tomh009
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Posts posted by tomh009
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1 hour ago, alfredoh2009 said:
Guhle is excellent, Xhekaj is better than anyone expected but no better than a 6-7 on a cup winning team once he matures; same for Kovacevic, 6-7 D on a cup winning team.
I am not sold on Harris. He has been good most nights but seems to respond poorly to physical play and pressure when targeted by other teams.
The other ads are “meh” to me. Ok second pair Ds with strengths and weaknesses but not top pairing Ds on any cup winning team.
Guhle, Harris, Kovacevic and Xhekaj are all rookies. It's not unreasonable to expect them to develop and improve yet; some will improve a lot, others may stagnate, of course. I am quite pleased how well the rookie defence corps has played overall, even if that includes some lows as well as highs. Many of us were expecting a defensive dumpster fire this season, and that has not been the case, credit to the rookies who have more than held their own. Hope they will continue their progression yet.
As for 6D/7D on a cup-winning team, different cup-winning teams are built differently, and not all of them have six stud D-men. At the moment, I think Kovacevic and Xhekaj are the least of our problems.
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1 hour ago, alfredoh2009 said:
I don’t think the French factor is a factor anymore and I do not think coaching would have made them more experienced. But experienced coaching may have brought better ice time (shift) management, better structure or in-ice support and better management of matchups
We are developing the coaching, too.
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6 minutes ago, alfredoh2009 said:
I heard the same and Anthony Marcotte has made similar comments to the dire state of the Ds in Laval.
I do not understand how the Habs are handling Ds’ development not with the NHL team
Injust don’t know
Those are two different issues. There are few D prospects in Laval since most of them are playing with the Habs (see my earlier post) and you can develop prospects that are not on the team. They would only be able to work with Barron (who has done pretty well in Laval) and Norlinder, that's it.
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14 minutes ago, GHT120 said:
Help how?
They are not going to trade for players with NHL contracts just to play in Laval ... they only have 4 contract slots available ... short of sending down Harris, WiFi or Kovacevic, the most they could do right now likely would be to send down Barron and call up whichever of Norlinder, Trudeau or Schueneman is playing the least to be the 7D with the Habs ... which would not be good for the call-up but might reinforce The Rocket.Well, not all bad, that player would be making about $10K per game for being on the NHL roster, rather than $1K. So there is that.
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I wouldn't quite write off Barron, Norlinder or Ylonen yet. But especially the defensive corps is thin in Laval because the Habs needed four-plus of the rookie defencemen. In another situation, Harris and Xhekaj would probably have started their seasons in Laval.
And, as I recall, Kovacevic is not waivers-exempt so he will not be sent down.
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Management priority is the Canadiens, not the Rocket, that's the way it's always been and likely always will be.
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22 minutes ago, DON said:
But I have nothing positive to say about any player today: sad 😪
Xhekaj & Slafkovsk & Montembault i thought played fine. Dont remember Harris have any brain cramps, Suzuki & Caufield had 9 shots which is great to see.
Dadonov, Evans and Armia had four high-danger scoring chances for, and none against so that confirms solid play by that line.
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Looking for the bright spots, the Dadonov-Evans-Armia line had another strong game, at least relatively speaking. It seems that this combination works better than anything St-Louis has tried before with these three.
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1 hour ago, dlbalr said:
He didn't look great in that period although he didn't exactly have a lot of help in his defence.
A solid second and third period, though. Finished the game with below expected goals against.
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It's the curse of the reverse retro sweaters.
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5 minutes ago, hab29RETIRED said:
Those two and Anderson are about the only two that can bring a decent return - although Anderson would be harder to move in-season cap-wise.
Anderson could be very attractive to a playoff-bound team looking for increased physical presence. Maybe.
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Allen is listed day to day, so you may not have had quite all your wishes fulfilled.
On the other hand, I look forward to a few starts by Montembeault to see whether his last two starts (7 goals at Florida and 6 at Nashville) are an aberration or the start of a trend.
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Love Subban or hate him, he never made the decision to leave the Habs, that was a team decision, so I can't see how "traitor" would be an appropriate word.
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10 minutes ago, GHT120 said:
I expect they tried but Pastrnak bet on himself.
A huge problem for the Bruins. If they can't sign him, the best they'll be able to do is trade his negotiating rights after the playoffs, and it won't get them much.
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1 hour ago, Habs Fan in Edmonton said:
I figure Florida has to go something like 27-12-2 to make the playoffs. That would give them 96 points. The odds are against it but you never know. Every loss gets us closer to another lottery pick. Then it will really be time to cross fingers and toes when they draw the lottery balls.
Even without a lottery win, a second top-10 pick in this year’s draft is a superb return for Chiarot.
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4 hours ago, hab29RETIRED said:
Yeah that’s one of our “we need to trade the winger’s line”😁
It'll good if they start producing, whether we trade Armia or keep him, either way we need him to show value for the contract.
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4-2 loss, in spite of outshooting the Marlies 58-17. Goaltending has been a Laval weak point this year.
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1 hour ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:
Dandonov seemed to have an extra burst of speed last night that I haven’t seen from him before. If he keeps that up, we may be able to get something for him.
The Dadonov-Evans-Armia line really seems to be working well together. Let's hope this is just the beginning ...
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18 minutes ago, dlbalr said:
They've already changed the goal to Anderson.
Drouin did deserve that one, it would have crossed the line with or without Anderson. Hopefully this one is still enough to release some of the mental pressure for not having scored yet.
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2 hours ago, Habs Fan in Edmonton said:
I agree and I also like that analogy. He is on pace for 10 goals and 28 points, no bad for a rookie defensemen who was supposed to spend the year in Laval. I think Arber is the perfect 3rd pairing defensemen who can play up on occasion. He has never been drafted at any level but has proven people wrong because of his work ethic and dedication. I am cheering for him.
I also think his hockey IQ is higher than anyone expected -- expectations based on play in the OHL. He makes a lot of good plays, much more so than in junior where he could just rely on brawn.
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Armia finally got the monkey off his back. The third line appears to have generated significantly more scoring chances tonight than the other three lines.
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Two goals within a minute ... what happened? (No TSN here, alas)
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A grand total of 10 shots in the first, so not particularly exciting.
On the upside, the Habs have not been blown out yet, at least.
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Gentlemen, (@Commandantand @TurdBurglar) disagreements are fine but personal attacks cross the line. Please cease and desist immediately; set each other on ignore if need be, but this needs to be the end of the name-calling.
I will delete anything in that vein.
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Game #41 - Team Tank v.s. Seattle Kraken
in Habs & Hockey Talk
Posted
We may be surprised by who will or will not be traded. Another team's GM will have his own vision of his needs and gaps, and how he might be able to address them. And someone on the Habs may be able to fit such a gap, even if we don't see it from our perspective.