Habs Fan in Edmonton

Price did play well, best game he has played against the Oilers in a while. The game was there for the taking against what I think is a fragile Oiler team right now. Too many dumb penalties as you said.

That was the one. Dave Hunter harassed Guy endlessly. Big ouch.

Good luck and have fun at the game. It's a great arena, should be a fun atmosphere there tonight. Always a lot of Habs fans there

No, I have another commitment which I couldn't get out of. I have seen the Habs many times in Edmonton including the playoffs where the young Oilers knocked out the Habs in 81. That was a tough one to be at.

I have a bad feeling about this game. Oilers lost last night so they are a desperate team (have lost 4 in a row at home I think), Habs are probably feeling pretty comfortable after 2 wins on the road. Oilers saved their best goalie for this game as Koskinen has played far better than Smith. Price never seems to play that well against the Oilers. I hope I am dead wrong but I think the desperate teams wins tonight.

Don, appreciate the updates on all the Habs prospects, saves me the trouble of looking it up. Cheers

No question, Cousins is playing really well and has been a great and cheap addition. Suzuki just continues to impress, so smart with the puck.

Yes. That would really make the Domi trade look good. Max Domi for a 3rd round pick. I'll take it. Chris has a point, he is not a Julien type player.

No question management was terrible, when I speak about leadership I also throw management into the mix. I agree about Ralph Krueger, a class act. A young player can be a leader if they have maturity and the right work ethic. Connor McDavid has really grown into the role, he is an exceptionally mature young man. How old was Johnathan Toews when he was leading the Black Hawks to all those cups?

Lack of leadership was a massive problem and the major problem. Sure they had holes, brought guys in too quickly before they were ready. They had lots of issues but lack of leadership was the most glaring. Ken Holland is starting to fix things, they hired the right guy to be GM finally. Their leader is a young guy (McDavid) but he is mature beyond his years and works his ass off every game so he is respected by his teammates. They are finally headed in the right direction.

No question you need veteran leadership that is respected by the young guys. That is one thing the Habs do have with Weber, Gallagher, Price etc. and these guys are critical in helping the young guys develop and mature. As you pointed out correctly the Oilers had none of that so the leadership void was filled by the young guys (ie Hall, Eberle etc.) and it was a disaster.

I don't think Bergevin is saying that this is a non playoff team, he is simply saying that he sees the team as fighting for a playoff spot and that he is not willing to mortgage the future to get a little better, would rather use the cap space instead. I agree with his thoughts. Obviously he must feel that he has Molson's support on this.

All I care about is KK getting totally healthy. He's a good kid who will have a long NHL career. I am sure the Habs will look after him properly. He's only 19.

The Radulov that came and played for Montreal was a much more mature guy than the one who played for Nashville. I believe the Habs had zero issues with him. Benn should have been scratched early in the year but it's hard to embarrass your captain.

Agree, MB's body of work the last couple years has been far far better than the first part of his tenure as GM. That's why I am willing to give him a break as I think he has started to figure it out. Obviously, still a lot of work to do.

No doubt, looking back, it would have been great to sign Radulov for more than one year. Radulov originally left the NHL with questions about his character and commitment so I think GM's were reluctant at the time to take a big chance with him. He obviously has matured a bit since then.

I had forgotten Semin. Then there is the original Radulov signing, a signing no one gave him credit for . No question MB made some blunders but it seems like the people who criticize MB for any bad signings also criticize him for leaving cap room. The big question for me is what do we do moving forward or do we continually rehash the past.

My post was a little tongue in cheek but I think there is an opportunity to take on a bad contract if the return is worth it. In this case Keith still has 3 years after this year on his contract. Too many years.

Yup, get Chicago to throw in some picks. Trade Weber and Petry for picks, Alzner and Keith become our no 1 defence pairing . We end up last and draft Lafeniere or Byfield along with other picks. The rebuild is under way!!!

Agree, too much to give up for Anderson. I think Columbus would make that trade in a heartbeat.

And hopefully that regression starts tonight!!

They are not as intimidating without Crosby but they are really playing well, have only lost 2 of their past 10 games. It will be a tough test for the Habs.

No doubt, I am a fan of Lehkonen, excellent skater, hard worker, good attitude, good penalty killer. If he could score 15 goals a year consistently (he did get 18 in 2016/17) he would be very valuable. Almost the perfect 3rd line player.

I think part of the problem is that there isn't always new stuff to talk about so we rehash prior issues a lot. I don't accept mediocrity as I remember the glory years well and long for those years again but I also realize there is no short cut to get there and MB realized this a couple years ago deciding to build from within, stockpiling draft picks and making the odd trade to fill in. Some have worked (ie. Domi), some haven't. I would like the Drouin trade back. I haven't given up on Drouin but Sergachev obviously would fill a bigger need.

Are you referring to the discussion about the Habs needing a left hand shooting defenceman? Yup. I think almost everyone would agree that there is a need for improvement there but the question is how much do you give up to address that need and by doing that will it only create another weakness somewhere else?