Jump to content

Sometimes the best deal is the one you don't make!


REV-G

Recommended Posts

Just a quick note and question regarding something I read today. This isn't a bash on the player just an observation regarding our team and future. 

 

A year ago I think a number of us were wanting, hoping that we could sign Jake Gardner to a long term contract. But I read today that he was a healthy scratch and is Carolina's 7th defenceman.

 

For those who maybe follow Carolina closer than I do, has he been injured or has something happened to him or has he just played himself into that #7 position? Kind of shocking, in spite of his defensive gaffs at time, that a guy who had a lot of attention as a free agent and signed for pretty decent money and if I remember was in Toronto's top 4, that Carolina has him as a healthy scratch.

 

If he's played himself into that spot then we should be really glad that he took less money than we offered and signed with them. That would have been very disappointing  and someone would have had great criticism heaped on them for that signing. Was it Sam Pollock who coined that phrase, "The best deal is sometimes the one you don't make"? But perhaps there is another reason.

 

Thoughts? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gardiner missed 14 games and played 3rd pairing minutes ... so don't think it is a surprise ... reportedly he didn't consider Habs because of the pressure of playing in Montreal ... maybe that should have been a clue for the Canes ... hard to count on and expect much from players looking for the easy route.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

All I know is that I never wanted Gardiner and have always been completely fine that we didn’t sign him. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 8/15/2020 at 4:18 PM, xXx..CK..xXx said:

All I know is that I never wanted Gardiner and have always been completely fine that we didn’t sign him. 

Agreed 100%.
Thx for making my post easy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

53 minutes ago, Easy Ryder said:

True, Sergachev would nicely complete our top 4. 


yes, never liked that deal.

Thought Drouin was proving me wrong for a stretch there a while back, but it was short-lived and the rarity it seems.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Imagine Sergachev in top 4 and Kulak on bottom pairing and being able to roll three defensive pairings  reliably with a mix of defensive and two way players on each. Could be solid.

Sergachev - Weber

Chiarot - Petry

Meet/Kulak - Fleury/Juhlsen

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Kulak is better than Chiarot at even strength and its not particularly close. 

Kulak - Petry is the number 1 defensive pair in the entire NHL over the last two seasons in expected goals percentage.  xGF%.  

 

The Kulak - Petry pair has far exceeded when Chiarot played with Petry.   The Kulak - Weber pair has also been better than the Chiarot - Weber pair. 

 

People keep misidentifying who the third best defenceman on this team is.... its not Chiarot, it's Kulak.  ... "the Trident" should be  Weber, Petry and Kulak.   

Don't get me wrong, I like Chiarot.  But for some reason, Kulak just doesn't get the respect he deserves, both from Habs fans and around the league. The guy is a legit top 4 defender and would be on nearly every team in the league. 

  • Upvote 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Commandant said:

Kulak is better than Chiarot at even strength and its not particularly close. 

Kulak - Petry is the number 1 defensive pair in the entire NHL over the last two seasons in expected goals percentage.  xGF%.  

 

The Kulak - Petry pair has far exceeded when Chiarot played with Petry.   The Kulak - Weber pair has also been better than the Chiarot - Weber pair. 

 

People keep misidentifying who the third best defenceman on this team is.... its not Chiarot, it's Kulak.  ... "the Trident" should be  Weber, Petry and Kulak.   

Don't get me wrong, I like Chiarot.  But for some reason, Kulak just doesn't get the respect he deserves, both from Habs fans and around the league. The guy is a legit top 4 defender and would be on nearly every team in the league. 

kulak seems to play better when the pace his set high... or is it just me?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, I was among the people who wanted Gardiner given our lack of depth on the left side, and I'm certainly glad that he didn't even consider Montreal. On the surface it seemed like Carolina loaded up on D with Skjei and Vatanen because they had injuries, but it was also because Gardiner was playing himself right out of the lineup. I know +/- is a flawed stat, but he was a -24 this year. His next closest teammate was -7. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Fanpuck33 said:

Yeah, I was among the people who wanted Gardiner 

I just rememeber Leaf fans booing Gardiner off the ice...in Florida.

So i wasnt real keen on signing him, but also thought he could help the left side.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 minutes ago, DON said:

I just rememeber Leaf fans booing Gardiner off the ice...in Florida.

So i wasnt real keen on signing him, but also thought he could help the left side.

 

Every fanbase has a "whipping boy" and I believe Gardner was it with Leafs ... but MB certainly dodged a bullet on that one ... if he has wilted so badly in carolina I can't imagine what would have happened under the Montreal Media Microscope

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm certainly glad the Habs didnt sign Gardiner.  I've heard a ton of Leaf fans call him Jake the Mistake.  🤣

 

On 8/18/2020 at 10:50 AM, Commandant said:

Kulak is better than Chiarot at even strength and its not particularly close. 

Kulak - Petry is the number 1 defensive pair in the entire NHL over the last two seasons in expected goals percentage.  xGF%.  

 

The Kulak - Petry pair has far exceeded when Chiarot played with Petry.   The Kulak - Weber pair has also been better than the Chiarot - Weber pair. 

 

People keep misidentifying who the third best defenceman on this team is.... its not Chiarot, it's Kulak.  ... "the Trident" should be  Weber, Petry and Kulak.   

Don't get me wrong, I like Chiarot.  But for some reason, Kulak just doesn't get the respect he deserves, both from Habs fans and around the league. The guy is a legit top 4 defender and would be on nearly every team in the league. 

 

The funny thing for me is since the Habs lost Markov and Emelin I am unable to really rank the Habs dmen with any certainty.

 

For me, #1 is Weber, #2 is Petry, then #3 on is a coin toss. 

 

Kulak is likely #3, and Chiarot #4, but in other seasons it always seemed to be a lot easier to properly rank them. 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...