The Chicoutimi Cucumber

Good result. But I gotta say, I want to see next year's team be a LOT better at holding leads.

So far you're looking pretty right. Just watching some highlights...Hutson's first assist was SWEET. Big nights for Gally and Evans, but it also looks to me like Anderson is having an excellent game.

You could be right. Supposedly teams love playing spoiler. The Habs might actually be motivated, who knows

I can't stand Therrien, but even a stopped clock is right twice a day. Asked about Drouin, he commented that with him, "there's always something." Some injury, some issue, some problem - some excuse. Same pattern with Armia. When everything goes just so, he can be tremendous. But when it doesn't go just so - when he gets a hang nail or whatever - whoops, he vanishes. Maybe something transformative occurred this year. Anything is possible. But it would be folly to make longer-term decisions based on 6 months of aberrant performance. The plan has to be to trade him - whether now, or later, or at the deadline.

Ever better 👍 Hell, I could see Salt Lake City Beauts/Salt Lickers taking a flyer on him - they'll want to compete off the hop, and will have oodles of cap space and gobs of assets to send back.

Agree 100%. No one will take him now, but IF he can continue into, say, December, then a team might be willing to go for it.

A late bloomer at age 30! Just goes to show, patient development pays off 🤪 No joke, though, he has played like an absolute stud top-9 forward over the second half. If he continues it into next season, we might be able to move that contract and maybe even get something back.

The emergence of 1. Slaf (by a bullet) 2. Suzuki as a legitimate #1C 3. Newhook as a speedy, dangerous 2nd line type 4. Primeau are really the good news stories of this season. They're kind of 2024's equivalent to last season's realization that we had legit young players on D. And 5. the second-half surge by Caufield offers some reassurance that maybe his shoulder surgery really did deflate his production, such that he is closer to a 40-goal guy than a 30-goal guy. (Not that there's anything wrong with being a 30-goal guy, but safe to say most of us harboured hopes that he might be an elite goal scorer. That hope remains credible, and next season will tell the tale). You know me, though - I'm a fretful sort. One thing that worries me a bit about all this is that much of the good news has occurred during "garbage time," with the Habs safely out of the playoffs and all pressure off. The Galchenyuk precedent reminds us to be cautious about reading too much into second-half surges by young players on terrible teams. I think, though, that our hopes in these five factors are well-founded.

Weird gaffe by CC in the SO. Draftists get their win, i.e., a loss. The Habs need to learn how to lock down a lead. They are atrocious in that regard. A surprisingly hard-fought game considering the negligible stakes. These two young teams really don't like each other. If both franchises start to emerge as playoff teams around the same time, we could be seeing the beginning of a major rivalry for years to come.

This OT is insane!

Bad enough I have to listen to Gary Galley...now I gotta put up with this 🙄

Anyone else annoyed by the EA Sports "circle" appearing under the player they're talking about? 💩

Be cool if CC got to 30 despite a comparatively "down" season. That was a laser.

Armia was a beast, if I'm being honest. Interesting to see Suze getting so peeved. The refs are letting a lot of crap go. Entertaining game, though.

Yeah, I thought the challenge was a stretch. Bah.