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Machine of Loving Grace

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Everything posted by Machine of Loving Grace

  1. The fact he had never met Jesperi until that charity game and when someone asked him how he felt about it, all he talked about was how he was playing first line and his "little brother" Mikko was third line... I get the feeling he won't be a hockey ops guy. That said, even Saku Koivu as a "Habs Ambassador" for Europe would be a nice role to see him in. Maybe like what Rejean Houle does for Habs alumni but for the European guys so they have Habs representation doing autograph signings or charity games (provide sweaters, logos, photos to autograph, etc.)
  2. They were trying to get him moved at the draft but he wouldn't agree to an extension with the Kings. After that, the offers for him got worse and worse as teams filled their LW needs. At this point trading him as soon as possible would be getting 30 cents on the dollar.
  3. I wasn't talking about the times when a dump and chase works, I'm talking about dump and chase as a strategy. It's crap hockey.
  4. Your comparison was Galchenyuk, who has been top 3 in Habs scoring in the past 3 years despite coaches messing with him. Now he is traded to a team that doesn't have that baggage. We thought higher of him because we thought higher of this team. I don't know if he's the 70 point centre I thought he could become but he was a 51 point winger on one of the worst teams in the league playing his off position for a coach who had little to no confidence in him. I don't know if he needs the right coach but simply he doesn't need the wrong one.
  5. Even Ovechkin's numbers dropped when Adam Oates moved him to the right wing and expected him to be something he wasn't. To the point where people were saying Ovechkin had peaked. He followed up three 30+ goal seasons with three 50+ goal seasons because he got used properly again.
  6. Everything said here falls under "because his job was on the line" Not playing Marchand on the PP was a point of contention in Boston.
  7. Marchand was better when away from Julien, who for some stupid reason refused to play him on powerplay. Julien has an issue with two types of young players: guys that lean heavy on offence and Russians. The Russian issue is well documented.
  8. I noticed an article on the Habs site about Michael Chaput. Definitely an example of a guy who can score in the AHL but not the NHL. He will probably get a call up during injuries but not much else.
  9. Skinner had a NMC and was only giving Carolina like 4 choices. Surprising that Buffalo was on the list but he might have seen it as an opportunity for a great extension if King Eichel likes him.
  10. At this point Bergevin is beyond hope, but what can Julien do to keep his job?
  11. If Montreal has great players, nobody will care what they speak. But the media has made it clear that if the club sucks? It better suck with local players. Same with coaching and GM. If the best coach or GM wants to come here, they will be accepted. They just don't have a very big window to get it done. But if we are going with someone with no experience, people want a local and they want to hear their own language. Kovalev got Lafleur comparisons for an 84 point season. That's how starved this franchise is for top flight players. That's why I say tank and rebuild. If we got Hughes first overall and he proved to be a 100 point centre, nobody would care he's an under six feet tall Yank. They would celebrate him all still. The first language of the Habs is success and we forgot how to speak the native tongue.
  12. I think he either has new team struggles out the gate like some players do, or he just goes on a tear. I expect him to be busting his ass this summer to get in shape because he finally has a GM and coach who want him to play centre. If he doesn't, he didn't deserve our support. I think Arizona looks at him the way Dallas looked at Tyler Seguin and knows if they handle him right, they fill that centre position for years to come. I think they put Keller and Grabner with him while Stepan gets Panik and Dvorak. There is still some hope in Strome and hopefully they handle him how Montreal should have handled Galchenyuk: play him at 3C and give him a guy like Dvorak and a vet on the other side. Galchenyuk doesn't have much time to secure a C position with Strome and Hayton in their system but who knows how long Stepan is around. Arizona might surprise everyone if Strome puts his game together and Nick Merkley ends up the real deal. Merkley has been a PPG player in his last four seasons (three in OHL, one in AHL) and if that transitions to the NHL, Arizona has five players 25 and younger who will have 20 goal, 50 point potential in the league. If Raanta wasn't a hotstreak, Arizona could surprise everyone. Not to mention their defence is a lot better than people give it credit for.
  13. While that's true with some of his "off ice comments" I won't get into, that was as boilerplate of an interview as it gets. Sounded like Kevin Costner was feeding him lines. "As a group we have to be better" "When you got guys like this, you have pieces to win." "We all have the same goal, which is to win hockey games." "We got a lot of work ahead of ourselves." Expect him to fight someone in the first game and be unable to match his goal production mark of last year.
  14. He was still a Habs fan until some members of the media mocked his attempts at speaking French. Lecavalier played this organization like a fiddle, same with Lapointe. Ryane Clowe wanted to sign here but NJ made him an insane offer.
