The Chicoutimi Cucumber

Beyond the satisfaction of finally seeing an end to the running sore that is the story of this pathetic zombie franchise, I like the idea of a team in Salt Lake City. For some reason, that sounds to me like one of those expansion teams from the 1970s. The Cleveland Barons, the Kansas City Scouts, the California Golden Seals, the Salt Lake City ----. As for a name, will they keep the cursed 'Coyotes' moniker? Utah is desert country after all. Personally, I would like them to be called the Utah Beauts. A pun on 'Buttes.' Get it? Ya, never happen. They'll probably be called the Salt Lake City Qualtrics.

I have this theory that it's going to be a trickle of small improvements that will suddenly burst the dam at some point - probably surprising 'expert' commentators when it does happen.

Actually, I believe Torts has been most successful with young teams. Rebuilding Rags, rebuilding Columbus, Tampa when they were developing into champs. He completely flopped with a veteran team in Vancouver. And he had great success in Philly UNTIL, as others noted, he crapped on and humiliated the veteran captain. Veterans probably tire quickly of his ego and his abuse. Young players, hungry and eager, are probably more willing to follow him, especially when his demanding style has them suddenly winning games after years of failure. He's a jackass in my book, anyhow, so I'm not shedding tears over his problems.

Good analysis, thanks. I certainly supported riding him while he was hot last season, but never thought of him as a core piece in the rebuild. Might be nice to keep him around longer term as depth/4th liner, given that he's francophone - as long as the price is right.

Three issues with Anderson. One is the kind of player he has always been, even at his best: a one-note piledriver who has zero vision and doesn't use his linemates. It's a fair criticism, but I don't think it does us much good to criticize him for being that (as MSL found out). The second issue is that his scoring evaporated this season. When your whole thing is being a 20-goal, 35-point bulldozer, and then you get 9 goals, you have zero offensive game to fall back on. The third issue is that Anderson - who was always effective away from the puck, along the boards, being physical and dirty, a complete nightmare to play against in that sense - seems to have dropped that aspect of his game too (perhaps because he's become so lost, his confidence shattered). THAT Anderson doesn't even belong in the league. We need Josh Anderson to return to being Josh Anderson. Return to being hard to play against. Start scoring again. If he can do that, then I won't criticize him for having the playmaking skills of John Kordic. Whatever mental health strategies worked on Armia should also be applied to Anderson this summer. I don't think he's lost a step (?), so the problem must be either conditioning or between his ears.

Looks that way, and I know he's a twat, but it's kind of hard to fathom that they go through half the season chewing through rope and surpassing all expectations, then suddenly flip and turn on the coach. Did he do or say something that turned the room against him, or what?

Wow, what the hell happened!!!

Is this the least-used GDT of all time? I wouldn't rule it out.

Wow...I guess none of us are watching this one! I'm not either, so I can't blame ya

