Commandant

At some point an nhl caliber goalie has to make a big save.You can say he had no chance on all 5 but just at some point you gotta get a stop.

If you can get an RNH or an Eberle for Beaulieu; I'm good with that. You better be going hard on Keith Yandle or Dan Hamhuis in free agency though, cause the left side of the defence would need bigtime help.

Sure thats great and all by the time any of those picks is an impact defenceman in the NHL, Stamkos is on the wrong side of 30.

I don't think Mitchell is better than them, but I don't think he's far off either. And thats the crux of the issue. Mitchell cost what? A 7th round pick to acquire. 1.5 million on a contract extension. A player slightly better than Mitchell to anchor the third line shouldn't cost much. I'm fine with both gone too, i just don't know why other teams want them.

People aren't going to stop going with tickets already being sold. By the time the next round of tickets goes on sale in September, they'll be able to sell the return of carey price. There is literally nothing to worry about. Now if its a career ending injury, you'd have bigger issues, but you also wouldn't be able to hide that very long. I think the answer here is LaPresse is engaging in speculation for the purposes of clickbait. Oh yeah, and the team has adamantly denied the report and basically said lapresse is full of shit.

Stamkos was a sixty goal centre. Then Cooper moved him to wing. He hasn't produced the same at wing, but yet cooper insists on putting him at wing. Its the single most asinine decision I've ever seen from an NHL head coach. And I've lived through Therrien coaching the Habs twice. Add to that you have a prospect with a ton of potential as a playmaking winger that you are also dicking around and it makes it even stupider. You have 2/3rds of an elite NHL line in your system, you are gonna lose one for pennies on the dollar and the other for nothing... all cause the coach is acting like a petulant child with his insistence on doing things his way.

They have a lot of talent in the system, but its all at forward. On defence they have Morgan Reilly and a bunch of maybes.... maybe they will be top 4 D, but no sure things.

He could go to toronto, but don't kid yourself the leafs are 3 years away even with stamkos. No goalie 1 (young) top 4 Dman. With Stamkos they are basically the oilers. The forwards are great, but blueline and goaltending need to be built. So 3 years of not competing for the cup is the MO there. That said, they might convince him that is still worth it for $ and hometown reasons.

The only matchups he gets lately are top 4 defencemen... he's not a top 6 player, thats obvious... but he was very effective against third pairings previously and there is no reason to believe he couldn't be again.

Tv contracts are paid for... they aren't going to be effected when they aren't up for renewal anytime soon. The ratings in 6 or 7 years when the deals are up will be a lot more important than a half season dip now. I don't think thats it. Merch and Concessions.... half a season... don't think that many people with tickets already purchased are gonna stay home. So thats not effecting concessions. Merch? Maybe, but merch outside the bell centre is shared league wide so its only the stuff inside the building (and at the brossard store) that really matters; and i don't think any of this is big enough that we are gonna mess around with the franchise goalie. I still think the most likely explanation is that no doctor can give a firm answer on when the MCL will be healed. More just.. keep doing these things and it will get better, we just have to see when that will be.

That assumes you want the classic profile of the third line c though. Something more and more teams are abandoning. Look around the nhl. Matchup lines have disappeared in many cases. Most teams have two way players in their first or second line handle the matchups. Teans play their top line 18 minutes a night. Using a third line that doesnt score much to match them and also play 18 minutes isnt efficient.

That seems like bullshit considering tickets were sold out in september, except for a couple hundred seats that need to be reserved for the opponent and only get released at the last minute if the opponent doesn't want them. 99% of the seats are long gone.

a 15% difference in tax rate is pretty big. Not many markets where taxes are THAT MUCH higher. Also thats assuming he gets 10M exactly. I think there is a chance some team (*hint they just traded their captain*) offers him 11 or 12... and frontloads the contract, which would leave 8.5 in the dust. No Stamkos' choice isn't about 8.5. Quite frankly its this. You are 26 years old... your next three years are the tail end of the PRIME of your career. Do you take the money (11-13) and go to your home town team, knowing they likely aren't competing for a cup til you are 29/30 and the slow decline begins in your 30s; or do you chase the cup now while you can join a contender and be a key piece, taking like 10-11 to do it. Thats what I think Stamkos decision will be.

What? Eller's had a good run of 20 games? OMG I've never seen this before. Thats Lars Eller for you. We should know by now not to overrate 20 games. Eller is also playing much easier matchups right now. One of DD's biggest issues is because he's with Max, he's facing top 4 D every night, which we know he can't do.

Its 6 of one, half dozen of the other. Less goals for and Less goals against or More goals for and More goals against. Either way, both are capable of doing the job, and both are overpaid for the job. I trade whichever one i can and deal with the fallout afterwards. Heck if by some miracle i could deal both, i'd do it.

On the third line, he'd face third pairing defencemen. He was doing allright with that earlier in the year. He can't face top 4 D pairs.

Nice to see Scherbak get it together.

I didn't even say it was likely to happen (or even plausible). Just was to illustrate the difference between player and contract.

As I said it was just a hypothetical. It was more to illustrate that DD is still a third line player, even if I would trade him due to the contract.

Desharnais has been compared to Sam Gagner. Its probably pretty accurate. would I trade Desharnais and sign Sam Gagner for 1.5 million and make him my third line center? Absolutely i would. Getting a very similar player at less than half the price would be great and give two million extra to put in top 6 talent. (just a hypothetical).

PK is never going to be high in blocked shots, because he is a corsi driver. The Habs have the puck more often than not when he is on the ice. Looking at blocks, hits, giveaways, these are all terrible stats to judge a player by.

Great idea, a guy with 14 points last year and 11 points this year is gonna fix our PP. You haven't watched Ehroff play lately have you? there is a reason pittsburgh let him go, a reason he got a cheap contract in LA, and a reason he's on waivers today. Not the same player after his concussions.

No its not. Desharnais is a third line centre, who is capable of playing the role is not a contradiction of an article that says he is overpaid for what he brings. If you don't understand that the player and the contract are two different things, then i don't know what to say. I'm fine with Emelin the player as a #6 defenceman. I want emelin traded because a #6 shouldn't make $4.1 million. See the difference?

Desharnais is still a fine third line centre. We just aren't playing him on the third line.

Pat Hickey ‏@zababes1 12h12 hours agoCanada If Steven Stamkos and his 40 points are worth $10 million, what are Plekanec's 42 points worth? #HabsIO