xXx..CK..xXx

Not one to toot my own horn but I told you guys about Caufield. It felt like I was battling an army on here when I talked about his positive future only two weeks ago. While the recent sample size is small, I still feel confident bringing it up because I already know he’ll be something nice, and hopefully mostly for our organization.

The response conveniently overlooks the #3 pick that had been mentioned in the quoted post and only referred to the #1 and #2 pick…. but although he hasn’t proven much at the NHL level as of yet, Caufield > Galchenyuk & Kotkaniemi. No one is trying to change anyone’s opinion but of course any of us would be cheering on and would be excited about having a 1st overall pick come draft day. The mere point is that there has never been a single season in our history where the tankist pipe dream has come to fruition for the Habs organization. i.e —> 1) Play a terrible season and end near the bottom of the standings 2) Achieve a high pick during the lottery 3) Draft an elite organizational changing player As a result perhaps this is something best left to draft time to discuss. The thought is that it has never worked in such a perfect way for us and yet the topic is something that has been discussed on a yearly basis. As a result, it seems as though it is something not worth actively rooting for since it is something that is so rare in occurrence. This is all without repeating the long list of teams who have recently drafted extremely high and have done absolutely nothing come playoff time.

My main concern is that Marty takes us on a deep playoff run this season due to the influx of fresh blood. Only for his true colours to come out next season, in turn bringing our team back to earth. Oh wait, that already sort of happened to us.

First positive news in some time.

If Pierre Gauthier were GM, Ducharme would have been fired in the middle of the game.

Gallagher back in I believe?

Coming from someone who still watches every game, I agree that the team is playing with a higher intensity. The games have been more entertaining as of late as well. Better or worse? It is up for debate but the results speak for themselves and we are obtaining points unlike earlier in the season.

Here’s to a good game.

Pavelski: 9 shots on goal Seguin: 9 shots on goal Hintz: 9 shots on goal

Pezzetta’s goal to penalty minute ratio is diminishing.

Yes, and once he does succeed at the NHL level, I guess it seems as though it would have been “impossible to predict”. I know we’re all rooting for him as long as he’s wearing the blue, white and red but I look forward to it coming to fruition. This is an off season because he has only scored 1 goal. Of course he will score more this year but 1 goal in 26 games will be well off his career average. Perhaps we have a different definition of off year.

Cool story. The context of the discussion began as a result of a statement as to the reality that there was a lot of hype surrounding Caufield prior to him having started with the Habs. “Now fans are saying that they will be happy if he scores 25 goals as a second line winger.” My response is simply stating that I am one of the fans who hasn’t changed my stance on him simply because of his underwhelming season, which I have acknowledged myself as I watch. I have already stated that I am personally not someone who overly hypes prospects but whether I said it explicitly or not, Caufield was someone I was excited about in a similar fashion to how I felt after drafting Subban. My very simple point is that my opinion has not changed on him simply because of this season. If I thought he would be able to score 30+ goals and be a first line winger on his draft day, then I would still believe that now. If some have reduced expectations, I am not one of them. It seems needless to point out that what I was suggesting was in regards to his future in the league so there is no need to state that what I have said is “nuts” or “outlandish” because it is merely nothing more than a prediction. One that I believe in, but could obviously not develop into reality. I am still confident he will be a first line winger in the league, and will score more than 30... it could even be more. I understand that Matthews is a higher level player than Caufield but it will not surprise me if things get closer between them in terms of goal scoring in the future. It’s impossible to make these predicitions without sounding out there but just wait for the season where Matthews has 36g and Caufield has 34g... I’m not stating that Caufield will turn out to be in the same ball park as Matthews overall but when it comes to goal scoring, Caufield will be in the conversation. In the end, time will tell. Like you said, Caufield is having an off year and 24 goals is closer to his regular outlook than 1g. I am sure there are those who disagree and I welcome their opinion.

Not that I had seen this before, but it just takes a little research. https://www.usahockeyntdp.com/records Therefore, I am not nuts. I was merely making an accurate observation which one could argue will not translate at the professional level. I happen to believe it will.

