xXx..CK..xXx

This thread completely derailed my thought. My initial opinion was that while others have felt in previous games that the Habs might put in a good showing, this might finally be the one. I know we beat Buffalo, but they've been getting creamed. Then, I saw that Schlemko was in the lineup and I was like and "it's not going to be because of him but I'm looking forward to seeing him in the lineup. ....Schlemko is actually out and Galchenyuk and Plekanec aren't feeling well.... De La Rose on the second. Maybe this won't be so good. I'm actually 50/50 on this. I always expect a good showing against the Leafs so there is that bias but often when we lose any players in lineup, the Habs struggle. Our forwards lack the depth in a way. We have Plekanec out and Galchenyuk and Hemsky are still on the 4th line. Julien has never been on my good side during this stint so far. I'm a patient person but he's testing it already. The only player I'd add to this list is Shea Weber. You can talk about how he isn't exciting but I find it exciting when he blasts it in on their power play. Just for you, my patented pre game prediction is that Shea Weber notches a power play goal tonight. I hope you enjoy it.

Haven't caught the game but it looks like Tampa is playing 7 defensemen and Sergachev has only 5 minutes of ice time almost half way through the 3rd.

You like it but it's throwing Galchenyuk right back at center. I am the biggest believer that Galchenyuk is a capable center but if you're the coach of Montreal and have been disappointed with his effort, and there's been this huge discussion about how he's not a center, you're not going to just throw him into the role in the worst of times. Perhaps as fans we are right, but it's not likely to happen. It took Bergevin 5 years to know Galchenyuk is not a center. Can it take us 4 games to see Galchenyuk is not a winger?

I always liked Ghetto more than most. The problem is that he's a left winger and we have a bunch of players on that side. Pacioretty is set in that role on any team and then we have Hudon, Byron and Lehkonen who can play left wing. If he was a natural right winger, I could see him being a capable top 6 winger for us. Again though, it's true that we have a lot of wingers as even a skill based player like Hemsky is on the 4th line at right wing. Ghetto is easily replaceable by Hudon but in my opinion Andrighetto was a better finisher. As for the asset management, I agree that that's where the move actually became a mistake. One can argue Colorado sucks, but Andrighetto is on their top line and Martinsen is no longer with us. This is only one year later.

I don't think our defence looked particularly great against the Caps either. Two things are true, however. 1) I haven't watched any of Sergachev in Tampa. I just caught one highlight of a pre season goal of his. 2) Last year I thought Beaulieu could grow into the role as well. So clearly I seem to put a lot of faith in young defenseman who have skill, can be physical and have offensive potential. I also may expect too much from Weber in terms of his impact on others. I'll try to catch some of Tampa's game against Pittsburgh tonight if I can remember.

It kind of was even though he doesn't have comparable skill or salary at this point. The problem is (and was when we signed him) that we still need some offensive production from the back end. I have Mete at this point in fantasy to demonstrate my unbiased opinion but I don't think he's that guy. 20-30 points would be great from him and that's likely asking a lot as well. There's also still potential this season does not work out for him, as much as I'd like it to. Streit probably would have been capable of getting somewhere in that range as well but that would have only been the case if given top 4 minutes and power play time and he would have probably cost us more than 20-30 goals on the defensive side of things I feel that were the case. Schlemko will also probably top out at about 20 points when injuries and everything else are taken into consideration. I expect Schlemko to be nice for us but he's not particularly an offensive machine. It's funny because I try to keep a realistic viewpoint all the while disliking being repetitively negative because I know how annoying it is as a fan to have other fans bash the team but at this point I have to believe that Sergechev would have been our best option and hope for having a more offensive back end. We can talk about how he didn't excel last year and Mete did this year but I can imagine that he would have excelled next to Weber if given the opportunity. Second of all, our left side had much more depth last year. Markov Beaulieu Emelin Sergachev Vs Alzner Schlemko Mete Sergachev Davidson Streit A team without Markov would be a much easier team for Sergachev's strengths to appear valuable. In my opinion, it was either Markov or Sergechev and it just would have depended on whether or not we were going for youth or veteran leadership. This year we don't have Markov and so Sergachev may have excelled just as Mete is as well. The on topic point is that while Streit should be kicked to the curb, we don't have any offense on the back end and that was something, if not the only thing, he was supposed to be capable of bringing to the table. Fans complain about offence but when the puck is being transitioned out of our zone, I'm not sure how we're supposed to score many goals when our defense tops out at 20 points (+Weber), especially 5 on 5. Based on statistics alone, our defense will have to not touch the puck quite often for us to have a chance. I say that tongue in cheek but......

