TurdBurglar

In the defensive zone the habs don't get to lose puck very often. All 5 players are encompassing the slot and when the puck goes to the corner or behind the net they get beat to the puck more times than not. Watch the games. So it's not the coaches game to dump it out when recovering the puck in their own zone, so who's game is it? There's no looking for a pass when they recover the puck. They either dump it behind the net, hoping someone is there or out of the zone, causing icings and turnovers. Your not seeing the 3-4 icings a period due to this? Sometimes two in a row? The biggest problem is it's Gorges, Subban and Gill doing this also, you know the 3 experienced defesemen we have on the ice now? Are you forgetting the failed dumps out fo the zone that make it to the other team's defensemen, staying in the zone? That isn't in any way,. shape or form a pass to a teammate. All I have to say about this is watch other teams play. I watch Montreal, Edmonton and Vancouver games, in that priority. The low percentage shots aren't the nice, hard point shots. It's the weak wrist shots from the point and the abundant shots from bad angles. I'll count tonight and post how many low percentage shots they take. I'm glad you have faith in Martin. Martin has a system in place that is not working. You put this system he is using now on any team and they will have a record like ours. He has his regular system modified because he doesn't trust this team. Last year players were scoring timely goals with his system and it worked, this year they are not so he's coaching more defense, less offense to not lose. He has no intention on winning, just not losing. Whether you want to believe it or not, what the players are doing on the ice is what Martin is telling them to do. What their doing isn't working obviously, so what the coach is coaching isn't working. How does a coach coaching a system thats not working make the coach a good coach? Martin's motto right now has to be, "if it's broke, don't fix it."

How do you get to lose pucks in the defensive zone? Putting pressure on the other team when their in our defensive zone, something that hasn't been done all year. Instead all 5 players are in the slot, in no position to force turnovers, one key piece to the counter attack game your saying we're using. Instead of making quick passes out of the zone setting up offense, we're dumping it out of the zone to nobody to relieve the pressure put on by not putting pressure on their offense. To summarize, Martin is using a counter attack offensive strategy, without forcing turn overs and giving the puck to the other team when the puck is turned over. Your defending a coach implementing a broken system? We get better chances on the PK because for some reason we're using pressure on the PK and not using pressure 5-on-5. The only reason we have a high number of shots in a game is nearly half of them aren't shots that should be taken. A perfect example is Eller's weak wrist shot from just inside the blue line last night. These kind of shots shouldn't be taken, but we take at least 10 of them a game. Cut 10 shots off our average, 30.2 shots a game, and we're at 20.2 shots a game that should be taken. If statistically we were getting 20 shots a game everyone would be pointing at the shot count as to why we're not scoring. Quantity does NOT mean quality.

Gomez's NTC is a pretty weak one. He gives a list of 3 teams he doesn't want to be traded to, the other 26 are fair game. Only circumstance where he would be required to waive the NTC is if Gauthier strikes a deal with 1 of the 3 teams on Gomez's list. Pretty easy to get around really. The hardest part is finding a team thats interested in taking on him with this contract.

I don't think you should be able to trade money, it's a gamble you take when you sign a player for a large amount of money. It's also a chance you take when you make the stupid move of acquiring an underachieving-overpaid player. There is always a solution to Gomez. Waive him and hope someone picks him up, if not, send him to the minors. We just freed up roughly 5.3M(off the top of my head, may be off 200kish either way). With the 4M we still have from the off season, thats roughly 9.2M in cap space we can have. While I would flip if Gallagher gets traded because his offense is something we need and could be playing as early as next year, I wouldn't be totally against it if it brought in a true susperstar #1 center, like a Lecavalier, a Staal, or a Getzlaf. It would need to be a superstar center, not another 2nd-3rd line aged center posing as a first line center. Other than that I wouldn't be alright with Gallagher being traded away.

So what your saying is roughtly 1/4 his NHL experience (don't forget playoff) is on a forward line. While you think it shouldn't kill the kid, a simple switch from winger to center, or vice versa, can mess up a player's game completely, yet you somehow believe a switch from defense to forward isn't anything major. The message Martin was passing to Weber by putting him forward is that even on a team with an injury-plagued defensive core, your not good enough to be a defenseman. Hardest forecheckers we have right now, by far is Gionta(5' 7", 173lbs) and Desharnais(5' 7", 177lbs). Your argument is faulty. The reason we have no forecheck is because Martin wants all 5 players back for defense to protect the lead we don't have. We get very few rebound goals because as soon as we look like we're losing the puck the defense and a forward backs towards the defensive zone, while the other 2 forward don't put pressure on the puck to turn it over. A good offensive strategy doesn't start with the mentality to get out of the offensive zone. There's also no creativity what so ever on offense, something every coach should encourage, hard to be creative when 3/5th of your team isn't even in the offensive zone. My very first coach told me, "the other team can't score if they don't get out of their zone." He was a highschool teacher, yet a NHL coach with over 1000 games experience can't see this.

