REV-G
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Posts posted by REV-G
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I like DD but for the team's sake and the coaches, Kent Hughes has to make a change. I believe that for 3 reasons.
1. Their play. The players seem confused and not to be
working within a successful system.
From a distance it seems the players have tuned him
out.
2. The losing atmosphere. It must be terrible for the players, especially the young guys.
3. Sportwritters. Just today, Feb. 9, both Arpon Basu (The Athletic) and Eric Engels (Sportsnet) have pointed out reasons why there has to be a coaching change. These reporters follow the team as their job and as you read their articles they are making it very obvious, we can't wait any longer, too much damage is being done to the players and Montreal's reputation. Whether they bite the bullet and appoint Luke Richardson or bring in an outsider, the time
has come and they must bring some leadership and stability and bring in a new head coach.
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I think a good example of how a coach affects a team is Vancouver.
They kept the same players and when a different coach came in the team responded and made a big change.
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Does anyone think that with all that Price has gone thru this year, especially the personal issue that saw him check into the players assistance program, and the direction the team is going, rebuilt or reset, that he's contemplating retiring?
Just a feeling, but somehow I am wondering if he's had enough. I presume he's made enough money to take care of his family for the rest of his life so I wonder if he's still interested in playing in a situation where there's little chance of winning. Personally I don't think he will want to stay in this situation.
So maybe it's retire or try to move somewhere else. I think because his return is taking so long that I've begun wondering if there's more to it, like he's deciding if he really wants to keep doing all this.
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Since there are going to be a few key dates and periods of time coming up, like the trade deadline, unsigned prospect window (Jordan Harris etc), draft day and free agency, I thought that while we're waiting for some of those dates to arrive, it might be interesting to see what we think should be done by our new GM and Jeff Gorton. What would you do if you were the GM of the Montreal Canadiens right now?
Here's my take on what needs to be done. I think because we do have some good young players we can begin to build with them.
To me this is what I would do if I were the GM.
Hopefully get Shane Wright this year and another first round pick, by trading Ben Chiarot, and draft some very good prospects
Overall I would not want to be good next year so that I am in the running to draft either Connor Bedard or Matvei Michkov.
I would trade some veterans now that I need to move for the team or the players sake and I would accumulate draft picks for the 2023 draft.
I would have to be creative to move some of the existing difficult contracts.
Any trades should bring back good young prospects or draft picks.
I would plan to be at the bottom of the league for the 2022-2023 season and begin to show improvement only starting in the 2023-2024 season.
I would let the players and fans know the plan so everyone understands the next few years will be a rebuilding time for the future.
1. Keep the young core of Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Alex Romanov, Jake Evans, Ryan Poehling and begin to develop and bring along Kaiden Kuhle, Jordan
Harris and other young players like them and hopefully add the #1 or 2 pick this year and next.
2. I would keep some veterans like Josh Anderson, T. Toffoli (?) A. Lehknonen, J. Edmundson, Jeff Petry.
3. I would talk with Carey Price to see what he wants to do but I would trade B. Gallagher. I really like him but I think he'd be better off somewhere else.
4. I would prioritize finding (either drafting or trading for) a young highly regarded goaltending prospect to bring along over the next 2-3 years.
I would work very hard on our player development personnel and how we are developing our prospects.
I do not know how to do it or what's needed, just that it needs improving a lot.
I would put great emphasis on improving how and who we draft. We have had way too many 1st round busts. That has to change.
I would greatly improve the whole analytics department and how we use them .
Coaching: Listening to people who are more on the inside I get the impression the players are no longer responding to D. Ducharme.
Plus we've all heard that a GM likes to bring in his own coach, so I think the writing is on the wall. A new head coach will be brought in whose strength
is working with young players, a modern coach. So likely not an Alain Vigneault but a current young assistant somewhere or a QMJHL type of coach.
Regarding the assistants, I like Luke Richardson a lot as long as he is really good at working with young defenceman. The rest will likely change.
So that would be my plan. Obviously there are positions in the entire organization that will need to be evaluated and changes made.
I personally really like the changes they have made so far.
Firing MB and Trevor Timmons. It was time.
Hiring Jeff Gorton, Kent Hughes and Chantal Machabee
I think it's a good start but it's only the very beginning. What would you do?
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My intent was not really to debate the PCR tests, but more to point out that the NHL is testing healthy players and getting a huge number of players testing positive who are saying they have no symptoms. And for me the integrity of the league is being degraded.