I agree with others who have yet to speak that I won't miss Streit if that's the end of the road. I was his biggest defender but his foot speed is as low as it gets. The only area he could help would have been the power play. 0/14 right now but I hope it can get going soon. The power play or lackthereof has probably been our biggest hinderence so far. I feel as though we need it to be strong this year to win some more games.

As for all this talk about it being 4 games in, that's only an argument that comes from people who have an optimistic view in regards to fandom. Sure some people are judging things after only 4 games but others are reiterating things that were already "predicted" to happen prior to the season. I've been on the other side before as well. Actually, I've always been on the other side. I've even stated that we will need 20-40 games before we should even consider making moves. Patience is a virtue. With that being said, in this scenario I find those who are stating that it's only been 4 games as being blinded from the truth. It's clear as day that the squad has some deficiencies and it was clear as day after our off season didn't go to plan. Bergevin did not want both Radulov and Markov gone and yet that's exactly what happened. How anyone can expect that to not have an impact on the potential of the squad is beyond d me. I do agree that the team actually played well in our last game against Chicago. I really did like the effort we put forth and we had some decent scoring chances. To those expecting some magic differnence since it's only been 4 games, however, that difference will only come from either an acquisition or Julien's systems being adjusted, better interpreted, and becoming more instinctual to the players. Outside of that, the team as it is cannot compete for a cup. The team will get better throughout the regular season but once again those will be for the reasons stated. If we can acquire an effective missing piece to the puzzle, great. As for the team "that has only played 4 games", what you've seen is what you'll get.

I wouldn't say I'm dead wrong based on that chart nor was Commandant saying that the Habs will start winning. The only thing he said is that we can't continue to score 1 goal. It says nothing about the defensive side of things and how we're letting in an average of over 3 goals per game. We will undoubtedly increase our average goals per game, but it will have to be by a substantial amount. The graph you showed paints a 50/50 picture again. The better teams in the league win more often than not when they get outshot as well. Furthermore, 4 teams out of the top 10 in terms of shots per game last season did not make the playoffs. I'm not saying it's a smart strategy to get outshot by your opponent, nor am I saying that outshooting the opponent doesn't lead to wins a hefty amount of the time but it's far from black and white. Here is another article I've found discussing this but there are a few others, including more recent ones. http://edmontonjournal.com/sports/hockey/nhl/cult-of-hockey/paradigm-shift-the-evolving-relationship-between-outshooting-and-winning "Buried on the team stats pages of NHL.com is a nifty function that shows the W-L-T-O record of NHL teams when outshooting their opposition and when being outshot. It dates back to 1997, and I have actively followed it for the last several years as a possible trend-setter. It’s especially interesting given how shots (and attempted shots) for and against have become a staple of advanced statistics on the individual side. What good is outshooting the other guys if it doesn’t help you win games? The short answer is that it used to help win games. Not a whole huge amount, and not for all teams – the Edmonton Oilers were a notable exception that had a better record when being outshot, year after year – but on a league-wide basis it was, and is, measurable. The correlation used to be a weakly positive one, but no longer. From 1997-2009, teams that outshot their opponents won between 52% and 56% of decided games, every single year. In 2009-10 that changed to where the outshot team took a slight majority of the points, and in 2010-11 that became a full-blown trend. Duscounting the 45 games in which shots were dead even, in the other 1185 matches, the team that was outshot won 627 of them, the outshooting team just 558. Some “advantage”."

It's actually a lot closer to 50/50 if not more common for the team who gets outshot to win games. Teams that are losing during the game tend to need to score goals and therefore start shooting more while the leading team focuses more on protecting the lead. http://www.nhl.com/stats/team?aggregate=0&gameType=2&report=teamsummary&reportType=season&seasonFrom=20172018&seasonTo=20172018&filter=gamesPlayed,gte,1&sort=points,wins See the standings & the Shot For/Shots Against columns 6 out of the top 10 teams get outshot which is no different than the bottom 10 seeds. When you look at the 10 teams who are undefeated, 7 of them average more shots against. Of course, in times when our goalie will need to stand on their head for us, fans will complain as well.

