CerebusClone

I'm not sure you can look at the league average salary to justify a player's underwhelming performance for the responsibilities and ice-time he gets. When we look at DD's first two years on his contract, he was used primarily as a first-line center with only quality ice time, mostly offensive zone starts, playing mostly on the first wave of the power play, and mostly with our best forwards. Despite this he gave us 52 and 48 points, which is underwhelming offensively for a first-line center, without mentioning that he never played in defensive situations (PK, critical defensive zone faceoffs, etc). Desharnais really only produced on a consistent basis while playing with Max Pacioretty. Also despite a lot of ice-time he also has always been mediocre on the power-play. One would think that Desharnais would thrive on the power-play, but it has never been the case. I don't care what the player's salary is versus the league average, that type of performance does not make a team better. Even at 3.5M if you don't make your team better, you are not a steal or a bargain... on the opposite you could even argue there is an opportunity cost of not giving these opportunities to another player (i.e. like Danault right now taking full advantage of Desharnais' opportunities, his play has made us better so far) As for the last two years of his contract, I don't see how you consider him a great third-liner. He had a good short sequence last year playing with Weise and Fleischman, but that didn't last long, and he's never done anything worth to mention since then. Also this season because Therrien doesn't trust him with defensive missions traditionally going to the third line, Therrien has to break up the lines for the special teams, with Desharnais on the power play instead of Plekanec, who had to take penalty killing duties. Also since as usually DD did not perform on the PP, DD and Plekanec started sharing PP duties. I have nothing against Desharnais, but for the last 4 seasons I can only see him as a guy who has failed on the Top 6, a guy Bergevin couldn't trade last year as according to some insiders there was zero interest for him at the deadline (he got injured, but was coming back in time for the playoffs), and now a guy we're kinda stuck stuck with. We work hard to find him a role somewhere, but he's been a mediocre offensively as Top 6 player, and he doesn't bring much as a 3rd line center either. He was even benched at some point by a coach who adores him. How is this a 3.5M steal??

I respect your opinion... as long as you guarantee me that if Jack Johnson had done the same thing to Alex Radulov when the Habs lost 10-0, you would have defended Johnson when people in Montreal had criticized him on this board.

No, but the referees had to find a way to make sure Emelin didn't get back in the ice after that brawl. They gave him six minutes, they used clipping, but they could have easily used a number of other penalties to do the same trick (he did try to punch Iginla from behind while he was being held down by 2 referees, maybe a 10-min unsportsmanlike penalty like for that would have worked).

I agree with you on that... I don't believe in guys letting up because of the score. However there's still a difference with going for the strong shoulder hit - which also would have stopped Colborne - and the dangerous hip check. As soon as I saw him bending over and skating towards Colborne, it was obvious it would stir the Avalache... thankfully it was an again Iginla (10 years later maybe Iginla does more) and thankfully the Avalanche didn't retaliate.

First that's why I said clipping-type hit... the line between hip check and clipping is very thin... and both can be dangerous. Second he actually did get 2 minutes for clipping ... But anyway like I said I don't care about the hit itself, I care more about him about going for the spectacular play, and possibly risking retaliation on one of his teammates. The Avalanche were down, they were humiliated, they just wanted to leave Montreal to move on to their next game in Toronto. There was no need to risk waking them up, possibly leading to harder hits and possibly guys dropping gloves in the last 6 minutes.

