Peter Puck

Since the preseason points predictions were so accurate, I thought I'd let people predict the playoff order for the final 4 eastern teams.

rofl

This is right. Also, remember Ottawa played a tough OT game against Buffalo the night before using these AHL defencemen. We didn't look to good in the first period. We are lucky they were tired. We need to beat them again in a few days in Montreal.

Boy, how can he not hustle there? He should be hungry after being a heathy scratch so much.

Bullis!!!!!!!!!

Leaf's score with goalie pulled to tie Bruins. In OT now.

Koivu!!!!!!!!

I agree that Kovalev and Ribs need a shooter. However that is not Higgens. Higgins is actually quite like Koivu in terms of his strengths. They are both good passers, with okay shots and both are good at controlling the puck and at digging it out of the corners. I think Ryder should be good with Ribs and Kovy but Ribs and Ryder have never seemed to click. Zednik is not a shooter. Dags is but his other weaknesses are too great. I would also like to see someone with some defensive skill on the 2nd line since both Ribs and Kovalev turn the puck over a little too often.

I thought it was about time to revisit this thread. I must say these predictions confirm that HW is a collection of (mostly) hockey geniuses. B) Below is a summary of the predictions made in this thread for the final Habs point total. (Most of) these were made during the preseason. As of the time of this posting we have 87 points and 7 games to go. 90 Dutch Habs Fan 92 kaos 93 Brett38 95 Peter Puck 95+ Simonus 96 les glorieux 96 ndmartinxyz 96 shortcat1 97 Rooster 97 VaughHabFan 98 JeanLucPilon 98 xXx..CK..xXx 99 Bullis the Habbie 100 redondo 101 Macaskill 102 DANFALCAO 104 bookworm (and the stanley cup and theodore gets his first conn smythe) 110 ch nl 164 Shortcat1 (well, actually Fozzy) Tommy9 made 2 predictions: 101 and 94 Bullis the Habbie made a 2nd prediction of 103 Pierre the Great predicted 90-100

Whoops, sorry about that. I need to read more carefully.

Yes that's what I'm saying. How many times have you seen Markov jumping up and being involved in a 2 on 1 or seen him go in alone on a breakaway? I don't think either has happened this year. How many times have you seen him deke an oncoming forward and walk in from the point for a shot from the top of the circle? These things are not his style of play. I think Markov is an excellent defenceman among the top 5-10 in the league but he is not an offensive defensman. Simonus, this post is not up to your usual quality. :?- Streit has been getting a lot more than 6-7 minutes per game and I dont see any reason to expect his time to fall off. In the 18 games since Jan 1 he has had 9 games with more than 18 minutes (including over 23 minutes once), 7 games with between 15 and 18 minutes, and 2 games (including the game we played the whole way with 7 defencemen) with between 10 and 11 minutes.

I think you will see Streit back next year. His play is getting better and better and he is our only defenceman with any real offensive creativity. I do like Bouliion and think if we trade him we wil get less than he is worth. I don't think Cote will be brought up. I wouldn't be surprised or upset if we start next year with the same 7 defencemen. Our need for an upgrade at forward is much more pressing. We don't score enough goals to be an elite team.

Why did Tucker not receive an automatic 1 game suspension for his instigator penalty in the final 5 minutes of the game versus the Habs on March 25 (when he and Kovalev fought)?

TB wants to keep Richards and he is an RFA. They need a goalie and don't have much cap room. They may well fare badly in the playoffs or even miss them completely. This would put real pressure on them to make some big changes. Here is an outcome this might lead to. TB could trade Lecavalier possibly for a goaltender to free some cap space. This even might allow them to sign Richards for less than they would otherwise since I don't think he would be happy playing in TB for less money than Lecavalier. Trading Lecavalier is one way out of their dilemma which yields them something in return. Now we might be a team with whom they could make a trade. We don't really have a tender to send their way since Danis is unproven and Abeisher is a UFA (and Huet is a UFA who we will want to keep). But they might take a package including one (or more) of our young guys and prospects. They won't want to take back a large salary so we won't be bundling up Zednick or Bonk or anything like that. We would have to send some quality young players. I am not salivating after Lecavalier but we do need a big centre.

