xXx..CK..xXx

I think that's a great point and I do understand the hockey IQ part of it. It's not only their general intelligence being discussed. I did however say intellectually inferior in *any* way. That being said, there have been times where people have criticized players such as AK46 as being slow both on and off the ice, just as an example. In any case, it still implies a lack of knowledge of the game and also an inability to ever be able to improve in the area. Judging by what I've actually heard from Beaulieu himself, he seems to understand the game and how to be a team member; in fact sticking up for his teammates is demonstrating exactly that. That it hasn't come fully to fruition yet, doesn't mean it cannot and won't. I believe the dots will connect for him.

For me, there's no doubt in my mind that Beaulieu will develop into at the very worst, a top 4 defenseman in the league. I've probably stated that more times than I realize. I expected him to pair well this season with Weber and while that didn't happen, I actually think it's obvious that he has top 4 caliber potential written all over him. He made the team quicker than other defensemen of the same age who will still find a home as 3rd pairing defensemen in the league. Even most who are against him state that he has the skill but nothing between the ears. First of all, if you've ever heard him during an interview, he generally tends to say all the right things. He doesn't actually strike me as someone who is missing anything upstairs. I think it's unfair to label people like Eller, Beaulieu, Emelin, etc. who don make boneheaded plays from time to time as intellectually inferior in any way. Secondly and tied in with that, those who don't believe he will grow into his potential argue that he will be the same at 30 mentally as he is now. If that's not anything other than a simple hypothetical hypothesis, then I don't know what is. I can just as easily say that he will mature in those areas and may even find himself as a top 2. My current expectation of Beaukieu and where he might fit on even a contending team? A top second pairing defenseman, or #3.

I think it's difficult to fire the coach during or immediately after a season where Price was nonexistent. Bergevin's response was acquiring Ben Scrivens as a backup. I do not have a detailed analysis outlined either, but it's entirely possible and even natural that Bergevin felt just as responsible as Therrien for the outcome of the season. I just keep seeing this statement that Therrien should have been fired at that precise moment and while he did have his haters who wanted him gone for awhile, I think it's easy to say in hindsight that he should have been the scapegoat for the season, especially rather than someone else. Not to mention even the best coach would feel the impact of Price being lost. As for the difference between Therrien and Julien so far, I did not expect much of a change. It's a very short sample size but from what I've gathered, Julien seems to be a much more positive and encouraging catch versus Therrien's rather authoritarian style. I think it's had a mental effect on some and clearly player's like Shaw and Price have excelled. On the other hand, come to think of it, Emelin's confidence seemed to get shaken up a bit by his press box time but Julien still had positive remarks to make about him and mentioned that Emelin generally is a permanent fixture on the back end.

Patrick Traverse Brett Clarke Brad Brown Scott Lachance Christian Laflamme Paul Mara Janne Niniima Ryan O'byrne Peter Popovich Barry Richter Stephane Robidas Jarred Tinordi Mike Weaver Igor Ulanov David Wilkie Murray Baron Victor Bartley Jassen Cullimore A few defenseman currently in the press box and in the minors.

