PB Posted January 17, 2007 Share Posted January 17, 2007 (edited) Our team is a little lost right now and their confidence a little shaked.........not to long ago I think they where flirting with the second position in the East and had a feel good distance with the rest of the pack which where mostly bunched up together around the 7-8-9 standing positions. Regardless of the distance we had with this group we where essentially closer to them in profile (mixture of particular strenths and weaknesses) than to the top leading Conference leader's profile of BUFF (very good balance of strenths with no particuliar weak spots). One of our strenght was our goaltending, we where a difficult team to score against ( second best in the EAST). One of our weakness was scoring goals (10th in the East)......specially when playing 5-on-5. To succeed against us, teams where doing their best to avoid the penalty box while trying to get as much PP opportunities for themselves. They would usually come hard offensivelly peppering Cristowall as much as they could to get the lead....... playing this way also increased their chances of drawing us into taking penalties.......they had considerable success at that since we ended up being one of of the top penalised team in the league (6th). If they finally gotten the lead (let's say on our no.8th penalty) then they would focused on closing the door to our 5-on-5 offense (reasonably easy) but mostly they would avoid taking penalties since they didn't want to deal with our efficient power play machine (2th best)........they had no problems limiting our PP opportunities .......we ended up being the team with the fewest of them in whole league, (well the 29th to be exact). Our profile as a team had some weak points ( getting outshot, taking penalties, low scoring when 5-on-5) and some strong points (Cristowall, PP%)........this balance of attributes was good enought for our team to know more successes than most teams around us........until recently. So what gives ? Have the teams around us improved upon their profiles along the way more than we did on ours ? Edited January 17, 2007 by PB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smon Posted January 17, 2007 Share Posted January 17, 2007 Yes, the teams around us have improved significantly in terms of their work ethic. Look at the Senators, who've really kicked it into gear since getting Comrie and losing Spezza to injury. I really hate to say this, but the Canadiens may simply have been overachieving in the first half of the season. They were getting the lucky combination of superb goaltending and superb special teams that were covering their inability to play well 5on5, and masking the dismal efforts of some players. Now, the special teams/goaltending have slowed down and we're seeing the team's weaknesses up close. I simply cannot understand how Carbonneau's troops can allow so many shots a game (over 33, 2nd most in the entire NHL) and expect to win games. Guy's got to teach his boys to limit the number of shots. Right now, it seems like absolutely nothing is working. The so-called numero uno line of last night, Kovalev-Koivu-Johnson, generated all of 1 shot the entire game. At some point, yeah some things will kick back into gear, but we're seeing now what can/will prevent the team from actually contending unless something is done. The two problems we're seeing are ones Montreal has consistently had for several seasons - giving up too many shots and not scoring enough goals. Players have come and gone, but the problems still remain the same. I need not name certain individuals acquired specificially for their offensive talents who fail to score in the clutch, or score consistently at all. This means in other words, that unless a goaltender delivers a superb performance, the team loses. At some point in time, Theodore did it. Last season, Huet did it. First half, Huet did it. Now, Huet's a bit shaky as is Aebischer and we're suddenly realizing that this team isn't as strong as we thought. And before anyone roasts me for thinking that the team simply overachieved consider that Carbonneau made the same comments last night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaos Posted January 17, 2007 Share Posted January 17, 2007 There lots of ways of moving forward. Dump Samsonov...even if just a lateral move that brings in somebody elses struggling forward, preferably a centre. Trade Souray. His scoring is going to be downhill for the rest of the season. Teams are no keying on him on the powerplay and taking away his shot. His value will not be greater than it is right now. And he is injury prone...its only a matter of time before something happens to him. And with the funk that Montreal is in, they can't wait for his offence to offset his defensive liabilities. Right now he is a pylon. Breakup Samsonov and Kovalev. One goes on a line with Koivu and Higgins centres the other line. Its about the only thing that hasn't been tried. Kovalev and Samsonov both line to hold on to the puck too much. Put them with guys who will actually shoot it and or go to the net ie., Higgins, Ryder, Latendresse and Perezhogin. There are many other possibilties including benching and coaching changes, which Gainey won't do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mont Royale Posted January 17, 2007 Share Posted January 17, 2007 Trade Souray. His scoring is going to be downhill for the rest of the season. Teams are no keying on him on the powerplay and