Martin stomped any defensive confidence Weber might gain from day 1 by only using him on the PP and 4th forward line. Now with the injuries and 3 years with lack of any real NHL defensive experience, he's put in a defensive role and is struggling. Martin didn't do Weber any favors and wasted 3 years of his defensive development. You point to Subban, Diaz, Emelin and St. Denis, but Weber spent more time on the 4th forward line than all 4 of the others combined and wasn't put in any defensive situations. This year is his first real year as an NHL defenseman and it's looking like it. Don't blame Weber for his play, blame the person who's in charge of putting him in situations to grow as a player. This team is far from a puck possession team and Martin is teaching them to be the way they are. Coaches punish players for not following their system if it's hurting the team. Right now we are spending way too much time in our own zone because we're giving the puck to the other team. We're lousy on faceoffs, in our zone instead of turning the puck over and breaking out, we're turning the puck over and dumping out of the zone as fast as possible, causing way too many icings, with very few breakout passes. If puck possession was Martin's goal he wouldn't be so passive about the lack of puck possession. All I've seen as a strategy, and from every game, is get the puck out of our zone, as far into their zone as possible and don't chase. This is causing lots of icings with a bad faceoff team, tired lines, no puck possession time, and no forecheck. The lack-of-pressure system Martin has in place makes it easy for teams using pressure to beat us. The most pressure we put on the other team is on the PK and look how well that is, yet on offense, forechecking and in our zone at even strength there's no pressure. On offense we get 1, rarely 2 shots and the puck turned over because there's no pressure to turn the puck over in the offensive zone. This system encourages lots of shots, but rarely any of quality. Just shoot from anywhere, hardly any rebounds and no pressure to turn over the puck after the shot. On defense we take away the cross-crease passes, cover the slot, but causing rebounds into the corner to be easily retrieved by the other team to setup and try again. Yes, this is his system, not the players on the ice doing what they want. Even though he says this isn't what he's coaching, results speak for themselves. If players don't listen to the coach they get demoted (Ryan, Kostitsyn, Heatley, Carter, M.Richards) or traded if the system is working and the player is hurting the team. If the player's are following the system and it's not working the person coaching the system is fired.

So any coach we bring in will break up working lines, right. Any coach we bring in will put a checker with 2 scorers and limit their ice-time while expecting one of the 2 scorers to be one of the scoring leaders on the team, right. Guess thats why we see Neal on the 3rd line in Pittsburg, why we see Horcoff and Smyth on the 3rd line with Eager, oh wait we don't see that because a good coach doesn't put scoring players in checking roles! Makes sense now! Right now Gionta is averging 0.5 points per game, Kostitsyn is averaging 0.7 points per game, yet Martin is putting Giota on the ice in offensive situations over Kostitsyn. Limitng the ice time of someone producing more points and keeping someone not producing on the ice longer. That argument is lame? Wow.... Good coaches reward players for producing points, and limit players not producing points, but Martin is doing the opposite but pointing that out is lame. I want this team to succeed and am pointing out it's biggest area of weakness. Either keep the coach and trade off aged players and contracts to tank the season to rebuild or fire the coach and make the changes necessary to be a real contender. I'd rather see us being a contender, but it will never happen with Martin behind the bench. Can't use the playoff run 2 years ago as a reason to keep him, Carbonneau brought us first in the east and he was axed when he started to slip after the All-Star break the very next year. Martin brought us to the Conference finals once on 2 series that could have went either way and hasn't done anything since. I'm sick of hearing how we're always the lowest or in the bottom 10 in almost every offensive category. Nothing exciting about watching a team sit on a single goal lead game, after game, after game, after game. Then you turn around and say it's not the coach that tells the team to sit back. That is faith into a failing coach.

Tootoo gets 2 games due to the force and the fact Erhoff didn't steer him into Miller. Your nothing but a joke Shanny, had respect for you as a player, but thats gone now.

