Sir_Boagalott

Well, I've definitely heard there are at least 2 teams interested in him because his last name is Primeau. Yes, they wont get a 1st just because on his last name, but if he is good enough to fetch a 2nd from most teams then 1 of those 2 teams might be willing to cough up a 1st. Plus, there could easily be more people involved in the trade than just Primeau. ex: if most teams would pay a 2nd, and 1 of those 2 teams also needs dmen, the Habs could throw in some of their decent AHLers that are lower in their NHL depth chart to increase the pic they get in return. The same scenario might happen to get a 2nd for him.

Yes, I would rather move Allen as well. However, Allen is older, costs more $, and will get less of a return. Plus, Primeau is a 2nd generation NHLer - his dad and uncle both played and had long careers with numerous teams. Several of those teams are the 1's that are highly interested in him and if he plays good enough they might give up a 1st or 2nd for him instead of the typical 3rd or 4th for a backup Goalie.

You make valid points and it is also unknown who made some of those selections. i.e. if it was Timmins or did MB over rule him and took somebody else - that likely happened but how often and with who etc. Only they know that info. I absolutely agree that it was brain dead not selecting Tkachuk, there is nobody else I would have taken. The player development is also incredibly bad as well. I agree that old way of thinking that all GM's used to do and some still currently are is incredibly toxic for player development. However, mentioning 18 yr olds being rushed tends to suggest the Habs sucked at drafting or they'd have older prospects that could be NHLers. Either way, there was no chance under MB that the Habs could have possibly done a full tear down and rebuild with any expectation that it would work out well. You're pointing out that it might not be Timmins fault but you're pointing out other secondary and tertiary issues as to why MB would have been completely unable to successfully do a rebuild.

Nice, 3/4 points so far on the annual X-mas potential playoffs road trip. Wow, awesome moves by Slaf on Suzuki’s goal. ex: great move on the halfboards to end up with the puck, great pass over to Cole in the slot, then when he was in front of the net it was smart thinking to lift the dmens stick so Suzuki would get the puck 1st, plus he got his body out in front of the dman so he was in his way so the guy couldn't do anything to stop Nick. Plus, Primeau allowed only 2 g so his gaa will drop and that increases his potential trade value.

Can Hughes trade Allen and Primeau? That was a great save by Struble.

I was happy to Slaf score too. I also liked this a lot: when the announcer said “Caufield battles him off the puck” referencing Kiprasov along the halfboards in the O-zone. We don’t see that often and that was a great play by Cole to over power another player along the boards. It is interesting that Cole hasn't had much luck scoring this year, but other than that all the other aspects of his game have improve dramatically. He is now playing a much more well rounded game which is great, but I'd rather see him scoring at the same time. Hopefully, he figures out how to do both.

I had the opinion Danault was not worth that much. However, that's primarily because he was incorrectly line cast by the Habs and the fans ended up having the same impression. The identical thing basically happened with Lehks too. ex: both could barely score 15g/yr and were line casted as 3rd and 4th liners. However, after they left the Habs they essentially doubled their goal output. Nobody really saw that coming, but I wasn't highly surprised by Lehks. On their new teams Lehks is 1st or 2nd liner and Danault was 2nd line C (until they got Dubois). The Habs defense 1st ideology seems to hamper goal scoring and similar might be happening with Cole this year. i.e. the major emphasis they put on defense might make the shooters paranoid about missing the net. If they miss the puck could bounce off the back boards and leave the O-zone so they stop aiming for the top corners and end up shooting at the goalie = easy saves vs goals. I was somewhere in between with MB as well. I think the big problem under MB with doing a rebuild was with drafting and Timmins inability to select good players with regularity. Out of his 20 year tenure Timmins unarguably had numerous decent draft years but he had way more years of crap picks. I'm convinced that it is already safe to say that after this years draft Hughes' scouts could potentially have drafted the same amount of decent players that Timmins picked in over 2 decades. ex: Timmins was celebrated because he had 3 or 4 drafts where he picked 3 NHLers, however; give Hughes 3-4 drafts and I imagine he'll match that success.

