Sir_Boagalott

My personal highlight of the night was Strome forgetting the Caps were playing in Montreal and that the Habs were no longer wearing white jerseys so he accidently crosschecked his own goalie in the face. Sucks that Monty left the game though. Good thing they knew it was coming so Dobes could warm up in the dressing room. Will April Showers bring May Fowlers?

Exactly, Arber playing isn't about Arber's play at all. It's about how he lifts the rest of the team up and they all play bigger and better with him in the lineup. Struble may be a somewhat better dman than Arber, but he doesn't give them any synergy like Arber does. Arber was benched for the last 4 games of the season and they almost failed to make the playoffs because it.

Laine summed it up the best: “I just feel like we have an attacking mindset, just try to shoot pucks. Obviously a heck of a pass from Suzy & a great keep in from Laner…Personally I don’t really care that I scored cause the rest of that period was so bad…”

No kidding right. Its mind boggling that the Habs are last in the Conf and Div yet they're only 3 games out of both wildcard spots. I said this last year and it still applies this year that the Habs playoff chances revolve around the mediocrity of the other teams above them. Whichever 2 teams suck the least will get the wildcard spots.

That was great Lane imitation Slaf did on that play in his own end. lol

I didnt like that trade when Hughes made it and I haven't changed my mind on it. Hughes gave up a late 1st rnd pick and a high 2nd rnd pick in a deep draft to get Newy. IMO, he was made redundant after last years draft. Demidov and Hage will be on the roster at some point so Newy wont be a 1st or 2nd liner. That was a crap ton to pay for a 3rd liner. They would have been way better off drafting a dmen with 1 of those picks that were used to get Newy. Plus, the Habs could have easily lost Fowler because of that trade. Hughes wanted to pick Fowler with that 2nd rnd pick and it was absolute complete luck he was still available in the 3rd rnd of that draft.

Was that goal on his 1st shot? That was a beauty!!

I tend to think its the opposite. MSL style seems to be to let the players use their hockey IQ vs using a forced positioning/system. However, if a player lacks hockey IQ, they wouldn't be very good in that scenario. i.e. they'd need specific instructions. It is possible that MSL is giving him better instructions this year. I can't help but think of the movie Shawshank Redemption when Morgan Freemans character Red gets out of Jail and he is unable to take a piss without asking permission and being told that he can. Andy has had some hard ass Coaches and could be institutionalized in that same sense.

I agree that some people are taking that out of context in regards to the time that was known to MB. ex: kk was pissed that he was benched in the Cup final.

It sucked they lost but it was more like how badly they played in the loss. A loss tonight doesn't really matter and Vegas is a strong team. However, it would have been a great night to move up 2 pts on almost everyone in the Div except Buff and Bos.

You seem to be missing the point that before his draft year his team was incredibly strong with Sr players. Iggy was playing on the 4th line with no special team time and getting 4-5 mins/game. It wasn't hard to realize that when his 19 year old teammates aged out of Jr that his ice time would increase and his stats would skyrocket. I wouldn't refer to that as development at all, I'd use the word opportunity. ex: its unlikely that he developed a top 5 shot in the last draft last year. Its more like he finally had the opportunity to show how good his shot is.

The "out of nowhere" is false though for Iggy. I predicted Iggy would go top 10 back in Jan or early Feb and that the Habs might consider him at 5th. I was told I was crazy when in reality he went 6th. Had Demidov and Lindstrom both been taken already Hughes likely would have taken Iggy at 5th. It wasn't overly hard to predict that Iggy would not be drafted at 1:16 where he was ranked when I said that. How did I know? It was easy really: what team did Iggy play for? Same team as Habs prospect Jarred Davidson. You know, the team that went to the Mem Cup and won it the previous year. How many 18-19 year olds did that powerful team have? Lots, enough in fact that a 1st year Jr such as Iggy got no ice time that year. Iggy didnt get any ice time until last year when the Cup winning players aged out of Jr. Its really not a surprise that when Iggy's ice time and roles vastly increased so did his points.

Ya, its tough. Its hard to say what the most relevant aspect should be but development and points should go hand in hand. Either way, we need to see forward progress. Before the CBJ game the Habs were dead last, which seemed catastrophic. However, with that win, amazingly they are now only 3 games back of 8th - which really makes no sense but its true. Seeing how they aren't even at the 1/4 of the season yet I would say that means they are currently "in the mix". i.e.: to make up 3 games when there's 60+ games left is nothing. It's way too early to rate Marty or this season yet. Luckily, a bunch of the other teams aren't doing great either. What teams will get their ducks in a row by the trade deadline or end of season? Who knows - but it could still be the Habs.

