Commandant

Isnt that what happens to the rest of the population. Why should the athlete be different. Even after a referendum, there is going to be a huge number of people who voted no and are now in a new country.

1) He's not a centre, so who is watching him with blinders on. He's played 2 games at centre all season and 0 games at centre last season (AHL included). So yeah, when you call him a centre, you show just how little you actually know about Hudon. 2) I think Hudon is already, right now, a very good third line winger. Duclair had an excellent rookie season, but has had some bad years since then. I'm not sure he's better than a third liner either.

No one is giving Lindgren starter money based on what he has done so far. He is going to need to have a hell of a season next year to earn that. As good as he's been, has he proved more than Aaron Dell, Phillip Grubauer, or a number of other backups around the NHL?

I'd rather keep Hudon I don't rate Duclair that highly

I like it. Niemi can backup this garbage season. Lindgren can backup next year. Add a pick.

PP

Pacioretty to Anaheim.... Steel, Mahura, 2nd St. Louis.... Kyrou, Walman, 2nd Nashville.... Fabbro, Petterson, 1st

6-1.

Don't give Kucherov breakaways.

Pacioretty for Sam Steel, Josh Mahura, 2nd rounder.

Its a miracle!

Selfish penalty by drouin, but byron earns a call to even things up.

The issue is praising these guys as great shutdown defencemen when they are not that player. They are players who are doing well in their role.

Vasilevskiy is good.

I like good coaching, I don't like praising that person as a great defenceman though. If you are getting sheltered like that, you shouldn't be featured in an article about thriving in a shutdown role. A player's stats have to be taken in the context of how they are used. Are those guys better than Oliver Ekman Larsson who is leading the league in minuses this season? Of course not. His stats are crap cause he plays huge minutes on the leagues worst defensive team, and against the top players in the league. Context is everything.

Agreed on Evans and Gregoire.

This article doesn't take into account how sheltered the minutes have been, quality of competition and zone starts. Pateryn, Barberio and Sergachev are all benefitting from weak opposition and very selective offensive zone usage.

This team's prospect cupboard is a lot better than you give it credit for. Blue Chips Poehling is having a fantastic season for an 18 year old in the NCAA. Josh Brook looks amazing in Moose Jaw right now. Mete is far better than you are giving him credit for. A level Scherbak has found his game in Laval. Noah Juulsen looks like a top 4 D. Lindgren, McNiven, Hawkey, and Primeau all look good as goalies, but goalies are voodoo, and who knows, but with 4 good ones, one is bound to turn out. B Level Will Bitten has 27 points in his last 17 games. Cale Fleury, Jared Tsyzka, are both having strong seasons. Both could use defensive work. Jake Evans looks great as a senior in the NCAA Third Level Ikonen is playing against men and struggling a bit. Vejdemo is having his best season yet in Sweden. Lernout is a bit of a question mark, but earned a call-up. I'd like to see more from Scott Walford but he's still been decent. Better defensively than offensively. Longshots Gregoire and Audette have had flashes, but are probably not going to be NHLers. A really nice draft, along with big development years from Mete, Bitten and Scherbak make this pool look much better than it did a year ago. Its a big improvement. Add to that 4 picks in the top 62 in what should be a good draft this year.

Because the Habs have drafted 0 french players in the last two drafts. Because he overpaid Karl Alzner, cause he's french. Traded Subban for Weber due to the French factor... Oh wait, french had nothing to do with those moves.... I mean the other recent french moves involve trading for Danault (a win for Bergevin) and Deslauriers (another win for Bergevin) so no, I don't think its about the French factor.

If you don't develop a kid between 18 and 22, the most important development years, you are unlikely to develop later, even in another organization. Wasted years can not be recovered.

At least Scherbak got another assist.

He's scored 20 goals before. His career high is 39 points. Not sure why 10 more goals is doubtful, or why he's a 30 pts player.

Marchessault 6 years, 30 million in Vegas. Scratch one option for MB to get a top 6 C via free agency.

He goes to the net, he gets under opponents skin, he's decent defensively, and he is on pace for 20 goals. What is the problem with Shaw? Shaw is one of the few forwards at or exceeding expectations.... really, Shaw, Gallagher, Deslauriers, Carr, Danault, Byron... those guys are doing what should be expected or better. Galchenyuk is playing well but not enough ice time on the season. Drouin and Pacioretty need to do more. Lehkonen and Hudon look good on the ice, but it hasn't translated to the score sheet. Plekanec is a shadow of his former self. Hemsky is a zero.

No he wasn't. The last time they went to the ECF was in 2014 Gomez was on the 2010 team that went to the ECF, but that is not the last time they went.