The post is factual but presents neither a positive or negative meaning. It's unsustainable to score 1 goal per game with that many shots but it means nothing in regards to how that may translate to the win and loss column. I think you have to wait somewhere between 20 and 40 games before you make any major changes. The main hope we have is that Julien can coach this team in a positive manner. I'm not personally pleased with his work to date, and ironically I was closer to a Therrien defender than hater, but I'm willing to give him the benefit of doubt of time. He made comments in the preseason about how the players were going to be thinking too much with new systems and that the idea would be that with time they would start thinking less and playing better. I'm a coach as well of another sport as I mention from time to time and I have adjusted my style over time because I completely agree that having a player think too much during a game or match situation can be detrimental. The very fact that he even alluded to it, however, makes me believe that he has indeed overloaded some of the players with information. It actually could be a slight mistake, but with time, one would have to think that things may develop in a positive manner. If not, he's one of the first I would point my finger at as well. Even with Drouin, Chris mentioned that he's a top line winger and not a top line center and Stogey counter argued that he may be a second liner. I'd agree that he's a first line winger because he is that talented but you can tell that he's trying to play extremely well defensively and pay attention to detail and the main time he frees up offensively is on the power play. I think Drouin can be a decent center, despite the face off woes that I complained about, but the problem is that it's going to take away from his offense. Free him up on the wing, and the offensive potential of a first liner will come out (though he has never reached 60 points).

I've posted before that I believe Galchenyuk should have been given a longer leash in the past due to his offensive potential. With that being said, I think it's only in the past 20-40 games or so that he's been mishandled. It's a little bit overblown with him because through all these distractions, he continues to produce. Two years ago he scored 30 goals, and last year he was on pace for 60 points had he not got injured. My opinion is that while coaches have thrown him all over the place and fans have complained about him and his usage, he has usually continued to produce despite all that. As a result, If the question is why does he have 0 points through 3 games, I would place the blame on him more than anyone. It's entirely speculation because who knows what causes what? It could be that Galchenyuk is not playing up to his potential but that could be for a variety of reasons. He could be squeezing his stick, he could be pissed at Bergevin, Julien, or both.... He could be injured... etc. etc. Maybe he doesn't appreciate being told he can't play center and is throwing an internal fit. That would come down to him regardless but the initial mental detriment would have been cause by the organization. On the other hand, Duchene is going through something similar in Colorado, is playing with Yakupov and Kerfoot, and has 3 points in 3 games. My thought is that while anything we're discussing comes down to Galchenyuk himself, he's also not playing particularly well right now. He has also been given opportunity on the power play and has not done much with it. For me, the mishandling would have to do with him not being trusted as a center, especially when he was placed as a 4th line winger instead. I've actually thought he's played some of his best games at that position. At the same time, I don't think there's ever been a situation where he's been pulled out of the role all the while having the fan base lose their minds due to the fact that he had been playing amazing. It's usually happened while he's struggling to an extent. Long story short, I think most of the complaints should rest on Galchenyuk's shoulders, although he has been misused, especially recently by Julien. I also think that these "issues" are overblown and fully expect him to be capable of getting 55-65 points in a season. If that doesn't happen, maybe it is in part due to the way he's been used.

I actually forgot about our win in game 1 for a brief moment as well after last game. I dont have as comfortable of a feeling about this game as some others. I do think Price will play well but I feel as though we often have trouble against the Blackhawks so it's not the best matchup to snap out of things. It is a cool matchup for a home opener though. Here's to hoping for a 4-3 game.

