tomh009

O ye of little faith!

Outshot 14-8 by Belleville in the first, largely thanks to four penalties. Now 2-1 nearing the end of the second on goals by Evans and Varone (PPG). Shots 22-12 for Belleville so far.

Unless he’s willing to sign a (reasonable) extension before the trade deadline.

And that's four assists for Petry this afternoon.

That's what it's looking like. And, like Kotkaniemi, I think this is the right decision. Both of them can benefit from time in Laval -- and hopefully from a Rocket run to the playoffs.

And you don't think Armia can win puck battles? Have you been watching the same games I have?

I suspect not. It'll be a disappointment to be sure, but he's smart enough to understand why the Habs did it. And if he takes advantage of the opportunity, whether it's for six games or the rest of the season, he'll become a better player for it.

Armia. Tatar. Lehkonen. Petry. Scandella. Suzuki. We do have players who are not afraid to get make contact and fight for the puck.

Serves us right for posting too early! 😆

3-0 Belleville after the second. It's not one of Primeau's prime games: three goals scored on 13 shots. Only one of them on power play, although the third was just 10 seconds after the end of a Rocket penalty.

1-0 Belleville after the first; Belleville scored on a power play after a Kevin Lynch penalty.

Are they starting to set the Rocket up for a playoff run?

The QMJHL commissioner has come out in support of the ECHL option, and also believes that ECHL and UQTR can easily share the facility: https://www.lenouvelliste.ca/sports/gilles-courteau-suggere-la-echl-pour-le-nouveau-colisee-de-trois-rivieres-ae9f8ca4a0332aa580d5340aca992b77

Non-zero, sure. A realistic one, no.

Our playoff chances might be up to 5% after this!

Always the "real jersey" for me ...

I think that lineup is from nhl.com, which reports ... Scratched: Jordan Weal, Jesperi Kotkaniemi Injured: Paul Byron (upper body), Jonathan Drouin (wrist)

I think in the long term Suzuki is a centre. But in the short (and possibly even medium) term, having him on Domi's wing is the strongest combination. It's too early to make a call on Kotkaniemi, I think. While Laval makes sense to me, too, if that's not an option, having Poehling on Kotkaniemi's wing is a potential win, getting the two young guys to know each other and play together is a good thing. And, yes, absolutely yes, on Danault.

We are not going to be challenging for the cup next year, no matter which path we choose. Both Petry and Tatar will be UFAs at the end of next year, and as we're unlikely to be able to extend them (I expect we'll want to resign Gallagher, Danault and Armia, plus Kotkaniemi and Lehkonen as RFAs) the time to trade them is either now, or in June.

Could we trade Tatar to the Stars at deadline for a couple of defensive prospects, or a prospect and a pick? Dallas is quite deep on D but needs some scoring. And with our D strengthened, look for the right deal for Petry?

The challenge with those two impact prospects we would like is that they are not guaranteed to become impact players, either. If they are solid top-end prospects, maybe we could assume one out of the two will. Of course we could get lucky and both will, but we could also be unlucky and neither one turns into the player we are expecting. That said ... between Tatar and Petry, if we only traded one, I think it should be Tatar. Simply because our depth situation up front (especially once we get into next season) is significantly better than our defensive depth.

Suzuki may be better at C than Domi (thought still in his rookie season). But Suzuki is much better than Domi at W. So if only one of them is to play C, you get the better combination by playing Domi at C and Suzuki at W, since Suzuki can still be effective in either position, while Domi seems to struggle much more as a winger.

Yes ... we do appear to have a spare C, unless we play Suzuki on the wing (which he admittedly does rather well, too). And I do agree with your assessment that if we were to trade one of them, it would be either Domi or Poehling. I do expect that Domi would fetch a higher price as he is proven and can bring a more immediate benefit.

It's always nice when the numbers confirm the eye test.

Definitely true. I would say they are not doing well in this area, but whether they are actually the worst is open to discussion.