TurdBurglar

Well, last season they came out like a cannonball on fire. Let's hope it's going to be the opposite this year. If this is the kind of hockey that will be played all season, this is just bad. Team shooting % is around 3% right now.

I agree. Not making excuses, but they are missing a top-6 forward, a top pairing defenseman and the starting goaltender. Plus this was the second game of a back-to-back, with the #3 goalie in net. It is the Sabres, so there’s a little concern, but in the NHL any team is capable of this type of result against any other team on any given night. Remember, the Habs were abysmal against the Senators last season, where the Habs went to the finals. Honestly, if the Habs can get out of this start above .500 before getting key people back, barring any other major injuries, I think they will be fine.

I misread the date on the game and I’m glad I missed this dumpster fire.

I wasn’t pointing it out as a cap issue, I was pointing it out as how the result of McDavid’s offense is directly related to the teams performance more so than any other team with a superstar. I will agree with you Draisatl is a good player, he isn’t a superstar capable of driving his own line. Many, many games, with multiple coaches Draisatl has cetered RNH and a 3rd player and has produced nothing. Many games he had different wingers and produced nothing. Then he gets thrown on a couple PPs with McDavid and he ends up with multiple point games. They pair McDavid with Draisatl and he scores in bunches. I’m not saying Draisatl isn’t capable of scoring, I’m saying confidently, without McDavid, Draisatl is a 60 point guy. Circa Chris Kunitz and Sidney Crosby. Draisatl is still better than Kunitz.

This is the whole reason the Oilers ride or die with McDavid. I hear all the time what a great player Draisatl is, yet the vast majority of his points are linked to McDavid. Jets shut down McDavid last playoffs, and swept the Oilers. Habs had 4 lines producing inconsistently during the playoffs, which lead to an overall consistent offense.

It was only 1 goal, but Habs could of been up 3-0 easily within the first 3 minutes. They failed to capitalize on 3 grade A+ chances, including Savard getting an open net 2-on-1 and skied the puck. That single goal would have made it 4-0. The positives I took away was they are still dangerous on the rush, they had good pushback in the 3rd, Allen is still solid, and the defence wasn’t as weak as I feared. The negatives were, the PP, the PP, the PP and missed chances costing the game.

Horseshit call to end the game. Gallagher getting pushed around by 2 Leafs after the whistle, Anderson comes in to Gallagher's defense, only penalty called on Anderson.

In their defense, they spent a minute and a half trying to get into the offensive zone, so we don't know what the actual PP looks like yet.

Uneventful PP. Not sure I understand having 5 right shooters on the PP.

Seems like the same story of last season, penalties killing momentum.

This isn’t playoff hockey. There’s no way DD doesn’t give all 3 pairs a regular shift. Win or lose you can roll 82 games on 4 defenseman. You can’t burn out your top 4 early in the season. I forgot Matthews is out. Leafs without Mr October will be interesting.

So if the Leafs beat the Canadiens tonight, the NHL will rewrite last years playoffs so Toronto made it to the finals, right?

The 65 is for this season. I expect him to be a 70+ point guy. He’s developing like a 1st line center, offensively and defensively. If he ends up being a solid 1st line center, while putting up 70+ points, his contract would be great. That’s the hope here.

It’ll be good seeing the new look forwards, I don’t care for the look of the defence. The Romanov - Wideman pairing scares me a lot. I fully anticipate a beat down as Toronto will have something to prove from last playoffs, not that it matters this season.

Suzuki was on pace for a 60pt season during the shortened season. With Caufield on his wing, I would expect 65+ this season barring an injury.

A) 40-32-5-5 B) 5th C) 16th D) 33 with shootouts, 26 on the scoresheet. EDIT: I put 9th for league placement, thought it was conference placement.

Suzuki is better offensively than Plekanec and is better defensively than Koivu right now, arguably. He also has more potential than both. I think this will be a great contract in a couple of years.

Glad he’s getting help.

Unless something changed, Buffalo wants a complete salary dump if Eichel gets traded. So it would need to be a team that can currently fit Eichel in and Buffalo would get picks and prospects back. If that is still true, Buffalo would have no interest in either Dvorak or Armia. It kind of sounded like Buffalo set the demands so high that there’s no way a trade could happen. Either teams had the cap space but not the assets, or the assets and not the cap space. This is my opinion though.

The biggest issue the Habs have had with higher picks is they rush them to the NHL. Galchenyuk came off of knee surgery in the OHL to playing NHL games consistently. KK went straight to the NHL. The Habs drafted immediate needs and rushed them to the NHL. Both of these 3rd overall picks should of played in the AHL for at least a season, maybe more. Pacioretty played a couple seasons in the AHL, getting seasoned for the NHL. Look how that turned out. Before he was traded, he was top-5 in 5-on-5 scoring in the NHL for a string of years. If I remember he was top-2 for a number of years behind Ovechkin. I do understand drafting a need, but filling an immediate need with a draft pick doesn't work unless it's a great player. The Habs should of endured the losses, like they did with them in the lineup, with their top picks developing, not rushing them into the NHL.

I wouldn’t of been. My view of the situation is Carolina made a bad decision with the offer sheet on KK for $6.1m. MB turned those lemons into lemonade by upgrading on KK in the short term, costing only an extra 2nd round pick while gaining a 3rd. Overall I am happy with this situation. Now in 3 years time if KK reaches his potential, this may look bad, but the future isn’t guaranteed and if KK only tops out at a 2nd line center, this was a win for Montreal.

So turns out MB has until 5:30PM EST today to match, not 5PM EST.

The Hughes offersheet was to eat cap space, so that would have to be done first. This is kind of strange there hasn't been an announcement yet.

They also operate well below the cap. One of the biggest advantages of an offersheet is offering above what a team can afford under the CBA. Since Arizona never is anywhere near the cap, they can match nearly any offer.

Arizona doesn't have any RFAs, would be my guess.