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2020-21 Laval General Discussion Thread


dlbalr

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18 minutes ago, tomh009 said:

I really don't see much point in putting Poehling in the Habs' lineup at this point, when we have at easily 12 forwards stronger than him (not counting Frolik or Gallagher). But having him practise with the taxi squad doesn't hurt.

 

Maybe Poehling could provide a spark. It's not like the 12 forwards who are easily stronger than him are lighting it up. Maybe the other 12 forwards need a kick in the butt.

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On 4/3/2021 at 1:48 PM, DON said:

I was thinking of him following Domi.

#13’s haven’t stuck around long enough. Let’s change go with a more lucky number!

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37 minutes ago, tomh009 said:

I really don't see much point in putting Poehling in the Habs' lineup at this point, when we have at easily 12 forwards stronger than him (not counting Frolik or Gallagher). But having him practise with the taxi squad doesn't hurt.

I wasn’t suggesting he plays. I think it would be helpful having him practice with the taxi squad if he isn’t playing and learning from being around the team. 
if it ever gets to the point where we’d have to play Frolik again, than you can reward the kid for his improved play.

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19 minutes ago, Habs Fan in Edmonton said:

 

Maybe Poehling could provide a spark. It's not like the 12 forwards who are easily stronger than him are lighting it up. Maybe the other 12 forwards need a kick in the butt.

I think the D could also use a kick in the butt!

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34 minutes ago, hab29RETIRED said:

I think the D could also use a kick in the butt!

 

Sometimes you need to reward a guy for playing well in the minors. Poehling is playing real well right now. The Habs have had too many passengers; Byron, Drouin, Danault and KK have 4,2,4 and 5 goals respectively in 39 games. That's not a bad couple weeks, that's half a season.  I just don't see 12 forwards that are easily better than Poehling right now. Maybe they are too comfortable. 

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10 hours ago, Habs Fan in Edmonton said:

Sometimes you need to reward a guy for playing well in the minors. Poehling is playing real well right now. The Habs have had too many passengers; Byron, Drouin, Danault and KK have 4,2,4 and 5 goals respectively in 39 games. That's not a bad couple weeks, that's half a season.  I just don't see 12 forwards that are easily better than Poehling right now. Maybe they are too comfortable. 

Are you seriously suggesting that Poehling is better than Danault and Kotkaniemi?

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3 minutes ago, tomh009 said:

Are you seriously suggesting that Poehling is better than Danault and Kotkaniemi?

 

No. What I am suggesting is that the Habs have many forwards who have underperformed this year. I don't think you can argue that. They had have 1/2 a season.  Sometimes guys have to be sent a message and sometimes guys in the minors have to be rewarded with a call up. What do you suggest they do to motivate some of the underperformers?

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14 hours ago, Habs Fan in Edmonton said:

 

Maybe Poehling could provide a spark. It's not like the 12 forwards who are easily stronger than him are lighting it up. Maybe the other 12 forwards need a kick in the butt.

Not a chance.

Habs are 12th in goals/game, which is totally fine.

It is keeping the friggin pucks out of own net and killing PPs that the forwards and top 2 d-man are sucking balls at. Poor Suzuki looked lost a few times in own end, was trying to defend but ineffective (he is still learning and not complaining, just will be growing pains defensively obviously).

 

So unless Poehing is a shutdown specialist, they dont have much use for him.

 

I dont think Staal and Frolik are not going to be much help, barring more injuries, but not a big deal. 

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On 4/15/2021 at 11:08 AM, DON said:

Not a chance.

Habs are 12th in goals/game, which is totally fine.

It is keeping the friggin pucks out of own net and killing PPs that the forwards and top 2 d-man are sucking balls at. Poor Suzuki looked lost a few times in own end, was trying to defend but ineffective (he is still learning and not complaining, just will be growing pains defensively obviously).

 

So unless Poehing is a shutdown specialist, they dont have much use for him.

 

I dont think Staal and Frolik are not going to be much help, barring more injuries, but not a big deal. 

 

 

If the Habs are 12th in the league in goals it's only because of a hot start the 1st 10 games, the last 30 they are well below average.  Their offence is not good enough right now. I hope that changes. 

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3 hours ago, Habs Fan in Edmonton said:

 

 

If the Habs are 12th in the league in goals it's only because of a hot start the 1st 10 games, the last 30 they are well below average.  Their offence is not good enough right now. I hope that changes. 