I don't necessarily think they are the worst and I didn't even want to make a post since there's some negativity going on and it would only seem like I was adding to it. I just personally have viewed the Habs as cup contenders in the past when others haven't (even last season). In August and September, it became hard for me to see how we could win one this year with the way things transpired. We lost Radulov and Markov and they are two very good players. We also lost a few other NHL caliber players. We replaced Danault with Drouin We replaced Radulov with Gallagher We replaced Markov with Mete Sure this isn't exactly true but it's where they are in the lineup and while that 3 for 3 swap may be a decent trade overall, it's not a great trade in a 1 season sample size. We're not a terrible team but for me it's been hard to see how we can be a contender when we have voids and cap space. I mean, one player doesn't make or break a team but does t it seem normal to assume that a team would have a better chance with a 5-6 million dollar player who is deserving of the space? For the record, I do consider Markov and Radulov deserving of those salaries. Plekanec is still more valuable to this team than given credit for but him, not so much.

I agree with some of this. The problem to me is when people stay on the same side of the argument regardless of the situation. My whole life, I've gone into every season expecting that the Canadiens would have a shot at the Stanley Cup. One could argue that this has been a naive view since we've only done it once and I don't even remember it. With that being said, this was the first off season I've gone in with the view that we legitimately don't have cup potential in October. Sure a few years ago we we were the worst team in the league and we've had other years where injuries hurt us but this sentiment was different. Markov has been a Hab as long as I can remember and the team decided not to sign him when we have all this cap space available. I don't even want to get into how silly the excuse sounds coming from our GM, stating that players have market value and that Markov's wasn't as high as he felt. Markov had no set market value because the only team he was willing to sign for was us. There are basically no other players in the league like him. Relatively skilled for their age but would rather retire than play for 30 NHL teams. Also, who cares about market value when you are the Montreal Canadiens, can spend money, have a clear void in the lineup, and have the cap space to use anyway. Even if you pay Markov like a top 2 player and he doesn't play too 2 minutes, one can still imagine how we'd be better with Mete, Markov and Alzner on the left side. It doesn't take much to make our team that much better, and he was right there. Some say things are fine at this point and direct attention to shot totals and things we've done well. I've been on that side before because there's nothing more I don't like than having Habs fans bash their own team. Other NHL teams love when teams get bashed by their own fan base and they become a laughing stalk. The way we've played so far was predictable however, based on the players we have dressed and the cap space we still have available. The other side of the fence is that it is indeed too extreme to throw in the towel on the season. It is still too early to know what the rest of the season brings. Like any season, there will be moves and quite frankly as much as the negatives like to point out that there are no options out there for us to acquire anyone because of reasons 1, 2 and 3, I still to believe we can improve our team this season. Even trading Galchenyuk could be a good move it it brings us back a more effective player. "Oh but we didn't develop him right, but he didn't get his chances, but he's a superstar..." Regardless of all that, there are moves that can be made and I tie my personal hope to the season on that. Not for one minute did I ever assume that this Habs team wouldn't get better as the season went on. I still expect that to be the case. I don't agree that we had to go into the season with that being the case by such an obvious measure, but I still expect the team to improve as the season goes on, and that could be a good thing.

Game Center is blacked out for me and for some reason NHL network has a black screen even though I can hear the announcer's voices. Been awhile since I've missed a game but I'm currently trying to fix my cable if it's an issue that can be fixed/find a feed online.

I'm a bit of a mixed bag on the issue because Galchenyuk being placed on the fourth line in the playoffs last season was my first strike with Claude Julien. On the other hand, Galchenyuk has not deserved anything more than he's received so far this season. I still believe that he'll score some goals for us but he has yet to play well and that's on him more than the coaching staff so far this season.

Gallagher has been fine on the first line. You guys can argue all you want about Galchenyuk playing on the first line but whether we agree or not, the Habs have already stated that they want a hard nosed puck retriever on the top line with Pacioretty and Drouin. Gallagher fits that bill and Galchenyuk does not.

Galchenyuk has had plenty of time on the power play and done nothing with it. Over 4 minutes with Drouin and Pacioretty today.

I don't think Danault has chemistry with anyone. Truly how I feel. I thought he had an alright game today all things considered though.

5-5 Leafs and Rangers.

So I predicted Mete or Streit would get a point tonight. Mete has one goal so far, but into our own net.

We need a fight

Nice power play... Should have finished.

My prediction for the game which I've done well with so far in this early season is that at least one of Streit or Mete will register a point today. Once I get one wrong, I'll take a break