Habsfan84 Posted January 27, 2008 Share Posted January 27, 2008 This is from Sports Illustrated: Montreal Canadiens Grade: B Season So Far Riding the NHL's best power play (and overcoming a mediocre penalty kill), the Habs have been one of the season's most surprising success stories. They've struggled to put their best effort on display consistently, but they're still 10 games over .500 and a good bet to return to the postseason. MVP: Alexei Kovalev. No, that's not a typo. The petulant Russian still causes the occasional off-ice distraction, but on the ice he's been the team's most dynamic and reliable weapon, and a solid leader. BEYOND EXPECTATIONS: Mark Streit. Swiss vet is versatile enough to play wing or the blueline, and has been a major force on the power play, where he's racked up 19 of his 31 points. NEEDS IMPROVEMENT: Michael Ryder. With just eight goals through 43 games, he doesn't have a prayer of notching a third-straight 30-goal season. He netted 15 after the break last season, so he's capable of a much stronger second half. HARDWARE HOPEFULS: None Playoff Prognosis The Habs are over-reliant on the power play, and aren't getting enough from scorers like Ryder, Saku Koivu and Chris Higgins. They can work their way into the postseason, but they desperately need to add a premium sniper to give themselves a chance to advance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnyhasbeen Posted January 27, 2008 Share Posted January 27, 2008 Hard to agrue with, although in Hardware hopefulls I think we have a shot with Huet (Vezina), if he picks it up, Markov (Norris) and how about MVP for Kovy when we win the East? Not to mention, the Playoff MVP, Conference Champs and of course Stanley Cup. Seems the author just doesn't believe. I blame his father for raising him wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
les_glorieux Posted January 27, 2008 Share Posted January 27, 2008 Pierre McGuire is in love with this team. He says that we're the most skilled, fastest, and best passing team in the East. He thinks we can catch Ottawa. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted January 27, 2008 Share Posted January 27, 2008 The only part where I slightly disagree is that the Habs seemed to have stopped relying so much on the PP to score goals. If you look carefully, they've been potting more even strength goals. It can't all be PP goals considering their one of the league's stop scoring teams. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Psycing Posted January 27, 2008 Share Posted January 27, 2008 The only part where I slightly disagree is that the Habs seemed to have stopped relying so much on the PP to score goals. If you look carefully, they've been potting more even strength goals. It can't all be PP goals considering their one of the league's stop scoring teams. Agreed. To push that point further, Montreal's PP has declined a bit lately as the team has been trying to get their PK back on track - which they've done up to this point. Plekanec and Kovy are also seeing considerable minutes on the PK, thus maybe cutting back their time on te PP a bit. Just a trend I've noticed over at least the past couple of games. http://www.cs.unb.ca/~mwf/habs/ One could use this site to prove/disprove anything as well, heh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirty Harry Posted January 27, 2008 Share Posted January 27, 2008 Also Montreal was #1 PP last season too and still finished middle of the pack goals for totals. This year they have a top ranked offence so something has changed besides the PP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShortHanded Posted January 28, 2008 Share Posted January 28, 2008 Hard to agrue with, although in Hardware hopefulls I think we have a shot with Huet (Vezina), if he picks it up, Markov (Norris) and how about MVP for Kovy when we win the East? Not to mention, the Playoff MVP, Conference Champs and of course Stanley Cup. Seems the author just doesn't believe. I blame his father for raising him wrong. lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonus Posted January 28, 2008 Share Posted January 28, 2008 This is from Sports Illustrated: Montreal Canadiens Grade: B Season So Far Riding the NHL's best power play (and overcoming a mediocre penalty kill), the Habs have been one of the season's most surprising success stories. They've struggled to put their best effort on display consistently, but they're still 10 games over .500 and a good bet to return to the postseason. MVP: Alexei Kovalev. No, that's not a typo. The petulant Russian still causes the occasional off-ice distraction, but on the ice he's been the team's most dynamic and reliable weapon, and a solid leader. Playoff Prognosis The Habs are over-reliant on the power play, and aren't getting enough from scorers like Ryder, Saku Koivu and Chris Higgins. They can work their way into the postseason, but they desperately need to add a premium sniper to give themselves a chance to advance. 