tomh009

2-1 Springfield in the second. Contrary to the Rocket’s usual goalie rotation, Kinkaid is taking a second straight start, so maybe they really are trying to get him into shape for playing with a CH sweater again.

Because the other guys have been worse (and some have games in hand).

D stats scoresheet for tonight's game: Fleury (11:37 TOI): 64% CF, scoring chances 5:2, high-danger chances 1:1, 0 Leskinen (10:21): 62%, SC 3:2, HDC 1:2, -1 Petry (19:45): 53%, SC 10:7, HDC 5:3, +1 Chiarot (22:58): 52%, SC 10:7, HDC 3:3, +1 Weber (20:31) 46%, SC 10:9, HDC 2:5, +1 Kulak (20:13) 46%, SC 13:11, HDC 4:6, 0 Solid TOI for Chiarot! Weber giving up too many high-danger chances but not terrible. Leskinen's numbers are far better than Olofsson's so far. But he and Fleury still not getting that many shifts in the second and third, whether because of the goal against or because Juliet wanted to play the top two pairs.

Sixth at the moment, but only two points behind Mikheyev in fourth.

Well! I never ...

Was he the only D on the ice? Four forwards (plus Leskinen) got a -1 on that goal.

A chain of events, as usual.

Weber lost Makar, yes, but Thompson should have prevented Graves from getting to the rebound. There is enough blame for both to get a decent share.

Interesting ... Julien has shuffled the first two lines, presumably to get Domi going again.

On the first goal, Thompson should have covered Graves, so I don’t think we should pin that entirely on the defence corps.

Lehkonen did score five goals in the November of our nightmares...

Yes, I would go with either Vejdemo or Belzile. They are more ready, I think, and Poehling needs the time in Laval.

I didn't have a chance to watch the game but Leskinen's stats look much better than Olofsson's did. Does that match what you guys saw on tonight?

Gallagher, Danault, Lehkonen, Armia all exhibit that commitment. And it shows in the advanced stats.

Are they much better? A month ago we were actually a point ahead of them in the standings. They are not the Bruins or the Caps, we should have a decent chance against them if we play our game, and Primeau is decent. Not stellar, just decent.

November was pretty much an unmitigated disaster for the Habs, with injuries to Drouin, Byron and Mete, and subpar performances throughout resulting in an eight-game losing streak. Prior to the streak, we were in second place in the division, and the playoffs looked reachable. And then the wheels came off ... Shockingly, we did not lose all that much ground as many of our direct competitors struggled as well. Look where we are: Atlantic: 2nd: Florida (has 1 game on hand): 1 point ahead of the Habs (5-5-0 in the last 10) 3rd: Buffalo (0 GoH): 1 point ahead (4-4-2) 5th: Toronto (2 games more played): tied with the Habs (4-6-0) 6th: Tampa Bay (3 GoH): 1 point behind the Habs (5-4-1) Metropolitan wild-card: 4th: Pittsburgh (0 GoH): 4 points ahead (5-3-2) 5th: Carolina (0 GoH): 3 points ahead (6-4-0) 6th: Rangers (2 GoH): 1 point behind (5-4-1) Our record is 2-5-3 in the last 10, but we actually lost no more than five points of ground to anyone (Pittsburgh and Carolina), four points to TB and three to Florida and Buffalo. I'd say the season is not lost yet, in spite of the atrocious losing streak. It's certainly more difficult than it was before, but it's likely no more difficult than it was on the first day of the season. The question is whether the last game was a real turning point (rather than a false spring), and whether the team can move forward from here. And how well we can deal with the ongoing injuries ...

Evans 😪

An awesome shot of all the captains at centre ice.

If someone is willing to give up a top LD it will likely be because they have depth at LD and players ready to step up. So I think most likely our trade chips (for a top LD) would not be lesser LD players, but either players in other positions (where the other team has a need), or picks/prospects further away.

Honka may not be the right choice, I can agree with that (I was just throwing a few names out there). But beyond Fleury, what we have is a promising AHL prospect (Brook) and a somewhat fragile prospect (who has admittedly looked pretty good in the NHL). That's not a solid NHL line-up yet, so we may yet need to be looking for RD as well. But that's all assuming that Bergevin chooses the rebuild route, which is not a given yet.

If we trade Petry and Weber, who do we have on RD? If we have a lot more depth on RD, somehow I have missed it.

Kinkaid has a .875 record this year, with very limited playing time. Price is .898, Saros .891 and Bobrovsky .884. So where is the dividing line for human garbage? OK, we have different opinions, let's just accept that. Kinkaid is on his way to Laval, so no need to argue this one any more.

Before the season, a lot of people, here and on the Athletic, were saying that Price should be playing no more than 50-55 games in the regular season to avoid exhaustion toward the end. He's currently on track for 67 starts. Yes, that is the death spiral. Very difficult to get out of that. But it is a factor: it's much easier for a backup to play 35-40% of the games than 18%.

Honka not available for this year, as dlbalr says. He's always been on the small side, and he has never been a big scorer, even in junior -- by far, most of his points are assists. But in spite of those, he did get drafted 14th overall. You can read a 2014 scouting report here, and it's pretty much what Habs Fan said. https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2106352-julius-honka-prospect-profile-for-dallas-stars-1st-round-pick As to RHD, if we were to be trading our veterans (Weber and/or Petry), we'll need young D on the right side as well. It's not just which players we'd like to have wearing a Habs sweater, but also which ones can be pried loose from their current teams. Honka and Gostisbehere look like they are available. Not many other young top-four D are.

I did believe that he would be an upgrade, and hopefully be able to provide stable backup goaltending. It hasn't worked out that way so far. But one factor working against Kinkaid, and Niemi before him, and possibly Primeau next, is the way Julien utilizes backup goaltenders, with 1-2 week gaps between games. It's much harder for a goalie to keep focus and rhythm when playing only 2-3 times per month.