And Poehling, who can barely score in AHL, is gonna be a difference maker on offense? Sorry, not sure why you would think that?

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13 minutes ago, DON said:

And Poehling, who can barely score in AHL, is gonna be a difference maker on offense? Sorry, not sure why you would think that?

I agree this is not the time for Poehling ... maybe the last game of the season against the Leafs if they still haven't used their last call-up (LOL) ... and while it isn't awe inspiring, he is tied for The Rocket lead with 9 goals (tied for 20th in the AHL).

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1 hour ago, DON said:

And Poehling, who can barely score in AHL, is gonna be a difference maker on offense? Sorry, not sure why you would think that?

 

Why do I think that?  The Habs have a number of forwards who have badly underperformed and sometimes you need to give guys in the minors a look who have performed well. Obviously I think Caufield has the best chance to be a difference maker but Poehling is tied for the team lead in goals (9) on the #1 team in the AHL so to say he can barely score in the AHL is a little bit of an exaggeration.  Maybe you think that guys like Evans and Lehkonen and Byron who have 9 goals  total between them in half a season deserve a permanent spot in the lineup. 

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11 hours ago, Habs Fan in Edmonton said:

Why do I think that?  The Habs have a number of forwards who have badly underperformed and sometimes you need to give guys in the minors a look who have performed well. Obviously I think Caufield has the best chance to be a difference maker but Poehling is tied for the team lead in goals (9) on the #1 team in the AHL so to say he can barely score in the AHL is a little bit of an exaggeration.  Maybe you think that guys like Evans and Lehkonen and Byron who have 9 goals  total between them in half a season deserve a permanent spot in the lineup. 

If they still had the call-ups (i.e., Bergevin hadn't somehow had to use THREE call-ups on the first day that call-ups applied) that and the slide were to go much further then it might be worth a try ... but in fairness to Evans ... his AHL totals are 27 in 118 games or 14 per 61 games ... which is Poehling's AHL total ... despite his miracle first NHL game Ryan is not a natural goal scorer.

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Laval has had two more games rescheduled against Belleville with Toronto's break being extended.  Instead of just playing tomorrow, they'll also play Friday and Saturday.  (All three are on the road.)  Belzile, Ylonen, Vejdemo, and Mysak are all available to return.

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1 hour ago, dlbalr said:

Laval has had two more games rescheduled against Belleville with Toronto's break being extended.  Instead of just playing tomorrow, they'll also play Friday and Saturday.  (All three are on the road.)  Belzile, Ylonen, Vejdemo, and Mysak are all available to return.

 

God news the injured players are back

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Still nothing on the AHL playoffs, which is definitely not a good sign.

 

I'd like to see something, even a round-robin tournament of the division winners, with the top two teams playing a best-of-three for the Calder Cup. But I think the odds definitely favour an anticlimactic end to the season, with no winners apart from the division winners declared.

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15 minutes ago, tomh009 said:

Still nothing on the AHL playoffs, which is definitely not a good sign.

 

I'd like to see something, even a round-robin tournament of the division winners, with the top two teams playing a best-of-three for the Calder Cup. But I think the odds definitely favour an anticlimactic end to the season, with no winners apart from the division winners declared.

Guess it would have to be in the US ... one of their "essential travel" criteria is to work in the US ... wonder if playoffs/tournament would qualify ... they would need to quarantine for 7 days from what I can find

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A small update on the AHL playoffs - no Calder Cup but there is the potential for divisional playoffs on an opt-in basis.  That last part is important as Toronto, Manitoba, and hopefully Laval will all see their NHL teams in the postseason.  What is more desirable to management?  Giving their farm teams a few extra games for development or getting them up to be with the Black Aces and eliminating recall restrictions in the process?

 

It's a tough one from Montreal's perspective.  Laval playing more games would be great but their season ending with no playoffs would give them a bit more lineup flexibility over being hamstrung with that single recall heading into the playoffs.

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I think that might depend on how long it is. Two rounds of best-of-three would not be so bad, best-of-seven would drag it out far longer.

 

If no playoffs, Laval wins the Canadian division by default, but no post-season experience for the kids.

