P-E-R-S-P-E-C-T-I-V-E

[Wamsley01]

Last season

Ocotober - 8-3-1

November - 5-8

December - 4-6-2

January - 5-8

February - 4-1-2

March - 10-5-1

April - 5-4

Last season after 41 games

18-20-3

This season

Ocotober - 6-2-3

November - 8-5

December - 8-4-2

January - 1-2

This season after 41 games

23-13-5

I know alot of people are in freefall panic mode right now, but look at the numbers.

We have not had a full month under .500 yet. We are 12 points ahead of last season's pace.

If we play .500 for the rest of the season we sit at 92 points, exactly where we finished last season.

We are

3 up on NYR with 2 games in hand

5 up on Ottawa with 2 games in hand

5 up on Carolina with 2 games in hand

7 up on Toronto with 1 game in hand

8 up on Boston who has 2 games in hand on us

9 up on Pittsburgh who has 2 games in hand on us

Who would not have taken that in October? Our fast start blurred the view of what the Habs are.

We are an up and coming team who is probably a couple of years away.

We hava a good core, but it is flawed. Kovalev does not show up every night, Samsonov has been

invisible and we are relying on 2 kids (Higgins, Latendresse) who have been great but who are both young.

Are Special teams have been unbelievable and Huet is the reason we have such a big cushion.

So you can either predict impending doom, or be happy we have the best record we have had since 1993 at this point in a season. Who thought Bonk and Johnson would be this great?

Is it frustrating watching them go through a losing streak? Yes. But calling out Carbo, and individual players is ridiculous. The 1993 Champs were 1st overall with 18 games left and got 14 out of a possible 36 points to finish the season. The fans wanted to trade Patrick Roy and let Red Light take over. And we went on to win the Cup. The season is long, Anaheim has lost 5 of 6 and the Sabres are riding a 2 game losing streak going into Toronto tonight.

The Habs are in 4th comfortably and we just witnessed Grabovsky and Lapierre play great games.

We have Kostitsyn, Chipchura, Danis and Halak in Hamilton, premier prospects like David Fischer and Alexei Emelin in the wings and we just watched Carey Price, Juraj Mikus, lil' Kostitsyn and Valentenko light up the World Juniors.

Added to the fact that the future is in the hands of Bob Gainey, Guy Carbonneau, Kirk Muller and Dougie Jarvis. 15 Stanley Cups and 9 Selke trophies. These guys are winners and they know what the hell they are doing.

This is not the Houle/Tremblay days. Just be glad you are not a Leaf fan!

So have some P-E-R-S-P-E-C-T-I-V-E.

Edited January 6, 2007 by Wamsley01

[Mr. Nasty]

I for one will not be happy if the team is only .500 for the rest of the season. Every game counts and should be played as such. In fact many teams sitting out of the playoffs have .500 records. Losing to teams that are ranked below you and moving in on a playoff spot is never good.

Stats can me manipulated depending on what you are trying to prove.

One could say the team:

Has lost 5 of the last 7 (with losses to Florida (2), Tampa, Philly, Washington, NYR, and Boston)

Has lost 8 of the last 15

Has allowed 19 more even strength goals than they have scored.

Are in the bottom 5 for minor penalties.

Yes, this team has been very good up until the last 2 weeks. The team was healthy up until the past 2 games and I must say I am a bit worried when, not if, the team loses a a couple core players to injury. This team could be in big trouble should Koivu and/or Huet get lost for long stretches.

[Wamsley01]

My point was not to manipulate stats.

We are slumping, but unless your team is the 80's Oilers or 70's Habs it was inevitable.

I do not want to finish at .500 either. But that is almost a worse case scenario for us.

The teams below us cannot afford another losing streak or it will wipe out their season.

Considering I saw the late 70's and the 80s when the Habs won Cups, put up 100 pts every year

and essentially owned the Adams division. I have to keep things on an even keel and not

get to high and to low with every game. I was spoiled then and the last 10 years smacked me with

a hard dose of reality. Taking shit from the same Leaf fans who I laughed at for 20 years was tough.

We are in the best position in the present and looking to the future in almost 15 years.

Even the Leafs came out of their freefall to start playing competitive hockey again.

We will get the wheels going again. Guaranteed.

