tomh009

If Arizona picked up Ruzicka, that means that the Habs passed on him (because we would have had priority over the Coyotes). So, there is clearly no need for a substitute.

I wonder whether the Flames have a C trade in the works, too? Dube is on leave indefinitely, and yet they still waived Ruzicka, so that's both of their 4C options gone.

It really depends. If the #5 BPA is 5% better, for example, (however that's defined!) than the #6 player, and the #6 is a forward, then the forward make sense. But if the gap is big, then I do agree.

In the end, goal differential doesn't matter, wins and losses do. You can lose three games 10-0 in the cup final and still win the cup as long as you win each one of the other games by at least a goal. P.S. Five on five, the Habs are -11, 25th in the league and bad but not ridiculously bad (San Jose is -58). It's the special teams that are particularly bad.

Hopefully St-Louis will be as keen on his own personal development as he was when he was a player. If he is, I could see him succeeding for the longer term, as he certainly has the smarts for that. But if he feels that the development is all on the players, he will not last nearly as long--at least as head coach.

I agree with this 100%.

Xhekaj has taken shifts with all the other D-men so far, with the exception of Struble.

It’ll be more challenging to do the quick change in the second period though…

Assuming he dresses ... Harris is better on the right side than Guhle, I think. (No comparison on the left, though.)

Yes ... Kotkaniemi ... not the right pick, although the Habs have made more disastrous ones, too. And development wasn't good, although Carolina hasn't been able to get much more out of him, either, so unclear what exactly the root cause is.

Savard, Harris and Kovacevic on the right? Guhle is much better on the left side.

Newhook (who may not be ideal at C anyway) isn't ready to come back so the C position is the most baffling. No obvious candidates in this season's face-off stats (which do confirm the strength of our C position in terms of face-offs).

It seems that other people complained, too!

I should think that Bieksa 2.0 would be an achievable ceiling. Weber? That's a much bigger reach. But a Bieksa-level Xhekaj would be a very good outcome indeed.

Of that list on the previous page, only Scherbak, Juulsen and Poehling were first-rounders, and Juulsen was injured before we could really see his ultimate potential. The other two, I personally doubt whether they would have developed even in a better environment. The others were late picks which have a low probability of becoming NHL regulars anyway.

Let's hope his current hot streak lasts long enough for the Rocket, then.

TO add to this: apart from the glory of the promotion to the NHL, there is a very tangible monetary impact, too, on the order of $10K/game. More money for the players promoted, and a substantial penalty for those sent down. I agree that this is not the right thing as a reward.

Mantra? Mmmm. I do think the goaltender wears the same sweater as the rest of the team. Good or bad, he's part of the team. "team is crap but has great goaltending"/"team is great but has crap goaltending" are both invalid in my view, both of those (hypothetical) teams are mediocre when considered as a whole.

Xhekaj for Zegras? OK, maybe… 😂

Not yet. But that said, the goaltender is part of the team, too.

Yeah, it's still the same team. Our young defence has been struggling recently, though, and the Bruins pounced on those defensive issues. Montembeault didn't have a great game but he was really hung out to dry. The sky has not fallen, but some work is clearly needed.

Ha! That's the headline for tonight's 10 Thoughts!

Another solid performance by Kaskisuo, though. An astute signing by Rocket, whoever it was (Habs' scouts?) that suggested him

I'm very, very happy we have St-Louis instead of Roy.

Four of the five goals tipped in ...