However if you do just a little research, beyond what the local news and government officials and the WHO are saying, you will quickly discover, even on google, that scientists around the world are saying PCR tests were not developed to be used on healthy people. That's why the NHL has such a high percentage of players testing positive and has had to shut down while other professional leagues are still operating with just a few sick players.
To me it's obvious, but you have to look beyond the general narrative. The evidence is out there if you look just a little bit for it. Maybe it's just me, but do you not see the difference over what's happening with all this in the NFL, NBA versus the NHL. To me it's pretty clear. That's why the call from players and some management is beginning to grow to stop testing healthy players.
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I counted the players on the Canadiens who as of New Years Day are out because they tested positive for covid-19, and the number was 16 plus one coach. Out of 23 players on a team, 16 of them tested positive. We have players who were in the ECHL this year, wee called up to Laval and now because so many players tested positive are getting their first starts in the NHL. To me that is making the NHL look bush-league. What's going on now seems totally absurd and there may be a reason for it. It seems other leagues have figured it out so shouldn't the NHL be able to figure it out as well?
The NFL and the NBA stopped testing healthy players, those who had no symptoms of being sick with covid-19, because they were getting way too many false positives, players who tested positive but never developed any symptoms and sat out, missed games and quarantined for it turns out, no reason.
The NBA and NFL said they followed the science that said these tests were not developed to be used on healthy people, but to confirm in sick people, those who already had symptoms, whether it was covid-19 or some other type of flu. That makes sense. It's what we've always done. We've never ever tested everyone to see if anyone was sick.
The NHL has continued using these tests on healthy players and the result is more than half the players on some teams have tested positive, with the majority from what I've read, never exhibiting symptoms.
This past week GM Steve Yzerman and a growing number of players are calling for the NHL to follow the example of the NFL and the NBA and other leagues and stop testing healthy players who have never exhibited any symptoms of being sick.
The entire World Juniors tournament was cancelled because 4 players tested positive. I would bet that they did not have symptoms. And instead of just quarantining those who did test positive, like the NHL does, they quarantined the entire team. And thus the whole tournament was canceled and those who did so are being heavily criticized by the players and fans.
I hope the call to stop testing healthy players and people grows to the point where they begin testing those who are sick to confirm what they have and leave the healthy people to continue on with life. It's what we've always done. In the words of Kevin O'Leary, "Let's stop the madness!"
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I have trouble understanding why some won't allow this young man to continue with his life and career. He committed a crime and has paid a big price, deservingly. But he's admitted to what he did and from a few reports of those close to him he has evidently had a proper attitude and done everything asked of him without a "woe is me" attitude. He understands that he's not the victim here.
He was a young man, immature and clearly irresponsible at the time. But we live in a society where a person can earn the right to resume their life if they go through the required punishments, education and courses and is deemed by those overseeing the person as having done what was asked of him which evidently he has done all of those things.
If he was our son how would we feel? I think we would be feeling like can he just have a chance now to prove himself and move forward and not have a life sentence hanging over him. There is a time for someone to receive forgiveness and be able to move forward. Unless he proves otherwise by some behaviour I think people should leave the young man alone and let him show everyone what he has learned and how he has changed. For me this is one of the basic's of life in an educated and enlightened society.
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I personally agree with staying away from the "older" retreads in Montreal. We've had Therrien twice, Julian twice and I think we need to do something different.
I have a name that some of you will probably cringe at but.....I would try Patrick Roy as coach, with no other power regarding players.
I would not want him as GM or assistant GM or any of those positions because I think with his personality he doesn't play well with others. But in a well defined role, coach and that's it, I think he would be, among french speaking coaches, my top choice right now. He'd bring pride, passion for the CH in Quebec, accountability, fire and drive. I think he has the hockey sense and understanding. When I look around, other than Vigneault, Patrick may be the best choice. He's not unproven but I see him as not as old in the tooth as V and some others who have been coaching in the NHL for many many years.
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We've all seen players who excel in the AHL but just can't make it in the NHL. They hit their peak and there's not enough talent to make it in the NHL. It seems coaches are in the same boat. Some coaches do extremely well in junior and the AHL but it doesn't translate into success in the NHL. I'm sure there are many reasons, but we're all seen it.
I read in the Athletic today, an article by Arpon Basu, that Jeff Petry made the comment that the Canadiens lack structure. Arpon said that's a direct assessment of the coach and his system and how the players are playing within that system. It isn't working.