Edited January 6, 2007 by Wamsley01

[Dirty Harry]

All things considered the habs played well against the rangers.

They were down their two best centres (Koivu, Bonk), they had mediocre goaltending (lets face it folks, they need all-star Huet to go anywhere in the playoffs, 2nd string Abby wont get them past the 2nd round) and ontop of that the defence defenitely seemed to be feeling the effects of the head flu and were way off their game.

[OneSharpMarble]

My point was not to manipulate stats.

We are slumping, but unless your team is the 80's Oilers or 70's Habs it was inevitable.

I do not want to finish at .500 either. But that is almost a worse case scenario for us.

The teams below us cannot afford another losing streak or it will wipe out their season.

Considering I saw the late 70's and the 80s when the Habs won Cups, put up 100 pts every year

and essentially owned the Adams division. I have to keep things on an even keel and not

get to high and to low with every game. I was spoiled then and the last 10 years smacked me with

a hard dose of reality. Taking shit from the same Leaf fans who I laughed at for 20 years was tough.

We are in the best position in the present and looking to the future in almost 15 years.

Even the Leafs came out of their freefall to start playing competitive hockey again.

We will get the wheels going again. Guaranteed.

What makes you think we are slumping? Maybe we were over achieveing, I certainly didn't see a single game where we convincingly dominated. Most of our wins came on the back of Huet and only by a goal or two.

You know what we will have withouth Huet? We will have below .500 hockey and with the way we have been riding him it wont suprise me one bit. What would have been smart would have been to switch up the lines when we were playing well and still winning. Get our chemistry back instead of letting our second line go to pot.

Don't fool yourself, this team has alot of talent when they decide to play but you can't get away from their laziness. Hopefully this breath of fresh air with Grabs and Lapierre will motivate the rest of the team to put in a full effort. Has anyone seen us play a full 60 minutes this season? I could maybe point out a game or two but they are hard to find.

[Dirty Harry]

What makes you think we are slumping? Maybe we were over achieveing, I certainly didn't see a single game where we convincingly dominated. Most of our wins came on the back of Huet and only by a goal or two.

You know what we will have withouth Huet? We will have below .500 hockey and with the way we have been riding him it wont suprise me one bit. What would have been smart would have been to switch up the lines when we were playing well and still winning. Get our chemistry back instead of letting our second line go to pot.

What team gets anywhere without an allstar goalie??? Its a key component to getting deep in the playoffs

[Wamsley01]

I can't argue with their effort. It is disappointing to see them outworked regularly.

And surprising seeing as the management and coaching staff consist of 4 of the hardest working

players I have ever seen.

If Abby was our starter we WOULD be fighting for our playoff lives.

I have faith in Gainey and Carbo though.

Buffalo up 2-0 on Toronto 6 minutes in.

Edited January 7, 2007 by Wamsley01

[kaos]

The fact of the matter is that Montreal is terrible 5 on 5, and their goaltending and special teams have carried them to a great start. Now they are struggling and so are the Habs. THe main reason is the second line which has produced almost nothing 5 on 5. Its when Kovalev and Samsonov should be at their best, but have been terrible.

The Higgins injury seems to have have affected the 1st line and are not generating chances like they did, but that will come back. The 3rd line has been strong as always.

5 on 5 is where this team needs to improve if it wants to break its current slump and make some noise in the playoffs. That means something needs to be done with the second line. Either move Higgins to the second line and Plekanec to the fourth, iwth Latendresse moving to the first.

Or make a deal for a centre and ship Samsonov out....

Thats my perspective

[tokyohabs]

Or maybe do something about the first line?

Ryder is terrible. By every account I've read on this board, awful again v. rags. Higgins is young, evidently not the same player while still returning/recovering from injury. Koivu is having an excellent season with one winger. The +/- stats for this line are abysmal.

Not that the second line should stay intact either. Their production level is absurd. Well, let's hope the kids can pull a little '86 in '07!

I think marble's point about not having a real, fully dominating 60-minutes this year is very good. I feel we have been overachieving. Teams figure out your PK if you keep giving them enough chances.

It is interesting, clearly Bob (and henchmen) are playing a patience game, letting the farm talent slowly mature and building a winner in a couple of years. But he's doing it in the least patient city in the LNH. Curious to see if he can pull it off.