I absolutely loved Slafs attempt at doing the round the outside Anderson move. Too bad it failed. I hope he continues to try that. Another goal by Brendan "I've had enough of this damn rebuild" Gallagher. The funny part of Gally's resurgence is what I've been saying for years. Historically, he's been way too bloody close to the net. However, last year and this year he is usually much further back from the net. ex: lately, when you see him score is he standing on the crease or anywhere near it? Nope.

Monty looked good at times for sure. It sucks but its not unfortunate if the Habs end up with yet another top 5 pick. The Habs have numerous prospects already that are not in the NHL yet that will drastically change the team. If they get another high pick they will be insane. Am I the only 1 thinking that Hughes should hire an Assistant Coach that's really good at defense?

Reaves wanted nothing to do with Arber last night: Arber asked him to fight in the 1st period and Reaves declined.

lol Yep, and people laughed when I said the Habs can get rid of Matheson.

I think its great they are plying him on the PK. I've said this before numerous times: being 6'3"+ is a big advantage. They have longer arms and sticks = longer reach. They also have longer legs = take bigger strides = move a greater distance in an instant. A tall guy would be better at defending than a short person.

It's time, release the Hutson!! I can't wait to see what he does this season. It seems like its taken forever for him to be in the NHL. Hmm, the record for goals for a Rookie dman is 24 set by Mark Howe back in 79. Will Lane have any chance at beating it? Unlikely unfortunately, that # is higher than I thought it would be.

I would have taken him too and I figured Hughes would. Pelletier is a 1st rnd pick, from Quebec, young, and he's a 2019 draftee. Hughes has been collecting guys from that class. Plus, other 5'9" or less guys poached from the Flames have turned out fairly decent. ex: Byron, MSL.

Nobody is gifting French players roster spots based solely on their place of birth though. Thats my point. I disagree with the comment that some French players play better in Montreal is sure nonsense though. It is unarguable that there is an effect on some French players performing awesomely in front of their home crowd. ex: Brodeur, MA Fleury, MSL, Lacavalier, etc. There are quite a few French players that do great in Montreal. It is true that it doesn't work for all French players, but the ones it doesn't work for you wouldn't want anyway. Luckily, most of those players don't want to play in Montreal. ex: Huby, Chabot, and any other player that publicly speaks out about not wanting to play for Montreal. i.e. players that don't want to be held accountable for their poor play. Plus, most French players are from Quebec, so they spend their summers in Quebec. If they play like crap they will hear about it from the fans that see them every time they leave their house. Players not from Quebec go home for their summers. I'm not French, but I want them to have French players. Why? It's their history. I can't help but feel that saying French players aren't important is the equivalent of suggesting their 24 Cup wins aren't important.

Gah, I certainly don't like those lines at all, but w/e it's the 1st game. They have a lot of time to figure it out. There has been quite a few games where I have not been impressed with Newhook. However, there has definitely been games where I've been impressed with him. For me, it seems to be when Newy is a F he looks so-so, but when he's at C he looks incredibly different. ex: Newy Dach and Laine did not look good together - even though it was a limited sample size. After Laine was injured Newy looked good but he was at C with other players. I highly doubt Reaves will ask him to fight. They will only fight if something happens. The # of stagged fights Arber has will greatly decrease and it might not be this year but I believe it will eventually become 0. i.e. once he has beaten up enough of the tough guys they wont be as gung ho to have him beat them down again. Arber will earn the NHLs respect just like Big Bird had.

I agree but I'd say its more so for the fans. i.e. the Quebecois want players that speak their language. They want to see players they can relate to and are like them. I don't hear people banging a drum to stop the only hire French speaking GM's or Coaches rule. Besides, the mere suggestion of having French players doesn't mean the worst French players in the league. ex: nobody is advocating that Deslauriers should be on the team and on the top line and have the C because he's more French than Suzuki. Have any of you ever seen the Habs win a Cup without having French players? No, you have not.

I'm not 100% sure on that. I think if even if Roy had played better than Kappy they might have still gone with Kappy. If Kappy is sent back he's gone for the entire year, but with Roy and most of the others they can be called up at any time. Plus, Kappy is also a C so he is more versatile in that sense.

I want to see ABB work out but there is a good chance that he doesn't because he is basically Pitlick. i.e. both have decent skills and should be top 6 players. However, their issue seems to be neither are good at being bottom 6 guys. They are not the grinder checking type of player. Unfortunately for them, they've been stuck on teams that already have top 6 players so they've been unable to crack a full time NHL spot. For ABB to stick around he should be on the 2nd line.