The Chicoutimi Cucumber

I used to despise the Canucks. Moved to the Vancouver area during the "West Coast Express" era and was appalled when the fan base rallied in support of Bertuzzi when he viciously ended Steve Moore's career. Then I heard endless fan moaning about "the Sedin Sisters" (until 2011, when that garbage finally shut up). I wanted no part of Canuckleheads Nation. However, I find myself feeling these days that they've suffered enough. This is a traumatized fanbase, rife with pessimism and a sense of perpetual doom and gloom; and to lose the devastating way they did in 2011, to be followed by over a decade of complete managerial ineptitude, has been years of unremitting agony for these fans. Even this year - a magical year by any measure - huge chunks of the fanbase could not bring themselves to even hope that the team was for real. It was almost comical; I made money by betting my friends that the Canucks would make the playoffs. Naturally they couldn't make that bet fast enough. This fanbase is always waiting for the anvil to fall on its head. This team also has players on it that are right up my alley - particularly Quinn Hughes, who is a real artist. But they have a lot of quality players I either respect or like, including Demko. So yeah, I wouldn't mind seeing them go all the way this year. It's not going to happen now, IMHO.

The only scenario that could be worse would be to lose Hughes. I had a feeling about the Canucks this year - they look ready for a deep run - but I doubt they can survive more than a couple of games without Demko.

Nah, you're just a true-bleu-blanc-et-rouge Habs fan 😉 Welcome to the nether regions of the soul, brother!

I heartily endorse the general sentiment. The Bruins are an authentic rival, and a truly great (and duly hated) opponent over the years; the Leafs are a creation of the TO hype machine. No amount of suffering is too much for them. And I know that if they win, we will NEVER hear the end of it - celebrated over and over on HNIC and the national media as the Greatest Day in Hockey History, universally beloved, blablablablah. Over and over, year after year, until we die. No thanks. The two worst things that could possibly happen to me as a hockey fan are these: 1. The Habs fold and leave town. 2. The Leafs win the Cup. I'm pulling for the Bruins 100% in this series. I'll cheer against them thereafter.

Let's hope not. EA NHL 24 simulator has the Canucks vs Bruins in the Finals with Vancouver winning in 7 🤪 Naturally this has caused considerable amusement on my Facebook feed.

That's sort of the trouble, IMHO. We can talk about "flipping a D for a FW" but guys like Harris, Barron, Struble and Kovacevic are unlikely to command a significant return. The dudes who would bring back a major asset - WiFi, Mailloux, Hutson, Guhle - are the ones we would HATE to see traded. Perhaps the likeliest outcome is that one of our crown jewels on D is actually what gets moved in order to bring back an impact young FW. And we then trust that our blueline depth will allow us to absorb the blow to our D. Rebalancing the roster sounds good but it will probably hurt.

It will be interesting to see how opposing players adapt once the word gets out about him. But safe to say he bids fair to be, without question, the most electrifying Habs defenceman since PK Subban. His shiftiness in this video is profoundly reminiscent of Quinn Hughes - same kind of player. The video is also correct that a D-man like this will "open up the entire Habs offence." 100%. Hughes's supremacy has had a cascading effect on the entire Cancuks roster. I am NOT saying Hutson will be Hughes; rather the point is that a D-man that can manage the offence makes everyone better.

I'm pretty sure he will stop getting a pass next season. MSL may also have been aware that his own attempts to improve Anderson contributed to getting him off track. If your own meddling results in a player regressing, then you probably are going to give him some leeway. It also helps if you have a dearth of talent at W anyway. It's not as though Josh's ice time came at the expense of some elite prospect we're trying to develop. But next year will be a new page, and JA had better pull an Armia and come back with his A game. And I agree with you that Josh Anderson's A-game - while limited - has a lot of value. That player hits, is physical, grinds along the board, carves guys up, drives the net relentlessly with alarming speed and power, and scores 20 goals. I'd love to get him back.

He knows he sucked. From HEOTP: Josh Anderson has no excuses for his play this season.

Seems like a future Armia type? Hopefully "good " Armia, not like the bum we saw prior to January.

I think "being in the mix" next season is the exact right formulation. After three straight seasons of very high draft picks, the Habs should start becoming a relevant team again next year. Start converting some of those one-goal losses into one-goal wins; or maybe another way to put it is: start learning how to win. But it's obviously quite premature to say "playoffs or bust," or to make "win now" moves. The exact timing is impossible to predict but yeah, a big move for an impact FW is surely in the Habs' fairly near future.

It's not my money, so fine by me. But I would observe that, while MSL has made an excellent case for himself as a developmental coach, we still have zero evidence of how effective he will be in coaching a team that is expected to win hockey games. I love the idea of him as a defining feature of an entire, sustained era of glory, like Babcock in Detroit (minus the pathologies), but the odds strongly suggest that he will be fired long before his term ends.

His contract is brilliant both in number and term. Hopefully two years from now Hutson or some other young D is emerging as his replacement - at which point we ship him out at the deadline for, potentially, significant returns. Trading him for Petry was a catastrophically stupid bit of business by the Pens.

Yeah, I saved the dough knowing this season would be mostly drudgery, but might make the investment again next season.

I regret having missed what seem to have been two electrifying final games. Detroit cannot be a fundamentally strong team if they had to claw back twice and scrape out OT wins against us under those circumstances. Looked to me like Primeau was stinko tonight. A pity to end things that way. Lots to like in Montreal but as many have remarked, we'll need a LOT more to be a serious threat to make the playoffs next year. Could be a lively off-season!