Sir_Boagalott

I'm liking Pearson too, he seems to do a lot of lil small things that are the right thing to do for the situation. Hopefully, Gally still isn't in game shape or some other possible explanation. Their speed is 1 of the reasons why I think they might be more successful than most people seem to think. Any slower and older teams could get overwhelmed by their speed. The Habs also have some decent skilled guys that are good on the rush too. That could be a better combo than what most people have considered.

RHP constantly looks dangerous - not mater what line he is on. I'm not sure what Xhekaj was doing with Perry, other than showing him he wont be pushed around or intimidated by him. WiFi should be going after Tinordi for hitting Dach and Vlassic for roughing Caufield.

I hope he can do both. Hughes will need to talk to Monahan and figure out if he wants to stay and ask what he wants for his next contact and if he minds being traded at the deadline.

Caufield hasn't done much either. (hopefully that works)

Its a shame that WiFi didnt really get to punch him, but Reaves got enough to realize how strong Arber is. I'm thinking most of the guys who were eager to fight WiFi last year will reconsider this year. WiFi's fists are so big so when he lands punches they seriously hurt and people instantly realize that he has legit knock-out power. Unfortunately, Reaves did not get to experience that, yet.

I certainly didn't like the slewfoot like maneuver that was done to Dach. That looked incredibly dangerous. Luckily, he seemed fine and I hope he is alright.

I fully agree with you. I believe they will surprise this year and finish considerably higher than most are expecting. A lot of things need to go right but I think playoffs might be a possibility where as most think they will be bottom feeders again. Staying healthy is a big part of it. As is: Suzuki - gets 80 pts Caulfield - 50 goals 50 point seasons for: Dach Monahan Slaf Newhook Matheson Thats 7 guys with 50 points - that would be pretty damn good, and I don't think that is a huge stretch and completely impossible. Not to mention 40 point seasons for: Anderson Dvorak Gally RHP Newhook might not hit 40, but he should be a min of 40 pts. 1 of the 40 pt guys might only get 30, but they could also have 2-4 30 pt guys. They should be fast and dangerous from everywhere on the ice with all their lines. Plus, Monty having a GAA of 2.5 or under. Is there any way that they can play Reinbacher for 9 games before sending him back? I believe for bonus reasons Barron needs to play in the 1st game but after that I'd send him to the AHL and if possible play Reinbacher for 9 games. Then, I'd bring up Mailloux for 9 games. Play the crap out of Barron in the AHL and do the same with Mailloux when he is sent back down and bring him up if there is an injury. Depending on how Mailloux progresses trade Savard at the deadline and bring him up and get Reinbacher back for the last 10 games.

While that is technically true, it should be fully realized that if the Habs had kept that 1st rnd pick MB and Timmins would have wasted it. I find it funny that people complain about the 1st rnd pick because its really a moot point. If the Habs had used it there is a high probability that the player would have amounted to nothing anyway - as per their usual tradition. It is unarguable that their history with 1st rnd picks was atrocious.

I believe challenging for a playoff spot might be a possibility, but it depends on numerous things. I cringed quite a few time's when I kept seeing perfect 1 timer passes not being taken with the player receiving the pass instead. What the hell is up with that?

Hmm, I'm surprised to see Pitlick was waived. I figured he would be a good fit with Crosby or Malkin and be resigned by Pitts. I've only followed the Habs so I have no idea but I'm definitely wondering if Pitlick had any ice time with Crosby or Malkin?

I dig the 10 thoughts concept. I liked Monahan's game too, especially when he was on the PK late in the game. Sean sorta messed up and dropped his stick and then Joseph was near him with the puck. Instead of Monahan picking up his stick he skated right into Joseph and knocked him on his ass. Joseph ended up losing his stick too and Monahan recovered his stick before the Sen got back up.

Thats a good recap of the game. I thought Ylonen's penalty was weak. Sure he hit the Devils stick with his own but I didn't believe that it was worthy of a penalty. He hit the guy's stick fairly high up near the hands but I'm fairly certain he didn't make contact with the player at all. Roy had a good game and almost scored several times. He was in the right spot on his goal but I give more credit to Simoneau because he was aware enough to look for and pass to the wide open Roy. I was more impressed with the pass than the shot itself. Plus, part of my reason is that we all expect Roy to be an NHLer but how many predict Simoneau will be? He's small but apparently he has a decent hockey IQ that he might eventually make it. Monty looked good except for that super fluky goal that hit his skate then popped up in the air and went in on a bounce off his ass. Dobes didn't look bad either. Anderson definitely looked great and had potential for a hattrick. He hit the post and had 2 other near misses. Mailloux welcomed Toffoli back by giving him a nice hard hit that knocked him on his ass. Beck seems to have an insatiable need to get the puck when he's back checking. He is relentless when he is chasing after players and hounding them from behind until they lose the puck.

