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Oct. 11, Habs vs Flyers, 7 PM


dlbalr

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There are some early season jitters but boy when this team does put it together it is something to watch. They had a lot of reasons to just throw the towel in and call it a night after the 2nd period. But hey they got on their horses and went to work. Very impressive. Philly looked like they had this one wrapped up but the boys said hey wait a minute and proceeded to kick their asses. Great to watch. PK will get his act together, he is trying a little too hard, some pressure has to be getting to him. The last 3 games have been something to watch, no boring hockey here.

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On PK. The team had pulled off the win for the last three games, but if they had lost, I would be raging on him. His insane contract is why the team looks like it does. I love PK and knew he was getting a big payday, but with a 2014 cap hit being the third highest in the league, I want the third best player in the league. Not the junk I have been seeing. The fans will turn on him fast if he doesn't get it together. I hope he does, because he is fun to watch, but Markov is better right now.

P.K. is the least of my worries. He will find his game soon enough. He is just trying to do too much.

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I have been an advocate for trading Pleks, but I have never been a pleks hater. Hell, I was one of the few people saying to sign him long term, after the little girl playoff season and said that he is a poor man's datysuk - for which I was ridiculed. I was a big proponent of signing him up long term before his UFA year, as well as when he got off to a fast start as a UFA, and if I recall correctly you were pretty critical of commiting to him than.

The way pleks was being used until this year though made him expandable. Two years ago, I said gionta has no business getting he ice time he did and while he would quietly score 20 goals, he eould probably mess up another 30 opportunities. I was a big proponent of bringing in Jagr to play with Pleks, solely based in their chemistry together and the big numbers he put up with Jagr internationally. Up until this year, he has been wasted with the likes of Moen, gionta, Bourque, and even Darche.

My only reason for wanting to trade pleks is he is the only guy other than Maxpac, galleghar, Galchenyuk, or Subban that can bring a big 35+ goal potential winger like Kane. Trading the first 3, would just leave another hole on the wing.

Pleks also didn't show much chemistry with either of the Gally's last year. Even though galleghar still played well with any centre he played with, his lowest production was with Pleks.

It looked to me, we were still a few years away from having enough offense on the top 9. However, it looks like Parenteau may fill that hole on the wing and if sekac can become a 15 or 20 goal scorer, we may actually have a lot more depth at the wing than it looked like. If we can dump that useless bum Bourque, a guy like de la rose, may be another internal option for boosting the scoring on the wing.

Having said that, at some point Galchenyuk NEEDS to be a top line centre. I also think it's a fallacy to say if we traded pleks we'd be 0-3. Who's to say Eller-Galchenyuk-galleghar would not have had the same start they did last year. If we diff get a big, fast bruising winger with great hands, we may not have had to come back 3 games in a row. Eller started slowly, but he missed camp and whose to say Eller would not have produced more if he wasn't saddled with lazy goal-post Bourque.

I have always been and always will be a big supporter of Pleks, but I still maintain, he is the only player that we can move that would bring a huge return, without giving up the core guys that will be superstars for the next 10 years or so (i.e. Price, Galchenyuk, Subban, Maxpac and Galleghar). If pleks could bring a 22-24 year old Kane, johannson, or simmounds, type of player you move him.

The whole "Pleks sucks in the playoffs" meme is B.S. He shuts down Crosby, Ovechkin, and the Krejic line, but all anyone remembers is the "little girl" comment from 2000 years ago. 'fess up, folks, Tomas Plekanec may not be a star, but he is a damned good all-around hockey player and it would have been sheer lunacy to move him in order to give more ice time to an enigma like Lars Eller. The Pleks haters remind me of the Koivu haters. They're mad he's not Ryan Getzlaf. Not a sound basis for player evaluation, that.

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I have been an advocate for trading Pleks, but I have never been a pleks hater. Hell, I was one of the few people saying to sign him long term, after the little girl playoff season and said that he is a poor man's datysuk - for which I was ridiculed. I was a big proponent of signing him up long term before his UFA year, as well as when he got off to a fast start as a UFA, and if I recall correctly you were pretty critical of commiting to him than.

