ShortHanded

I'm a Canadian Muslim and I've seen the ads and gone to the website, and thus far, I'm very encouraged. I think it's about time that there is more mainstream media representations of regular, everyday muslims, and not just terrorists or highjackers or whatever :puke: I have no problem with laughing at our differences and similarities and misunderstandings, I just hope that the show is fair with its jokes, and doesn't take any low blows at any one group...

Me too... I hope he makes some changes to the lines, or calls Lapierre up, or both. I'm actually a bit sick of the status quo... It could just be a regular slump and the same players could be doing fine in a few games, but I don't think they'll snap out of it without some line changes. Variety is the spice of life, afterall...

Basically, the future Bonk, but with Less offensive upside I think.

I'm really hoping they Play Plex on the third line next year and let Bonk walk away (I love him, but his salary cap hit is too steep and we have too many other worries) But DON'T keep plex on the second line next year, you're just setting him up for failure if you do...

Hahaa! Thanks for at least giving us a good laugh. But seriously, I agree, the play has been stinky, and it is mostly a matter of effort. Sometimes you just get in a funk, but they NEED to find a way to get out. Mike Boone at Habsinsideout was saying that Houde (I think it was Houde?) said Souray hasn't been the same since the wrist injury, and I jsut wanted to groan, NO, not again... Until this point, even when some key players were slumping, others were doing well, so we were okay as a team. but now we seem like all the key players are slumping at the same time... This could be a long month.

Doesn't worry me either, which is why I'm curious that DalHabs labelled him our future killer...

You really think he's a future habs killer? Why? Just because he played here before, so will be motivated against us?

Okay, I concede, we're getting balanced scoring, as in every line's barely scoring around the same number of NOT enough goals. I should have written that we need MORE scoring. So far, we've been winning mostly as a result of Stellar goaltending and way above average scoring from our D. We need more goals from our Forwards. A LOT more. And Sammy and Kovy do have to stop being more lazy, but if they're not going to do that with Plex, we should find the combination that will cause them to stop doing that. I'm not suggesting moving plex off that line now, not after his big game, but if they're not more consistently putting up points as a line, if they go another five games barely producing offense, try something new. You don't want to be Just barely winning games, so you just let the things that aren't working continue to be broken, and then in the playoffs lose and be forced to experiment then. I'd rather we fixed the second line (if it doesn't continue to work well) NOW, not later when we don't have the luxury of experimentation...

You do it because the most important thing to do is to get balanced scoring from the team and have your scorers score. I'm not saying it's fair, I'm just saying look at the big picture. Plex's primary job is NOT to be a point-getter, he's just a band-aid solution for that line until somehting else is tried and works. Kovalev and Samsonov are PAID TO PRODUCE points. It's not like other ppl are producing those points so we can live without them, we NEED those points, we need that offense. So we need to find a way to get the guys who've scored before, consistently through-out their careers to score again, now. And if that means making one of the other lines not as good as it is, at the expense of making this line significantly better and thus the over-all team better, that's what you do. If you move Samsonov to the fourth line, you can really only do that temporarily to light a fire under him, and then move him back to the second line and hope to God he produces, and if he doesn't, we still have a problem with the 2nd line and how do we fix it? We have to move Plex. He's the only moveable guy on that line because he has the skill-set to play on a third or fourth line. You can't move Sammy to the fourth line permanently, it'll reduce his scoring chances drastically, make him even less possible to trade, etc... it's just not realistic. We're close to the salary cap and we're in need of goals; we can't just move a guy who's supposed to be scoring off a line who's focus is scoring, we have to work with what we have. I think you're misunderstanding me. I'm not blaming Plex, I'm just saying the line's not workign and I don't think it'll work with him. He's a great player, he's jsut being set up to fail. I'd rather he did his job (defensively on another line) and a solution was found to fix the chemistry on the second line with another player. It's purely a chemistry thing; if the line's not producing, you keep fiddling until you find a solution where it produces. and I think most here would prefer that solution included Kovy and Sammy since that's their job and Plex can do his very effectively on a different line. Ugh, I hate Prospal... Please, anyone but Prospal. He had that whole thing a few years ago where he called Brisebois a bleeping frog. NOT a good idea to bring this guy into a french environment.