If I were owner of the Habs, The Montreal Canadiens would be my priority. I would make sure I was really wealthy, fun to be around and accessible to all my players and staff. I'd do everything in my power to develop a culture of winning as well as provide a family-like culture within the team outside of the rink. The hope would be to attract players from all over the league and other leagues through positive word of mouth. I would provide team vacations and get togethers for the players as well as family members of the team. Much more than the annual golf tournament and anything else that already takes place. I would offer a 1 or 2 week all paid family vacation to a warm destination during the off season for any team members who didn't already have other plans and wished to join and go together with their families as a team. Any family related events such as "Father's weekend" where father's attend a back to back over the weekend would continue and be improved upon should they already exist. The language issue during the coaching hiring process would be addressed. There are good french coaches but if the best coach available were to be unilingually English, there are only 29 teams who would be able to hire him. If the best coach were french speaking, 30 teams have a shot at him. This disparity would have to be addressed although I understand that there would be hardships and repercussions to face. Some of the more likely outcomes would be to either have a permanent translator for all interviews and post game conferences or to have a bilingual assistant coach who will translate what the coach has to say himself. The Montreal Canadiens are a historic team with a lot of tradition so keeping the status quo would be best when it comes to a lot of things. As an owner, I'd always like to attract more fans but on the other side of the coin, it's not like the Canadiens are lacking in that area. I'd continue to add to the apparel line and have more created for any Montreal Canadiens' fan store. I'd even contemplate creating a Montreal Canadiens' clothing line if it doesn't already exist. My own selfish desire would probably be to create a new "3rd jersey" that would be very, very similar. I would just personally consider it a little trademark from my time as owner of the Habs. Improvements would continue to be made to overall fan experience. At home games, 3rd star would sign a puck, 2nd star would sign a stick and 1st star would sign a jersey to be given away to three lucky attendees (or less) in the audience based on a number on their ticket. I'd have a look around the rink to see if there were any more kid friendly games that could be added to the venue for pregame and intermission fun but the little peewee games on the ice during intermission would continue as well. Finally, I'd have an end of year awards ceremony for the team where players would be acknowledged for milestones and perhaps even a player bonus here and there would be handed out. Definitely something for the rookies who played a certain amount of games as well as to the most valuable player in each position. I'd be the owner, but I'd want the best for my players and for them to remain hungry and these types of things might add to the incentive of playing one's best on a regular basis, especially for the younger players.

Enjoy. Looks like he will be. Oh, and I have Price as well in the only fantasy league that matters, and I'm currently fighting for 9th spot.

On Saturday, it certainly is! Although, I'm really good at jinxing...

It's hard to imagine a no show against the Sens at home. I'm not sure about the result but I'm predicting a decent effort from the boys. This is the type of game where our depth acquisitions are important but I'm predicting at least 2 of Pacioretty, Gallagher, Radulov and Galchenyuk to light the lamp tonight ??

I still have to believe that Beaulieu will eventually become a top 4 defenseman in his career. He has a higher skill set when compared to a lot of prospects we've had who will make it as bottom pairing players out there (Tinordi, Pateryn etc.) The argument may be more about what he has between the ears but as stated he's only 24 and it would only be an assumption to conclude he couldn't progress mentally. In my opinion he'll be a top 4 at worst but whether or not it's while he's with the Habs is another question.

Pacioretty has honestly had about 5 breakaways in the past 10 games. We can complain that it's not 10 but it's still plenty of breakaways and to say that there's no other defender who could set Pacioretty free is laughable and even an insult to our players. Markov is arguably better at that type of outlet pass with vision than most players in the league. As for those who won't "get into it" anymore, Subban is the one who is constantly brought up. I haven't seen any posts here claiming how much better Weber is than Subban coming from out of the blue. Karlsson can also be compared to Subban all day long but they are two different players. Karlsson is not as much of an East-West mover, he's more of a North-South rusher. He's also even more dangerous offensively (Karlsson 0.82 points per game vs Subban 0.64 points per game) and I admit I wouldn't have said that while Subban was still on the team. It's a comparison made between two offensively gifted defensemen who happened to play in the same division.

Not on their side but half of them don't play every game. Wait, I guess that furthers the point.

For better or for worse I think the team plays a more structured game with less individual play; kind of like a soccer team. The trade had hockey reasons to them as well and whether or not they've benefited us and will continue to benefit us is the only debate. I hated the trade the very moment I heard it but to say the team isn't different as a result of the trade isn't being honest. Furthermore, to say that the trade has weakened us in areas while not improving us in any other area is simply not an accurate assessment considering Subban and Weber are completely different types of players. You've stated before that Weber is a good player so Subban would have to be superior in every aspect of Weber's strengths for the move to have not made any positive impact. Weber has 16 goals and that has had a positive impact because he is a better goal scorer than Subban. There are other areas as well but it's all really besides the point. I for one enjoyed Subban's play for most of his career. I'm also all for entertainment. I couldn't keep my head up for much of the Carolina game tonight as it was a snoozefest. With that being said, defense is one area of the team where I don't need excitement to fully enjoy a game. I'm fine with having a steady, stay at home defensemen who is a "presence"(you know why? Because he's actually present in his position) than be excited in the manner they help create offense. It's an element I can see why people miss, but it's not the most important element of a defensive core and so I've grown to adjust and don't mind the difference. Our offense on the other hand, could use some help.

