The Chicoutimi Cucumber

That’s the thing about great players…you can keep them contained all night and they somehow still find a way to kill you. The Bruins in 1979, Game 7, had Guy Lafleur under wraps all game through relentless shadowing. He still killed them.

I hear you on geriatric francophones giving us the high hat all career and then saying, 'oh yeah, I'd love to come home in my dotage.' At the same time, Giroulx took almost 1000 faceoffs with a 60% winning percentage and got 50 points, so presumably he can slot in as a #2-3 C. Purely a stop-gap and not my first choice even as stopgaps go, but he has to be considered as a plan D or E.

If the Leafs get past FLA, who is stopping them? Not Carolina or Washington, I’d hazard. The nightmare scenario is inexorably coming to pass

It should have been the BEAUTS, but no one listens to me... The logo looks too much like the old Sabres logo for my liking

Actually, I didn't pay enough attention to Andrew Cassels when making my 1/11 assessment. Cassels was legit, a quality C dealt away for a 2nd-rounder. So it was really 2/11. My friend, the list of highly-anticipated Habs prospects who crapped out over the past half-century is longer than Hal Gill's wingspan. This is a fanbase that got excited about Scherbak, for God's sake.

Nobody. I'm just assuming that, because he is the only C worth a wet fart on the UFA market, and teams like Van are absolutely desperate for a #2C, he'll receive a colossal overpay.

Bennett is an absolute master of sneaky attempts to injure. Disgusting, but the league rewards it, so that's obviously the kind of hockey they want. I'm still leery of signing a 28-year-old 45-point C to an 8 year deal at 10-11 million per, or whatever. That has too much of a whiff of the Brendan Gallagher contract for my liking. 🤷‍♂️

Agree 100%.

I tend to agree. Their C are probably off the table now. I understand that past is no predictor of future, but this passage, from Brain’s redoutable article, suggests we might want to temper our expectations about these picks. That’s a 1/11 success rate, LOL. Montreal has held the 16th pick four times in franchise history, most recently in 2020 when they picked Kaiden Guhle. Their other three selections at that pick were Marcel Hossa (2000), Eric Chouinard (1998), and Tom Chorske (1985). As for the 17th selection, the Habs have made that pick a total of seven times. The last time they had that pick, they chose Nathan Beaulieu back in 2011. The other picks there were Brent Bilodeau (1991), Andrew Cassels (1987), Alfie Turcotte (1983), Dave Hunter (1978) Glenn Goldup (1973), and Jude Drouin (1966)

If I’m giving up the farm, I don’t want it to be for a 38-year-old even if his number is 87. I like Larkin and Horvat, in that order - IF they can be had. I would be willing to give up a hell of a lot for Larkin. I do think Newhook’s play late in the season and into the playoffs forces a rethink of the idea that he is a marginal guy doomed to wind up in Europe. He will never be a major points producer, but he showed a surprising amount of jam and sometimes seemed to tilt the ice. Next year is big for him: can he show that this is his identity, or will it prove to have been just a nice little run?

I heard the same thing. Rantanen seems to have badly misplayed his hand, not comprehending that the Avs were not pussyfooting around about their internal cap. That said, I’m sure he’s not feeling so badly about things at this moment. Dallas feels to me like a team that is due. They’ve been bubbling around the top of the league for what, five or six years? Rantanen is a huge addition. Might be their time. (One could say the same thing about the Leafs, but I would rather drink my own blood than believe it). Crazy last-second heroics in Winnipeg…however, Hellebuyck’s erratic playoff performances give them a real Achilles Heel. I heard an analysis from Kevin Woodley a while ago about how he is all-world against a north-south attack but sub-par when teams play an east-west game, and that, over a seven-game series, teams are able to exploit the latter weakness. He may just be a guy whose game is simply not built for playoff excellence. If so, that has to be incredibly frustrating to Jets fans 🤷‍♂️

Hahahaha, well - I’m pretty sure Poultry’s not gonna fly. Maybe “Rooster” would incorporate the pun while having the necessary masculine quality…we should push for that IMHO. What would really be great is some kind of play on that Quebecois standby, St. Hubert’s chicken. E.g., calling him Hubie. It’ll never happen, of course. As far as I’m concerned, only one player should ever have been called The Flower. Fleury had a great career and all, but I hated that nickname for him.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: God love Josh Anderson.

