Neech
-
Posts
4503 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
42
Posts posted by Neech
-
-
Yes, Dandy is overpayed for his role. But he's been one of if not our best checking forward through most of the season. I don't really think he deserved to be benched, but him talking to the media like this isn't a good move either. Jeez, it's one game and you're not exactly high on the list of trade bait. Actually there may be contending teams that would like a versatile veteran who has Stanley Cup experience. Anyways I like how he's been playing most of the year, but he should take a benching with more patience.
-
I'm thinking maybe we should start Halak against the Devils, just to change things a bit for facing a team we have no success against, and also give Huet an extra long break for the stretch run.
-
Wow, nothing like a game against the Bruins to lift everyone's spirits.
This was possibly our strongest effort of the year, or among them. We didn't let up at all. We controlled the game the whole way through, all the lines played great. Lil Teets: another good showing. This team looked like it had great chemistry and had each other's backs.
On the Ryder goal Koivu made a little mistake by overskating the puck, but it worked out when he made that perfect pass. He got stronger as the game went on, especially on that shift that ended with Thomas's crazy save on Higgins. Another good outing from our top line, Plekanec was brilliant passing the puck again and Kovalev was just a machine when he had the puck, I especially liked the glove pick-up. Huet was very good again, he wasn't just stationary or sitting in the butterfly, and he even looked competent with the puck.
All in all an awesome game that brings joy to my heart.
-
I don't get putting the Ryder Koivu Higgins line back, it's uniting all the slumping players. If it works then great move Carbo, you must know something we don't.
What I REALLY don't get is putting S. Kost with Begin and Smolinski. At least maybe Begin has the speed to put himself in position to receive one of his nice passes, but Latendresse Lapierre S Kost would have looked a lot better on paper in my mind. I guess he wanted a veteran presence out there with Dandenault, and there's always an appeal of the all-Quebecois energy line at home.
-
It's like the blinders have suddenly come off for so many here. Sucko needs to go.People have been criticizing his play for ages. He doesn't 'need to go' though, the team has been playing well.
-
Last time I cheked, the topic was "Habs Need to work on Final Minutes Drill" and not "Koivu is playing like @$$"? But since nobody cares about the final minutes discussion, I might as well give it a whirl. We all know Saku isn't playing well this season. He's had several linemates put with him and they all seem to be problematic.....Am I noticing a recurring theme here? Let me restate that one more time juuust in case you missed it...he has had several linemates this year, and everybody seems to say that so and so is bringing Koivu's game down. Maybe it's the other way around...has anybody thought of that without saying...Oh Ridiculous? Anyways, reality check time...We're stuck with him for the rest of this season and the next... so how about we all just stop having our hissy fits and realize we're getting nothing for him unless his no trade clause is waived. If i was a statistician (which I am not) I would say the probability of Koivu being ran out of town is about a 2.9%....what can we learn from this....
JUST LIVE WITH IT.....WE ARE SCREWED UNTIL HIS CONTRACT IS UP
Nah, games like Saturday's you couldn't blame his poor play on his linemates, he plain sucked and brought the rest down. He's been bad individually, people here watch the games and are capable of making the judgment on who has been making bad plays.
And about Koivu being traded, he may waive the NTC if Gainey gives him an acceptable destination.
-
I dont really think his December was that bad 10 points in 13 games is Koivu type numbers.
Yeah, I guess he had decent numbers, but he wasn't playing very well in other aspects of the game. Most of his outings this season have been weak.
I think they should really put Latendresse back with Koivu, they compliment each other well and Gui is at his best with Saku.
-
The point is not that Koivu and others having bad seasons are not immune to criticism. That much is obvious to everyone, even Koivu supporters such as myself. The point is Habs fans look at everything in black and white and in extremes. There is never a middle-ground, never moderation.
There is "never a middle-ground, never moderation?" Who's talking in extremes now? Yes there are the people who call for the head of the latest scapegoat, but most people are reasonable and criticize where it's deserved.
-
Koivu was playing badly all game, he just shouldn't be out there in the final minutes. Latendresse is more useful because he's a big body in front of the net. Andrei and Sergei were having better games, they are more physical and have a better shot, they would be more useful. First of all it's up to Koivu to turn his play around, but then it's up to Carbo to not use him in a critical situation when he's playing poorly. His C shouldn't place him on the ice at the end of games, his play should.
-
He slumps pretty much every Jan Feb and plays excellent in March and the playoffs I guess we really should not be suprised.
But it's hasn't been just this month, it was bad in Dec and Nov too. It's basically been a bad season.
But I agree, we'll wait till playoff time and see how he does there. I really doubt Gainey will move him, definitely not if we're doing as well as we have been lately.
-
I have a feeling the Bruins are due for a win against us, which would make us 0-2 on the homestand and all set for a wee bout of panic.
I keep thinking this, they've got to beat us sometime. But hopefully not yet!
Maybe the allstar break will be good for Koivu.
-
I wouldn't trade Chipchura either. I am sure if that was the deal and Gainey wanted to it would already be done.
