DON

Holland, in his 5 minutes, looked fine and I thought DD's line was good also with Moan. Moan got 19+ minutes today and I think deserved it, the way he has played so far this year.

27+ minutes for Markov, he is playing well but... Price continues to play very solid. and best all round forward got 3 points, good stuff. Gotta give DD credit, I thought he played well and was 13-2 on faceoffs.

My guess is he will do much better, but he should as a 19/20 year old anyways, he supposedly looked good in Hamilton last spring, so I just don't know what should be expected from him when he turns pro?

Agree and backhands are just mind numbing for goalies I think, looked like Bourque tried to shot high and didn't pull it off and Hiller was screwed.

Interesting option though, he is toast in Vancouver I think.

Reway 3 assists and Vail 2 point night, both doing well at 1ppg or so.

OK? Maybe in a Darchey way, but I would stick with Bournival, kid can skate and backchecks. But Moan does seem quicker and more willing to mix things up this year and he is an effective checker, but on rushs and around the net I would prefer to see the kid.

You, nor I, don't care about language he speaks but Habs management, Quebec politicians, local media & fans surely do. That is just a fact of life and something 29 other teams don't have to factor in and seems the flip-side of a Don Cherry whining about Toronto kids being drafted by Leafs. But, I don't think Gagne is needed at all, and am hoping Pacioretty, Murray will be back in couple weeks, with Yemelin following that. Then we see if the team can compete with Wings/Leafs and have a better idea of real state of Habs roster.

sure, I just vaguely remember Nylund anyways, as a very high pick that was good for the Habs to play against and never panned out cept on physical side. and Schenn did seem like he was thrown to the wolves with a weak d-core and expected by the brainiac GM to live up to draft.

With Price playing like he is, maybe all Habs need to do is sneak into playoffs and instead of fading a bit as he did last year, Price will steal a few games; so just a bit early only 9 games into season to be tossing in the towel.

Who will Pateryn replace on the backend? Possibly just Beaulieu, or fill in for Boullion or Diaz vs a bigger Ducks or/& Shark team? Will they maybe dress 7 d-men? Or he will be in pressbox tomorrow and play Sat?

Luke Schenn & Gary Nylund (once traded with Bergevin to Hawks) are other good contestants, both from Leafs. Schenn is still catching up, but 3rd overall Nylund never did develop after getting hung out to dry for 3 or 4 years in Toronto.

Monahan plays on a crappy (momentarily overachieving) team with few PP options. Holland, seems some see him as a 3rd liner at worst and some see as simply bottom six fill-in (at present). Like Leblanc and Bournival, I think he may be more a 2nd/3rd line player, in a couple-several years just not for this 5-15 game stint and as was said before, the current lines arnt written in stone.

agree completely

Yes, vet NHLers likely react much differently than the kids on the oiler team might and their coach knows that. And he likely even used Eller comment in a post 1st period rant to fire em up?

Who expects Holland to "shine"? Hope for it for sure, but cant expect it at this point. If he can keep his head above water, check at both ends, block some shots and don't turn pucks over, that would be sweet. That is all that is needed or hoped from Holland till #67 & #8 are back. I would love for Holland to make a Gallagher-like impact as a rookie, but he likely needs another year in the weight room and AHL before he can even compete for pucks. It took Eller and Pacioretty several years to bulk up and Holland is still quite slight I think (even Bournival has 10-15lbs on him). If he was a Lehkonen or Collberg, then yes I totally agree with Commandant that 4h line duty is a bit unwise, but a Bournival-Vail-Holland are all defensively responsible and will never have 40-50 goal season in NHL, so why not.

Holland seemed to be a smart well rounded player in junior, who did great when combined with 2 skilled offensive kids. But come on, it was his first NHL game and he is unlikely ready for primetime yet. He was simply the best fill in they have and the 5-6minutes he had was a lot less ice than I hoped for, but about exactly what I expected. I doubt many call ups expect much more for 1st game. Holland is a smart defensive player who is likely best shot blocking forward and I thought the 4th line looked good and was more energized than the other 3 lines. Should White's line have been given twice as much icetime, would of been fine by me, but would of shocked me. Would Holland have helped more by playing with Desharnais and Bourque? Possibly but vs a weak Oiler team it shouldn't of mattered and Holland was likely extremely happy just to be in the lineup. I have a bigger issue with Tinordi playing 7-9minutes, when he could be playing 25 in Hamilton, but injuries being what they are I don't think coach is being overly conservative with youth. But on a regular basis 6-7 minutes should be only for the goons of the league and young forwards should get at least 10minutes to have any chance to prove themselves (or show weaknesses).

Aliu with 5 shots and Dumont with 6, good to see both those players involved around the net. Nygren off to a solid offensive start to N.A. hockey with 3points in 5 games, wonder how he has looked in own end with more physical play?

LL with 3 points, OT winner, right on! And little swiss rookie was 1st star. I hope Tinordi is sent down to help out and get a lot of icetime, Beaulieu looked fine vs Oilers, maybe give him a few straight games with Habs?

Extreme overconfidence and coasting for 40 minutes usually dosent bode well. Eller comments likely gave a bit of motivation to a very young but very skilled top 6. Seems quite a few Chicken Little-type comments. When missing top scorer, grinder and defensive d-man makes it hard to coast to a win. But at least a very short staffed Hamilton pulled out a victory today.

Yes, Arcobello now has 9 assists and has one of best faceoff % in league, doing very well for an (older) rookie. Hemsky almost 1ppg vs. Habs Very sloppy play by Hab forwards and Galchenyuk caught too long on shifts and partly responsible for both Oil goals.

It is the NHL, so no rhyme, reason nor consistency to officiating, same ol BS as ever.

Good exercise, I don't think I had McCarron nor Leblanc in top 10 and don't see Beaulieu as #1, but he may end up being very good player.

Pretty young up front now, hopefully someone can step it up a notch (Leblanc).

Bozon will put up better numbers now playing with Reinhart.