Larkin is awesome. We have loads of assets.

Yup. At a reasonable rate, why not? I’m less emphatic about leaving roster spots open for youngsters than some. There are always injuries, etc; and if a kid cannot force his way onto a lineup by crowding out bottom-6 vets, then the kid is maybe not all that great to start with. If we sign Armia to a cost-effective deal and he becomes redundant, you can always sit him or move him later.

Glad he acknowledges it. The playoffs were his real coming-out party. First time, IMHO, that we finally saw him taking charge and making stuff happen out there. It’s a promising sign, but he needs to build on that, not revert to “just happy to be here” come October.

Kudos to MSL! I was deeply skeptical about this hiring given his complete lack of experience, but fortunately he has proved me wrong and beaten the odds - which is what he’s done his whole life. I should have known better than to bet against MSL!

F**k Ottawa is good for absolutely nothing

Well…there are only so many high-end pieces the Habs can go out there and get. A #2C is no easy feat; lots of other teams will be looking for the same thing. A top-pairing defenceman is even harder to acquire. What assets are we going to surrender for these huge pieces? So to my mind, a realistic summer involves getting a #2C as the big move. More than that seems implausible.

Looks pretty good, but both Laine and Dach have to be regarded as “bonus” players at this point. There is no guarantee Dach will be any better than he was this season. That’s a bottom-6 guy at best. And even if he plays well, how long before another injury takes him out? We’ll see how Reinbacher does. Might be wise to sign a veteran bottom-pairing dude to spell him off just in case.

Yes. This is a lot better than Kucherov insulting the team after beating it in the Cup Finals. Gracious, old-school comments by Wilson. Anderson matched Wilson stride for stride for most of this series and I suspect Caps fans hate him almost as much as Habs fans hate Wilson. At the end of the day, though, a 30-goal battering ram is a unicorn for which the Habs had no real answer. The hit on Carrier and the third goal were big statements from him, just what the Caps needed to seal the series. Not fighting was smart hockey by him too. He delivered (mostly) clean, crushing physicality and significant skill. I would take him on my team in one second flat.

Welcome to Habsworld, Myhabs. You’re right that we need to upgrade the D. But you seem to be taking an “additional by subtraction” logic here. I almost always disagree with that kind of thinking. MSL is integral to the rebuild, popular with the players, and showed this season he could coach systems. Not sure why we would move on from him at this point. Montembault is a legit #1 G on a nice contract. Not sure why we would move on from him either. Matheson is a quality 2nd-pairing offensive D-man, but he’s on an expiring deal, so yes, we should explore options, though not with any sense of urgency. Moving him doesn’t “fix” any problems. If anything, it potentially creates a major hole in the top-4, since our two blue-chip D prospects are both RD. Now if we could add a superior LD to MM, say via free agency or shrewd deal, then flip Matheson for other help, that would be great. But just shipping him out fixes nothing. I see the #2C and the bottom end of our roster at both FW and D as the key weaknesses. That’s above all where I’d be looking to add.

Absolutely! I didn’t mean to imply otherwise

Spirited attempted comeback. Some unbelievable plays in the last 10 minutes. Demidov had an unreal pass to Suzuki and the captain got one of his patented quick release shorts off, but Thompson made a massive save. That pretty much sealed it. I’ve expressed skepticism about Washington’s defensive play, but they were tremendous in the third. The Habs kept pushing but they had very few chances from inside - mostly shots from the periphery. This series may have been the tune-up WASH needed to make a serious Cup drive. I agree that the organization as a whole looks very promising. My only qualm is of the ‘you never know’ variety - regressions happen, key injuries happen, and we will lose several significant vets (Dvorak, Armia, Savard). But I suspect that, among the league’s non-contenders, very few fan bases would hesitate to trade organizations with us.

Hard to argue with that. The Hutson pick has transformed the rebuild. Imagine us without him…we’d be waiting desperately for Reinbacher or Mailloux to save us within 2 years. Instead, we have a team that is already pretty good, and our discussion is turning to how we can elevate to contender status.