But that could just be a case of me falling in love with a prospect.
I wouldn't want to give up Chipchura. He just seems like a guy that 15 years down the line he'll have been to a few Cup finals and be captain of a contending team and the announcers will make a remark of that clairvoyant deal that got him from Montreal. But that's probably a lot of prospect love and wishful thinking on my part.
I wrote this in the game thread, I guess it's better to discuss it here:
In the intermission they brought up a Koivu for Tanguay trade. Now I don't see why we should do this as the team is winning, and I don't see why Calgary would really want this because it doesn't solve their cap problem for next year, but purely on paper this would improve our team.
-
We deserved a better fate then this. We outplayed Pitts most of the game.
Was is just me or did the refs really let pitts get away with all the interference (High stick too
) that they were calling against us?I agree with both of those statements.
We played well, but so did the Penguins, they won more battles. It's funny that the difference in the game was the error by Hamrlik in leaving the front of the net to cover Laraque, who isn't a threat to create a quality shot by himself. There were so many times that we had a chance to tie it up but we couldn't get a good shot off or a pass was a bit too long. Our top line had another strong showing, and the second line is sooo close to finally burying one of its chances.
But damn, my main target of anger is Koivu. He turned the puck over more than anyone on the ice by far, most of the times he got it he coughed it up. He was just weak, weak, weak like he's been most of the year. He reminds me of Kovalev last year (not quite as bad).
In the intermission they brought up a Koivu for Tanguay trade. Now I don't see why we should do this as the team is winning, and I don't see why Calgary would really want this because it doesn't solve their cap problem for next year, but purely on paper this would improve our team.
-
He's competitive with all these goalies except your top 2. None of them are perfect and all have their off days and brain cramps. Give Huet a break, we could be A LOT worse in the netminder dept. (see toronto), and it's difficult to get much better. He's keeping the habs in there night in and night out, and the improved team is the difference that seals the deal. Nothing wrong there.
I'm not trying to hate on Huet, I'm just trying to establish how good he really is. There are people here who say he's among the league's elite, and there are others that say he's garbage. He's in between those.
The ones in bold are the guys I think are better than Huet. The other ones have their issues as well.I am not sold on Nabokov or Backstrom until I see what they can do in a different situation (ie. team)
Alright, so you put 9 ahead of Huet, which would put him at 10 like I said. I would say that Toskala has been a better goalie this season, playing on the defensively-poor Leafs he stole them a bunch of games, and he was good in San Jose before that. Bryzgalov is unproven but his season has been superior to Huet's since he's been starting.
Edit: I forgot to put Leclaire on the list, he's unproven as well but his season so far has been better than Huet's.
So all in all I think Huet is above average, but definitely not elite.
-
Malkin deserves it, and it makes sense to let another Penguin go when Crosby's out of it.
-
Where did you hear Tanguay is a locker room cancer? I'd love to get him for Ryder. And like BTH says I'd put him at centre too. I'd make one switch to the lines BTH suggested though - I'd put Koivu between Latendresse and Lapierre instead. Tanguay is too much of a point producer to put him on a "3rd" line.
Kostitsyn-Plekanec-Kovalev
Higgins-Tanguay-Kostitsyn
Latendresse-Koivu-Lapierre
Begin-Smolinski-Dandenault
I'd love to see THAT.
I wouldn't want Koivu outside of the top six, the bottom two lines are more checking and defensive, and that is definitely not a strong suit of his game.
If the case is that the Flames actually want Ryder for Tanguay but need some sort of package with him, I'd be willing to give:
3rd rounder (maybe a 2nd, but Bob wouldn't want to)
any two or maybe three of the following prospects:
Maxwell
Grabovski
Locke
White
or guys ranked lower
Thing is none of these guys are too valuable to us, so they'd want someone ranked higher, like Fischer maybe.
-
Right....
Read what I wrote - slowly, after a few breathing exercises...
Your point just re-enforces what I wrote, if anything. If I was Komi and a UFA, or on the verge of becoming one, I'd put out numbers from around the league - whether they were signed as RFA's or UFA's makes little difference at that point. The point is him saying, 'If Vanek makes X$ and is worth that much to that team, I'm worth at least Y$." Keeping in mind that guys like Vanek and Penner are not playing to their contract worth.
If it isn't Vanek, it will be someone else signed to a huge contract and under-performing.
Anyway, get him signed Bob - as soon as JMMR gives both parties the green light to enter negotiations, that is!
No his point doesn't reinforce what you wrote, you mentioned two RFAs who were poached from their teams. If you wanted to give a pertinent example you would have mentioned Hannan or Rafalski, who are Dmen at least and were signed as UFAs.
And the fact that guys like Vanek and Penner are underperforming doesn't boost the amount that Komisarek would get as a UFA, if anything it makes GMs more wary to throw out huge contracts on an unproven commodity. But anyways, Komisarek's situation is different because of the game he plays and also his role on the team.
