GDT April 23 Canadiens at Calgary 9:00pm

[hab29RETIRED]

2 hours ago, MFT77 said:

Didn’t deserve to win this game. Lucky to be tied 2-2 after the 2nd and was hoping they could pull it out.

 

Allen was their best player tonite. Anderson gave it a go but just didn’t get enough support.

 

i’ve seen enough of Staal. At least Evans brings some speed to the lineup

 

It’s also very apparent that the lack of mobility and good passing by the D has been hindering the offensive attack. 
 

Maybe time to give CC a try. What is their to lose. Better to give him some experience and maybe he can help out the struggling offense. 

 

I think if we had a Markov type of QB in the defence, we would do fine with our centres. Petry is good, but he isn’t Markov. Weber is too old and slow. That’s why last summer, I thought our biggest need is a smart puck moving offensive dman, and I think that is still the biggest hole in the lineup. Unless we have a superstar, McDavid, Matthews, type of elite centre, of Kane type of winger, we can’t get by with our current dmen.  We’ve got some good wingers and that’s why I wanted to move a Tatar or Danault if we had to, because we need that Hughes, Makar type of skill in the backend. Hell, a Theodore type would go along ways.  Sergechev instead of Drouin would have looked really good right now.

[Prime Minister Koivu]

Ducharme plays grunts too much and I still question his effectiveness 
 

Stop playing Staal every chance you get FFS. 

 

Weber and Chairot are too slow together. 
 

 

[DON]

1 hour ago, Prime Minister Koivu said:

Ducharme plays grunts too much and I still question his effectiveness 

Perry played more than Anderson and will be interesting to see how Perry does in back to back if used that much again.

1 hour ago, Prime Minister Koivu said:

Stop playing Staal every chance you get FFS. 

I might go with Evans and stuff Staal in pressbox till injuries. Not that the difference in 4th line centre is that important, but I like the speed, hustle and bit more of a future with the Habs than Staal bit.

[hab29RETIRED]

1 hour ago, Prime Minister Koivu said:

Ducharme plays grunts too much and I still question his effectiveness 
 

Stop playing Staal every chance you get FFS. 

 

Weber and Chairot are too slow together. 
 

 

Problem is the think they still have THE old stall and Weber, when what they’ve got IS an old stall and Weber.

 

on the flip side, Suzuki and KK at times look like good young players showing growth, and at other times look like young players that need to show growth.  
 

From the in between group, only Taffoli and Anderson consistently look like they give a damn, and leaves us at forward with other grunts and old guys from which only Perry is meeting to exceeding reasonable expectations.

 

With the D, we have and old Weber who looks like he is aging each shift and a slow and lumbering defence, anchored by an overused and tired Petry and a few bright spots by Romanov who is not ready for a higher role.

 

on the bright side, given that we are in the the frigid cold northern division, if the few that are usually good and promising, he more often than not, bad and, the ugly old guys, somehow amazingly pull it together at the right time, we still have a shot in the playoffs.

[Prime Minister Koivu]

I guess my issue with Staal last night was using him at the end. 
 

2 minutes to go, extra attacker out, down one goal. Our coach puts out our 4th line...vets over skill is Julien 101. 
 

I get that Ducharme hasn’t had a great opportunity to make the team his but vets over skill is a tired old way of doing things here. 
 

This team genuinely needs a fresh voice and fresh direction. The team thinking by Bergevin and Ducharme is stale just like the veteran core. 

[The Chicoutimi Cucumber]

6 hours ago, hab29RETIRED said:

I think if we had a Markov type of QB in the defence, we would do fine with our centres. Petry is good, but he isn’t Markov. Weber is too old and slow. That’s why last summer, I thought our biggest need is a smart puck moving offensive dman, and I think that is still the biggest hole in the lineup. Unless we have a superstar, McDavid, Matthews, type of elite centre, of Kane type of winger, we can’t get by with our current dmen.  We’ve got some good wingers and that’s why I wanted to move a Tatar or Danault if we had to, because we need that Hughes, Makar type of skill in the backend. Hell, a Theodore type would go along ways.  Sergechev instead of Drouin would have looked really good right now.

 

The Drouin trade is really, really painful. While not nearly as terrible as the Gomez trade turned out to be, it is similar in the specific sense that it dealt away a guy who would have been a cornerstone of the D for a FW who we could easily do without. And like the Gomez trade, it left a hole on the back end which sabotaged the team for years going forward. 

 

In my world, a D is always worth more than a FW, unless that FW is a stud C. And even then, I’ll call it a toss-up between a stud D and a stud C. 

 

And I agree with your overall view here. You *can* win with depth up and down the roster, even without the superstar C that everyone salivates over. But you can’t win with a bunch of clumsy slowfoots on the back end. Ever since Petry regressed to the mean after his Norris-like first half, the D has looked terrible. I really like Edmundson, but it’s a sad day when he is arguably your most consistent and dependable defender, night-in and night-out.

 

3 hours ago, Prime Minister Koivu said:

 

 

Weber and Chairot are too slow together. 
 

 

Geez, I’ve been saying this since the start of the season. They seem to have an unshakable belief in this pairing. I don’t get it.

 

All of that being said - once the playoffs hit and the refs put their whistles in their pockets, this bunch may suddenly look better. It’s a D built for the 1990s.

[dlbalr]

9 hours ago, MFT77 said:

i’ve seen enough of Staal. At least Evans brings some speed to the lineup

 

Maybe time to give CC a try. What is their to lose. Better to give him some experience and maybe he can help out the struggling offense.

