tomh009

On yesterday's Basu & Godin podcast, Basu mentioned that he had chatted with Mikko Koivu (who is in Montreal for the 4 Nations) about Aatos. Apparently Aatos missed more than a month of hockey because of a bad throat (I think) infection and it has taken him more time yet to get up to speed, so that at least partly explains his low production this year. (TPS, his team, is also second last in the Liiga so there is not much scoring happening anyway.)

Agree on that!

Final xG was roughly 5-3 for the US. Defensive breakdowns for Finland, as Commandant pointed out, and Hellebuyck played a solid game after allowing the opening goal.

Matthews diving ... what a shocker.

This game is looking like NHL playoff hockey ... none of this crazy wide-open stuff!

That's a single shot and 55% xGF on the two US power plays so far.

It looked like Guentzel was falling down all on his own on that penalty call ...

Seven minutes into the second period, the Finns are outshooting the US 3-0 in the period. 😮

They've rarely had the top players in any tournament. Their strength is playing as a team. Whether that will be enough remains to be seen ...

The Finns are definitely not pushovers so far.

At some point we will need to start finding openings for young players, too: Demidov is surely a lock, but at least some of Roy, Beck, Kapanen, Hage, Mesar and Xhekaj will need to find a spot on the roster sooner or later. Or else they'll become AHL trade fodder.

A rough game for Primeau after his stellar AHL start: five goals against on 20 shots. Although even if it were only one, the Rocket would still have lost ...

His shot (and the "shot IQ" that makes it lethal) is still there. What we can't tell yet is whether he can return the rest of his game to a higher level. As Commandant implies, we should learn that next season.

Even excluding the pending UFAs, we have Gallagher (32), Anderson and Matheson (30), Carrier and Montembeault (28) and Laine (26). And Suzuki will be 26 when next season starts, with over 400 games under his belt.

Including Czechs and Slovaks would really have required extending it to non-NHL players. And Russians are going to be pariahs as long as their aggression in Ukraine drags on. But this should be significantly more interesting than an all-star game, with some real intensity.

Dvorak+Armia should still be a strong PK pair, so that's good. If we only trade Evans (of the forwards) that will make room for either Kapanen or Beck, plus whatever space created by injuries. If Armia is gone, too, then we might see one of Beck/Kapanen at C, and the other one on the wing. Would having two good-quality rookies be much worse than signing a bottom-six veteran?

The good thing about Dvorak is that is very low risk: we know exactly what he is and what he can and cannot do. If the price is right ...

Career earnings of $25M vs $8M to date. That's why Evans will be keen on a big contract whereas Armia can be more flexible (should he choose to be).

Perfect for the AHL, I would say. I can't see him back in a Habs sweater this year at least.

Maybe retention, or maybe taking back an expiring contract.

Arpon Basu is suggesting (based on talking to an unnamed NHL exec) that a package of Evans+Armia would bring a first-rounder or maybe more.

Arpon Basu posted the full quote. Evans used the past tense at first, and then caught himself and changed to present tense. I think he's already seeing his Habs career in the rear-view mirror ...

Well, almost. Habs can offer an extension now, Dvorak will either take it or leave it (and try his luck as a UFA). He won't see other offers until July, though.

It looks that way for Evans, based on his comments. Let's see what happens with Armia (and Dvorak) ...

Habs have lost four out of the last five games. But they have had an xGF% of over 50 in four of those games. Regression to the mean 😊 says they will start scoring sometime in the future. And other teams will trade away players at TDL as well.