Neech

That's a good point. Two finishers on one line, who are not the most competent defenders to boot.

Yeah, if we signed one UFA next summer, I hope it will be a gritty third liner.

It is a happy day in Habsworld when we can look back and mock the naysayers.

Yeah, I hate to see Lapierre out of the lineup. He's our most complete and consistent bottom-liner. Smolinski hasn't earned anything this year.

If I remember correctly, Higgins did not expressly say that his goal for this season was 40 goals, more that he thought that he could be a 40 40 guy (without specifying the year, more of an evaluation of his potential). I agree that this season has been subpar for him, and it's not just the slumping production, it's the long stretches where he is total non-factor in games. But, you often see a speedbump in the progress of young players. With Higgins, his own lofty expectations, along with the added pressure of getting the A and being looked at as one of the leaders of the team could have contributed to it. I don't think the level of production we're seeing now is where he will plateau.

Yeah, for the two previous seasons Kovalev was exasperating, but I always found him amusing. Like when he just glides into the offensive zone really slowly with the puck on his stick, and it throws defenders off because they don't know what to do about it. Or other times it would fail and he would look foolish. His style is just inherently funny in a way, and there's something funny about his face as well. He seems to be among the more intelligent hockey players I've seen interviewed. Plus I saw this TSN feature on him, and apparently he plays the sax and is a pilot. The image of Kovalev sitting in a cockpit flying a plane is amusing as well. If Kovalev won a Cup with us he might become my all-time fave. As of now I don't have one.

Good game to give to Halak. He'll probably get two more after this.

I'm a fan of these new lines. But then again, with all our good young players there are many combinations that look good on paper. Very happy that Grabs is back in the lineup. I agree that Higgins has been in the doghouse, he's just had long stretches of invisibility. Just like Koivu and Ryder (not quite as bad as either of them though). But even with a disappointing season he could finish with 25 goals 50 points. His potential is higher than that, and this could be a hump year for him. Two of our leaders from last year left, and he got an A. He definitely set the bar too high, and probably put too much pressure on himself. I still think that he'll level out to being a 25-35 goal guy, which is good for a second liner. This year is a learning experience.

I hope Grabovski is back in the lineup next game. Same with Dandenault. Put them in for Smoke and Kosto or something.

Chips is an upgrade over our current bottom-liners, but he's not the physical presence that we need, or the faceoff winner.

Honestly, a shut down line is the gaping hole in this team. This is the cause of our poor penalty kill as well. Last year we were good defensively, with an elite penalty kill. We had Bonk and Johnson start each penalty kill, nowadays it's usually Kovalev and Plekanec. They're pretty good, but it says a lot about our bottom lines that we have our top two offensive players start our penalty kills. Smolinksi and Kostopolous just don't cut it. We don't have a line of forwards that will match up against the other team's top line and punish them physically while frustrating them offensively. If we did we'd be an elite team.

Eh, it was a loss, we were outplayed, but it's not the end of the world. As I said before, the main difference was in front of the net. Each of the goals was scored in close, while we didn't manage a tip or rebound until the third. But like Macaskill (I think) said, the Sens capitalized on their chances, but they were pretty lucky. Those weren't the types of plays that succeed often, batting the puck out of midair and perfectly placed tips. It could have been a closer game, and only God knows how we didn't put the puck past Gerber on that third period powerplay. Our defense needs to be tougher and tighter. That's where the Sens had us. With our lineup, Komisarek has to be a monster for us to have success in a playoff atmosphere. He wasn't quite there tonight, along with the other guys. Kovalev had a decent game, but Plex doesn't seem completely himself yet. Maybe the game against the Islanders, who he's good against, will help get him back on track. Koivu didn't play very well, but I saw heart. He wasn't the Koivu of midseason who seemed like he didn't care about being there, he was throwing hits and trying his damnedest. It didn't work out that well but if it continues then we'll see good results. Overall, we lost but it's no big deal. 2 out of 4 points against the Devils and Sens isn't too bad. And, despite their recent slumps, the Sens are still the team that made it to the finals last year, and with Gerber playing as well as he did tonight they are the favourite in the East.

