tomh009

Guhle is a keeper, for sure. And, overall, our D has been a very pleasant surprise. Some people think that Xhekaj would be demoralized in Laval but I think that's highly unlikely. He's been undrafted twice, and worked at Costco to get money for training during COVID. Making space for Matheson (for now) is unlikely to hurt his determination to succeed.

Defensive mistakes combined with goaltending mistakes -- this is what many of us were expecting to see regularly, before the season started. Surprisingly, both defence and goaltending have been better than expected this season, but last night it was not the case.

Not one of the prettier Habs games I have seen. But I'll give this much to St-Louis: he has taken the quit out of this team.

This is the first game, I think, that our D has really looked like a bunch of rookies. And, oddly, it took the last-place team to do that.

Liljegren is mostly playing third pairing today but is this really enough of a D upgrade for the Leafs for them to take the deal? And if Liljegren is good, he'll be needing a big raise in a year and a half. I would suggest we start the package with someone like Topi Niemela, still 20yo and playing (well) in Finland. Helps our RHD prospect pipeline but more so in a few years, and his expensive years are much further out than Liljegren.

Richard looks to be working out well, though. Does he still have NHL bottom-six potential or is this his ceiling?

Well, Hugo could also send waiver-eligible players to Laval if they really wanted to tank. But, yes, this is a GM decision, not coach.

It could. Most draft picks come without any guarantees, though.

If Dach works out at C, that should give us the 1C/2C combination we need.

And that's going to happen from time to time even to the best players. This is where the other lines need to step up their game.

If we are looking for creative ways to tank ... we could send Caufield, Slafkovsky, Guhle, Harris and Xhekaj to Laval, and bring up five AHL players in trade. And, no, I'm not actually suggesting that we do that ...

3) Edmundson and Savard. Trading them would really expose the young D. However, it would likely also have a detrimental effect of those young D. So, yes, goaltending is the easiest way (pre-deadline), either by trading Allen or having him start too many games (too much work has not been ideal for Allen in the past). However, both Allen and Montembeault are signed beyond this season so this really doesn't look likely.

Those percentages are way too generous, too. Even without trading away veterans I can't see that the Habs' playoff chances would be above 10%, certainly not 49%.

Agree 100% with all of this.

Just a kid ... living with his mom. I don't think it hurt his development in the sense of getting sufficient exposure and getting instruction and coaching. But where he didn't develop so much, I think, was mental and emotional maturity. Compare this to Slafkovsky, who left home at 17 to play pro hockey in a strange country and an even stranger language.

Pronman's redraft (in the Athletic) last month had Caufield at 7 (and Dach at 10). Forwards ahead of them were Hughes at 1, Zegras at 3, Cozens at 4, Boldy at 6 and Kaliyev at 8. I think Caufield would have been a great pick even at 7 ... and quite possibly better than Cozens and Boldy, at least.

It could be, it could be. But we know that the other 14 chose NOT to pick Caufield, which most of them will be regretting now.

I'm quoting a five-year old post here ... why? First, I think our (non-AHL) prospect pool is way stronger now than it was back then, with Roy, Kidney, Beck, Mesar, Mailloux and others, not to mention the kids playing in Laval and Montreal. And second ... the reality check: just because they look good in junior doesn't mean they will make the big leagues. We were excited about Bitten, Walford and Tyszka, all of them fizzled. Ikonen's injuries slammed his door shut. Fleury is struggling to break into a regular role with the Kraken. Evans and Poehling are the only ones that appear to be on track for a steady NHL career, and both will be in the bottom six.

Well ... 14 other teams had Caufield "fall in their laps", too, but none of them chose to pick him. So, Bergevin and Timmins do deserve some credit, at least, for that choice. And, yes, St-Louis is absolutely better for development than Ducharme was.

Icing on the cake: that was Petry that could not block the pass over to Hoffman.

My bet is that they'll carry eight D-men on the roster for now. Not ideal, but better than the 15 forwards they had initially.

It was a pretty enjoyable game, Richard winning it for the Rocket on a breakaway just before the end of three-on-three OT. The skill level difference was most visible in OT, as both teams rather struggled to maintain control of the puck. Oh, and nice work by Poulin to keep the Rocket in the game.

With Barron still in the Box, Richard was called for tripping to give Utica a five-on-three. And, yes, the Rocket are now trailing 4-3.

That was a short-handed one ... Laval now has taken four minors to none for Utica.

AHL is streaming this game as the free game of the week ... check it out if you don't otherwise get a chance to watch the Rocket much.