Under the new collective agreement I don't think we can offer Huet any bonuses at all next year. I too think he will sign a 1 year deal with the Habs. But with so many teams looking for goaltenders some team might offer him a lucrative contract and we would have to decide what to do.

Whoops I mixed up TB and NJ. You're right Simonus.

I'll be the first to say Go Habs Go.

Contrary to what I have read everywhere else I just discovered that the real standings are: 6. New Jersey 7. Montreal 8. Tampa Bay Everyone, including our own front page, seems to be using goal differential as the third tie breaker. Here is the correct procedure according to nhl.com. Tie Breaking Procedure If two or more clubs are tied in points during the regular season, the standing of the clubs is determined in the following order:1. The fewer number of games played (i.e., superior points percentage).2. The greater number of games won.3. The greater number of points earned in games between the tied clubs. If two clubs are tied, and have not played an equal number of home games against each other, points earned in the first game played in the city that had the extra game shall not be included. If more than two clubs are tied, the higher percentage of available points earned in games among those clubs, and not including any "odd" games, shall be used to determine the standing.4. The greater differential between goals for and against for the entire regular season. We have played all 4 of our games against the Lightning. We won on Nov. 8, Dec. 28 and Mar. 4 and lost Mar. 13. All four games were decided in regulation.

This is not arguing and certainly not senseless arguing. Senseless arguing is when you say Ribeiro should be centering the Habs number 1 line and I say he should be traded for a bag of pucks. This is explaining how magic numbers work. I do agree though that we should just keep on winning. However, if we don't win the next 9 games we might become very interested in what the other teams (both those ahead of us and those behind us) do.

This is wrong. The fact that our magic number versus Atlanta is 14 points merely means that any combination of points missed by Atlanta and points gained by the Habs totalling 14 points means the Habs will finish ahead of Atlanta. If Atlanta loses their next 7 games in regulation that gives a total of 14 points lost but it doesn't mean we clinch a playoff spot. We have other teams behind us to worry about. Or say we win the next 5 games and then lose the final 4 games in regulation while Atlanta win the rest of their games except for 2 loses in regulation. This gives the 14 points indicated by the magic number. But if Florida were to win all their remaining games under this senario we would finish behind Florida. Also this would not elminate Atlanta, they could still get in behind Florida and us in this senario if the Devils and Lightning were to bomb down the stretch.

I have a couple of comments/requests about the front page. 1. Recently the upcoming Habs schedule was removed (or was it just moved and I can't find it?). Can we have it back. 2. It would be a great addition if the standings on the front page were to include a column with the number of games played. I know that I can compute this but it would be easier if it were explicitly listed.

I think Streit has been playing very well since the Olympics, especially during our current winning streak. Of course lately we have been playing against some of the weaker teams but I am very happy with his recent play. A lot of people here are extremely negative about him but don't forget this is his rookie year. His confidence (and ice time) is up, he has stopped taking bad penalties and is playing quite well definsively. I think he is showing some real creativeness on the powerplay. I just wish he would hit the net more often with his shot which is very hard. I am very optimistic about his future and think his future will be as a 3rd or 4th defenceman.

Yes but you can't count Atlanta's lost points against Florida and vice versa. Thus if we gain 7 points and Atlanta misses out on 7 that doesn't guarantee us a playoff spot and it doesn't eliminate Atlanta.

What I find so irritating is that I thought everyone was working hard after the first period and when Ovechkin took his penalty with 2:20 to go it looked like we had the game in the bag. Then Ribeiro just takes a lazy penalty and almost ruins all the hard work. For me this was the final straw. I've had enough of Ribeiro.

I'm going to guess Gretzky. I'll take a shot in the dark and say 26 career shorthanded goals.