tomh009

He looked good for a while, but the reality is not all late first-rounders ever become NHL regulars. Dobber's projection is now down to a fourth-liner with a possibility of a third-liner.

I do recall that now. Ugh. Had managed to wipe that memory ... ☹️ As for Halak, I think he might be pretty close to what Allen is: an excellent 1B guy. I don't think I would want to count on either one for 55-60 games (in a normal season).

Khudobin has an NTC -- does that not apply for the expansion draft? He would surely be one of the more attractive options as well for a #1 or #1A goalie -- much better value than Quick, I think. Add Vanecek as an inexpensive #2 or #1B to that.

Stutzle can take credit for Kulak's penalty this afternoon, with another Sens player there would never have been a high stick to penalize. Chiarot's got a team-leading 26 minutes but 10 of those are for fighting majors. I'm more concerned about the wide spread of minors throughout the roster. Of our regular skaters, only four (Armia, Byron, Lehkonen and Petry) have just a single penalty each to date, everyone else has been to the box at least twice, and most of them significantly more than that.

I think it’s really hard judging actual team depth based on prospects that are at 20 or below on the depth chart. Most of these players will never be NHL regulars, and many might never pull on a Habs sweater. There are some here that we can hope will make it — like Ikonen — but, really, the odds are very long for them. The key is the top half of the prospect chart, that’s where we really need to have depth (and presumably do).

He's very fragile, it seems ...

It was indeed good for the first. But 27 by the Sens to just 13 in the next two periods. Glad to get out of this one with two points.

At least they called Chabot on holding. That was blatant -- and even more stupid than Chiarot's penalty.

I figured you would come through on this one!

Yeah, still a penalty. But definitely some showmanship by Stutzle ... I can't really blame Kulak for this one.

Did Stutzle lift up Kulak's stick to get the call? Am I imagining things?

It's still early in the season but he looks to be on a totally different level than the backups we've hard recently. Ki ... Ni ... Li ... I already forget what those guys' names were!

And it would get Perry that much closer to having to clear waivers again.

Did Suzuki get thrown out of the PP faceoffs twice? Or did Julien send Drouin and Toffoli in to take those in the first place? (No chance to watch the first period..)

Ikonen 0g+1a in a 3-2 win over Kalpa. Still playing 3C but up to 17:14 TOI now. And 61% on faceoffs.

I think this is what you really meant ...

Just like the other discussions, I think the sample size is too small.

Scott Wheeler (The Athletic) has been posting his rankings of each NHL team's prospects (ranked within each team only). The Habs' pipeline is ranked sixth this year, down from second last year, which I found a bit surprising, considering that there are no significant graduations (top 11 prospects are still there) and the number of prospects are up from 15 to 20. We did lose Juulsen but he was injured in last year's rankings anyway. Neverthless, here are the rankings, including his tiers. I have added last year's ranks where applicable. Notable changes are drops for Harris (2nd to 5th), Struble (4th to 9th), Poehling (5th to 11th), Ylonen (8th to 16th) and Brook (9th to 12th). Harvey-Pinard has climbed from tier 4 to tier 3. Tier 1: 1. Caufield (1.) Tier 2: 2. Romanov (3.) 3. Mysak 4. Guhle 5. Harris (2.) 6. Primeau (6.) 7. Norlinder (7.) 8. Farrell 9. Struble (4.) Tier 3: 10. Hillis (10.) 11. Poehling (5.) 12. Brook (9.) 13. Fairbrother (inj) 14. Tuch 15. Pitlick (11.) 16. Ylonen (T2:8.) 17. Harvey-Pinard (T4:14.) Tier 4: 18. Stapley (15.) 19. Olofsson (inj) 20. Biondi HM. Ikonen (inj) HM. Teasdale (inj) Wheeler, too, has significantly downgraded his ranking of Poehling, but between Mysak and Hillis, we still have some options at C. And a ton of options at LD, some of whom will surely end up being traded. I'm looking forward to seeing Norlinder on this side of the pond, though!

Maybe another Toffoli and another Anderson would be better. If those were available. And if Price were willing to leave. But neither one is likely to be the case so I think this argument is moot.

This.

I tuned in late for the start of the game -- and I thought I had the wrong channel! Ottawa and the Rangers? What?

I don't gamble, sports or otherwise.😁 But Don's 55% probability of Habs winning the division is quite plausible. It's far from a guarantee -- 45% probability that they do not! -- but his model has the Habs as the favourites for the division, based on games to date.

I think Dom's model is a bit better than a wild-ass guess. But it is indeed still very early. After another 10 games (includes three against the Leafs and two against the Jets) we'll have a much better idea of where we really stand.

I didn't think IR had a cap impact, only LTIR. Or am I confused on this?

It's worth noting, though, that so far the Jets and Leafs have played each other ... exactly once. The way the schedule works out, the (likely) top teams will not play each other heavily until the second half of the season. That said, Dom Luszczyszyn's model is now projecting the Habs to finish at the top of the division with 75 points. 55% probability to win the division.