Actually technically his hit was penalized, he got 2 minutes for clipping, so not that clean in the eyes of the referee Although I do think it was a legal hipceck, and not exactly clipping, but the referee was smart enough to kick Emelin out for the rest of the game I still think he could have gone for the shoulder hit, and not the more spectacular and dangerous hip check. But it's the type of hit where we defend our own players, and criticize the opponent's. Like Carey Price on Palmieri, since he's a Hab we found many ways to justify him pummeling a guy lying down on the ice with blocker punches (and being held down by Petry - who had actually pushed Palmieri into Price), like he had to defend himself, or he missed the head of the first so it's ok. Or when a player crashed the net and makes contact with the golaie, we love it when Gallagher does it, but we hated Kreider for doing it in the playoffs... unlike Emelin in this case, we didn't try to justify Kreider just doing his job he's pad for, going hard for the net, and try to score

If Emelin goes for the solid, clean shoulder-to-shoulder check on Colborne, I think everyone agrees that it is part of the game. Emelin cannot ignore his duties, and let Colborne skate past him, and get a good scoring opportunity. However in this case Emelin actually went for the more spectacular, dangerous, bending-over-to-reach-the-lower-body clipping type of hit. There was no need for that, and he knew what he was doing. Emelin wasn't going for a check, he was going for the somersault.

There a difference where if Pacioretty scores another goal, someone on the other team won't be seeking revenge on one of his teammates. Luckily nothing happened - the referees were smart enough to make sure Emelin was out of the game - but Colorado could easily have retaliated with a cheap shot on Pacioretty or one of our other key players before the end of the game. I don't have a problem with the hit itself, but the selfishness of risking angering an already down opponent for some cheap cheers.

So happy that Zadorov's stupid cross check on Mitchell cost his team the 10th goal... instead of playing defense and keeping his focus on the puck he went after Mitchell, in the meantime the puck was free for Pacioretty to score his 4th and humiliate the Avalanche with their first ever 10 goals against in franchise history.

I think the Mark Scheifele deal would be very fair to both teams, and it was what I would aim for if I were Bergevin. Similar potential, production, and age at the time of signing. I would look for a 8-year contract at up to 6.25M per season. Maybe a front-loaded contract if he wants to cash-in right away. That would solidify his spot on the core of the Montreal Canadiens for a very long time, he would be very well compensated while still allowing the Canadiens to have the cap space of build a true contender, and he would not be putting a tremendous amount of pressure on himself by signing for money he cannot live up to (i.e. unlike Subban). Similar to what Markov has done by playing so many years now for 5.75M when he easily could have earned more.

Well he still aimed close to the head, and possibly touched the head slightly .. his blocker could have slipped and slammed Palmieri's head to the ice. The league should not wait until severe injuries before reacting, I'm glad Price won't face any discipline, but at the same time it is not very serious for the league to let players police themselves, and start pummeling another player while he's lying down on the ice (not to mention being held down by another player) Carey Price even said after the game that he's now going to defend himself and retaliate, that this is what the league has become (and he may have a point). By not even speaking with Price the NHL is indirectly agreeing with him, and telling other goaltenders it is acceptable for them to react like this. Last night nothing happened... but what happens when this becomes another Bertuzzi-Moore incident?? Bertuzzi after all was just doing what was acceptable in the hockey culture, defending a possibly suspicious hit on a teammate.. and when Moore didn't want to obey to unspoken hockey culture rules by dropping the gloves, Bertuzzi went for a sucker punch ... another thing that we used to see often back then, and was often unpunished unless it lead to an injury. We don't see sucker punches much since then, all it took is one player's career and almost his life...

I would not say "stay away", obvisouly the Habs would look great by adding the Sedin twins to play on the second line with a Top 9 that could look like this : Pacioretty-Galchenyuk-Radulov Sedin-Sedin-Gallagher Lehkonen-Danault-Shaw However of course how can we bring in 14M in cap space without giving up much in return (they are aging veterans that would leave in a year and a half so I would not sacrifice much for them besides suspects like Hudon, maybe Beaulieu and some draft picks), that is another story! Who knows maybe Bergevin could pull something, we have seen trade around the NHL we would have never believed possible, like Taylor Hall for Adam Larsson) ...

He could maybe also send a message to Petry not to push forwards into him as well ... I mean Petry had too - especially after letting Palmieri easily skate around him like that - Palmieri otherwise maybe had a chance to also skate to Price's left, and get a great scoring opportunity. However Petry did push Palmieri a good half meter forward (you can see his skates jumping forward at some point) and could not avoid contact with Price. With that said, good for Price and lucky for us!

