xXx..CK..xXx

In addition to tanking, this turns out to be the reason they have Galchenyuk playing wing rather than center. The team mentality seems to be that centers should focus on defense and wingers not as much. As a result, wingers can focus on offense. I guess generally this is true for any team, but the reason they have Galchenyuk and have had Drouin on the wing at times is so that they can focus their attention on the other (offensive) side of the rink. This is not my opinion, just actually the reason they've at least come up with for playing Galchenyuk there. With that being said my lineup with the current squad (assuming healthy) would be Pacioretty - Drouin - Gallagher Hudon - Galchenyuk - Scherbak Byron - Danault - Lehkonen Carr - Shaw - Deslauriers or Pacioretty - Galchenyuk - Drouin Byron - Hudon - Gallagher Lehkonen - Danault - Scherbak Deslauriers - Carr - Shaw

I think the same thing about Washington almost every year. I think goaltending will turn out to be an issue for Tampa and believe the West is too tough to predict the favorites to actually win. They certainly are contenders though, you’re right. I’ll just sincerely be surprised if either Nashville or Tampa lift the cup this year and am saying it because it’s truly how I feel all the while understanding that they are contenders by definition.

I don’t believe in Nashville or Tampa, simple as that. No one mentions Washington and I don’t believe in them for similar reasons. Boston, I’ll never be unbiased and Vegas doesn’t have a shot unless Fleury plays the opposite of his usual playoff self. Finally, like he said Winnipeg has never won a playoff series and all of a sudden we’re supposed to consider that they are a contender for the cup. Is that how quickly fortunes change in the modern NHL? Oh, looks like we might have a chance next year then.

To be fair I wanted him (and was the only one) who wanted him before the year started last year. Once the year started, I wouldn’t have made the deal Ottawa made, that’s for sure. I also admit that at one point I proposed including Galchenyuk in a trade for him because I felt as though there were still issues surrounding his positioning in our lineup, whereas Duchene (may have been) a more clear cut center. At this point, I’m not sure I would have been overly thrilled with giving away Galchenyuk even though some issues actually still do come up regarding the center/wing debate and I also think Duchene would have done just fine. In the end, I assume it may have been impossible to acquire him last off season because the price may have been even more steep than the Turris deal. I just think Duchene has done quite well this year all things considered, and there were even still people bashing him mid season this year.

Well at least we have it public here when I will openly say that out of those teams I think Pittsburgh is the only team there that has a legitimate shot at winning the cup. I would even bet. With that being said, my point was the opposite. It’s other posts I see claiming that a team that loses in the second round never actually had a chance and weren’t truly a contender. The retrospect view. That leaves only 4 teams that had a chance in their view, and that’s only until the very next round leaves only two teams that were “actually” contenders. I believe the opposite, that most teams that make the playoffs have some sort of shot. It just won’t be Tampa, Boston or Nashville this year! Vegas definitely not and Winnipeg is my only maybe.

I don’t see anyone supporting him. What I do see is people clamoring about the past and worrying about things he has yet to do in an overly irrational way. We already know he won’t be fired and that’s not even the topic of discussion. The discussion was whether or not we can be better next year. If we do make moves and spend more of our cap space, we should have an improved squad. Price also needs to return to form. I have an odd feeling he’s going to be pretty good for the rest of this season if and when he returns. I don’t support Bergevin. I don’t think he’s one of the better gms. I do acknowledge that he is our general manager and do find it a realistic possibility that he can have a better off season than last season, thus improving our team. “It isn’t just one season” This year was much worse than most and if there isn’t more of an extreme change during this off season, I would be surprised even in Bergevin. I’m not saying I have any more patience left, but there has not been such a public uprising in the crappiness of our team other years as there has been this season. The levels of ineptitude in previous seasons are up for debate. Some people didn’t like the deadline two years ago, others thought there really was nothing available. It seems many expect a linear path to greatness. Just because this year was his worst, doesn’t mean next year couldn’t be his best. If people think there has been a linear downward trend during Bergevin’s tenure, again that is up for debate. We are going to make some major moves this off season and I will refer judgement until then. I would have liked Bergevin to be fired but it’s possible for him to make decent moves after the debacle of this season. We can’t undo all the things he’s done in the past but I think Reilly was a good pickup, for example. There is a difference between supporting Bergevin and blindly following him versus understanding the reality that he won’t get fired because Molson openly said so and rationalizing that at the very least the opportunity for positive change in player personnel is there. On the other hand, there is also a difference between criticizing Bergevin and hypothesizing that the only possible moves he will make in the future will be moves like Mete and a second for Mike Fisher.

First of all, hey everybody I’m a Duchene fan. Looks like he wasn’t so bad after all. As much as I agree that Galchenyuk can be a center and should have been, I also think it’s sometimes an illusion that him actually having played there would have made/make such a huge difference to everything. Just my two cents.