For what my opinion is worth, Caufield will always be a player who I can use in the same breath as Phill Kessel and Auston Matthews when it comes to goal scoring ability. If not only because of his performance with the US junior development program and the records he broke there. While Kessel has taken his share of criticism over his career, both he and Matthews have shown the ability to perform on the 1st line in the NHL. Regardless of which side one chooses to place their stance, Caufield belongs in the conversation with them. I am personally one who favours proven veterans over the potential of a draft pick but I still believe that Caufield will be a premium goal scorer/(hopefully) point getter in this league. At this point in his career, one can believe the hype surrounding his name, or one can question whether or not there was a valid reason for him to drop on draft day, as well as whether or not the current season is an indication of how he will develop as an overall player. I personally still promote the hype surrounding him and have not changed my mind about his future promise simply because of this season. It’s pretty baseless of me to make any statistical predictions, but if anyone will score more than 30-35 goals in the future, it would be him or Hoffman. He’ll be a first line player. My belief in him is strong.

I’m the same. I’ve always preferred, and always will prefer being a bubble team rather than a team finding its way to the basement. The entertainment value is a must and it’s not like I will ever take my future child aside as he excitedly awaits the game after a long day at school and whisper in his ear, “there’s nothing to get excited about Billy, this is a tanking season.” I am happy that never happened to me in my youth and I hope sport doesn’t develop in such a manner... where players, coaches, management and fans develop a losing mentality... though it already has infiltrated certain subsets of the community.

Kaberle, Traverse, Ninimaa... and whomever they were paired with.

There’s also the issue that it’s not hard to somewhat hide some mild symptoms if you want to work. If you only get tested when you show symptoms, well maybe there would be some players who wouldn’t want to get tested while simply having a “runny nose”.

It’s to each their own but I do not personally understand how it is fun to jinx one’s own team into losing. I mean, the tankers are emotionally attached to the prospect of obtaining one player in the future, or as you have put it, two. On the other hand, losing on a repeated basis could potentially have an impact on the 20 players who are already on the team. I understand that I am in the minority on this board in this circumstance so feel free to do you, but when I see Tampa Bay fans cheering as though it’s a playoff game against our team, I don’t really think they care if our team is tanking. They are simpy happy to demolish our team. I can’t imagine our players enjoy the atmosphere in an opposing building when we are losing as well. I am a very calm and patient person but I know If I were a player on the team, I would be pissed off at the way we lost last game, and who knows how that can impact the psyche of some of the players on our team. Sure, it can be spun into the reality that effort is more important than the result in the longterm but I personally feel as though people who think it’s a good thing that our team loses are only looking at one micro aspect of the grand scheme of things. We have Hughes, Dahlin, Lafreniere, Hischier, McDavid, Mackinnon, Matthews, a plethora of other Edmonton picks at the number 1 recently and how many of those teams have been competitive in the playoffs? I admit, I would be happy to have any of those players on our team but it ‘s not like it has led to anything great for those teams so in my humble opinion it seems like a waste of time and energy to actively route for our players to lose. I understand that I won’t change any minds but it’s just my perspective on the topic.

After we missed that breakaway/great chance I stated out loud that we lose about 94% of these games at that point in time. It seems biased but I felt impending doom at that point and it seems to happen to our team all too often... Not only this year. As for the whining part, I would have much preferred they call the penalty on the Habs player, as they should have, than have allowed the goal against. As soon as Evans touched the puck (or whichever Hab touched the puck first) the play would have been whistled dead.

Aren’t you just trying to jinx the team on a repeated basis?

We’ll see what happens. Tampa is definitely the favourite!

ConMichael McPezzetta

USA forfeits their 2:30pm EST game today versus Switzerland as a result of positive Covid-19 tests and the resulting mandated team quarantine.

Such a weird thing to go on about in this thread. Trading him does nothing to guarantee that he will win a cup. We may as well let him try to win one here. That should be the goal for Gorton. edit: I don’t need to delve any more into the topic because it becomes personal, but fans like yourself play the odds and make blanket statements such as “Price won’t win a cup with the Habs” and tend to rub it in when it becomes a reality. Sure, many want the Habs to become the Habs of the glory days, but quite Frankly 31 teams won’t be winning the cup in a given year, so it is ridiculously easy to state such a thing and then act like a know it all once it comes to fruition. With that being said, we even had some of those same comments on here last year, prior to our Stanley Cup appearance, and some of those posters (or one) never returned once we made the cup final. The point of all of this? Price can win a cup as a Canadiens. Will he? That’s entirely up for debate and another question altogether. However, no one knows the answer. That is why we watch the games.

Yes, it’s good to have some veterans around as we reorganize. Especially those who are enthusiastic to be around the big hockey city market... à la Toffoli.