GHT120

But in the 2, more likely 3-4, seasons that it will take for them to develop into legit top 4 defencemen ... the Habs cannot count on the Weber/Price/Petry core still being core-ish.

Half right ain't half bad

AND now the date Cole Caufield's first pro appearance ... one would hope this is good karma

Then I like the guess ...

Agreed, on both ... hopefully MB et al can separate the the player from the team ... Stall was having a tough season too (20+ games sans goal before the trade) ...

He doesn't have a NMC

They still need to find out what Demchenko can do ... playing Lindgren just seems unproductive as I can't see him in the organization next season

I agree ... but it is a polarizing question, no middle ground ... doubt debate will change anyone's mind

Great that RDS is broadcasting ... I like Weal, a cagey veteran, with Caufield and Lavalagher is a high-energy player who does the dirty-work ... frankly don't understand starting Lindgren, unless there is the possibility of a deal to a team looking for a 3rd-string/taxi-squad goalie

IMO, Mete may be similar (as good or poor) to Reilly or Gostisbehere defensively but lacks the offensive skills/instincts that gets them their icetime

So we all hope, but less and less certain it is true ... while JD has TALENT, but Ribeiro always had an edge to his game that Drouin hasn't shown

That was always the risk ...

Murray is an interesting option ... he has missed a lot of games throughout his career ... when healthy he has been productive ... can he handle playing 5-on-5 minutes with Weber ... on the plus size, he has played a lot of PK throughout his career, so they could potentially stay together there ... Edmondson on the 3rd pairing with Romanov (or Chiarot potentially) would certainly be an upgrade

Allen didn't look great on THAT one ... didn't seem to try to cut down the angles ... of course Petry was beaten like a drum too

"Needed to" isn't the same as "could have" with a bigger player leaning on his stick going for the tip

Nice that the Quebec Government gave Habs permission to have one front-line worker family attend each game in one of the suites

Agreed ... just not certain how many there are available that cold push Edmondson down to pairing with Romanov

Mete did as much as he could and Lewis still stole his lunch money and eat the snack Victor's mom packed

Before last night Allen played last Thursday and before that march 19th ... I doubt he is overworked ... if Price is out for any length of time then, all else being equal, I would look at Primeau for the first or second game against Calgary next week. Who should be subbing? IMO, the Habs have nobody who could allow a top 4 defenceman to rest without creating a serious issue ... and with Gallagher out they are also thin in terms of subbing out any top 9 forward .. except perhaps Drouin who on too many nights could be replaced by Weal with little difference, except Weal would likely work harder.

Wish I could agree with the "would".

All good points ...and don't disagree with you ... but the Leafs, for example, go into games with the expectation that they should dominate not could ...

I know ... but while all you said, or didn't say, or meant is all true the fault remains ... very difficult to successfully "go for it" with a 2nd and 3rd year centre unless they are Crosby or McDavid ...

The fault of Bergevin is deciding the re-tool is "done" and ready to go "all-in" (Anderson, Toffoli and Perry) when the forward corps is built on two young centres who are still a year or two from being able to perform at the level commensurate with expectations ... MB and Habs are expecting more out of KK and Suzuki then they are currently able to give consistently

Zajac may not have been a need but he would not have been a useless addition either ... solid 3rd/4th line veteran ... include Armia in the deal and the cap-hit is more than covered with Gallagher's LTIR ... OR ... if Fitzgerald is willing to make the NYI deal, MB might even have been able to move Byron to NJD for a reasonable cost I would prefer the puckmoving LHD but don't want MB ignoring chances in the vague hope of chasing an even rarer asset

deadly talented ... but until their last game they had gone 10(?) without a PP goal ... of course that only dropped them all the way to 23.9% and 9th in PP%