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sakiqc

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    2013 NHL Trade Deadline

    in Habs & Hockey Talk

    Posted

    Joel Ward is doing well this season. He matched his point totals from last season and has only ever had a career high of 35 points. 18 points in 36 games would say he'd surpass that in a full season. The Caps have quietly turned around their season (Remember all of that "Ovechkin is no longer a superstar" talk? He's tied for third in goals, first in powerplay goals) and the addition of Erat is extremely important for the next few seasons of the Capitals. The team can't afford to go back into rebuild mode. They have to play for today. I wouldn't have made the Erat/Forsberg swap in Montreal but that's because Montreal is a different team in a different place and in a different division next fall. The Capitals need to be top four and with the Penguins on top, the Rangers and Flyers needing tweaks and the Blue Jackets/Islanders looking to become playoff teams they can't afford to fall behind.

    Forsberg has potential to be a good player in the NHL but guess what? He has the potential to be Martin Erat. Caps have him now in their lineup to win now. The people who focus too much on potential are going to miss the forest from the trees.

    CHeck Ward's performance in the playoffs. That's why he was signed to that huge contract, not for the expectation of repeating a 35pts season.

    Forsberg was compared to Perry, much more than Erat.

    Deadline Day: Habs acquire... nobody!

    in Habs & Hockey Talk

    Posted

    Listen, it's about Big Names. The Penguins have them, the Bruins have them. Those are the teams that are going to get the breathless coverage - and not unjustifiably, given that they have to be ranked as top-tier contenders, whereas we are a dark horse. Ottawa, meanwhile, gets a bit more respect than Montreal because they were factors last season, so they have some cred in the bank.

    As far as contenders go, I see Pittsburgh, Boston, LA and Chicago as top-tier. Below them are maybe Vancouver and Minny. Everyone else is sort of in a great big hopper, although I see the Habs and Anaheim as near the top of that next tier.

    I don't take it personally. What does tend to bother me is that Habs' players like Subban and Pacioretty, who were developed internally and took a bit of time to reach full potential, tend not to have the Star Power they'd have if they played in a major English Canadian market like, say, Toronto - in which case they'd be absolute national heroes. The same thing happened with Markov; nobody'd heard of him, really, until analysts started emphasizing how much his extended absence hurt the Habs. (I remember a friend of mine who lives in Calgary scorning the Habs for throwing $5.75 mil at an 'unknown' back when Gainey locked him up). The Habs are in a weird place in terms of the national media: a massive NHL market, one of the most valuable franchises in all of hockey, but somewhat under-the-radar to English-speaking audiences because their main market is Quebec. They don't get quite the profile, on the ground, that other big Canadian franchises do IMHO, and are treated more like a mid-to-small market despite being gigantic.

    I don't think there's a conspiracy to undervalue our players. We don't have big names yet. Patches hasn't scored 50 goals, 100pts. Subban hasn't won the Norris yet. Markov's great, but so is Oliver Ekman-Larsson who makes the same salary and that I've no idea what kind of player he is because he played once in Montreal in his career and apparently I didn't notice him and I never saw him on highlights on TSN or RDS.

    I don't listen to Habs coverage from outside QC, but if we're not taken seriously, could it be because we finished dead last last season? Could it be because we didn't make any significant move since? Could it be because we have no superstars or that we did nothing extraordinary to draw media coverage? We're not here for a popularity contest. Let's just hope the whole league doesn't take us seriously, that is until it's too late for them.

    What I like so much about hockey - vs baseball or basketball or football - is that the team concept is much more important than the number of superstars you have. This year is a great example. The Habs finished last in the conference last season, and are now battling for first, without any significant addition from outside the system. I'm ok if we don't have the profile of a top team. I think Bergevin is ok with it too, and don't seek the spotlight. It was surprising to me to hear him say today that their objective is to make the playoffs, while they are battling for 1st place in the East. He didn't say anything arrogant or that they want to show off to other teams. They are bulding something nice, piece by piece, and the only recognition they want, and that we want, is to finally celebrate a 25th Stanley Cup in Montréal.

    Apr. 3, Habs vs Flyers, 7:30 PM

    in Habs & Hockey Talk

    Posted

    maybe a little complacent, after the deadline all the guys felt their place was safe.......

    that was the worst game ive seen from them this year.....

    We could tell the Flyers needed that one to stay alive. The Habs are comfortably positioned right now for a playoffs spot. They are not on the brink of elimination. It's tough to expect them to dominate a team like the Flyers, who -on top of having a great team- is desperate to stay alive. There were some good things to take from this game. On the plus side, next game is tomorrow. Let's just hope the Habs don't feel comfortable for too long because they will play desperate teams for most of the remaining games and their lead in the standings can melt pretty fast.

    Apr. 3, Habs vs Flyers, 7:30 PM

    in Habs & Hockey Talk

    Posted

    What was the point of that 2nd fight?

    We traded Moen for Simmonds in the box. The fight sucked, crowd didn't get too much out of it. GREAT TRADE.

    Then Prust fights Zac Rinaldo. Too PKers are now in the box. It's a bad trade, and now the crowd is into the game.

    Prust pulled a White. Plain and simple.

    The worst was to get Blunden take a stupid penalty right after that. Assured the momentum to go Flyers' side.

    2013 NHL Trade Deadline

    in Habs & Hockey Talk

    Posted

    Different teams have different expectations. The Capitals had a real problem when it came to their wing. They couldn't get someone reliable. The team has also failed constantly at bringing in a player that would work well with their two best forwards (Ovechkin and Backstrom). Erat fills in that role quite well. Imagine if Montreal didn't have Gionta, Ryder, Pacioretty or Gallagher. Would you want Bergevin to acquire a 50-60 point winger like Erat? Only answer if you've actually watched Erat.

    As for Forsberg the future franchise star, yawn. He fell out of the top 10 for good reason. Forsberg, Grig, Faksa, all franchise stars? Please.

    Oops yeah, Erat is not a center, but a winger. Mistook him for a center a second, because Erat is such a playmaker, not so much the scoring threat. Backstrom and Ribeiro are 2 better playmakers. I don't get that move. I would be surprised if the Caps brought him to play with Ovechkin and Backstrom: 2 playmakers with Ovechkin, it would isolate him even more. Only logical explanation is to try to create secondary offensive scoring. My guess is that he's gonna play with Joel Ward. They gave lot of money to Ward as a UFA after his scoring spree for Nashville in the playoffs 2 years ago and it hasn't be a success with WSH so far. I don't remember if he was playing with Erat though, but I would guess so.

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