The way pleks was being used until this year though made him expandable. Two years ago, I said gionta has no business getting he ice time he did and while he would quietly score 20 goals, he eould probably mess up another 30 opportunities. I was a big proponent of bringing in Jagr to play with Pleks, solely based in their chemistry together and the big numbers he put up with Jagr internationally. Up until this year, he has been wasted with the likes of Moen, gionta, Bourque, and even Darche.

My only reason for wanting to trade pleks is he is the only guy other than Maxpac, galleghar, Galchenyuk, or Subban that can bring a big 35+ goal potential winger like Kane. Trading the first 3, would just leave another hole on the wing.

Pleks also didn't show much chemistry with either of the Gally's last year. Even though galleghar still played well with any centre he played with, his lowest production was with Pleks.

It looked to me, we were still a few years away from having enough offense on the top 9. However, it looks like Parenteau may fill that hole on the wing and if sekac can become a 15 or 20 goal scorer, we may actually have a lot more depth at the wing than it looked like. If we can dump that useless bum Bourque, a guy like de la rose, may be another internal option for boosting the scoring on the wing.

Having said that, at some point Galchenyuk NEEDS to be a top line centre. I also think it's a fallacy to say if we traded pleks we'd be 0-3. Who's to say Eller-Galchenyuk-galleghar would not have had the same start they did last year. If we diff get a big, fast bruising winger with great hands, we may not have had to come back 3 games in a row. Eller started slowly, but he missed camp and whose to say Eller would not have produced more if he wasn't saddled with lazy goal-post Bourque.

I have always been and always will be a big supporter of Pleks, but I still maintain, he is the only player that we can move that would bring a huge return, without giving up the core guys that will be superstars for the next 10 years or so (i.e. Price, Galchenyuk, Subban, Maxpac and Galleghar). If pleks could bring a 22-24 year old Kane, johannson, or simmounds, type of player you move him.

"2000 years ago" lol How about last seasons play offs where he had the worst plus minus on all sixteen play off teams. Was horrible against Rangers, practically invisible against Bruins. btw Never seen him have a bad October. In his favour, nobody could play with Gionta and yet he did it. Great team player. Cant play well for 90 games though.

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He did shut down the bruins last year, but I lost a lot of respect by the head snap dive.

As far as his playoff offensive stats go,in his defense, not only was he usually put into a to shutdown role, he was usually been saddled with guys that couldn't score if the net was the size of a barn. He'll, Darche and Moen were his wingers on a frequent basis.

"2000 years ago" lol How about last seasons play offs where he had the worst plus minus on all sixteen play off teams. Was horrible against Rangers, practically invisible against Bruins. btw Never seen him have a bad October. In his favour, nobody could play with Gionta and yet he did it. Great team player. Cant play well for 90 games though.

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I'm on my cell phone but I've pointed it out before. Plekanec is less than a point per game behind Bergeron for career playoff scoring. It's like 0.68 to 0.61. I guess Bergeron is a little girl too. Oh wait, everyone in hockey recognizes that he plays serious defence in the playoffs. Plek gets a double standard from certain people here.

Also, Subban has a high cap hit but he's one of the first major contacts of the new CBA. Toews and Kane will be sporting $11M cap hits next season from the new CBA. Third best player in the league stuff is silly. Back before the cap you had guys like Chris Gratton making $15M due to signing bonuses. Mark Messier used to refuse to play on the contract he signed because he felt he deserved more money. Today the best player in the game takes a self imposed pay cut. Should everyone in the league make less because of Sid?

Subban makes $9M, Pacioretty makes $4.5M. It works itself out.

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The problem with trading Pleks is we have no one to take his place. Seriously...who would be our shutdown centre in the playoffs? Eller? Rofl.... DD? Lol...

Pleks is a number two centre that can play a tough shutdown role against top lines. This frees up Pacs line to be the scoring line. Yes, this reduces the offensive output of Pleks, but it takes away the other teams offence and boost DD and Pacs.

Right now, Pleks has the best wingers he has had in years and it shows. He won't continue at this pace, but an offensive bump will help the team put more points in the kitty. Hell, it already has.

I hope one day Chucky is a number one centre, but that means re replaces DD, not a Pleks type player.

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but really though, tinordi had a pretty good first game. i think with some confidence building from his making the team. and some self belief in his abilities and the tin man just might be for real. he looked good on his skates last night....