No, fire him because he can't keep working lines together, won't reward players who are producing points, won't demote players who are hurting the team, can't put together a working PP and can't put together a sustainable offensive strategy, and doesn't know his own players. Kostitsyn is always getting shafted in ice time, with Moen as a linemate, Gomez is always getting a free pass to ice-time and oppertunities to succeed and is doing nothing with it. Martin has his core of players that he deems to be his offensive core and will give them all the offensive ice time even when their not producing. He doesn't adapt when other players produce points. The team is struggling under him, and the change needs to be made fast to give the Habs a chance to make the playoffs. Only people who don't agree are the ones who are apparently happy with where the Habs are sitting in the standings and don't want to make the playoffs. Defend Martin all you want, reality is is has a sub-0.500 win percent with this team and in today's NHL thats not acceptable.

Leblanc-Eller-Kostitsyn worked last game, so JM splits it up and puts Moen-Eller-Kostitsyn together, putting Gionta on top line. Get rid of this joke of a coach already.

I like Shanny as a player, I like what his intentions were for dangerous plays, I don't like how he's executing it. He kept saying the rulings need to be consistent, which they are not. Pacioretty is doing the right thing by publicly disputing what went on, it puts an eye on Shanny, which he deserves. If he can't make consistent rulings then he can't do the job. If Tootoo is suspended someone needs to step in and get rid of Shanny as NHL disciplinary. If he wasn't comparing it to the Cooke-Savard hit, why was it brought up at all? You actually believe for no reason Shanny brought up an totally unrelated hit? There's a purpose of everything said in these hearings and I'm failry sure if it started with "we're cracking down on hits to the head to prevent a situation like Cooke-Savard," Pacioretty wouldn't of been lead to believe he was being compared to Cooke.

Tootoo already had the hearing this afternoon and no word yet? Wonder whats taking so long.

Gonna be interesting to see the fallout of Shanny's decision on Tootoo. If Tootoo is suspended, Shanny is viewed as bias and inconsistent. Both qualities you can't have in his position. If Tootoo isn't suspended, Shanny will unofficially declare that it's ok to run goalies, making every goalie at risk for serious injury because there's no repercussion for doing so. Only solution Shanny can make that will save his own ass and goalies across the league is suspending Tootoo and handing out a late suspension on Lucic. Anything short of that would call for Shanny immediately resigning his position. He can be ineffective, bias or correct a clear mistake. Two of which causes serious repercussion to him and the role of disciplinary for the league, one of which gains respect of alot of people for admitting he made a mistake and correcting it. Mark my words, if Tootoo is suspended, withing a 5 years and as early as next year, there will be a system to dispute disciplinary hearings through a 3rd party. It's getting to the point over the last few years it is necessary, the NFL already has a disciplinary dispute system in place, why doesn't the NHL?

I wanna see the lineups for Tuesday's game. It will tell the tail of how good of a coach Martin really is. Gionta has 1A and -10 in his last 7 games. Kostitsyn has 2G 1A and -1 in his last 3. If Kostitsyn is on the 3rd line and Gionta graces the top 2 it shows how bad Martin is of a coach. Giving offensive play time to a player not producing and not to someone who is. Then again Martin has it in for Kostitsyn, the kid can get 50 goals in a season and Martin will ride his ass on the 3rd and 4th lines all year.

Markov is out for another 3 weeks for another surgery, TSN is reporting.

I read here in another thread JM's teams always rank in the top 5 or 10 in the league in minor penalties. This style of coaching is going to ruin Subban's career. He's going to be a good defenseman but lack because of his discipline. Easy to see why minor penalties are so high with a JM coached team. He coaches "lazy" hockey. They hold back, don't forecheck and collapse, then try to block shots and clear the front of the net. Sounds good, but the reality is during this nobody is really moving their feet. Anyone who's played any form or structured hockey has heard the same line from the coach, "keep your feet moving." You stop moving your feet and bad things happen. You get caught flat footed, and need to hook/hold/trip because someone with their feet moving is skating around you. You don't get the quality offensive rebounds because your not moving and picking up speed from a stop means your not getting that loose puck. Last season was JM's first 40 win season post lockout. You state he has 600 wins, 610 actually, 610-480-119-79 (W\L\T\OTL). Jacques Martin: 610-480-119-79 pulling points out of 55% of his games, his actual win percent is 47.3%. Bruce Boudreau: 201-88-0-40 pulling points in 67.2%, winning 61.1% of his games, and was fired. Randy Carlyle: 273-182-0-61 pulling points in 58.8%, winning 52.9% of his games, and was fired. Realistically for JM is: 203-174-0-79 post lockout, puling points in 64.7%, winning 46.6% of his games. I find the 46.6% win percent a little shocking. In 18.1% of his games he can get to OT but can't close the deal. No coach with a sub 50% win percent has won the cup post lockout. Why do you want to stick with this guy? Happy not getting the cup or something?