True about Lefebvre and professional experience, but bringing in Houle as an assistant would have give the Has some strong options internal candidates for the future.

How is it ridiculous to at the very least maybe have a hearing with player safety about deliberately and repeatedly punching a guy lying down in the ice? Would you say Schneider was just tickling Gallagher if they had done the same to him? Not to mention that Carey's first punch was a blocker hit to the head, he was lucky not to be expelled from the game as per the rule book. That alone deserves at least a phone call IMO...

I agree about letting the doctors make these decisions, players don't have the required knowledge to make the decision, and there is too much external pressure on players from management, the media, and the hockey culture in general to play no matter what. However in this case I would guess that the doctors did evaluate that Pacioretty was well enough to play. Otherwise they would not have cleared him, and would have been able to make that decision. Or Pacioretty never spoke with doctors, and kept it to himself and his coach.

I would say Carr is a bit more of a NHLer than Andrighetto, although a depth player at best it would seem. Andrighetto is very similar to Yaninck Weber,he has some skills, but he's missing a few fractions of a second to be effective at the NHL level. As for who could benefit now from the injuries, Danault comes to mind as someone who could emerge in a greater role. The other one would be Charles Hudon, I wouldn't be surprised to see him back in Montreal instead of Andrighetto if he can play through the weekend, and show he's now 100%.

I've been saying for a few years now that Montreal should hire Jean-Francois Houle as the head coach for it's AHL team, and groom him to become the next head coach for Montreal (assuming he does well of course). He has experience coaching in different leagues starting in the NCAA, then doing an amazing job in the Q leading average teams on paper as strong contenders, and now he has experience coaching in the ECHL and the AHL. As a bonus he's the son of one the so-called glorieux, being the son of Rejean Houle, and although he never made it to the NHL he was drafted by the Canadiens, and knows what it is like to grow in this organization. I'm not sure why a few years Montreal ignored him as he was coaching literally a few kilometers away from Montreal, the question today would be whether the Oilers - who have recognized his talent and potential - would be willing to let him go if Montreal was to fire Lefebvre now.

Actually it does if RNH plays like a Top 6 forward, and he could look mighty good in a new environment, centering Pacioretty and Radulov. The problem isn't our lack of depth, but the fact that Plekanec has been below mediocre this season, generating no offense, and dragging down all his wingers with him. Plekanec was supposed to be that quality depth, and give us a very strong second offensive line behind Galchenyuk.

Fully agree. Danault and Lehkonen played great together, Mitchell and Gallagher were chippy and strong on the forecheck, Redmond and Beaulieu were a solid pair (especially for two guys returning from injury), and even Pacioretty was all over the ice in the third period, looking bigger and faster than everyone else on the ice. Very strong effort by the entire team

Can't help but think that Carey Price deserves at the very least a visit to the head of player safety, and possibly a suspension for that. No matter how you feel for Price and the Habs, this type of gratuitous aggression on another defense-less player is simply unacceptable... Price was pissed off, and took his anger out by hitting repeatedly a guy lying on the ice.

It will be interesting to see how Radulov does now. I would tend to agree, and would say that Radulov should be the best forward on this team ... however Galchenyuk is the only forward that has performed offensively from game 1. He was producing earlier this season with Pacioretty and Gallagher, then with Radulov and Gallagher, then Byron and Radulov. Pacioretty has not produced much playing with DD or Plekanec (there was some success with Danault), Radulov did not produce much with Plekanec, Gallagher has been atrocious since not playing with Galchenyuk ... In other words most of the offense this season has revolved around Alex Galchenyuk... a little bit like it has revolved around Pacioretty for the last several years.