Gorton said DD is here till the end of the season. I see two different options here. You keep DD to the end and probably have a terrible season losing most of your games. There will likely be a strong losing culture with the entire team. But you guarantee a top draft pick, perhaps even #1. But what does that do to your young guys on this team, for the whole year. If they keep DD I would send Caufield to the AHL for the rest of the year. and explain why, and I'd keep Norlinder there for the entire year as well to shelter them from all the losing. Then, let the trades begin.
If you fire DD and bring in another young french speaking coach you run the risk that once the injuries subside you might start winning games and rise in the standings, which would be better for the players but not for our draft position.
This is not a good environment for the players. Do you keep things as they are with the coach for the next 4 months, 52 games, or do you make a change?
For me that's a tough decision.
I guess it depends on what Gorton decides regarding a total rebuild or something less than that. Somehow I think a total rebuild is what's going to take place which may mean this year and next being at the bottom of the standings.
My choice. I think I'd send Caufield down and keep the coach and bite the bullet for this year and let the rebuild begin.
What do you think?
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If it were to be a female, I hope I've got the name correct, but didn't Kim St. Pierre just get voted into the hockey hall of fame or she won some award? Does anyone know if she has been involved in hockey upper management.
I think the Leafs have a female on staff who is highly valued and getting experience and is held in fairly high regard.
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I've never seen a season end so quickly in all my 60 years of following the Canadiens. So while we wait for Geoff Molson to announce what he's going to do I'd like to suggest a few changes that I guess are pretty obvious to most of us at this point.
1. We need a complete and total rebuild beginning with the management. Announce it like the Rangers did a few years ago. Let everyone know.
a. A new President of hockey operations who has a strong hockey background. Molson would be the owner but not deciding on hockey matters.
b. A new GM who does not have to speak french.
c. A new head coach. To me either DD's system doesn't work, the players have given up on him or both. He seems like a nice guy, but the team has quit, or
they don't know what to do, and they aren't playing any system, That's what it looks like.
The language issue is debatable but I think it's time to get the best coach available. Bite the bullet if he doesn't speak french but ask him
to commit to learn to speak french. If he's the right guy, give him a 5 year deal. Joel Quenneville?
Personally, I'd like to see Luke Richardson stay, but I know that's up to the new head coach.
d. A new head of scouting. I think Treavor Timmins is like MB. It's time for a change, a new voice, a new approach.
2. The players.
a. A complete rebuild means we need to trade most of the veterans to get draft picks or good young players. Who stays and who goes will be up to the new GM
but the veteran core needs to be traded so they can end their careers with a good team and we can get younger.
b. Play the young guys now and live with it. Give them experience while we get a very high draft pick maybe for 2-3 years.
Without hope the people perish. That's a very old saying from a very famous book.
Right now, where we have landed this season, we have no hope, until someone does something.
The players need hope, the fans need hope and the season ticket holders need hope.
I am hoping that Geoff Molson is working hard behind the scenes and will announce sometime in the next month or so that MB has been relieved of his duties and he will announce a new GM. That's my hope because I can't imagine that Molson is just sitting back and letting all this happen without a plan. I can't imagine that.
That would give the new GM time to prepare for the trade deadline, the draft and free agent frenzy!
Here's hoping!!
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I think Molson needs to appoint a President first, a good hockey man, then find the best GM regardless of whether he speaks french or not. I would choose Damphouse as President but not GM, because of lack of experience.
While I am not knowledgeable of every other sport I don't know if there is any country or team that would not accept someone as long as they speak the native language, or languages, of the country they are in. Molson needs to break ground here and bring in the best GM. Not the best french speaking GM.
Experience has to be a priority. We've seen what happens when you bring in a former player who has no GM or management experience.
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Over the years I think enough has been said regarding MB as our GM, both good and bad. Let's not go there in this thread or debate what MB has done or not done.
Instead, just to have an interesting discussion and bring a little hope and some positive thinking, let's look into what Geoff Molson might be doing right now, especially those of you who follow the league closer, and see who would be our top choices as our next GM, not including MB.
What do you think.
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IMHO, there is no way we should match Carolina's offer.
Why should we pay KK $6M this year and nearly that amount next year. Over $11M in two years.
Why should we make him the 2nd highest paid forward on our team when he's been a 3d liner and was a healthy scratch at the beginning and end of the playoffs.
Why should we gamble he might get much better quicker when he may not.
Why upset the room with a player getting more than almost every other forward playing ahead of him.
Why pay a player much much more than what he's worth when it seems he may not want to be here.
Wouldn't it make more sense to take the 1st and 3d and add our 1st and maybe more and go for Eichel or another good centre probably better than KK and upgrade our team?