If that's his worst trade, he's done a pretty good job when you think about it. The Subban trade is the most controversial since (probably) Cammalleri for Bourque and that trade was done right at the end of Gauthier's temporary reign. I still think the former was a much worse trade but it's still too early to fully judge the more recent one.

Yeah, Emelin's been off lately but people are being too hard on him. If he's the weakest link out of my 6, I'm not complaining. Ottawa is the type of team he needs to play against if he really isn't as useless as the haters are portraying him. Glad Price is playing today. I didn't contribute to the other thread in time but I would have wanted Price to play today. I'm fine with Montoya but I personally would have had one of those "guaranteed loss" feelings if Price wasn't in net today. I think we'll pull out the win.

I agree there's no answer on this team because the best (for him) would be Weber and I've already said my part on how that shouldn't be the first pairing. Limited minutes with Benn might not be terrible though. Benn actually seems to be able to keep the puck on his stick for a little bit of possession. Markov-Weber Beaulieu-Petry Emelin-Benn Davidson That's my lineup come playoffs assuming healthy. As for King, huzer, we got the King's second worst to worst player from their cup runs. He can be effective in the offensive zone out of a cycle and score goals around the net but other than that he's pretty much there to lay the body out and forecheck strong. Hopefully he'll be a direct contributor to one or two victories In the playoffs this season. I'm skeptical as well but can also see his size helping us out in a close, grind it out type of game.

People keep acting like they forget that Emelin was just a healthy scratch less than five games ago. If veteran related bias is the reason that Emelin played yesterday while Beaulieu sat, then what is the reason that Beaulieu played the other day when Emelin was scratched? Julien said he wanted to keep a rotation going with some of the healthy bottom pairing guys so this was just a natural progression of that. The timing of Emelin's performance is a little odd because it really does seem like he lost confidence after being scratched. That doesn't make a lot of sense to me though because knowing Julien, he would have most likely said that his benching was rest related and not performance related. A lot of people have been hard on him for some time but clearly yesterday was worse than ever. I still want Emelin in our lineup come playoff time and I'm actually confident he'll pick his game up. He needs to be with the right partner though and I'm not sure Petry is the answer.

Sorry for bumping back to this but if you've seen my posts on here over the years, I'm the type to defend any of our players and always have a positive outlook on things. The difference is that at a certain point in can also be considered blind fandom to act positive during situations where we legitimately should have concerns. I'm often on your side of the fence, as well as his, but he was the first one to criticize those who were being fairly negative in this instance and this didn't seem like the right time for it, that's all. In addition, I was responding to the part of his text where he said "You can call me an optimist" so I wasn't trying to label him myself. Perhaps my tone was off.

Definitely a good call. That's why I created this thread as I thought it would be interesting to hear some other perspectives. My list is a little shaky. I'm not really sure how exciting a player Matthews is. He can get the stats but he seems to be mostly business when it comes to his style of play and celebration after goals. Gaudreau, McDavid and Karlsson can be fun to watch. Radulov is definitely up there.

He would have made the list but you could have been more creative. The Leafs have young top end talent, that's for sure.