Why not? Because the scorers aren't doing their job on the 2nd line with him... And because he's just NOT a second liner long term; he doesn't have that kind of skill set. I mean, playing Higgins or Bonk on that line would provide you with an offensive AND defensively-responsible player, and they'd probably be able to keep up with Kovalev / Samsonov... He's producing as much as Samsonov offensively, but Samsonov is DEFINITELY under-producing, so that's a bad measuring stick. The second line needs to score more points on a CONSISTENT basis, not just one game, and I'm not blaming Plex, but by not blaming him, I'm also not making it his responsibility becasue I don't believe he's a PERMANENT second-liner. I pray he proves me wrong and the line stays on fire. That would make me incredibly happy...

I think the Bulis-bashing is acceptable in terms of his whining about being a top-six forward in the middle of a playoff race, and all that whole ego bit, but I don't think it's fair to say bulis had low work-ethic. I thought most times on the ice he was working pretty hard. All said, I'd rather have Plex on the team than Bulis, but I liked Bulis... Except for the top six forward thing, he wasn't a prima-donna...

Wow, did you see Carbo comparing him to Stevie Y in the article? That's pretty high praise. And to come from his coach, that must mean a lot... more important than it coming from any fans...

Yup, that basically sums up how I feel about Plex too.

I couldn't disagree with this more. Lapierre is an AWESOME player with lots of energy, works hard, fits with his linemates, and does whatever he's asked. And he has more talent than Downey or Murray, the ppl he's competing for a spot with. No matter how hard they work, them at their best vs. Lapierre at his best = No contest, he wins hands down. So he's French, so what? The media circus is already there; it'll make no difference if he's around or not. I think it's an awful reason to keep him off the team.

Good point. I hadn't thought of that.

I'd rather keep Johnson too, but not for that reason. In my opinion, Chipchura isn't ready for 3rd line duty next year. Make that Plex next year, and Chipper the year after.

That's all fine and good, as long as he's not taking the spot of someone like Lapierre in the process. taht's when it starts bugging me. I like Downey's good attitude, and I like his work ethic, but if that spot on the fourth line going to Maxim can turn the fourth line into a much more dangerous line (and let's face it, it's not like our first three lines score so much that we couldn't use a little help from the fourth one now and then) then I'd disagree with keeping him for another year. Him or Murray for that matter.

Go :hlogo: Go!!! and I gotta say, I love the pic of Muller in the first post

Corvina, I think we have to keep one of Bonk and Johnson next year

I, like most others answering here, did NOT see Comrie as the solution to our problems. I want improved scoring from the team, yes, but not at the price of a big ego.

Didn't see the game. How were the lines? Is it the usual: Higgins - Koivu - Ryder Sammy - Plex - Kovy Perezhogin - Bonk - Johnson or is it different? And if so, does that mean Perogy's playing???

saw that too. This is good news for us, and for him. Hopefully being back at work will help him to move on.

God, I hope the "Bring back Dagenais is a joke! but seriously, I'm SOOOO SICK Of playing the same teams again and again. It's not doing what the NHL thinks it's doing (which is building stronger rivalries) it's just BORING the fans to death.

Amen to that! Before we trade, I want to see some shuffling of the different forward lines for more than 10 minutes of the game. See the first, second and third lines shuffle, maybe with Bonk and Plex switching, and maybe move Kovy to the first and Ryder down to the second. Carbo said earlier he didn't want to break up lines 1 and 3 for the sake of line 2, but that was when the first and third were playing well. Now everyone's in a funk; break them up and see what happens. It can't be worse than how we played against Tampa on Saturday :puke: Call up Lapierre for the fourth again, and if the "experiment" on the three lines shuffling doesn't work, try Lapierre on one of the other lines. Give the kids a chance.

You know we have high expectations for the guy when his 3 goals since getting back are still not enough and we say he's "due"... lol, but I totally agree. I want, and expect, the same thing