On a side note, I wonder what we would do if we were in his shoes. These would be my thoughts.
1. If I sign this one year offer sheet, no matter what team I play for, all the other players, fans and media will know I'm not worth that amount of money and it's probably been done more out of payback from a rich owner than anything else. If I don't do really well do I want to, and can I handle, all the comments and criticism from opposing players and fans for the next year?
2. What will accepting this offer sheet do for my career and reputation for the next 5 years in the NHL?
3. If a normal contract for me would be in the $2.5 - $3M range, is the extra $3M or so worth what I'm going to go through?
4. If Montreal matches, what will I face and bear from my teammates, coaches, fans and media if I have another year like the one I just had in Montreal?
5. If I have a average year again, and Carolina doesn't give me a qualifying offer next year and I'm a free agent at 22 years old, will my reputation among the players in the NHL be affected.
So personally, I don't know if the extra $2-3M for a young, unproven NHL player with a seemingly good career ahead of him would be worth all the baggage that may attach itself to him because of this. If I was his dad, and healthy, I would have to do a lot of thinking before I encouraged him to sign that offer sheet.
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I'm not sure if this has been brought up before in this thread, but do you think we would have any interest in Johnny Gaudreau?
There have been rumours for a while about Calgary moving him.
Would he fit with us?
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That seems vey high for a 3d line centre with low offensive numbers but very good defensively. That may come back to bite them with their salary cap at some point.
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If it came down to Hamilton or Seth Jones....who would be the better fit?
And if not either of these two, then who?
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Over the next two or three weeks or sooner we're probably going to find out what a team is willing to pay Phil Danault. So my question is, what do you think he's worth?
I'm guessing every one of us want him back. We all saw what he did and how valuable he was in the playoffs. Without him, we don't win the series we did.
I doubt he's a first line centre on any team in the league right now. Defensively, probably the best. Offensively, not so much. I heard a hockey insider say a few weeks back that he thinks Danault is a very, very good 3d line centre now on most teams.
If he hits the open market will some other team give him more than we have offered him? If I remember was not MB's offer to him $5 million plus, with term, that he turned down? Then he proceeded to have a so so regular season with low production but then turned it on in the playoffs, defensively with some offence. Will another team really offer him more than we have? Somehow I doubt it. My understanding is that the same offer is still on the table for him. I think being french Canadian has us adding more to the offer than others would.
If he hits free agency I think there's a good chance he fields other offers and then comes back to us. But there is certainly a risk. Or, to save him any awkwardness does his agent tell him to take our offer?
What do you think?
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Lol. I think I was expecting a hockey response/discussion with a little more substance to it!
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I wasn't sure where this thread should go so I just put here because it's an observation, opinion about the Maple Leafs and their GM, Kyle Dubas. We've had lots of discussion about our own GM so I wanted to make a comment about Dubas.
I'm beginning to think that Shanahan made a mistake when he let Lou Lamoriello go and kept Dubas as his GM. Here's why. In Dubas's first year as GM the Islanders lost Tavares to Toronto and made the Islanders look bad. They lost their star premier player for nothing. Toronto stole him from under their noses, in effect. Win for Dubas? Maybe, maybe not.
I believe the top 5 star players Toronto currently has were drafted during Lamoriello's watch with the Leafs. When Shanahan let LL go and kept Dubas look at what has happened since. The Islanders have built a very solid team, made some key trades and have built a younger team with players that made it to the final 4 this year. Lamoriello has been named GM of the year for the past two years.
Dubas on the other hand inherited a very talented team, on paper at least, and they did very well this past regular season. But the goal for every team is to get into the playoffs and win rounds to ultimately compete for and win the Stanley Cup.
Under Dubas's watch they have failed to win a single round in the playoffs to date. For me the concern for Leaf fans is that at the end of every year everyone talks about the evident weakness the Leafs have and then Dubas goes out and tries to get players to fix it. He doesn't seem to have a plan the way LL or even Bergevin does, like them or not. At least these two GM's have a plan that they have tried to implement. I am beginning to seriously doubt if Dubas has that ability yet.
So if you're Shanahan and you've had 4-5 years of this return when do you make a change? You can't keep changing all the players and coaches and at some point not look at the one who is putting all these pieces together, that isn't working when it counts. It's not like they're missing by a little bit, with all their talent they have lost in the first round every year for what, 4 or 5 years in a row.
