished 13th in the league (the second half of the year the Habs were a top 5 PP) . 

 

It's very interesting - and it suggests that Muller is capable of coaching a PP. 

 

I wonder if the players are in such awe of Weber's shot that they just can't refrain from defaulting back to that 'get it to Weber' mindset whenever the pressure starts to mount? 

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