For everyone siding with JM, saying he shouldn't be fired and his decision making is sound, all I need to point out is his decision to put Moen in the shootout at 5th shooter. At that point we had Subban, Kostitsyn, Eller, Plekanec, even frickin Darche still on the bench. Have you seen the breakaway goals Moen has scored? He pushed them through the goalie. If Martin isn't gone by the end of Monday, I've lost all faith in the management of the Montreal Canadiens. JM can't put together a working PP, he can't put together sustainable offense, he can't keep working lines together, and he can't read his own player's talents. If this isn't failing as a coach, I don't know what is.

At this point in the season I'd rather seen Weber on the PP than Subban. Don't get me wrong, Subban was great last year. Weber has 3 PP goals, Subban has none, any way you do the math Weber is better on the point thus far.

Emelin was playing the point on the PP in the 3rd period. When you waste half a period on the PP and still get outshot while your on the PP, try anything. Whats going to happen with JM is very simple. Most fans want him gone because he's doing a terrible job and should be ashamed to be seen in public, but that doesn't matter. Whats going to happen is February/March when we're in a position where we need to win nearly every game to make the playoffs, JM will be fire. Better off doing it early and trying to salvage this season OR keeping him and trading away contracts for for draft picks. Right now we're in a bad spot, too high for good drafting and too low for the playoffs. Someone up in the Habs management needs to make a decision on where this team is going and make the right moves to follow that course. Playoffs or rebuild? Make the decision soon.

I don't expect a whole lot from Markov if the reports are correct. Starting on 3rd defensive pair with Emelin. I hope the reports are true because if he hasn't had any "hard practices," I'd want to ease him back, limiting his ice-time to PP and 3rd defensive pair only. We have some solid defensemen for the PK in Subban, Gill, Emelin, and Gorges so there's no need to rush Markov to big minutes. My guess on whats going to happen is: 1) Markov has an immediate impact on the PP and leads the team to the playoffs, but quickly slows down and they just squeek into the playoffs.

The lesson in this suspension: skate with your head down.

It is a strategy, all teams in all levels of hockey use it because it usually works. The problem is you have JM using a defensive strategy and then when leading he wants more of a shell. Yes, Muller was yelling on the bench, but was it because they were playing a perfect shell? No, he was yelling because the shell wasn't as good as they want it to be. I've played many games of hockey, never professionally admittedly, but I have heard from coaches when we're ahead in an important game to dump the puck, don't take chances. That is a strategy adjustment, that is what is going on with the habs. Every blown 2 goal lead except the Pittsburg game, their shot count drops dramatically once they have the lead. The reason is because their concern is to not being scored on, because thats the instructions the coach gave them.

I don't believe their job is constantly on the line. If that were true, JM would have already been gone. Anyone else getting sick of the blown 2 goal leads because of JM's attitude to only go on offense on a counter attck when up by 2? My opinion is this is the regular season, a single game doesn't mean anything really. Why not keep pressure on from puck drop until it's over? Regular season games are not playoffs, so why go into that defensive shell when your up by 2 just because your winning. JM said offense is the best defense, but his actions behind the bench tell a different story.

I some thoughts concerning the Pacioretty hit. I watched it last night, and as soon as I saw it I said he's getting a couple games for it. I know it wasn't malicious or intended to hurt Letang. If Pacioretty gets suspended because of it, there would have to be some fallout of the decision. If the player wasn't in a vulnerable position and the same hit was made, would it be suspendable? Not at all. Who put Letang in the vulnerable position? Letang did. If the player getting hit put himself in a vulnerable position, without any contact with anyone else on the ice surface, shouldn't Letang be responsible for some of the blame? I understand the ruse are to protect the players for injury, but according to the rules the only person on the ice surface thats not responsible for your safety is you. You can turn your back to checks and risk injury. You get hurt the person hitting you gets punished. You can lead with your head and risk injury, as Letang did entering the zone. You get hit the person hitting you gets punished. You can skate with you head at other player's elbow height and risk injury. You get hit and the person hitting you gets punished. Players need to get back to taking their safety in their own hands. 25 years ago Letang was the one at fault. Not saying 25 years ago it was right, there needs to be a medium between who is really at fault in a situation like this. Right now the rule are taking hitting out of the game, players putting themselves in vulnerable positions willingly just to avoid being hit.

Nice non-call on Cole. Was a trip, should have been called, the contact with the goalie was because of the trip, should of actually been a counted goal. Let's see how it' turns out, game should be over.