I think that's their probably right now, the GM. If Shanahan had kept LL what would Toronto's story be today? I think they would be contending for the cup. He would have made trades to build the Leafs like he's done with the Islanders. I think they made a mistake. My prediction is that if the same thing happens next year and the Leafs lose in the first round, Dubas will be gone and they will have wasted some very key years when they should have been playing for the cup. Time will tell. We'll see what happens next year.
Thoughts?
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On 6/6/2021 at 10:01 PM, GHT120 said:
If the Habs were to win the Cup ... I would not be surprised to see MB step away ... unlikely to top that
I don't think that would ever happen. What do former hockey players do after their playing days are over? For most, their first choice is to get a hockey related job. There are 31 GM jobs and slightly less president positions in the NHL so if you have one, and you've finally arrived at a level where you've just had your first genuine hockey success and everyone is talking about how good a job you've done, I don't think you walk away. What is he going to do for the next 15-20 years. Guys like him enjoy the completion and the action. I don't think he's ready to retire. Other than being made president, and if I'm Molson I keep MB where he is best equipped and prepared to be successful, I think MB stays for as long as he can.
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I started this post and I believed what I wrote about DD not coming back as our head coach next year. But I honestly never dreamed they could turn it around against Toronto the way they did. And I never imagined they could sweep Winnipeg in 4.
Like many people I have had a complete reversal in my thinking. The team has come together in his system in a way that none of us would have believed possible. They seem to be playing for him, within his system and it's all working. This is one of the most amazing playoff turn-arounds that any team has experienced for a while. Even St. Louis a few years ago started their run in January, not at the 4 game mark of the playoffs, behind 3-1 in games.
So at this point can anyone say with conviction that DD and MB should not be back next year and have not earned another shot.
At the time I first wrote this post I thought I was right. However now, with the turn of events, I think I was wrong, so I'm certain they will both be back next year, and deservedly so.
You just never know in sports!!
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10 minutes ago, Habsfan89 said:
I think if you look at blowing it up and trading Price no better time then now to unload him to Vancouver. He would wave his NTC to go play at home plus Vancouver has no goaltending.
To Vancouver
Price Montreal eats 2mil of his contract
To habs
2 first round picks And we take on the contracts of Holtby and Eriksson
Interesting, that actually makes sense to me. I didn't do the math, do the contracts even up somewhat?
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Let's hope that Molson is reaching out and asking and receiving some good external advice, Serge Savard or Scotty Bowman, people like that. And you would hope that they will tell him something like the following:
Part 1: it's time to make major changes staring with a new GM. Then make major changes to our current roster. A significant rebuild but keeping the younger players.
Part two: the candidate who gets the job has to give strong evidence in the interviews that he understands that keeping all the veterans isn't the plan. MB wanted to do that and that's why he's not here. The new GM's mandate would be to develop the younger players we have now and trade all the vets for picks or younger pieces to build for the future.
Part 3: we must be willing to drop to the bottom of the pile for a year or two to get high picks along with the picks MB has stockpiled and then communicate that to the fans the way the Rangers did a few years back.
Part 3: don't interview Pierre McGuire. Very nice guy but not enough GM experience for us.
I wonder if that's possible or is in process? Here's hoping....
Coaches: like players, some are NHL quality, some not.
in Habs & Hockey Talk
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This is not to criticize or come down on Dominique Ducharme. In life everyone has at some point just not fit in the position or place they were in and failed. That happened to DD this year coaching the Canadiens.
I've been in many leadership positions in my life and I've seen other people in life be in positions that they really struggled with. Everyone wants to move up to be the "boss" but some people are much better suited to a secondary or assistant position. They struggle when they're the leader and they thrive when they're in another lower position. I think that may describe DD. He may be a great junior coach or a good NHL assistant coach but based on how he did with Montreal this year I don't think he's an NHL head coach. At least not now.
The turnaround with Marty St. Louis has been remarkable. Cole Caufield has returned to what we all thought he was. A goal scorer. The whole team is structured and fun to watch again. Last night when they beat Toronto it was the first full game I've watched all year and you could see their structure and teamwork. It reminded me of how they played in last years playoffs. And it was fun to watch.
I know it's a short sample size but I think they've found gold in MSL. He's a leader, because the players are following him. He's a teacher because the players are listening to him and doing what he's asking of them. He's motivating because they are engaged and clearly having fun again. He's clearly brought the fun back into the game for them.
I feel very confident that with all the changes made since MB and the others were fired we are definitely heading in the right direction and building something that will be once again classy and very competitive. There may be some pain ahead but watching them beat Toronto last night while still missing all the players that are injured, it has to give us confidence. The fun is back. They are worth watching again!!!