Anyone negative about the Habs will be against him, although if anything I’m a little bit negative about him as well. My point is that although we haven’t won the cup under his tenure, we’ve had some decent teams while he has been here. The negative people will always claim that this is only in spite of him... because of things that he only inherited, for example. The point is also true that judging by some people’s definition of contender on here, there’s only one contender every year. As a result, 30 teams “weren’t” contenders in any given year. The topic of discussion is whether or not we can compete next year and I believe we can. If some people want to say that’s despite of Bergevin, fine by me. Is the likeliest scenario that we are eliminated in the first round? Perhaps, but even with a very good team, most playoff rounds are a battle and some very good teams will lose in the first round this year as well as next year. It’s really hard to live life with the expectation that we should get to the finals. It’s funny that some people get criticized for having the mentality that the players themselves have. “Get into the playoffs and anything can happen.” And then based on individual perspective this concept is delusionally twisted to mean that one is simply “happy” to get into the playoffs.

It’s because you didn’t say anything beforehand! Not sure what to make of it but hopefully it’s not a sign of things to come.

It’s easy to say that our GM won’t build a cup contender for next year but in reality how many GMs would actually build a cup contender (on paper) in one single off season. It’s also easy to argue that we’ve never been a cup contender under Bergevin considering we’ve never won the cup. This is where my opinion will differ, considering there have been a few seasons where we’ve had a legitimate shot. The wildcard as to whether or not we can be a cup contender, whether it is “first tier”, “second tier”, or whatever “tier”, is Carey Price. If he cannot regain his level from before, then we will indeed have no chance. Ironically, that is something that is completely out of Bergevin’s hands. I disliked our off season last season, and for the first time in my life, I knew we could not compete with our roster this season, but Carey Price also played much worse than anticipated. The nay sayers will now find some sort of argument that the fact we can compete in any given year due to Price is “exactly how Bergevin wants us to feel” or that the Carey Price cushion is exactly the reason that we won’t be able to compete; because we don’t surround him with talent and expect him to hold down the fort. But it’s not our fault as fans that we have (potentially) the best goalie in the world and any team in the league with the best goalie, as long as he actually performs like it, should have a chance to compete. I will not be “happy” with a better team next season. I simply expect it because this season was terrible.

Who cares if he receives praise? I want the team to be better and think they will be but don’t care one way or the other what people will say about Bergevin. The team needs to get better and if they do, Bergevin will have just been doing his job. But again, who cares if people blindly praise him, as long as the team actually does better in the standings? I don’t believe it has a huge impact on whether or not he keeps his job when fans praise him, or conversely, when they dismember him.

Yessir Scherbak! I want this win after the physical stuff. I noticed earlier after the Alzner fight firstly that Shaw wasn’t the one who fought after Hudon was checked and secondly that his appreciation for Alzner stepping in was a soft tap of the ice with his stick and a blank stare into the distance. Years ago he would have been involved differently. There’s definitely something there.

Without the “lethal” shot. On Lehkonen: I’m somewhat silently hard on Lehkonen so I’ll stay out of this one. I was fully expecting this to happen this year but there is something to the sophomore slump theory so we shall see. The positives are that he definitely is young, has Finnish blood, had Koivu backing him, and Finns usually work hard on (and perhaps off) the ice.

Gosh lehkonen is lining up and I’m already starting to write this. Why not Galchenyuk?

We should have won already but we will lose

Galchenyuk’s a star ⭐️

If Julien is unable to adapt to the squad he actually has on paper, then he is a terrible coach. I haven’t analyzed it enough myself and I personally would imagine that he would be able to adapt, but there might be some truth to the perception that Julien can only coach a certain type of team when we consider that we acquired Ott, Martinsen and King last deadline.

Tavares Stastny Bozak J. Thornton Plekanec My prediction is that at least one of those centers ends up on our team next year. Take your pick of which

One thing led to another for me. #6

I’m not by any means a fan of Bergevin. I also disliked getting rid of Sergachev and considering how nice Mete looked this year, I think Sergachev would have looked nice on our back end contrary to the argument that he’s on Tampa Bay and being made to look good only by all world players. With that being said, I think it’s too simple to state that Bergevin would not be able to adapt to the modern view that NHL teams need puck movers on the back end. As fans, those statements are seen all over these boards and so do we really think that if Bergevin hasn’t already considered this himself, he wouldn’t have anyone around him telling him the same things being said here? His main mistake was letting Markov go, who many would argue was getting older in age anyway, and then following that up/preceding that by signing Karl Alzner and Mark Streit. That’s actually one of Bergevin’s biggest indictments. Many of his reclamation projects (Semin,Kassian,Streit) didn’t last more than a few weeks/months. Back on topic, the fact that he signed stay at home defenseman Karl Alzner over Markov isn’t the hugest issue in of itself simply because he’s not a puck mover. It’s the fact that Karl Alzner is just bad. There are other similar players who would have been more efficient on our team. Similarly, Mark Streit is a puck mover who was acquired, he was just the wrong choice because it only took a few weeks for the organization and fans to decide that he was simply over the hill. In short, we can agree to disagree but while not a fan in particular of Bergevin, I wouldn’t personally be overly concerned that he wouldn’t be able to acquire some puck movers on the back end in the future, as has already been seen with depth player Reilly.

Yes Edit since people are so serious: ()

Alzner almost hit the net while it was empty.

Sarcastic or not, Carr seems to have just as much character as anyone. Always committed and often scores when our team is already out of the game, which when spun in a positive way, means he never gives up. Froese and Shaw are both those “type” of player as well though.

It all started when I created the thread “The Habs Need a Better Backup”

Drouin is the second best tanker behind Price