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I wonder, do Bruins fans have endless debates about trading Bergeron?! I doubt it. We should just be thankful for PLex's scoring splurge, enjoy it, hope it continues and pray (deity or object of your choice) that someone else has started scoring before Plex's streak dries up.

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I wonder, do Bruins fans have endless debates about trading Bergeron?! I doubt it. We should just be thankful for PLex's scoring splurge, enjoy it, hope it continues and pray (deity or object of your choice) that someone else has started scoring before Plex's streak dries up.

I lived in So NH, thirty minutes north of Boston, so I know they don't. However, the endless "stumping" for Bergeron before he won his first Selke was nauseating. He's the apple of their eye. I remember hearing the carping on 98.5 when Wideman made the ASG and he didn't. Pick your poison. I'll take the trade demands over the Bruins' fans thinking Bergeron was the MVP last year.

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Yes, habs29's suggestion that IF we can trade Pleks for a stud winger, we should do it, is defensible...but also somewhat fanciful. Stud young wingers like Kane don't grow on trees and teams tend to want to keep them (as Winnipeg did). That Zoot managed to go out at get a decent second-tier winger basically for free in Parenteau illustrates that you can address team weaknesses without gouging out your most versatile and minutes-munching forward. Those are more realistic scenarios than ripping your heart out to strengthen your lungs, as it were.

A lot of the 'trade Pleks' arguments are predicated on the supposedly surpassing readiness of Eller to do his job. That's what I found absurd about them all along, and continue to find absurd. When Eller actually starts making Plekanec redundant, when he actually starts earning Plekanec-like assignments and minutes, that's when we should think about trading Plekanec; not after Eller puts together an atrocious season with 3-4 strong weeks tossed in.

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Yes, habs29's suggestion that IF we can trade Pleks for a stud winger, we should do it, is defensible...but also somewhat fanciful. Stud young wingers like Kane don't grow on trees and teams tend to want to keep them (as Winnipeg did). That Zoot managed to go out at get a decent second-tier winger basically for free in Parenteau illustrates that you can address team weaknesses without gouging out your most versatile and minutes-munching forward. Those are more realistic scenarios than ripping your heart out to strengthen your lungs, as it were.

A lot of the 'trade Pleks' arguments are predicated on the supposedly surpassing readiness of Eller to do his job. That's what I found absurd about them all along, and continue to find absurd. When Eller actually starts making Plekanec redundant, when he actually starts earning Plekanec-like assignments and minutes, that's when we should think about trading Plekanec; not after Eller puts together an atrocious season with 3-4 strong weeks tossed in.

Eller has stunk in 80% of his games as a Canadien. He can't take Plekanec's defensive assignments or produce as much as he can. He's a third liner.

He's a decent third line center who can pitch in offensively and plays well in the playoffs. In three years a player like that at 3.5 million is going to be a bargain.

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Eller has stunk in 80% of his games as a Canadien. He can't take Plekanec's defensive assignments or produce as much as he can. He's a third liner.

He's a decent third line center who can pitch in offensively and plays well in the playoffs. In three years a player like that at 3.5 million is going to be a bargain.

I will get on the Pleks band wagon when he finds it in himself to play in the spring the way he plays in fall.

Since somebody brought up Bergeron .............stanley cup run he was a force.....game 7 stanley cup game i believe he scored two goals including game winner. Game seven against leafs, set up tie goal in dieing seconds then scored game winner in ot. Those just came to mind. When Pleks has a few play off games like that comparisons between the two may begin. Far as I can see Pleks struggles and gets very frustrated with play off hockey. That shot of him (Bruins series last season) )throwing himself into the penalty box with his leg up on the bench, after missing an open net and taking a dumb penalty, stepping out of the box and taking another dumb penalty was ugly. Don't think he had one good game after that. 17 games ....9 pts.....minus 7. Not the kind of numbers you need from the centerman that leads all your forwards in ice time.

But yes, I like the way he is playing now in early October.

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An FYI, I'm going to hold off on posting today's GDT for a little bit. We will be moving the site to a new server and web host (the process is already underway) so I'm going to wait until that process has been complete to post. There will be some downtime while the migration takes place.