 

They can only do one of those with the one regular recall left (nor do they currently have the cap space to bring both of them up).

 

But speaking of Caufield, the Habs may have a decision to make.  If Drouin can't go, they could recall him on an emergency basis (not burning the last recall) but doing so means that Lindgren would have to be Primeau's backup for cap reasons.  Playing Lindgren isn't an ideal option so it boils down to giving Caufield his debut while playing Allen on a back-to-back or giving Allen the night off, starting Primeau, and putting Evans in.

[GHT120]

7 minutes ago, dlbalr said:

They can only do one of those with the one regular recall left (nor do they currently have the cap space to bring both of them up).

 

But speaking of Caufield, the Habs may have a decision to make.  If Drouin can't go, they could recall him on an emergency basis (not burning the last recall) but doing so means that Lindgren would have to be Primeau's backup for cap reasons.  Playing Lindgren isn't an ideal option so it boils down to giving Caufield his debut while playing Allen on a back-to-back or giving Allen the night off, starting Primeau, and putting Evans in.

 

Much as the idea of Caufield is exciting the idea that some bad shrimp (or other food0 puts Lindgren in net is equally scary ... 

[MFT77]

4 hours ago, Prime Minister Koivu said:

Ducharme plays grunts too much and I still question his effectiveness 
 

Stop playing Staal every chance you get FFS. 

 

Weber and Chairot are too slow together. 
 

 

I couldn’t agree more about Weber and Chairot pairing often getting hemmed in their own zone especiallly after one or both couldn’t successfully create a zone exit. 
 

It all goes back to needing a left handed puck moving dman.

 

And as I’ve stated before a Staal has made whatever line he’s on a weakness. Almost averages -1 per game 
 

 

[Habsfan89]

If you go back to the start of the season when we were averaging 4 goals a game it was our D that was generating the offense. They were moving the puck up ice finding the open guys playing really aggressive and creating turn overs. For some reason that all stopped and we hit this losing wall again that seems to come with this core group of players every year. Not sure what changed and not sure why they haven't gone back to that aggressiveness with the D.

But it seems to me that this team's offense goes through the play of the D. 

[The Chicoutimi Cucumber]

2 minutes ago, Habsfan89 said:

If you go back to the start of the season when we were averaging 4 goals a game it was our D that was generating the offense. They were moving the puck up ice finding the open guys playing really aggressive and creating turn overs. For some reason that all stopped and we hit this losing wall again that seems to come with this core group of players every year. Not sure what changed and not sure why they haven't gone back to that aggressiveness with the D.

But it seems to me that this team's offense goes through the play of the D. 

 

I believe that is true of most teams. Having good puck-movers is a massive variable in terms of supporting overall team offence.

 

I remember all the turnovers this team generated during the first 10-15 games of the season. It was crazy. I don’t know what changed either. It could be as simple as other teams figuring out how to play against the “new” 2021 Montreal Canadiens.

[Commandant]

18 hours ago, Sir_Boagalott said:

 

 

 

I find it funny too.

 

No disrespect @Commandant but I think @Chris sorta has a point.

 

ex:  Danault is in the top 15 of the top defensive C's in the NHL - 5 on 5. 

 

That info is true but it's sort of a logical fallacy or the 5 on 5 bit wouldnt need to added to make that statement true.   Again with Danault, his lack of offence is overlooked due to his defensive prowess.  Nothing wrong with that.  However, with Gustafsson, who is defensively inept and has almost elite offensive prowess but that doesnt matter due to his defensive flaws.  Thats basically an opposite but identical scenario. 

 

Again with Gustafsson, its a fact he was picked up for a 7th and the Flyers retained some of his salary.  However, he wasnt working out in Philly who are on a non playoff team, and he had been a healthy scratch and wasnt coming back.    The Flyers were on the hook for all of his salary, and now pay just part of it.  Last year he was the Hawks highest scoring dman and the Flames paid a 3rd rounder for him.  The Flyers had no leverage to warrant anybody offering more than a 7th.

Ex:  MB calls Philly says:  "I want Gustafsson"; Philly:  sure, we want a 5th;  MB: no way, you arent even a playoff team and he's scratched"; Philly:  ok, a 6th;  MB:  no thanks;  Philly"  are you still there?  we'll take a 7th";  MB:  "ok sounds good"  was likely the conversation as to why the Habs got him for a 7th. 

 

@Commandant definitely uses facts, but I dont agree with all of his conclusions. 

 

 

1) You dont have to agree with my conclusions... but at least you bring an argument.   Chris didn't. 

 

2) With Gustafsson, lots of defencemen were traded from non playoff teams and got more than a 7th.  They had no leverage cause even with all the defencemen being traded, no one wanted to bid more than Montreal did.  I'm sure Philly talked to multiple teams.

 

3) As for Danault, you've misrepresented my argument.  Danault isn't just good defensively at 5v5, he was top 15 offensively 5v5 last year.  So no, its not the opposite argument to Gustafsson.  Danault is good in both ends... Gustafsson is only useful in one end.

[Toronthab]

Good luck against a team coached by Mr Relentless. Isn't it all ultimately about who really wants it? How much of my ass would I bust for a cup? Or cup and saucer even? 

I won't even bodycheck old ladies in the grocery lines any more. And it wasn't just the time in correctional institutions or therapist bills.