Sir_Boagalott

The Goalie pick seems interesting, but not sure why they picked him. The Habs went to town last year picking 3 G's and 2 of them seem to be top G prospect's that are not in the NHL or AHL. Plus, they recently picked up Connor Hughes, and its not like Monty or Primeau suck either. It sounds crazy that's he's 6'3" but only 159 lbs. i.e. he's got 7" on me yet he weighs the same amount. If he becomes an NHLer it seems like he'll have a hell of time trying to prevent players from pushing him into his own net. I definitely like the size of numerous of the other picks. That's exactly what I've wanted to see the Habs do for years. Height is an advantage and so is strength and they picked up several guys with the right size and weight this draft. i.e. other than Florian and Tuch their prospect pool are basically all 6' and under 200 lbs so in that sense they are almost all the same. The guys they drafted late this year are unarguably different.

I'm definitely hoping that Hughes is trying hard to get a fairly high 2nd rnd pick. It totally sucks that MB traded away their 2nd rnd pick in this draft.

Depends, Eiserman would likely be the best option because he's dropped so far. He likely has the best or 2nd best shot in the entire draft. Solberg would be a good option too. I still kinda like the idea of taking a chance on Letourneau - he could be the next Tage Thompson.

I'd have no issues with Solberg either - he's a dman but looks like he'll be good and definitely plays a physical game.

Umm, well you trade Lane because the younger 1 is even better. We just don't have to wait as long because Lane is basically ready next year or the year after. So the idea would be to play Lane until Cole is ready.

Is there any action at the Habs table? I'm wondering if they are they still trying to move up.

There is probably no point. The Habs are 6 spots away from 21, is it possible that he will still be available? I'm somewhat still hoping for Letourneau or Hutson, but I'd definitely take Eiserman at any spot now.

Son of a, damn I really hate Waddell.

Wow, Senneke at 3rd was a big surprise for sure.

There are numerous interesting things about this series: Apparently, the Oilers lost 3 games in a row at least 3 times this season. Insanely, every time, in the 4th game they would win and then win 10+ games in a row. The other week I saw a interesting article about Boborov not being as good as he looks or as good as most people think. Sure, he has played well, but not spectacular - he hasn't really stolen any games. The article was based on advanced stats. ex: after the 1st rnd he was ranked 11th of the 16 goalies. In the 2nd rnd I think it said he was 5th of 8 and I forget 3rd rnd but he wasnt in the top 2 until the Finals. Interestingly enough, it was Habs fan that wrote the article suggesting it was great news because an elite goalie isn't a prerequisite to win.

The longer this goes the more probable it seems. This series feels like it is dragging on and taking forever. Game 7 probably should have been played yesterday. One explanation for the Oilers comeback is the 2 days off between games - that seems to have killed the Panthers momentum. The Oilers were probably tired after the 1st 3 rounds and they are getting the rest they badly needed. Plus, in other game when Tkachuk made the big diving save preventing an open net goal the rest of them had completely quit on that play. If the Panthers don't win the Cup that was probably the turning point in the series.

Wow, what a ballsy call to do that offside challenge. If they had lost that it might have cost them the series.

I honestly have no idea either way about Houle departure, but it sorta seems like it might be good that he left. TBH, I was surprised to see the Habs resigned him. After all, he wasn't someone Hughes had picked and the Rocket failed to make the playoffs last year so I figured he would be gone. IMHO, failing to make the playoffs last year seems like a major waste. i.e. we want to see the Habs young prospects do great and get a lot of experience and that means they must make the AHL payoffs. Plus, if the Habs prospects cant even make the AHL playoffs then what chance will they have at winning a Stanley Cup? I want to see them win the Calder - that would be proof the Habs are trending upwards. I'm surprised that Guy Boucher's name isn't on that list. I saw something last week abut him suggesting that with his experience he could be a decent assistant Coach for the Habs. Is he now considered a legit NHL coach or assistant so the AHL is now below him? Also, whatever happened to Joel Bouchard? I know he left but then got fired so I'm not sure if he'd be available or not. He seemed like a decent Coach for Laval - he helped develop some of the Habs players.

Currently, C might still be a need, and thats another reason why I want Lindstrom so bad. He's a perfect replacement C ifs Dach turns out not being a good C. I agree and think there could be a few more, such as: 7) Gally plays close to a full season and is somewhat productive I tend to see similarities in the current Habs with 93 and 86 Habs. A commonality is having numerous young players that we currently have no idea what they can really do. When they make the Playoffs, we will get to see how good they are and what they are really like. Numerous of them could turn out to be clutch and HOF players. I certainly don't under estimate Beck either. I find it funny that most poster here want to see him in the AHL next year because "he's not ready yet". After all, Beck was 1 of the last players cut from the Habs when he was 18. He was the 1 of the best defensive C's in the OHL then and he still is, and now he's the best at faceoffs in the OHL. Plus, he has been a large contributing factor on 2 different teams in the Memorial Cup. Even if he is but a 3rd liner Beck will be important for Cup runs and I say the same for Roy and probably Kapanen too.