Last night while watching the Habs/Flames game, I noticed that Johnny Gaudreau is a really unique player and fun to watch. A player that not many NHL teams have in their lineup. It led me to wonder about other Canadian teams and think about which players they have who fit a similar mould of entertainment value. With that being said, feel free to chime in with your own personal opinion about who you think are the five most exciting players to watch in Canadian markets. To those of you who want to discuss players not currently in Canadian markets, feel free to turn to another thread. I could look up stats and include players like Scheifelle and Wheeler but I'm rather going to go off the top of my head as it is a personal opinion. It doesn't have to be in any particular order and you can pick multiple players from the same team. 1) Connor McDavid (Edmonton Oilers) - Leads the league in scoring and does it in an entertaining way. Arguably the quickest player in the league as well so he scores his points in an exciting type of way. 2) Johnny Gaudreau (Calgary Flames) - The reason I thought of making this list. He's really shifty on his skates and uses those edges to perfection. The type of player you'd pay to go watch, which is what I'd expect from any player on this list. 3) Erik Karlsson (Ottawa Senators) - I don't much like Ottawa and haven't been following them much this season but his stride is efficient and he always seems to be at the top of point getting among defenseman as long as he's healthy. There's no arguing his skill level as well which is what this list is all about. 4) Austin Matthews (Toronto Maple Leafs) - The leafs actually have another player in Nylander who could have made the list, and we'll see if he makes it at number 5 but any player who scores 4 goals in their first game in the league deserves some attention. Patrick Laine is no slouch either; this list isn't big enought. 5) Carey Price (Montreal Canadiens) - While Carey is certainly not the most exciting player to watch outside of when he's dropping the gloves, I feel confident placing him here under one of the most entertaining players to watch. Attending a game in a foreign market just isn't the same without Carey in net and there aren't many players out there who hold the same importance on their respective teams. I'm also biased here as a Habs fan. Honourable mentions to Patrick Laine with his 3 hat tricks in a rookie season, Max Pacioretty and his release as well as the Sedin twins who as a pair have been able to do some amazing things together on the ice over the past 15 years.

Possibly the least productive post I've been hit with on here in awhile. I'm an optimistic fan but Calgary was on a high of their own from their streak so there's no reason to use that as a reason for our performance. Doesn't mean the sky is falling.

You certainly are an optimist because you're creating a narrative of your own. There's no reason to take Calgary lightly as they are a playoff team. Not to mention a playoff team that had won 7 in a row themselves. I'm an optimist as well but there's no doubt that was one of the worst performances as a team this season. On the other hand, the team certainly does get shutout all too often and while I still think we have a team that can do damage, it is the worrying symptom.

So two of our better win of the season, 10-1 versus Colorado and 5-1 vs Calgary fail to get backed up on the road. Not only that, we lose those games 4-0 and 5-0 respectively. Hard to put a positive spin on that one.

I knew that added part would come back to bite me. I had to rush off before I could switch that in all honesty but I meant Benn's goal against New York. I have no opinion on Galchenyuk as a centerman. I think on the current habs roster, he fits as a centerman because of our intrusive need for a skilled one but on a lot of teams he could be a great winger as well. I dont expect Galchenyuk to become amazing at something that is not innate to him. I do think that a player of the same caliber has an advantage to their team if they are good at faceoffs however. If only because of the coach who will be forced to put out a lesser player on to the ice for being good at faceoffs. As a result, the team will have a lesser chance to produce offensively itself. I wasn't even discussing Galchenyuk but while I never expect him to be elite, he should certainly get better at faceoffs.

Faceoffs are not the same as puck battles along the boards. Rarely, are there any puck battles that legitimately begin 50/50. You can have a really good puck battler win 20% of their puck battles in a season due to them being on the tougher side of the battle in general. Whether it was because they always seemed to join in on the battle while the other player already had the puck between their skate and the board or even for the opposite reason. The uncertainty cannot be controlled. I'd be interested to see if Yannick Perreault ever hit 20%. When you take a face off, players are at a stand still. They need to react and get into position as quickly as they can once the puck is dropped. If even one player doesn't do their job immediately, the whole system breaks down. In your situation, the engine is already running, whereas on a face off, you need to get the engine going. Especially in the defensive zone, coaches will work on wingers rushing out to the point in order to cover the defense because if they don't, the opposing team can get a golden opportunity. This is in addition to about a million other things based solely around faceoffs. If you ask me, coaches probably work on faceoffs versus puck battles at about a 4 to 1 ratio at the very least. Now you said face offs are just as important as any puck battle on the ice and if you don't want me to twist your words, I'll ask you what's your point? You said "important" and not "different" so I guess there's no argument there. Of course your team should want to gain possession of the puck at any chance. Faceoffs are different though because it's a relatively controlled environment, so it's an area that better coached teams will excel at as well as teams with the right personnel up the middle. We scored on a set play off a faceoff against Vancouver.