The Chicoutimi Cucumber

I never thought much of Primeau. This kid seems like a bona-fide quality prospect in net. That is a long way from clarifying the Habs’ future at that position, but it does afford some hope.

I don’t want him to leave either. Like most folks, I think the new management hydra has done a good job, and it would be an error to assume it’s all Hughes’s doing.

One of MB’s basic flaws as a manager was to run his show as a private mafia where what mattered above all was loyalty to him. Thus, he kept that blithering jackanapse Lefebvre in place for five years (!!) despite his proven incompetence - God knows what damage ensued to our player development- and hired that dimwit Therrien and then held on to him long past his best-by date. He also allowed personal animus to contaminate player decisions (Subban) and erred in the other direction as well, seemingly being only too happy to embrace crushing contracts for ‘his’ players in Price, Weber, and Gally. Crapping all over the heads of Habs alumni - the greatest alumni in the game - is consistent with this power-maximizing mafioso attitude to leadership. It had to be His Show and damn the consequences. No other voices, no other variables allowed.

It is unlikely that MSL would have publicly humiliated him for a single case of being late to a meeting. This is probably more a case of straw breaking the camel’s back. In a team full of kids, Drouin could at the very least have worked to model commitment and professionalism. But as a certifiably useless bum he can’t even deliver that much. No team is going to want him now. Soft, undependable, often injured, one dimensional, and unprofessional. You may as well go sign Andrei Kostitstyn.

The intermission team suggested that MSL would likely not have done so for a one-time thing. Drouin is a worthless bum and his NHL career is surely over once this contract expires. Good riddance. Watching last night, what struck me most was that Suze, Mattheson, and Anderson are excellent players shift after shift. And that Monty is a good goalie. 🤷‍♂️ Also - I enjoyed seeing the great Phil Esposito at the start.

Historically, a lot of it has been wishful thinking (Galy) and/or a need for a PR sugar high. (Remember all the breathless talk around Mete?) It’s fine to say that “it’s player dependent,” but that leaves the window open for teams to kid themselves, like we did with Galchenyuk. “Well, this guy is special.” No he wasn’t. Even the great Carey Price was almost destroyed by being thrown into the deep end and left to sink or swim. So my view has been consistent: we should err on the side of letting guys marinade in the A. On the other hand, Hughes has a massive belief in MSL and the developmental merits of the NHL staff. I think that’s a factor with this particular management group. https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/qa-canadiens-gm-kent-hughes-on-evolving-plans-injuries-and-the-patience-of-fans/ Time will tell - I like the coaches - but the early returns are not incredibly promising. Players who surpassed expectations, like Wifi and Guhle, have been injured; and there may be a valid correlation between youthful inexperience and the tendency to get hurt. Meanwhile, Slaf did nothing notable despite being handed an unearned slot - shades of KK - and now he too is hurt. Before he went down for good we repeatedly saw him putting himself in vulnerable positions. Taking an 18 year old who has never played on North American ice and throwing him into the NHL suggests that this group isn’t much different from the Houle/Gainey/Bergevin era. They may have a different rationale (“MSL is magic!”) but the pattern is the same. I don’t like it. But hopefully Hugo is right and I am wrong.

Excellent point. Maybe guys like Price and Weber would have had (even longer) careers if they hadn’t routinely being playing through injuries because the team desperately needed them. As you say, we have no way of knowing whether the team is being extra precautionary, or whether something else is afoot (either crazy bad lucky, or problems in managing injured guys). Obviously the foot bone connected to the leg bone. I sure hope the medical staff didn’t say “well, his foot will be fine” while overlooking the dangers to other parts of the body caused by compensating for an injury elsewhere. Presumably they are pros who would not omit that info. Whether the team was too deferential to the player is another question, though, and a fair one.

I honestly think that have to at least explore whether there is something amiss in their medical staff or the team approach to injured players. This is bananas.

🤣

It’s a good point. Keeping DD might cost us Bedard anyway. So you may as well go with the other option. Conversely, you could cross your fingers and hope that DD learns from his mistakes and evolves into a serviceable coach. Fortunately, this is not a decision we’d need to make in real life, LOL.

Calling the instigator penalty would put an end to “automatic retaliations” for clean hits. Agree. Typical NHL refs, picking and choosing which rules to enforce for arbitrary reasons 🙄 It would also leave open the “protect your stars” option I’m talking about. Someone has Suzuki in a vulnerable position and crushes him to pulp, Wifi can still send a message - “f*k with Nick, you f**k with me” - and take the penalty as an acceptable cost of deterrence. I’m down with that. So yeah, call the instigator FFS.

That’s a fair distinction. Dangling mid ice, head down, of course you’re gonna get hit. And yes, players have a responsibility to be aware out there. I do think, though, that a team needs to make sure opponents aren’t just taking runs (clean or otherwise) at non-physical stars. In this context, I always recall Gino Odjick demolishing Koivu with a clean hit behind the net and Shane Corson, God bless him, immediately swooping in and taking Odjick on. I probably sound like a dinosaur - in fact, I don’t even like fighting any more - but I think it’s in everyone’s interest for teams to know that if they bulldoze a Nick Suzuki, there will be consequences.

I agree that you shouldn't have to fight after a clean hit, with one exception: if you clobber a non-physical star player. E.g., someone lays out Suzuki, I expect that guy to get his ass handed to him.

Assuming a 5th overall pick in this year’s supposedly historically good draft, how reasonable is it to hope for a “franchise” player?

I agree. It makes a hell of a lot more sense to talk in terms of "franchise players" than "generational players." Generational players are historic players. Next level up from "superstars." Orr. Gretzky. Lemieux. Crosby. McDavid. Maybe Lidstrom. Maybe Roy/Hasek/Brodeur. Even guys like Sakic and Yzerman, I don't see as "generational." They were franchise players for sure, though. Lafleur is probably closer to "franchise" than generational. Price was a franchise player. A team that finishes in the bottom of the standings, especially over 2-3 years, should be able to draft itself a franchise player. Bagging a generational player is another matter, you need a happy confluence of timing to do it.