Personally, I think I'd move Matheson over Guhle. Guhle is still young so he can still possibly add a bunch of muscle and potentially improve too. Matheson is older and identical to Guhle he needed to gain muscle but the issue is he never did put on serious weight. i.e. he's 6'2" and 190lbs - at that height and weight I considered him to be weak - and thats for a F. However, my main reason for moving Matheson over Guhle is that he had a great offensive season last year so the Habs would be selling him at his highest value. In a way Matheson sort of reminds of Petry - they are both good offensively but are somewhat of a defensive liability. Hughes managed to get rid of Petry twice at the right time. My concern with Matheson is that Hughes knows him fairly well so he might choose to not move him and resign him which I believe could potentially end up being a mistake.

Apparently, he was also coached by another ex-Habs alumni David Aebischer. Hughes did great in the Suis league this year so it seems to be an interesting singing with potentially high reward. Hughes is the same age Huet was when he left that league. How long did Huet take to make the NHL when he came over? Can Hughes possibly replicate that? In the next few years the Habs could have quite the goalie competition going on.

I definitely interpret that info incredibly differently than you. The Stars have 4 guys to check and shut down whereas the Oils have an entire team to check and shut down. I'd say it is the Oils that have their work cut out for them. There are at least 3 issues having elite players; 1) they cost too much which makes it hard to ice a complete team, and 2) it is simple to know who their go to guys are which makes it easier to be able to check them and shut them down. 3) injuries - if 1 of the Oils top 4 point guys becomes injured their team will instantly be way less effective. It should be an interesting series of skill either way.

I agree they are definitely a complete team and I also figured they would have a good chance at winning the Cup. My comment was about the Stars being more of a skilled team than a brute crash and bang style. Van and Edm aren't large crash and bang teams and in the 3rd round they would be fairly banged up so they would have little chance against a crash and bang team. Dallas has a interesting team because they are generally large. They only have 2 guys under 6' but they have 9 guys that are under 200 lbs. However, the rest of them are over 200 lbs and 6 of them are 215+ lbs and 3 are around 210 lbs. The Stars are a perfect example for why I keep saying the Habs need to be taller and stronger.

but his high hockey IQ though. You must have missed that they all have 3 or 6 fingers. Exactly as alfredo said its AI and it messes up those fine details. The Avs are officially out so the Nucks or Oils now have a better chance at making the Final.

Personally, I didn't mind the article but I disagree with Matheson being a 9 because his D is questionable. Guhles rating of 6 is likely based on the expectation of every player (and especially the younger guys) improving upon their last years performance. Can anyone really say that Guhles play was a lot better this year than last? For their other dmen that answer is yes but for Guhle I'm unconvinced the answer is yes. I'm somewhat concerned that he might be WYSIWIG and this season he didn't do much to disprove my suspicion.

I agree with you on that. Guhle seems to have a high ceiling but he doesn't dominate in enough games. Fortunately, he made an interesting comment the other week, something like: "I'm playing in a league of men and I can barely grow a beard. I need to gain more muscle". I was incredibly happy to see him say that because his strength was a concern of mine. So far, he has not been putting on enough muscle so its great to see him say he realizes that. We should all hope that he eventually gets to at least 215 lbs. I think his lack of strength is why he isn't hitting as much as he used to in junior.

Interesting, Marchand is out for game 4. I was wondering if anything would happen to Bennet but apparently not.

I think you might be correct on there being some silly incident before the Aho offer. I don't recall exactly what it was either but I believe it was something petty and ridiculous. ex: did Waddell snub MB at a GM's meeting, draft or some event, where he didnt know who MB was? Like MB tried to shake hands with him but he refused. I vaguely remember something funny like that happening to MB. I forget who the other GM was but there is a good probability that it was Waddell. I don't believe MB had any intention of ending up with Aho at all. He just wanted to spend the Cannes money and tie up their cap for years and force them into paying Aho for longer than they wanted. Aho likely got more than the what the cheap Cannes owner would have offered him. I recently heard that Brind-a'mor won't be back. He was in talks for renewing his contract and they worked out a deal that would make him the 11-12th highest paid coach. Apparently, the owner stepped in and nixed the deal. I could see him ending up in Seattle.

Hmm, wow. What are the odds of this happening: the Sharks apparently won the draft lottery 3 times. ex: they won the 1st OA pick, but on the 2nd lottery they also won it. That has never happened before and that isn't allowed so they had to redo the 2nd lottery, which SJ also won. They had to do a 4th lottery to determine who got the 2nd OA pick.

The Habs can still move up 10 spots twice in future drafts but at least the Hawks are done moving up for the next 5 years.