I think numerous posters are taking @alfredoh2009's comments way too literally. I'm pretty sure when he says "checked out of Montreal" he means Danault had decided he was leaving. Plus, Danault eating pizza has nothing to do with the checking out, alfredo believes the pizza started around the same time Phil knew he wasn't resigning. I fully agree with alfredo on that Danault and MB's relationship got to a point of no return. I'm pretty sure that by the end of all that he was so pissed off and felt so undervalued by MG that only a completely absurd amount of $ (that would never be offered) might have got him to stay. Danault wanted $6 ml/yr, and I think if MB had came around and offered him that he wouldn't have said yes. I have the impression that if MB had offered him $6mil/yr and LA had offered him $5.5 mil/yr that he'd still be with the Kings. Danault likely would have taken less from any other team just to get away from MB.

Son of a, that ending sucked; but that was a crazy shot. Was that puck even on the ice or did he knock it out of the air? I missed the 1st but the rest of it looked fairly decent except for 2 things. They seemed terrible at when to pressure and use their stick. Quite a few times they should have pressured the puck carrier and didn't. Plus, tons of times I saw them have their stick out but then the puck was passed by them they didn't extend their arm and try to knock the puck away. Having a stick in their hand is pointless if they're just holding it.

I think the Habs will win by continuing to ride Anderson's hot streak. Plus, dlbar's post suggests the Habs are well over due to win in Minnesota. The big question is will Andy's streak go for long enough for the Habs to gain ground on the other Bubble teams so they can be in a Wildcard spot? In most seasons, this stretch of games at the end of December and into January are typically vital for the Habs playoff chances. As the season approaches the halfway mark you don't want to be losing ground but gaining. I'm certainly hoping they surprise everybody and pick up a bunch of points on this road trip and they finish the calendar year being tied with Florida.

I'm against having elite scorers too because they command crazy contracts that eat up the Cap and make it hard if not outright impossible to ice a complete team that is highly competitive. IMO, it is always better to have a well rounded team and roll 4 lines that are dangerous and can score from anywhere. When a team is complete in that manner they don't necessarily need elite Goaltending to win the Cup. Thats another common belief that I think is a myth.

I don't either, but there must be a camera angle from above the goal line that shows it off the to the side. Like I said in another reply, to disallow it they would need to have an angle that showed his stick was nowhere near the puck, when his stick was unarguably in the vicinity of the puck. I attempted to check Anderson's goal as well but I could only find the 1 angle of that goal. When I saw that goal I thought he kicked it and I haven't seen an angle that shows that he didn't. I'm wondering if the Jets Coach might have figured it was too close to review and if it was lost they'd get a penalty and the Habs could score a PPG and they'd be down by 2 and for that reason they decided not to review it. Without seeing another angle of that goal I do believe that he did kick it in. Either way, I still think it's wild that the Habs had 2 questionable goals allowed and won in OT 3-2.

A funny commercial for what if - because Brady was the Expos’ 18th round draft pick as a catcher in 1995. This year they made a real 1 of a kind autographed rookie card that has already been found and it is estimated to be worth over $1 million. There is also an unsigned version in the set that is not 1 of a kind and they are estimated to be worth up to $5k.

Yep, and I saw something similar that said they were 2nd and 30% of their Goals are from dmen. I agree that # will go up and I think those 2 dmen you mentioned that aren't on the Habs yet might get 70+ pts/yr. Hutson could be their 2nd highest scorer after Cole and be 1 of their highest in points too. Mailloux could possibly get 50+ pts as well.

I believe you're a tad off with the no bottom feeders remark. The Sens and Nucks were so bad you forgot they existed. There was 1 really good team -T.O.; and 2 really bad - Sens and Nucks; and 4 teams that were almost in a 4 way tie for 2nd. Thank god the Flames lost their 2nd last game to Van or that tie would have happened. The Habs lost so many games in OT that year that they would have been out and the Run of 21 wouldn't have happened. I'm loving that the Habs have a good OT record this year but they need to win more games in regulation time. So far this season its been another year of mediocrity that will be similar to 21 where the standings will be crazy close and the final few games will matter for an abnormal amount of teams. ex: Cannes and Devils should be top 3 but are barely wildcards; Wings and TB are floundering too. I certainly won't cringe if the Habs make the playoffs this year.

I believe you have that backwards. The phenomenon that you are describing is when the puck is up in the air and the camera isn't directly above. ex: if the puck is up in the air near the goal line, if the camera is a distance back, the puck could like like it was over the goal line. However, a camera above the goal line would reveal that the puck is not over the line. Besides, in this situation Anderson's stick just needs to be near the puck because as long as it was in the vicinity of the puck the NHL cannot overturn the refs call on the ice that he touched it. i.e. they need definitive proof that he didn't touch vs verified proof that he did.

