tomh009

I don't think it's an excuse: at 19, Kotkaniemi is simply not as far along the development curve. How much of the performance difference is because of that, I can't say. But a 19-year-old body is indeed still developing.

One thing to keep in mind is that Tkachuk is almost a year older than Kotkaniemi.

It's a bit curious. Before his injury, he was viewed pretty highly in spite of not having been drafted, and he played a respectable 2018-2019 season. But the Canucks didn't extend a qualifying offer, and then things went very quiet for five months. Either no one was interested (due to the injury, perchance) or else McEneny was holding off for a higher paycheque. He made almost $700K last year, not much by NHL standards but a lot more than most AHL players are making.

This. The current team (even excluding Drouin and Byron) has demonstrated that it can play better than it has in the last two games. It's not a huge gap to a point where we could have taken three or four points from these last two games. Even if they only fix some of these: A few fewer defensive miscues (Chiarot ...) A few fewer OT errors (Tatar, Suzuki ...) A bit better goaltending (Price, on Tuesday ...) A bit more driving to the net (Domi ...) A bit more confidence/assertiveness (Kotkaniemi ...) A bit more discipline in the last minute of each period (the entire team)

Well, at least we'll get the charity point out of this. On to 3-on-3 it is now.

35 shots for the Rocket was not enough as Hutchinson only allowed a single goal. And Kenny Agostino put the puck behind Lindgren in OT to give the Marlies a 2-1 win.

And even better, Belzile is back on the ice.

Didn't allow a goal at the end of the period ... although giving up that breakaway with 30 seconds left was pretty much inexcusable.

😢

Generally when most people talk about "depth" in the context of an NHL team's farm system, they are not talking about top-line forwards or top-pairing defencemen. Those players would be in the NHL already. Depth, for most teams, is having players that can make a contribution on the third or fourth line when the parent club is depleted by an injury or a suspension.

I actually changed my mind sometime in the last week, after an article in the Athletic, where they looked what was different between last season's Leafs and this year's edition. The answer? The top forwards are not shooting, and far more of the shots are from the point, not from the front of the net. Before: After: The difference? Dave Hakstol. Not Babcock. Hakstol. And Hakstol has done similar things at other teams, so the Leafs' change is not an aberration (for him). And given that Keefe is new to the NHL, I bet that Hakstol's influence (and the Leafs' struggles) will remain.

Four-minute PP for Ottawa to start ... but I believe we outshot the Sens 3-1 during those four minutes!

Assuming it's not sulking, that might work. Suzuki seems to be very flexible and can be effective at either centre or wing.

I think Bouchard really runs a four-line system, he does not concentrate all the top forwards on the first line. So I don’t think being on the fourth line is as bad as it first looks.

Who does, apart from St Louis and Colorado? Only a handful of teams have better farm systems than we do.

Our prospect pool (in the farm system) is ranked sixth by both ESPN and the Athletic. St Louis is #3. Pittsburgh is #23. Boston is #27. Calgary is #31. Colorado is #2. Dallas is #24. Winnipeg is #28. Apart from the Blues and the Avalanche, those teams do not have stronger pools to draw from. I disagree on a LW panic move. I hope Bergevin is staying focused on finding a top LD for us, that will make a bigger impact than emergency top-six winger. And we don't have cap space for both.

Five high-danger scoring chances for each team. Two goals is not great but five goals on five high-danger chances is a lot. Defensive faux-pas and unlucky bounces, yes, but Price has not been at his best tonight, either. (Being at his best would mean covering for the defensive errors.)

Not much Price could have done on that. But it's starting to look pretty grim now.

That is just ... bad luck. Although the initial giveaway (who was that?) was the root cause.

They could have actually scored in the last minute, on the PP. But I think that would have just been too extreme ...

And Armia!

NHL GM meetings are coming up — this is typically where the in-season trade action starts picking up.

Adding that much-needed LD would make a bigger difference even during Drouin's recovery. And more so after Drouin returns.

Montreal Canadiens: Tomas Tatar - Phillip Danault - Brendan Gallagher Max Domi - Nick Suzuki - Joel Armia Artturi Lehkonen - Jesperi Kotkaniemi - Jordan Weal Charles Hudon - Nate Thompson - Nick Cousins Ben Chiarot - Shea Weber Victor Mete - Jeff Petry Brett Kulak - Cale Fleury Carey Price Keith Kinkaid Scratched: Mike Reilly, Christian Folin Injured: Jonathan Drouin (wrist), Paul Byron (knee) Columbus Blue Jackets: Sonny Milano - Pierre-Luc Dubois - Emil Bemstrom Alexandre Texier - Riley Nash - Cam Atkinson Gustav Nyquist - Boone Jenner - Oliver Bjorkstrand Eric Robinson - Alexander Wennberg - Josh Anderson Zach Werenski - Seth Jones Vladislav Gavrikov - David Savard Ryan Murray - Dean Kukan Joonas Korpisalo Elvis Merzlikins Scratched: Markus Hannikainen, Scott Harrington Injured: Brandon Dubinsky (wrist), Markus Nutivaara (upper body), Kole Sherwood (oblique) Suspended: Nick Foligno

Geoff Molson (see quote above on this page) said 6-8 weeks. We'll see where it ends up. It was great to see that they got him in for arthroscopic surgery (probably at a private clinic) the very first day, no further time lost.