Great Gumper's Ghost, there is an alarming lack of a GDT. The game starts in an hour! The following comes from HabsEyesonthePrize: Game 77: Montreal Canadiens @ New York Rangers Start time: 7:00 PM EDT / 4:00 PM PDT In the Canadiens region: TSN2 (English), RDS (French) In the Rangers region: MSG2 Streaming: ESPN+, RDS, TSN+ Despite Cayden Primeau having to come on in relief of Samuel Montembeault last night, Martin St-Louis is sticking with his plan to have Primeau play tonight’s game in New York City. Primeau faced 18 shots in the 30 minutes he played versus Toronto, stopping all of them, which should have helped to erase the disappointment from his outing versus the Tampa Bay Lightning a couple of days earlier. Joel Armia is also looking to put an off night behind him to have a better performance in his 500th NHL game. He does have goals in two of his previous four games versus the Rangers, and also registered a hat trick versus the franchise back in 2019, so it is a team he enjoys playing. New York, meanwhile, is trying to lock up the top spot in the Metropolitan Division, which it can do with three more wins. They probably see Montreal as one of the easy marks toward that goal, but the Habs could pull off another surprise in the final portion of the season — if they can manage to hold their composure for all 60 minutes. Montreal Canadiens projected lineup Left Wing Centre Right Wing #22 Cole Caufield #14 Nick Suzuki #20 Juraj Slafkovský #11 Brendan Gallagher #35 Alex Newhook #40 Joel Armia #70 Tanner Pearson #71 Jake Evans #17 Josh Anderson #55 Michael Pezzetta #36 Colin White #49 Rafaël Harvey-Pinard Left Defence Right Defence #8 Mike Matheson #52 Justin Barron $54 Jordan Harris #58 David Savard #47 Jayden Struble #26 Johnny Kovacevic Starter Backup #30 Cayden Primeau #35 Samuel Montembeault Injured: Kirby Dach, Christian Dvorak, Kaiden Guhle, Joshua Roy, Chris Wideman, Arber Xhekaj Scratched: Jesse Ylönen New York Rangers projected lineup Left Wing Centre Right Wing Artemiy Panarin Vincent Trocheck Alexis Lafrenière Chris Kreider Mika Zibanejad Jimmy Vesey Will Cuylle Alexander Wennberg Kaapo Kakko Barclay Goodrow Jonny Brodzinski Matt Rempe Left Defence Right Defence Ryan Lindgren Adam Fox K’Andre Miller Jacob Trouba Zac Jones Braden Schneider Starter Backup Igor Shesterkin Jonathan Quick

Losing the fight didn't bother me I'm hockey terms, it's just annoying to have your player get pounded on a night when the Leafs are clobbering us on the scoreboard. Insult, meet injury. Good point about Guhle. The D looked horrible in the 2nd especially and he surely would have helped.

With looks like those, you’d hope he has brains, but apparently Pezzetta has neither

True. An otherworldly goal.

Kill me now. Clumsy rebound control from Monty there, but the D is in chaos. Pezzetta gets his clock cleaned by Reaves. I've said it before and I'll say it again: 🤮

🤮

It'd be a damned shame for him to end the season on that note. He's been like a man reborn this season.

Very interesting observation by Bieksa about how all the playoff teams have veteran captains.

Hmm...did Armia get concussed there? Leafs have zero answer to the Suzuki line so far. Soooo great to finally have a legitimate first line. EDIT: good first period from the Habs. They were the better team, but it's too bad they couldn't bag one to show for it.

🤣

And that right there is the reason why goons no longer have a place in the NHL. Remember the hype around Reaves at the start of the season? 🙄 It seems like WiFi's ragdolling him and his subsequent suckage put an end to that pretty quick

Boy, look at Morgan Reilly's numbers. I always liked his game - my kind of defenceman. For a guy in TO, where they pump the tires of every bum who cycles through the lineup, he seems almost underrated. And that's the only nice thing I'm gonna say for the next 12 hours. F**k off, Leafs. I hope Boston or whoever takes a leaf-blower to you and sweeps you in 4.

Well - I remember most Habs fans being pretty excited about the Gainey rebuild, and a lot of optimism on this board about it. 🤷‍♂️ (It wasn’t just us, BTW. A lot of commentators saw guys like Higgins and Kosty as future stars, Komisarek as a menacing shutdown D-man etc.). The difference between Gainey Rebuild 1.0 and a lot of what followed is that it was a genuine rebuild, i.e., an effort to build patiently through the draft, and supplement those pieces with shrewd UFA signings and trades. Most of what we saw after that rebuild went bust in 2009 was closer to a series of improvisational patch-ups - hence the whole “make the playoffs and anything can happen” ethos.

The bizarre truth is that Armia has had a hell of a half-season - ever since he was called up.

Fair enough. I agree with your priority - I want an impact FW above all.

This is a bit out of left field, and certainly reflects my Vancouver exile from civilization, but Dakota Joshua might be an intriguing UFA option at W. A lot would depend on term (he's 27) but he's like a more consistent, game-in and game-out version of Armia - or maybe the guy MB thought he was getting when he re-signed Armia: big, physical, goes to the net, can score. (15 goals this season). He wouldn't be a big fish UFA signing but he could be a nice secondary piece.