tomh009

Cowan's argument is that he should be paid more than Armia--but specifically more than Armia's last contract, which pretty much everyone agrees is an overpay. Evans is a good 3C, but I really think that it's unlikely that he can sign an extension based on just his last 35 games. His last two full seasons were both under 0.4 points/game; counting on the current 0.65 points/game is pretty likely to lead to an overpay.

He's certainly not Hellebuyck. But keep in mind that the save percentage can be skewed down quickly by defensive mistakes.

Montembeault is not elite but he's a credible starter. Measured by GSAx/60, he has been in the top 15 for the past three seasons in spite of occasional bad performances. Our hope is that Dobes, Fowler, Miller, Volokhin or some other future prospect will turn into an actual elite goalie, but Montembeault is a solid starter in the meantime.

I suspect the origins of the policy are with black-and-white TV broadcasts, which are no longer an issue. Don't know whether colourblindness would be significant enough to prevent this. Maybe for cases where teams are red and green?

I think so, too: I expect that this will be just a game or two to give him a taste of NHL, and for the Habs' management to see how he deals with it.

Rimpila didn’t get drafted this year. If he plays this well the rest of the tournament that should not happen next summer.

A great profile by Arpon Basu on The Athletic today. https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6016179/2024/12/26/canadiens-michael-hage-nhl/ For anyone that doesn't think this kid lives and breathes the Habs, here are his parents a little before Michael was born: And playing hockey at a young age:

Another sub-10-minute TOI, another goal for Demidov ... 24 points in 37 games, at about 11 minutes/game. For comparison, Michkov scored 41 points in 47 games, but that was playing over 17 minutes per game--and on the Sochi top line, if I recall correctly.

To be fair, I don't think Reinbacher was drafted over Michkov due to the position he plays. But I do agree with the BPA policy unless there are multiple options at the same level.

This does describe most high-end offensive defencemen, though! 😂

The commentators (Galley?) were saying that it was basically an open net. But Greaves did exactly the right thing both times with his pad, and at the right time, and the puck was really too close to the pad to easily lift it over. Yeah, yeah, shoot it at an angle to the right side to avoid the pad ... easy to say but making that decision in a fraction of a second, not so easy.

Also ... Hughes was just in Russia to see Demidov, so the Evans extension may be something that is on the agenda for after the holidays. Of course, it's also possible that they have decided to go with Beck/Kapanen, and the recent Evans performance just improves the asking price for Evans at TDL.

We were significantly better five-on-five last year. It's not obvious to me why we are struggling now, as compared to last season.

I think it's really, really, really early to anoint Demidov as untouchable. He looks good in KHL video clips but he has yet to play an NHL game. And even Hutson has only played 30-odd games. Fowler is not necessarily untouchable but clearly the trade didn't meet Hughes's criteria.

If they can't come to an agreement before that I expect that he'll be available at TDL. Same for Armia.

He’ll be 24 next season and less than two years since signing the contract so he should still be exempt.

That must be Toe Blake, right?

Will wait for your stats graphic but Carrier looked very solid, and moneypuck had him at 0ver 90% xGF.

Not just more than 30, they went all out and shot 33 times at the net!

The PK is good once again ... but too many penalties is not so good.

That's life in the cap world. Need to maintain a solid prospect pipeline (partly by trading veterans for picks or young players) so that you can have a significant chunk of your roster on ELCs.

Carrier did pretty well in his first period for the Habs.

Even-strength play, Eiserman 4g in 16 games, Hage 8g in 15 games. Pre-draft, Eiserman was touted as the "best natural goal-scorer in the draft" so Hage is looking pretty good.

It's actually worse if you look at GSAx/60, which effectively looks at how many goals saved (allowed) per game. This is filtered for goalies that have played at least six games (about 20%).

Only 2:36 TOI in the third period? 😮