taking away his shot. His value will not be greater than it is right now. And he is injury prone...its only a matter of time before something happens to him. And with the funk that Montreal is in, they can't wait for his offence to offset his defensive liabilities. Right now he is a pylon. Breakup Samsonov and Kovalev. One goes on a line with Koivu and Higgins centres the other line. Its about the only thing that hasn't been tried. Kovalev and Samsonov both line to hold on to the puck too much. Put them with guys who will actually shoot it and or go to the net ie., Higgins, Ryder, Latendresse and Perezhogin. The threat of Souray's shot should open things up for the other guys down low, so it's still an asset. Montreal's recent powerplay uselessness has more to do with failing to work the corners and establish posssession in the offensive zone than coverage of Souray. And you suggest trading him because he might get hurt? Let's trade everyone - they might get hurt too. Kovalev/Koivu was tried last night, and it worked poorly. Maybe they'll get in sync if they play with each other longer, but we thought that with Samsonov too. The guys have been playing soft hockey - not physical at all, and not pressuring the other team. They got in some bad habits when they had the flu, but they don't have that excuse any more. Time to step up the effort and bang some bodies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PB Posted January 18, 2007 Author Share Posted January 18, 2007 (edited) In Carboneau's final's speech before entering the new season he mentionned the importance in keeping hight the desire as a team to go on improving throughout the season's progression. An intelligent moto to be shure, one that favorised '' adjustment '' over complacency. The '' motto '', I think, took the back seat while the CH where enjoying their relative successes and so did the open minded constructive autocrtitism it implied. Success, even relative one will make you complacent, conservative.....even journalists where raising highbrought when Kovalev had questionned the team's offensive system during that time. Cristo's wall and to a certain extent Souray's goals breaking record made oblivious the adjustements needed in order to go on strong for the then coming second half of the season. As the first half was proceeding some alterations took place (pushed mostly by Higgens injury) but none of which that could have challenged the statu quo of our game as it was played..........until the big crash happen. Teams in crashing mode get all desoriented and will usually try to go back to the ABC of their pre-falling status.......which is in our case....not a place you want to try go back to. Kovalev when under questionning after the VAN game alluded to that.....'' we had flaws then that we wouldn't want to go back to ''. So what to do ? I think we are lucky that we are at the eve of the all star brake period........Carbo will need to re-evaluated his priorities and uses drills and practicises to establish them firmly at the heart of the team. A few questions will need be answered.........and then solved......it's the coach's mandate to do so. Why are we allowing so many shots against us ? Why are our number of shots in our favor so few ? Why are we one of the highest penalised team ? Why are we not creating more PP opportunities for our team ? Why are we not scoring enought when 5on5 ? I would proposed that the team's aspect that needs the most improvement is our puck control and puck possession time...........this once established and served........our question will be answered, our plus-minus will improved and our style will be up there taking advantage of the the newNHL standard. We need to bring the puck up more effectivelly and once there we need to keep it there longuer........our D's relation with our forwards should be altered and polished to that end so does our forecheking stategy......our lines-up should be balanced so that offensise pressure at a varied degree can be avallaible on all lines and last but not least we should bring back Garbovski to inrease our effectivity with our re-emphasied 5on5 stategy. I dont see how our roster with quality centers like Koivu, Garbovski, Plekanec and Bonk can be stopped more often than not if we play that way.........specially when we additionally have Huet and our effective power play to come along for the ride. Having higher quality players than Downey and Murray for our press box or depth is also important......it pushes forwards for better efforts and consistency when they know they can be effectivelly replaced by ''legitimate'' alternatives if temporarelly. Maybe the CH ought to move forwards in more ways than one this year........leaving the last decade behind for good. Edited January 18, 2007 by PB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Posted January 18, 2007 Share Posted January 18, 2007 Trade Ribeiro for dirty dishwater. oh wait, we already did that... actually, Niinimaa has played much better than dirty dishwater more like clean toilet bowl water Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortcat1 Posted January 19, 2007 Share Posted January 19, 2007 Trade Ribeiro for dirty dishwater. oh wait, we already did that... actually, Niinimaa has played much better than dirty dishwater more like clean toilet bowl water funny... not nice at all... but funny... GO :hlogo: GO! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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