They're outplaying us around the net. All three of their goals came in close, but we haven't been able to get a single tip or rebound all game long. Price can't be blamed for the goals, he needs someone to take out a player or clear the puck on these shots. Besides that it's pretty even. We haven't been good, but they haven't been miles ahead of us. Gerber is great handling the puck.

So where did you find those numbers? What about Bégin? He hasn't played much C this year, but he's probably taken as many faceoffs as Grabs. They really need to take him out of the lineup before he injures Price, I would have been so pissed when Carey was slow to get up after that play.

Thanks. But now it doesn't want to let me change it, my birthday information is already blank, but when I try to 'amend' my profile with the new Fav Habs info it says that I haven't entered valid birthday info, although that is in the optional section.

Is it possible to change the Fav Habs thing in our profile information? I can't figure out how.

I don't think they really take the position of the team into consideration for the Calder, unlike the Hart. It's more to do with individual performance than how valuable they were to a good team. I doubt he'll make it to the final three, although he'd have a chance with a very strong final stretch of games. Backstrom, Kane, Toews, and Mueller are all ahead of him at this point.

I have serious love for Sergei, he just seems like such an enthusiastic kid. It's especially impressive that he came up to this team with half a season playing with adults, and has earned a permanent spot in the lineup with hardly a handful of weak games. And the passes he can make are amazing, just one of the crowd of the brilliant passers we've got: Markov, Kostitsyn(s), Plekanec, Kovalev, Koivu, Higgins.

Consider it repaying past debts. He's the best player on the team, but he isn't the highest paid. But we need to get some good deals on our upcoming contracts, and get players signed below the maximum of what they could earn. Like Andrei Kostitsyn could feasibly get a contract similar to Milan Michalek's, they have similar numbers. But hopefully we can get a better deal for him. I want to be able to keep this group of guys around.

I think it has pretty much been his faceoff ability and his right-handed shot. Does anyone know what his faceoff percentage is for this season? Where can we find that stat online? I hope he's at least near 50% in faceoffs, because that's the only facet of his game that should keep him with the team ahead of Chipchura. Chips is far superior in every other way. I don't consider Smokes disgraceful, he's just useless. He brings very little to the team.

Wait, good news? From you?

Yup, this is what I really like about Plex. He's developed into a great offensive player, but not at the expense of his defensive game, which we all thought would be his hallmark. Yeah, if what we saw against Anaheim is the real Grabs - and the weak, indecisive player who we had at the start of the season is not - then he is a potential top six centre. That would make our off-season acquisition priorities a top six winger, and a gritty third-liner (preferably a centreman, but this is not necessary with Chips and Lapierre).

Whoa, making a mountain out of a molehill here. This was Grabovski making a bad choice, that much is clear. And he might want to go back to Russia, we don't know that yet, but the next few months will surely have a bearing on that. And it's funny that you think there is a serious problem here with Carbonneau alienating young players; then what about the many other young players we have here who seem dedicated to the team? Chips, Price, Higgins, Komisarek, Plekanec, the Kostitsyns, Lapierre, Latendresse, O'Byrne, etc. There don't seem to be too many problems with them and the coaching staff, so wouldn't it make more sense to tentatively lay the blame for this incident with Grabovski?

Their name indicates they are the lamest bunch of homo-repressed premature ejaculators in existence.

Sucks to lose, but there are positives to take from this game. Our penalty killing was stellar, Carey was phenomenal, Grabs looked at home on our top line. We were right in the game until the last few minutes, considering all the penalties against us. Streit was bad, as the announcers said. I don't really know what was happening with him, I hope it was just an off night. And I hope Plex is back for our next game and Grabs will give us some more depth on the bottom lines.