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I'll ask those who have watched The Rocket more closely than I this season ... we can see that Poehling's scoring has vastly improved (.14/gm to .39/gm) but how is his 200 foot game (defence, face-offs, etc.) ... I ask because of an out-of-left-field idea ... should the Habs send Evans back to the AHL/taxi-squad and recall Poehling to see if he could be of any help come the playoffs?  ... assuming the rules allow it.

The logic/thought is that heading into the playoffs they have a good idea what Evans can do ... but IMO the 4C is still an open question ... while Staal seems suited for the grinding style of the playoffs, his 2 goals, 0 assists, -8 in 13 games has not been impressive ... his strength has been his 51.6% on faceoffs (second amongst Habs centres) ... but he hasn't been used on the PK, so offers no relief to Danault there, and is not any better than any of the other centres on defensive tone faceoffs (Habs are   26th   in the NHL on those) ... and once the draw is won Eric just seems behind the play most of the time ... Poehling ***might*** be an option.

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1 hour ago, GHT120 said:

I'll ask those who have watched The Rocket more closely than I this season ... we can see that Poehling's scoring has vastly improved (.14/gm to .39/gm) but how is his 200 foot game (defence, face-offs, etc.) ... I ask because of an out-of-left-field idea ... should the Habs send Evans back to the AHL/taxi-squad and recall Poehling to see if he could be of any help come the playoffs?  ... assuming the rules allow it.

The logic/thought is that heading into the playoffs they have a good idea what Evans can do ... but IMO the 4C is still an open question ... while Staal seems suited for the grinding style of the playoffs, his 2 goals, 0 assists, -8 in 13 games has not been impressive ... his strength has been his 51.6% on faceoffs (second amongst Habs centres) ... but he hasn't been used on the PK, so offers no relief to Danault there, and is not any better than any of the other centres on defensive tone faceoffs (Habs are   26th   in the NHL on those) ... and once the draw is won Eric just seems behind the play most of the time ... Poehling ***might*** be an option.

 

I can't say that I have watched many games but I floated the idea before of bringing Poehling up and many were in disagreement which is fine, if we all had the same opinion then these boards would be boring. No question he has progressed this year and he has definitely matured. I see Poehling as a strong candidate for next year as his cap hit would be attractive and he may be a good fit as a 3rd/4th  line centre/left wing depending on who we lose in free agency/expansion draft. 

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15 minutes ago, Habs Fan in Edmonton said:

 

I can't say that I have watched many games but I floated the idea before of bringing Poehling up and many were in disagreement which is fine, if we all had the same opinion then these boards would be boring. No question he has progressed this year and he has definitely matured. I see Poehling as a strong candidate for next year as his cap hit would be attractive and he may be a good fit as a 3rd/4th  line centre/left wing depending on who we lose in free agency/expansion draft. 

I certainly wouldn't advocate they use their last call-up, but an emergency recall would give the Habs the opportunity to a "take a peek" ... they wouldn't be able to take Staal out of the lineup now but at least they could see whether Poehling has progressed enough to be useful.

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Poehling has done well enough to be worthy of a look (although the last recall is going to be Romanov with today's Drouin news by the looks of it).  I'm not convinced that he can bring more to the table than Evans right now though.  I'm not sure they'd be comfortable with him taking a regular turn on the penalty kill which they are with Evans and I suspect they like having a right-shot centre in there which Evans is and Poehling isn't.  Poehling could potentially bring a bit more offensive upside but for that lineup spot, I suspect defence is the focus.

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12 minutes ago, dlbalr said:

Poehling has done well enough to be worthy of a look (although the last recall is going to be Romanov with today's Drouin news by the looks of it).  I'm not convinced that he can bring more to the table than Evans right now though.  I'm not sure they'd be comfortable with him taking a regular turn on the penalty kill which they are with Evans and I suspect they like having a right-shot centre in there which Evans is and Poehling isn't.  Poehling could potentially bring a bit more offensive upside but for that lineup spot, I suspect defence is the focus.

I would try him with Evans, not instead of Evans. Staal has not impressed.

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1 minute ago, tomh009 said:

I would try him with Evans, not instead of Evans. Staal has not impressed.

 

You can't just pull Staal from the lineup, as you dont get an emergency recall for a healthy scratch. 

 

The reason why its Evans or Poehling is that Evans is already an emergency recall... you can swap one player for another, and Poehling would now be the Emergency recall and Evans back to the taxi squad or Laval.

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