tomh009

I do have to assume that the injuries (and all the injury replacements, from Kovalchuk down to the AHL journeymen) do impact the team's ability to play with Julien's system. The newer players have no experience with it, so the system falls apart. And we give the opposition glorious scoring opportunities, which they are more than pleased to take advantage of.

The Corsi percentage is clear ... 1st period: 74% 2nd period: 54% 3rd period: 43% And, on top of that, they were able to finish their opportunities better than the Habs were.

If you're going to tank, might as well tank thoroughly.

True ... but the second one was off a skate, was it not?

Yeah, it's an unlucky deflection. But we can't blame the other two goals on bad luck.

To reduce glare? Or something else?

So many goalie masks are super busy and full of tiny details. This one has impact.

It would have been nice if Price had stopped that one.

Danault is not helping the lottery odds!

Is Chiarot just getting some rest? Or is he, too, injured?

Not to worry, we have a track record with Ottawa!

The Athletic's recent mid-season review had him just outside the top five.

Don't know Hayton, really. But it'd be a shame to trade Gallagher. But admittedly I'd still think it would be a shame to trade him, even if we got McDavid in return. 😁

I have a hard time seeing NJ take this. They are not ready to contend, either, so it seems like Price would not be a good fit for them.

Yes, Thompson is a decent fourth-line forward and doesn't cost much. Scandella I would ideally like to keep but only if we were about to get a reasonable-cost contract with not too much term. He's 29 already so don't want any six-year contract. Otherwise, a fourth-round pick is better than nothing at all.

Apparently other teams were interested but wanted to wait. Montreal was the only one who was offering one now.

Gardiner didn't want to play in Montreal. And that's probably a good thing, even if we miss playoffs again this year.

C) What was this issue in LA, why was he sitting in the press box? Clearly he is capable of playing still.

Agreed. The plan Bergevin is executing on is actually Molson's plan.

Domi 24 Lehkonen 24 Drouin 24 Danault 26 Armia 26 These guys are good and will not be over the hill in, say, three years.

I think the list will be longer than that, this won’t be a full scorched-earth rebuild. We have strong young core, it’s just not quite enough — or soon enough.

Well ... Lindgren played a decent game tonight. If he could keep that up, I'd be happy with a Lindgren-Primeau tandem.

Ouch! So it was, sorry!

To have a chance, I think we would need 94 points, same as last year. That would be 51 points in 38 games. Yes, a rather tall order, especially as we are still missing Gallagher, Armia and Drouin for a while. I've personally written off this season now. I'll try to enjoy the moments (Lehkonen breakaway, Kovalchuk pass etc) but otherwise look forward to June.

Should we be lucky enough to draft in the top four, just take the best player available. Although we do have a lot of centres at the moment ...