xXx..CK..xXx

Maybe Tomas Plekanec will be interested in playing for the Montreal Canadiens. On topic, I've long thought that Kotkaniemi will be with the big club all year, world juniors included.

It could be a coincidence but that's right around when Julien said they wanted to specifically tighten up defensively. Not that it's not an obvious thing for teams to focus on but if what you're seeing is the case, I'd pin it on a coaching thing/systems thing.

I'm often annoyed by the Sens and can only remember some disappointing games against them in the recent past but I'm feeling good about tonight's game. I'll throw in a 4-3 prediction but regardless of the score, I'm feeling positive about the outcome tonight.

I'm not sure Price is a great example. I've disliked the way he has performed the past few years, but I wouldn't want him cut off the team due to his lack of performance. I'm not convinced that having his 10 million cap hit becoming available to us would make our team better in the short term. We'd then have to go out and have some other all star (want to) join our team. Not to mention, there's certainly still hope for Price. After spending last year with 8 million dollars in cap space available in our pockets, it's going to take some time for me to find myself overly worried about how hard it is to fit everyone in with our "limited space". I'm not sure Price would be cut, even if it were an option.

Scherbak has more upside than any of those players, and for once I'll use the age argument in that he's much younger than the others. Those elements should factor into the decision. Chaput won't be on the team long term. Agostino will likely end the year with two goals, regardless of how many games he plays. Deslauriers I'm alright with, but he's still a healthy scratch candidate during the playoffs for a few games every series. Scherbak's stats in the NHL are ugly but they still average out to a 15 goal season and he's more likely to get better than to stagnate or get worse. He could be a 10-15 goal scoring 3rd liner or a 15-25 goal scoring top 6 player. More upside than Chaput, Agostino, Deslauriers. Sure we can bring up their defensive abilities but they're not absolutely amazing in that area either. They're all career minus players.

Great pickup for the Kings.

Slept in my Weber jersey over night.

Putting on my Weber jersey.

48 saves on 49 shots actually. I had McElhinney starting in fantasy tonight and was hoping for a 49 save on 50 shots 1-0 victory for the Habs. I thought we played well and stayed quite disciplined in general. Drouin should have had one in the third that Van Riemsdyk stopped on the goal line. The Domi post was unlucky as well.

Semin and Kassian worked out as well, until the season started.

3-2 mtl prediction

Islanders are first in their division. Washington is outside of a playoff spot. Perhaps it should be a winnable game but Trotz seems to have an impact regardless of the squad in front of him.

Lost in all of this is...... I’m glad Scherbak is safe. May he prove the nay sayers wrong. We have decent depth. Plekanec came in well rested and looked better than at least two other centers who were ahead of him on the depth chart. May Scherbak do the same. I’d also be fine with De la Rose clearing.

I liked Wolverine.

Lehkonen was slacking out there tonight. 0 points.

How’d you like those Armia dangles, Don?

Petry’s Fine on the PP 23 PPP last year Same as Klingberg, Ristolainen and Suter More points than Byfuglien, Letang, Doughty, Josi, Karlsson etc.

Damn Domi

Tatar accepted my challenge.

Some thoughts after the first period: - Despite him having played well, I wish Danault were a true top line center - I’ve been quietly hard on Drouin over the past year but I thought he hustled well in the first - Imagine Jordie Benn were a defensive version of Jamie Benn, skill wise - Lehkonen does a good job of getting to the front of the net - I want to see more from Tatar as our first line LW - I’m going to find myself yelling “shoot” quite often this year when Domi has the puck in the offensive zone

I was going to wait until the intermission but I’ll say it now at 0-2: I’m not happy with DeSmith having a shutout against us thus far.

Didn’t take long.

Bob Cole already mentioned that Niemi has one shutout in his career against Pittsburgh prior to the game. Not a good start.

In order for the Habs to have as many goals as the Leafs after 5 games, we’d have to average 9 goals a game over the next two outings. The leafs have 25 after 5 games while we have 7 goals after 3 games. The Leafs have 20 goals against however to our 7. It seems at this early stage that completely different systems are being applied by both teams but come playoff time, I think Toronto’s defensive stats will come back to bite them. They’ll lose another 7 game series this year.

I don’t hear another voice saying it but on the other end of the spectrum, I personally have high opinion of Scherbak’s future. It’s not only that De La Rose is a boring player, but Scherbak will be quite the player. Time will tell.