But in the end, your initial comment was irrelevant because you were pointing out how other teams could give him a big contract, but the whole point of this thread was to sign him this summer before he becomes a free agent.
-
This guy is overated and a cancer in the locker room.
Like our best player, Kovalev?
Anyways, this deal won't happen, I got my hopes up for nothing. Damn deals never happening.
(yes, I'm using reverse psychology to trick deals into happening)
-
He is not above criticism and he has not been as good this year as he was in his first 60+ games with the Habs when he was dominant.
Maybe the league figured him out, maybe he was playing over his head, who knows. Everytime he leaves his net...I cringe, that won't change.
This is very true. He pretty much carried us to the playoffs two years ago, this time the skaters are doing the carrying (which is better all things considered).
People say Huet gives us a chance to win, that is true, but he also gives us a chance to lose. He hasn't really stolen games this year like Price did against Toronto, but he has coughed up points several times.
I'd say at the moment Huet is in the top 10-15 goalies in the league. I would probably trade him straight up for Leclaire, I know Columbus definitely wouldn't like that trade.
Goalies off the top of my head who are better than him at the moment:
Brodeur
Luongo
Kiprusoff
Toskala
Dipietro
Lundqvist (he's been very shaky recently, this could be iffy)
Garon (great season so far)
Bryzgalov
Giguere
Turco
Vokoun
Lehtonen
Hasek
Legace
Backstrom
Osgood
Miller (not his best year)
Nabokov
OK, Huet is definitely not worse than all of these guys, but if you ranked them all in order I think I'd put him around 10-15.
-
I find the endless bashing and blaming a bit silly, actually. I know it reflects passion for the game, but everybody makes mistakes...making a federal case out of this or that shift always seems overblown to me. More significant is a remark like the one you make about Koivu having a bad season. That's a lot more relevant to me than this or that passing shift.
Yeah, fans can be very fickle, but in the case of these two players they deserve a fair amount of criticism because they have been shaky (Huet) or weak (Koivu) for most of the season. It's silly when it's just a consistent player's off day, or a bad shift in an otherwise solid game, but if they are sub par game in game out then the bashing they get after a bad play or bad game is meritted.
Such players (in my book):
Koivu
Huet
Smolinski
Ryder (duh)
The rest of the team has been up and down at worse. Like Higgins can be brilliant one day, solid the next, then invisible the next (like tonight). He doesn't deserve to be bashed because there haven't been too many invisible days.
-
Anyway, as you say...if it's reported, Gainey doesn't do it.
There were rumours about Hamrlik and Smolinski.
I agree about the French factor. Damn, it would make a lot of people happy to have Tanguay here. And 5 million isn't really that much, if we were getting Tanguay off the free agent market we'd pay him at least that. Our lines would look good with him here:
Tanguay Koivu Higgins
A Kost Plekanec Kovalev
S Kost Lapierre Latendresse
Dandenault Smolinski Begin
(Kostopolous)
Now that actually looks like we have two Number 1 lines, instead of having two second lines. Carbo might send S Kost down if he thinks we need more grit though.
-
Hahaha, oh man, priceless...
After just watching the game, I come back and read the whole thread, reaction by reaction. It's great how everyone bashes Huet and Koivu, and than after his blunder Huet catches fire, makes some incredible saves and brings Habs to the shootout victory. And who scores the SO winner? Who other than Koivu. I wonder where the bandwagon is rolling to next...
Well they deserved the bashing, Huet was responsible for both goals (the first one was forgivable, I can't put too much blame on him for that) and Koivu was weak, as he has been most of this season. Good on them for coming through afterwards though.
-
I have the impression that this might be Koivu's last season in Montreal. Did any of you see his reaction after he scored the GWG in the Shoot Out? There was no reaction from Saku. The guy doiesn't look very happy. I thikn he's finally realized that he's lost his job as number 1 centre on the habs to Plex. I wouldn'T be surprised if he were to tell bob that he would be willing to wave his no-trade clause!
That's possible. I've been thinking for a while that Plekanec could take his place, he's a small C as well and better all-around.
-
Yeah, we all know Huet should stay in his net sometimes. I was frustrated that he was hit from behind. A goalie outside the crease is fair game. But, the puck was not quite in Huet's possession. I hate those calls too because in other games that might have been a penalty. It was a hit from behind and I've seen penalties called on forwards this year that were just as blatant. The goalie may be fair game but he still has the rights of a forward or a defenceman when outside the crease.
It's an iffy call which is why they let it go. I understand that. But I'm not about to curse Huet for something unanticipated. When could you be hit like that? Certainly you expect that a call might happen. In short, shi_ happens.
That would have really been a gift if they called a penalty there. Huet hesitated and turned his back, he was in the way of the player trying to get the puck. It wasn't a penalty, just a bad play.
Game Thread | Habs vs. Bruins | 22/01/08
in Habs & Hockey Talk
Posted
The most impressive thing for me is how we're scoring 5 on 5. That was our downfall last season, we were pitiful without the man advantage and seemed to even play better while killing penalties. This year we create lots of offense.