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An FYI, I'm going to hold off on posting today's GDT for a little bit. We will be moving the site to a new server and web host (the process is already underway) so I'm going to wait until that process has been complete to post. There will be some downtime while the migration takes place.

ok coach. btw.....Tokarski or Price tonight? ( ;

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I have been an advocate for trading Pleks, but I have never been a pleks hater. Hell, I was one of the few people saying to sign him long term, after the little girl playoff season and said that he is a poor man's datysuk - for which I was ridiculed. I was a big proponent of signing him up long term before his UFA year, as well as when he got off to a fast start as a UFA, and if I recall correctly you were pretty critical of commiting to him than.

The way pleks was being used until this year though made him expandable. Two years ago, I said gionta has no business getting he ice time he did and while he would quietly score 20 goals, he eould probably mess up another 30 opportunities. I was a big proponent of bringing in Jagr to play with Pleks, solely based in their chemistry together and the big numbers he put up with Jagr internationally. Up until this year, he has been wasted with the likes of Moen, gionta, Bourque, and even Darche.

My only reason for wanting to trade pleks is he is the only guy other than Maxpac, galleghar, Galchenyuk, or Subban that can bring a big 35+ goal potential winger like Kane. Trading the first 3, would just leave another hole on the wing.

Pleks also didn't show much chemistry with either of the Gally's last year. Even though galleghar still played well with any centre he played with, his lowest production was with Pleks.

It looked to me, we were still a few years away from having enough offense on the top 9. However, it looks like Parenteau may fill that hole on the wing and if sekac can become a 15 or 20 goal scorer, we may actually have a lot more depth at the wing than it looked like. If we can dump that useless bum Bourque, a guy like de la rose, may be another internal option for boosting the scoring on the wing.

Having said that, at some point Galchenyuk NEEDS to be a top line centre. I also think it's a fallacy to say if we traded pleks we'd be 0-3. Who's to say Eller-Galchenyuk-galleghar would not have had the same start they did last year. If we diff get a big, fast bruising winger with great hands, we may not have had to come back 3 games in a row. Eller started slowly, but he missed camp and whose to say Eller would not have produced more if he wasn't saddled with lazy goal-post Bourque.

I have always been and always will be a big supporter of Pleks, but I still maintain, he is the only player that we can move that would bring a huge return, without giving up the core guys that will be superstars for the next 10 years or so (i.e. Price, Galchenyuk, Subban, Maxpac and Galleghar). If pleks could bring a 22-24 year old Kane, johannson, or simmounds, type of player you move him.

"2000 years ago" How about 5 months ago? His last play off series? Rangers? He was plain lousey.

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"2000 years ago" How about 5 months ago? His last play off series? Rangers? He was plain lousey.

Yep, he was poor against the Rags. Ergo, he is bad in every single playoff series he's ever played in or ever will play in. Got it.

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Well facing Bergeron and Rangers best centres, TPs' faceoff% actually went up in playoffs, on same point pace as reg season, so not real sure what some people are repeatedly complaining about.

Some imaginative fall off in his 2 way play, I don't recall seeing him as a reason they didn't beat Rangers? I guess go back and find that tread, maybe many had him as 'lousy or horrible", other than that negative EOTP bunch?

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I will get on the Pleks band wagon when he finds it in himself to play in the spring the way he plays in fall.

Since somebody brought up Bergeron .............stanley cup run he was a force.....game 7 stanley cup game i believe he scored two goals including game winner. Game seven against leafs, set up tie goal in dieing seconds then scored game winner in ot. Those just came to mind. When Pleks has a few play off games like that comparisons between the two may begin. Far as I can see Pleks struggles and gets very frustrated with play off hockey. That shot of him (Bruins series last season) )throwing himself into the penalty box with his leg up on the bench, after missing an open net and taking a dumb penalty, stepping out of the box and taking another dumb penalty was ugly. Don't think he had one good game after that. 17 games ....9 pts.....minus 7. Not the kind of numbers you need from the centerman that leads all your forwards in ice time.

But yes, I like the way he is playing now in early October.

BTW.....Just read the last time Pleks had a 3 game goal streak going. 2010. Three guesses what month it was.

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100% agree - especially considering some of the lousy teams we've had.

Hell, until he got to LA, carter was a playoff bust.

The playoffs are too small of a sample size to deduce anything. Plekanec isn't the greatest in the playoffs but he's still one of the premier second line centers in the league.

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