Changes on the horizon?

[HABZRULE]

So we drop 2 games in a row- I assume we will all hear how Theo has to go,Souray for a used jock strap,Gainey must go........Let's be serious. What changes to the lineup need to be addressed? Mr. Streit had a brutal game Sat. and I was thinking of Hainsey. Anyone else feel he deserves a shot out there? Komi not in the lineup...I think he's been solid so far. Souray needs to clear his head so why not sit him for a game or 2. I don't think we need a trade with what we have in the system but i do think we ware missing a few parts to the puzzle. 1) toughness- not a goon but how about some hits? Am I the only one who see's the NHL as older Pee Wee players- remember when going into the corners was a job and a half? Now it seems like the players are afraid to break a nail.:hlogo:

[MAK]

why should théodore leave?? because he makes mistakes??

just for the fun of it, who do you trade him for??(be realistic pls)

then all the players should be traded because they all sucked yesterday.

they played a terrible game, I agree, but give them a break

[les_glorieux]

um, he wasn't saying that theo should be traded. he was saying that a lot of people (not necessarily on this board) will be saying that. he said 'theo has to go' in the same sentence as 'gainey must go'. he then said 'let's be serious'.

[BTH]

Ah... I understood it like marky and komi too. I thought he was like one of the people he was mad at.

[PMAC]

No changes. Bob is going to wait and see how the team handles some adversity before he does anything. The team and Kovalev decided that he should have the surgery now because the team was going well. Obviously, they, and we, knew that there would be some rough spots along the way with one of the best players --and leaders on a young team-- missing.

Patience.

[Howie_Morenz]

Originally posted by PMAC

No changes. Bob is going to wait and see how the team handles some adversity before he does anything. The team and Kovalev decided that he should have the surgery now because the team was going well. Obviously, they, and we, knew that there would be some rough spots along the way with one of the best players --and leaders on a young team-- missing.

Patience.

I don't think anyone on the board is in panic mode right now. This is reserved for Leaf fans who panic after one loss. What I think is that there is concern here on how the team is losing.

Dumb penalties being the first thought, questionable goaltending in some games and sloppy defensive play. If these three issues could be addresed by the coaching staff and two could be eliminated quickly, then Montreal should be back winning consistantly again.

If B.G. makes a trade it would probably be a trade to shore up the second line. It does not look like too many guys on Montreal want to be on the second line. The way Bulis is playing, maybe he should be put up there with Perizhogin and Ribero. I am patient person but fine tuning the team is always good to help players that are struggling.

[Leafs Suck]

Wow, Theodore sits on the bench for most of the game and people still find a way to blame it. It's just pathetic.

The last 5 games haven't been very good. No one could argue with that.

Pittsburgh - Habs are a superior team and should have won easily, while they came back nicely they didn't get the W

Toronto - Throw this game out. Habs dominated yet a couple very lucky breaks saw Toronto win

Florida - Excellent first two periods saw the Habs up 3-0, they blew that in the third and won with seconds left in OT.

New Jersey - Terrible first period, great comeback in the second, collapse in the third.

Washington - Terrible game combined with alot of breaks for Washington.

[PMAC]

Quote What I think is that there is concern here on how the team is losing.

I agree that the team could and should be playing better. However, it is virtually impossible for any team to play well for all 80 games. I won't start to worry unless the losing streak continues.

[Edited on 2005/11/20 by PMAC]

[shortcat1]

Originally posted by les_glorieux

um, he wasn't saying that theo should be traded. he was saying that a lot of people (not necessarily on this board) will be saying that. he said 'theo has to go' in the same sentence as 'gainey must go'. he then said 'let's be serious'.

You want to read inflammatory stuff? If you can read French... go to RDS.ca/Canadiens and read the feedback. It's pretty wild stuff.

Some of the comments on TSN.ca are pretty knee-jerky also. They're funny to read.

I have to say that there are voices of reason amidst the

bloodthirsty crowd but the other ones are so LOUD that they almost drown out the ones who are willing to wait and let things work themselves out.

:hlogo::ghg::hlogo:

[Edited on 2005/11/20 by shortcat1]

[option+]

The RDS board scares me. I remember that people were calling for a bunch of people to be traded... AFTER THE FIRST GAME OF THE YEAR. Thank goodness none of them actually run the team.