Assuming Danault will be playing, I would roll the following lines : Pacioretty-Radulov-Andrighetto Lehkonen-Danault-Gallagher Byron-Plekanec-Shaw Carr-Mitchell-Flynn I'm hoping here that the Pacioretty-Radulov duo will open up the ice, and give Andrighetto the split seconds he's usually missing at the NHL level. Obviously I'm expecting most of the offense to come from this line. As for the bottom 9, I think they are capable of being at least goal-neutral, and even scoring an additional goal here and there ; hopefully enough with a good performance by the goalies and the Pacioretty-Radulov duo to get the victory. On the short term I really want to see Therrien push Danault into a bigger role, to see what he can bring, and leave Plekanec on the 3rd line. If Plekanec breaks out of his slump we'll take it as a bonus, but he's had many opportunities, and it's time to move on (same for Desharnais when he gets back). Later on after a few games in the AHL for reconditioning I would like to see Charles Hudon get a Top 6 opporunity - although that will likely depend on how well Danault and Andrighetto are playing. For all we know Danault will take his game to the next level ... as for Andrighetto this may be his last opportunity, I'm assuming he will be mediocre again but who knows, and then it is likely Hudon will replace him.

Where exactly do you want to increase Galchenyuk's ice time ? While on paper he gets a bit less time than Plekanec and Pacioretty, let's not forget that all of Galchenyuk's ice-time is pure quality offensive opportunities. He starts almost half of his shifts in the offensive zone - and rarely in the defensive zone (less than 20%) - plays regularly on the power play, and never on the penalty kill. In other words he has the best quality time on the ice than anyone else in Montreal. On 5-on-5 situations Therrien generally uses all 4 lines roughly the same, if Pacioretty gets a bit more time it's because he kills penalties, and he is used in more critical defensive zone missions. At this point of his career, I'm not sure if the Canadiens would be a better team by giving Galchenyuk in these defensive-type missions, he still struggles with positioning at times in the defensive zone, and tends to make lazy plays with the end of his stick. The only situation where I would indeed give Galchenyuk a bit more time is on the power play. Therrien has been splitting the time between almost equally between the first and second PP waves (Radulov leads in ice-time but by not much over Pacioretty, Shaw (!!), Galchenyuk, Gallagher, and the DD/Plekanec duo). Since we're not getting much secondary offense on the power play, I would give 75-80% of the power play time to one big unit centered by Galchenyuk along with Radulov, Pacioretty, Weber, and Markov) Anyway... with Galchenyuk away for a few weeks Therrien has a lot of time to think about this :-)

It doesn't matter if he proved anything or not, if Carle strongly feels that he won't get an opportunity with the Canadiens, and that his career could be ruined for being at the wrong place at the wrong time, then why couldn't he ask for a trade? He's at a point in his career where he needs to get his opportunity, and he doesn't see this happening with this organization. I for one think that when a team drafts a prospect, especially in the early rounds, then it becomes responsible for that player's development. And if the team doesn't plan on playing that player regularly, and he ends up rotting in the minors or going back and forth between the AHL and the NHL, then they should let him go so he can get that opportunity elsewhere. In this case, if the Canadiens don't intend to give Carle a genuine opportunity to succeed in a proper role for him (he's an offensive specialist, so he should get some PP time), then they should trade him. Another good example if Kyle Chipchura. This is is fifth year with the organization, and he's still not really getting a real opportunity; he's going back and forth from Hamilton, playing very little with marginal wingers every once in a while to fill-in in for injuries. If the organization doesn't think he's good enough (which is obviously the case), or if it doesn't have room for him, then they should let him go. Instead he's now rotting in the minors, and slowly getting the status of a career AHLer. It probably doesn't help that Carle has seen a lot of players over the last 2 years who probably felt their careers got ruined in this fashion. Just think of Yann Danis, Chipchura, Locke, Milroy, Ferland, Lehoux, Belle, Grabovski, and not to mention Pavel Valentenko who fled to Russia because he felt he was wasting his time (and earning potential) in this organization.