There are definitely streams for it. Davidson looks like he has a really good shot. D'oh, I'd rather see Logan with Kaiden because he'd be able to cover for Logan defensive mishaps better than the other dmen.

Wasn't the main point of this trade to alleviate cap space and prevent Price from starting the season on LTIR? For the Habs to be cap-compliant for their season-opening roster to allow them to use in-season LTIR dont they just need to send Pearson down? DeSmith would not pass through waivers, he'd get picked up by somebody and lost for nothing. Hughes traded him for a player that makes similar $ who can be waived and will not be taken. Plus, the Habs got the 3rd rnd pick they wanted for DeSmith and hopefully Pearson rebounds and they can get something for him at the trade deadline.

Ya, it certainly doesn't inspire confidence when Pearson was injured on Nov 9 vs the Habs and then had "successful hand surgery" on Nov 10 and was slated to miss 4-6 weeks and 10 months later he's only at 80% recovered. Plus, he has apparently had 2 other surgeries since. Quinn Hughes even publicly made a comment about Pearson's injury not being handled properly which lead to the Cannuck's doing an internal investigation into the matter. Similar to the Habs, the Nucks replaced numerous people in their medical staff during the summer. https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/canucks-begin-internal-investigation-around-handling-of-pearsons-hand-injury/

Yep, that's true, hence why I said reach out to any UFA vs soon to be UFA. ex: it is fully within the rules if Hughes had called Killorn at 12:01 on UFA day and said that he is interested in him but wont have cap space for 2 years.

I've read that a good friend of Marchessault's has said that Jonathan wants to resign in Vegas or sign with the Habs. That could be interesting. Killorn also said he wanted to play for the Habs but Hughes didn't contact him so unfortunately he singed a 4 year deal with the Ducks. Hughes didn't have cap space to sign Killorn but he could have contacted him and let him know he was interested and Killorn might have taken a shorter deal with the Ducks. Hughes should reach out to any top Quebecois UFA and let them know that the Habs are interested and tell them a potential year they could sign them. There will definitely be numerous interesting non French players that will be UFAs.

Odd, I thought it was his hand and that he had a butchered operation or something. There could be a chance that he doesn't play at all and is LTIR and Hughes basically did the trade just to get the 3rd rnd pick. Sure, Hughes likely got him in hope of trading him, but that might not work out. Another possibility is Hughes might be close to trading Dvorak or Armia so in the event that Pearson can play he wont be taking a prospects spot. .

Reinbacher didn't really have a good 1st game either; and he was just drafted this year. Mailloux has waited years for his debut so I'm sure he was more nervous than Reinbacher was. However, no one said that Reinbacher needs to play in the AHL for years. It seems like people are being hyper critical of Mailloux. Sure Logan made some mistakes in the 1st game, but he also did good things. ex: when the other team is breaking out of their zone and Mailloux is backing up over center towards the Habs blue line, his skating is impeccable. I don't recall ever seeing a young player of his size be able to skate backwards as well as he does. In fact I wouldn't say that any of the Habs had a great 1st game really. A lot of people seemed to knock Dobes but I'd say he played well in the 1st period of that 1st game. It was the rest of them that didn't do him many favours in the other 2 periods. Although all the games are officially over they can actually start whenever someone presses the Play button. i.e. they can all be watched after the fact.

Game 3 Habs vs Sens: Mailloux almost scored from out by the blue line with a wrister but hit the post and he hit the post several other times. I don’t recall seeing him take a shot from far out that didn’t make it to the net. Numerous times in these games when I’ve see him about to make a pass I’ve though wth is he doing with me thinking he was going to give the puck away. However, on every occasion that I thought that it was a crisp tape to tape pass. Mailoux seems to be excellent at passing and especially long passes and he might be the best passer the Habs have. I can’t help but think he could be amazing at springing Caufield on breakaways. Xhekaj continued to look decent. On 1 play I confused him for Mailloux because he was out by the blue line and when pressured he made a good play to keep the puck in and got tripped but he managed to maintain possession of the puck and made a play while on his stomach. The 1 PP looked the best I’ve seen in years of anyone wearing the CH with Beck and Roy – no goal though but it certainly looked good.

Their #'s are on the Players list that dlbalr posted.

That was an interesting pass by Trudeau when the puck was rolling towards the Habs net and he rushed to get it and then he instantly turned and no-look fired it up ice. It seemed like it would be a turnover, but it went right to a Habs player just outside the Sabres blueline. Not sure of that was a fluke or if he knew there was somebody there.

I'm excited to see Reinbacher but even more so for Mailloux. I also want to see how Davidson does because he could be another sleeper pick, and of course Florian will be interesting to see as well.

The Habs picking someone up off of waivers seems unlikely. The Habs have a log jam of players and a team would have to royally mess up to waive a player of significance that the Habs could use. In that event, the player would probably help the teams below the Habs anyway so another team would get him.