[Trizzak]

Hockeysfuture.com is also in panic mode

[Trizzak]

But back to the original topic, I think the only changes we'll see are changes to the lines. I wouldn't be surprised to see a 2nd line shakeup.

[habsfan88]

What I am most concerned about is our ability to FINISH. we had 44 shots on goal against the capitals and they still beat us 5-1. We need to start getting more quality shots on goal too, instead of dump ins, etc.

Rebounds will score the easiest goals, no questions asked so in that case we could use some more traffic in front.

[Edited on 04/07/1989 by habsfan88]

[Howie_Morenz]

Originally posted by habsfan88

What I am most concerned about is our ability to FINISH. we had 44 shots on goal against the capitals and they still beat us 5-1. We need to start getting more quality shots on goal too, instead of dump ins, etc.

Rebounds will score the easiest goals, no questions asked so in that case we could use some more traffic in front.

[Edited on 04/07/1989 by habsfan88]

You said it! And 3 posts and a crossbar. At least 8 good shots that completely missed the net. And to top it off Bulis was in on net so many times and could not score. Bulis is DUE for a breakout game, he is our most consistant forward at checking and trying every night and cannot score.

I have to agree with the quality of shots. If you take shots at a goalies midsection there is a good chance he will stop it. I expect the offensive part will be worked out for next game. Hope Komisarek is back!

[Edited on 2005/11/21 by Howie_Morenz]

[habsfan88]

Originally posted by Howie_Morenz

Originally posted by habsfan88

What I am most concerned about is our ability to FINISH. we had 44 shots on goal against the capitals and they still beat us 5-1. We need to start getting more quality shots on goal too, instead of dump ins, etc.

Rebounds will score the easiest goals, no questions asked so in that case we could use some more traffic in front.

[Edited on 04/07/1989 by habsfan88]

You said it! And 3 posts and a crossbar. At least 8 good shots that completely missed the net. And to top it off Bulis was in on net so many times and could not score. Bulis is DUE for a breakout game, he is our most consistant forward at checking and trying every night and cannot score.

I have to agree with the quality of shots. If you take shots at a goalies midsection there is a good chance he will stop it. I expect the offensive part will be worked out for next game. Hope Komisarek is back!

[Edited on 2005/11/21 by Howie_Morenz]

Exactly. during the leaf game, we had soo many shots and chances but most of the shots were at belfour's chest, and we kept trying to shoot low on him every time. I WAS SCREAMING FOR THE SHOTS TO BE HIGH...but nope, every shot was at his chest pretty much.

[MexicanChannel]

Originally posted by habsfan88

What I am most concerned about is our ability to FINISH. we had 44 shots on goal against the capitals and they still beat us 5-1. We need to start getting more quality shots on goal too, instead of dump ins, etc.

Excellent point! A SOG means nothing if you just shoot it at the goalie's chest, of course he'll save it.

Don't worry about the team, there's always a down point in the season. It's better it happens now than during the playoffs.

The end of this week is important Buffalo, who has been playing better recently, and I'll be there, and any game I'm at is important. :/) And Toronto, who we've been playing well against but can't seem to beat.

[~moeman]

Its a long season. Bonus, we all know that the leaf will make it 39 years and counting.

[kaos]

Thanks Moeman

You are correct. ITs a long season

[Colin]

First of all, I wouldn't press the panic button yet regarding scoring. Yeah, we scored once on 44 shots, BUT how many times did we ding the post? 5? That's LESS than inches to a win. The most unfortunate thing about the posts is that the majority of fans, and probably the players themselves, will start questioning the finishing ability of the players and that will cause those players to grip their sticks tighter.

44 shots and a bunch of posts? I'm not overly worried about that yet. If it was 20 shots and no posts? Yeah, panic.

Souray is a mess. He should have been the one sitting, and not Komi. The kid has been FAR more reliable in our own end, and in fact when Komi gets in trouble, it's generally Souray who's caused it. Souray, however, does not *need* to sit. He needs to be paired with someone responsible (Bouillon anyone?) and needs to have his time cut back to about 13-16 minutes a game until he finds himself. (And how come Souray plays a regular shift through his troubles and the kids sit when they make one mistake? In the last few games, I'd say Souray has been responsible either directly or indirectly for about 50-60% of the goals against. And Komi gets benched?)

Hainsey is not an answer. Captain Attitude Problem can sit in the minors and rot. We don't need attitudes flaring in the dressing room again.