Thats funny, because I was just thinking that they didn't show the angle from above the goal line. That angle is close enough that it probably does reveal what happened. Like you say, the puck seemed to speed up and start spinning more, so somebody touched it. From seeing goal reviews in other games I've definitely seen that the NHL has at least 1 angle (possibly more) that the networks don't have access to.

On Anderson's goal I had the same 1st impression and figured they would challenge it. I didn't get a good look at the replay to tell if he did kick it or not. On the 2nd goal I think the ref might have gotten the wording wrong because I didn't definitively see him touch it with his stick. Ya, it was hard to say either way but I didnt have the impression that he touched the puck. It seemed like on every angle but 1 somebody was in the way so it wasn't possible to see the puck. The 1 angle where someone wasn't in the way didn't exactly show him touch it. It seemed like it was a goal they could easily take back.

That was an interesting goal by Dvorak. Oddly, I thought the Habs 1st goal might be reviewed but the 2nd 1 was definitely a strange goal. I imagine they couldn't definitively prove that Anderson did not touch the puck with his stick after he grabbed it. The 1 angle from the opposite side didn't exactly look inconclusive so I was surprised it wasn't called back.

Honestly, I cant stand BPA and I think it is ridiculous concept and more like a silly made up term that GMs can use and excuse when they draft the wrong player. ex: we didn't pick player X because of BPA. i.e.: each draft every Analysts and/or scout has their own list of who is best at what position. In most drafts there isn't even a general consensus for who should be in the top 5. Therefore, the term BPA is completely meaningless and made up nonsense. Besides, the Habs had Timmins for 20+ yrs who always drafted BPA and he primarily drafted a ton of crap picks vs getting players at positions they needed to fill. ex: 20+ yrs without a large Center just because 1 wasn't available at their exact draft position. Who cares, just draft 1 thats within a few spots of your picks. It is completely insane that Habs absolute need went unfulfilled for as long as it did. IMO, the best thing about Hughes is that he doesn't draft BPA - and I *love* it. ex: Habs wanted Florian and Bogdan Konyushkov, they knew both could go in the 4th rnd, they figured Florian would be more well known than Bogdan, so they selected Florian slightly higher than he would have otherwise been drafted, then they took Bogdan with the other 4th rnd pick. Had they gone with drafting BPA they would have got neither of them. Watch, in 5+ yrs both those 4th rnd players will be large contributors to Cup runs.

Struble is a keeper for sure. Hughes will have a hard decision to make when Harris comes back because Struble doesn't deserve to be sent down. Unfortunately for Harris his injury has shown that he is potentially expendable. Well that was a super odd ending for me. I watched the 1st period but I paused it and resumed the game after it ended. Before I restarted it I was on Facebook and saw a post about the game and I scrolled passed it really quick but I noticed the final score and I swear it said the Habs won. It sucked watching the SO because every time the Habs missed and the Pens shot I knew they wouldn't score. However, then rnd 12 happens and the Pens score. I was incredibly surprised by that goal.

Yes, they have been underwhelming so far this year in back to back games. However, they only need 1 goal to tie it and they still have around 5 mins. Hopefully their trailing stat is more important than the 0-4 in back to back games. While I want to see them win this game, I believe that it is more important that they win their next 2 games.

I didn't mean for them to burry him for his entire contract. My point was that no team will trade for a 4th liner making 5.5 mil/yr with yrs left on their contract. I don't believe that dropping Anderson to the 4th line will help him get out of his current funk. Plus, as you said he has been playing better lately so hopefully that continues to trend upwards vs regress. It sucks this year for Ylonen because he is deserving of playing higher than the 4th line. For next year the Habs need to get rid of Dvorak, Armia, and possibly Anderson to make room for Beck and Roy. Ylonen would likely be a good fit with those 2 and they'd make a formidable 3rd line.

Only 1 explanation required: Gallagher happened. i.e. he ended up in the crease without being touched by anyone and made contact with their goalie.

Hmm, interesting: the Habs are 2nd in the NHL when trailing after 2 periods. They're only down by 1, so it should be a fun 3rd period.