  15. You don't trade him now, you trade him later. Also Skinner had choice of where he could be traded to. Pacioretty doesn't unless he negotiates an extension. And current reports is that the relationship is strained and Pacioretty will either be traded or leave as a free agent. So either trade or lose for nothing.
  16. Which is why you don't trade him in August. Amazed he went to Buffalo but not Colorado. He must already know he's getting an extension.
  17. If we trade him now, yes. The market is dry right now. August is a bad time to trade a player. Remember how Montreal got two teams best players in the same week back in 1992? Brian Bellows in Minnesota and Vincent Damphousse in Edmonton? Those were late August trades. This is a bad time to get good value on a good player. We missed the pre free agency window. Now we wait for the mid season window.
  18. Is he good in the room? Doesn't feel like it. Again I would prefer to bring in someone who has no connection to this broken locker room to be a guide for players than someone who has been captain during one of the worst eras of the club. I would rather bring in a Doug Gilmour than keep Patrice Brisebois around overpaid for his worth.
  19. If Pacioretty is a rental, I'm expecting a return in the range of Rick Nash (1st/B player/B prospect/cap dump) and Eric Staal (two seconds and C prospect). The reason why we should have got him out last season is what Buffalo got for Jason Pominville back in 12-13: 1st, 2nd, and two B prospects (I think Matt Hackett had real NHL potential but he got hurt and never recovered). That's the return we *want* for Pacioretty but not what we're gonna get if he's a UFA. Of course that's why Bergevin has been hoping to make him a sign and trade, but that severely limits our options. And if we don't trade him by December, that option goes out the window. Nobody really signs and trades for a deadline rental.
  20. If it was up to me I would be playing him with Peca and Scherbak, but I doubt that happens.
  21. He's also usually had one reliable guy on his line and didn't this time. Plus the constant attempts to put him with Drouin when they had no chemistry likely killed his shots at coming out of cold streaks. I think they will try Patches - Danault - Armia Domi - Drouin - Gally Hudon - Peca - Lehkonen/Scherbak
  22. You gotta remember that Edmonton doesn't want to give up *anything* for *anyone* that is remotely good, even though they are wasting McDavid every year. They are some of the worst for that, and it goes back to the days of claiming that Ales Hemsky is an elite player with elite possession and you gotta be giving up a top 5 draft pick plus if you want him. Few fanbases are worse than them when it comes to that. And yes, Pacioretty does have question marks. But when looking at the rumoured offers for Pacioretty at the deadline and draft, it's not like teams are completely lowballing the Habs. Kings were rumoured to have Vilardi or Pearson coming back if Pacioretty accepted their contract extension (after saying no to a deal that was just Pacioretty at the deadline). The problem wasn't lowballs but Bergevin high balls. Asking for Trochek? Come on. The thing is, Rick Nash has a much better reputation than Pacioretty. That said, he had not been healthier and his decline was much harder than Pacioretty's (if he is declining) and with 18 goals and 28 points, Boston gave up a first round pick, a B prospect, a cap dump, and a B+ youngster in Ryan Spooner (who put up 16 points in 20 games with the Rangers so he's already outproducing the guy he was traded for) for just a single playoff run with Rick Nash. Being 50+ games into the season changes your perspective on what you'll give up and what a player means to you. And trust me, it's not like Nash is a playoff warrior compared to Pacioretty. So yeah, *right now* his value is very low. This is the wrong time to trade Max Pacioretty. Most teams got their shiny new winger and what Bergevin wants is too much for what someone might pay right now (his window was the draft but his ask was high). But come trade deadline, the only player that will be more valuable will be Panarin (unless he signs an extension somewhere). Pacioretty will cost nothing on the cap so a team like Boston won't need to take a cap dump to acquire him like they did with Rick Nash. And even if he is having not the greatest season, his value to a team like Tampa that's stacked already to now have a Pacioretty getting passes from Kucherov and Stamkos will be worth mortgaging their future.
  23. Prop? Drouin is a much better player than Domi. Domi has a nice pass but that's about it compared to Drouin. But I do agree with the idea of Domi - Drouin - Gallagher, Gally really likes Domi so they will be a duo. It's not a bad line in theory. Drouin needs to get back to his weight as a Bolt. I would love if just once we see Drouin - Peca - Byron just to see a line as fast as the old Petrov - Koivu - Bure line from 1995. Pacioretty - Danault - x will certainly be a thing unless Armia steps up and shows he is more than just a once every four games player. He could be the new Weise if things go right. Scherbak could have stiff competition.
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