Shift length is a problem. There are a few taking a few liberties out there and they need to grow up and realize it's a team game, and not their personal playground. I'm not naming names because the Ribserazzi will get in a huff.

Theodore is hurt. Let's allow him that slack. His groin is an issue and the continual playing isn't helping. (How about we show more confidence in the kid - who was not at fault in his barrage on Saturday night). That said, there's no doubt that this is not a $5 million goalie we have on our hands. He's so inconsistent he's making Sergei Berezin look like the most regular player who's worn the bleu-blanc-rouge. Rollie the goalie says the two are still working on issues, and I'll take that at face value, however we're a quarter of the way through the sked, and I don't want to be hearing that much longer. It's time for our star to get his act together.

Complacency. "Oh, we've fallen behind a hundred times so we know we can come back on any given night." Any doubts that that is the real issue? There's no fire in the first. We come out of the gates weak and slow, and that's killing us. There are a handful who never mail it in, and the rest give partial effort through the first half of the game. The fundamental problem is one of motivation - let's look at the coach and see how he gets this team to respond now that it's facing its first real trial.

It's unfortunate he wore that mic during Saturday's game because I'll bet my bottom dollar he wouldn't have yelled niceties to the guys had he not been worried that RDS was going to show it. I have a feeling the result is a LOT different if he takes out his can of whupass and lays it on thich during the timeout.

If I were a betting man, I'd say Montreal is going to come out of the gates for their next encounter with both guns blazing and with everyone skating like the Devil were on their tails. It's a long season and every team faces adversity: this is our first test, and I believe, even without Kovalev, that we'll come out okay.

Oh, it'd probably help the players to have some damn consistency on the ice as well. I mean, come on coach, can I play with the same players for two consecutive shifts, please? (And I'm not talking about late in the game when it was all but decided - I'm talking in the first. Show the rookies confidence. If they screw up, put 'em back out again! I think they understand full well that they screwed up. I mean, are we going to bench Koivu and Ribeiro if they screw up each shift?)

Confidence. Every team lives and dies with it. Ours is waning, and it's up to the coach to help the players find it again.

[Edited on 2005/11/21 by Guy!]

[bar]

I noticed something in the last few games I was wondering if anyone else noticed. The habs seem to be trying to make too many highlight passes and goals. The defense never seems to want to shoot, they always try to pass it off to the side instead of just blasting it. We usually have one or two forwards in front of the net.

Do you think this is intentional? Maybe this is part of Julliens system? Sourey has a wicked shot, but he never seems to blast away with it. I'd rather see a point shot and save by the goalie, then passing the puck around for 45 seconds only to have the other team intercept the pass and fire it down the other end.

Just my $.02

Bar

[Prime Minister Koivu]

I think the team needs some time to play together. I mean the lines have been juggled and flip flopped around (due to poor play and injury).

Our second, third and fourth lines especially.

We need a period of time where the lines do not change.

[Fanny]

I don't want to make any trades, but since everyone keeps talking about how we're so deep in Hamilton, can we please SEND DOWN STREIT AND DAGENAIS???

I wish we still had Hossa, but let's face it, we don't, BUT we still have some other players in Hamilton who, while lacking experience, at least have some potential. I love the rest of the team, and I'm willing to be patient with everyone else, but these to ave to go!

[Redlight60]

I wasnt able to see most of the game on saturday, so could you guys let me know how it went. obviously we lost biug, but the shot count seems a bit odd, im guessing we ran into some hot goaltending??? If you can fire 40 something shots at a goaltender consisitently, your going to win games, luck wil start to fall on our side again, but..only if we put effort in(i didnt watch the last two games so i dont know)

PS- anyone lok at the standings...look whos creeping up on us...kinda scary but i uess thats what you get for having shootouts

[Howie_Morenz]

WoW! This is all I can say about the members of this board. Of course we are all armchair GM's but it is refreshing to see suggestions that actually makes sense.

KUDOs to the contributers here.:clap::clap:

[Makh2o]

I think we've got all of the guys that would make a difference from Hamilton on our roster already, so we're gonna have to work with what we've got. And as most have said, we're sitting at 13-5-2-1, which isn't too bad, and we did get there somehow, so if we just sit back, I'm sure the powers that be will figure this all out.

The one question I do ask myself often is, where is this offensize upside to Dandenault? In the preseason he was joining the rush all the time, and yet now, the only time I notice him is when he highsticks someone at a critical point in the game.....