hab29RETIRED

I’d rather he get tested up and healthy for next year for us.

Zero interest. He is beyond his best before date. We need a legit impactful second line centre. Not a has been. I’m tired of going after washed up Francophones/bilingual players that had zero interest in playing for Montreal when they were in their prime.

Not sure how you don’t get a penalty for that??

After the Koivu pick out drafting sucked and even than Savard was late to the party in having a decent teams of scouts for Europe and Russia - even though he did make an early attempt at drafting a Russian - but that was for a almost done Tretiak. Drafting and development basically sucked after the 80’s. with Scherbak, I actually like the pick- I’d rather roll the dice on a late first rounder on a guy who was supposed to have some skill and score, over taking a no skill McCarron- even though McCarron went on to have an actual NHL career. Until HuGo I’ve been so sick of drafting for the most part 3rd and 4th liners, with an occasional good pick draft like the McDonough-Pactioretty-Subban draft. Looks like HuGo may have picked up top end end talent all three years and hit it out of the park in their first draft - in a weak draft year.

With the Toronto media bring so much attention to that hits he could be a make man like Cooke going forward.

I remember Bilodeau came to his first camp and impressed and was seen as a future can’t miss hard hitting dman. But he busted after that. Chouinard hurt when the flyers picked Gagne later in the round.

I think the price for Larkin would be at least one of our firsts, Hage, Mailloux, and one of Kapanan/Beck

For the Isles? Maybe we can trade Gallagher for Horvat if MB gets the job😁

Also ignores the fact that Bergevin could have let Armia walk and extended Lekhonan.

I think we need to move on from more than just Dvorak, Armia and Savard. I think we also need to try and move on from Gallagher. He had a come comeback season and battled hard all year. But if these playoffs showed anything, we don't have room for anymore small players unless they bring elite level skill and speed. That's not Gallagher anymore. With him hitting 20 goals, we may even be able to move him. I would also move Matheson. The guy is a smooth skater, skill, good on the PK, good shot (when he manages to get it through), but consistently makes wrong decisions. We have depth on LHD. IF and ONLY IF we can get a good return, i'd move on from Matheson to upgrade the D. He wouldn't be the piece i'd move as part of 2nd line centre. But with picks and prospects, I'd move him to see if we can upgrade the D. We can't keep all our kids and have a lot of picks, so I think we can make moves we have to this summer. First line is set. We need a legit second line centre - preferably someone with size to play with Demidov and see if Dach can stay healthy and be effective on the 2nd line. If not he needs to be moved. I don't see Laine as a guy I'd trust to be on the second line. But who knows, he may surprise. Third line hopefully Kapanan or Beck are ready - but shouldn't be handed the role. Newhook can be one of the wingers and it would be nice if Roy can fill the other need. But again, can't count on him. I think we should add a veteran with skill and size. I doubt if we can move laine, so I'd have him as a third line option, but unless he is playing with a good setup man and defensively responsible players, he probably isn't going to be a good 2nd line option. I think we will have to keep him until at least the deadline. Fourth line. Heinaman-Evans-Anderson. On D, our first pairing is set, with our superstar Hutson with Guhle (unless we can manage to upgrade Guhle (which would give us an awesome second pairing dman). Third Pairing ideally is Carrier with Struble/Xhejac. At some point Reinbacher or Mailloux may be able to ready, but again - we shouldn't count on it. So to continue having the kids progress, I think we need the following: 1. -2C - ideally it's someone who is a a plug for 2-3 years until Hage is ready. But there is no guarantee that Hage pans out, so if we get the right guy (skilled, speed, size) to play with Demidov, I wouldn't mind a longer term deal. 2. -Legit veteran 2nd Pairing D that is solid defensively and can contribute offensively. We need a guy with size. 3. -Veteran 3rd liner with some offence that can help the development of Beck or Kapanan. If we want to build on this season and not take a step back, we need to add. We are ahead of schedule and while we want to make sure there is room for the kids we have coming up, we need them to earn their spot. I figured we'd finish around 22-24 range, so the playoffs were a bonus. The kids got great experience, but we need to ensure we improve the roster so we don't take a step back.

They need to keep their 5 on 5 shifts shorter. Caufield was out for around 1.5min on an extended shift. When they finally cleared the zone, instead of changing he went deep in the O zone alone. I’d like to see the number 1 PP unit out for 2 min at times, but 5 on 5, they have to keep their shifts shorter.

Ditto. But my rabid Hab fan side was and is still hoping for an upset!

Not blaming him for that one, first goal was very weak. Bad decision not to come out and horrible rebound

Your talking as if Savard and Struble haven’t made similar mistakes - or even Guhle for that mattterZ it’s clear you don’t like Xhejac, But overall he played a decent game. Matheson was huge on that two man down PK, but he was also weak in both zones tonight.

Even before the Carrier injury Guhle had some bad plays and decisions. But than not every young D is like Hutson who learns from his mistake much quicker and has a much higher hockey IQ

With all the flack Xhejac gets, Guhle also needs to learn to pick his spots and play a more controlled game. Both are young D. one can hopefully be a solid bottom pairing, Guhle is at least a top 3, but can become an elite #2.

100%. We were never going to win with Dobes at this stage of his career. Too soft our own zone and not enough goal sport outside that PP.

I think we are overmatched. One line can score - but didn’t do enough 5 on 5 - having possession is great- but need to score more 5 on 5. Gallagher-Dvorak-Anderson need to contribute offensively more given their minutes - got so many chances, but zero finish. Next year giving Demidov with two legit second liners will be huge. cant have a team with 6 guys like Armia-Anderson-Gallagher-Dvorak-Heineman-Evans. Three at most. Armia and Dvorak ill be gone, but that’s still too many plumbers. Gallagher scored 20 goals this year. If he can be moved, we should be moving him. He shocked by scoring 20, but clearly is broken down. Need to add more size and skill. If Dach is healthy he has skill and size, but doesn’t use that size. A guy like Horvat would be huge for 2-3 years for the second line. need more skilled, hard hitting size on D. Hutson is clearly a superstar now and a future Norris winner with the right partner, but we can’t have him as the only guy on the blueline who can change the game. Matheson isn’t that guy on an elite team. tonight was a friggin roller coaster - that we had it, but in the end the deeper lineup helped by the crap reffing did us in. The crap Redding isn’t going to change anytime soon. We need to construct the roster around our core of Hutson-Suzuki-Demidov-Slafkovsky-Caufield-Guhle better.

Referring wasn’t good enough for a bush league

Brutal call by St Louis to pull the goalie that early before they had control

Could have been 3 calls against the caps before the tying goal😡

They had the last change at home against Chicago and pooped the bed. Fans were unreal that night as well.

If he is in, keep shooting high on him. Suzuki and Carrière goals was up high and another couple high body shot may make him tentative

Did they announce that Struble is replacing Xhejac?? Doesn’t make a lot of sense.

I think he is a better dman, than he showed last night. He hasn’t played in what - 3 weeks or so? It was also his first career playoff game. matheson has bobbled and or given away the puck the past few weeks. And they haven’t been the kind of giveaways that a puck moving dman can be expects to make be use of the number of touches they have. He’s treated the puck like a grenade in his own zone. Savard also has bobbled and given up the puck many times, so I’m liking to cut Xhejac slack for the mistakes he made in his first game, when it was obvious his presence had the rest of the time more fired up. Struble played right D with Hutson earlier in the year before Guhle came back, so I wouldn’t mind a Struble-Xhejac pairing. Next game though we should go with that same lineup.