'B' for being the no. 2 team in the east seems kinda silly. The Habs have without a doubt improved their even strength scoring since last year and are one of the top offensive teams in the league. I don't know what the hell Muir is talking about with Kovalev's off-ice distractions... saying that Carbo should have taken a timeout (he was right) like 2 months ago? really? Has Kovalev said one possibly wrong thing other than that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saskhab Posted January 28, 2008 Share Posted January 28, 2008 'B' for being the no. 2 team in the east seems kinda silly. The Habs have without a doubt improved their even strength scoring since last year and are one of the top offensive teams in the league. I don't know what the hell Muir is talking about with Kovalev's off-ice distractions... saying that Carbo should have taken a timeout (he was right) like 2 months ago? really? Has Kovalev said one possibly wrong thing other than that? Actually, Kovalev was wrong in that instance unless you wanted to use the timeout with 2:15 remaining... there were no whistles after that. Most coaches save that timeout for the final 60-90 seconds, and Carbo made the right call there. Muir is just going by last year's problems, methinks, and applying them to this year. Both with Kovalev and the PP. We do rely on the PP a lot, still. A middle of the pack PP would have us in the middle of the pack. But there is no doubt we are improving in every instance.... last year, a middle of the pack PP would've had us in the conference basement. I have no problem being reliant on a PP... any team can be reliant on certain parts of their game, or certain stars on their team. Our star is a PP unit. And it's much less likely to be shut down than any one individual player. We're not San Jose with Joe Thornton here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
habs rule Posted January 28, 2008 Share Posted January 28, 2008 I think B as a grade is very low considering we were picked by all the experts to be in 14th or 15th . I would say the team has performed very well and deserve an A. Nothing less than an A for our boys. :ghg: :ghg: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Habsfan Posted January 28, 2008 Share Posted January 28, 2008 I'd give them B+ or an A-. They've done very well, but they can definitely improve some more! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted January 28, 2008 Share Posted January 28, 2008 A+ for work ethic. It normally takes 5 years to get 40 games of hard work out of this team. I can only recall 3 or 4 games this year where they didn't show up. Forwards: A- Defense B+ (still getting better) Goaltending A- Coaching A They have totally impressed me this year. The season is not over so they need to make the playoffs to fully convince me, finish the job they started. There is still time for a meltdown. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Chicoutimi Cucumber Posted January 28, 2008 Share Posted January 28, 2008 (edited) I don't know why this team flies so far under the radar. Ray Ferraro - who I like - was on the radio in Vancouver describing the New Jersey Devils as the 'biggest surprise in the East.' Huh? Not the 2nd place Montreal Canadiens that everyone had picked to finish 14th in the Conference? Not the team with the 6th best offence that everyone had dismissed as popgun-offence losers without Souray? Why aren't the Habs getting the same kind of buzz that even Nashville and Buffalo got when they emerged as powers 2-3 years back? I think a lot of it comes down to star power. The same logic that saw the Rangers as huge UFA 'winners' and the Avs as Cup contenders because of Smyth, Sakic, and Stastny, now fails to notice the Habs' thus-far impressive season. At least the TSN guys are paying attention and willing to eat their words. Full credit to Macguire - clearly he is prepared to praise an excellent Montreal team, just as he is prepared to lambaste the Habs when he doesn't think they're any good. Our solid performance over the hitherto-lethal post-Christmas period has sold me. I'm convinced that this is Year One of the Habs' re-emergence as a seriously good team. The rebuilding has finally begun to come to fruition, and - barring disaster or serious injury - it's only going to get better from here. Enjoy, folks, enjoy, 'cause this is what you've been waiting for. (I'd also like to point out that Wamsley01 and I were expending a lot of energy around here defending the Habs' overall approach at the start of the year, against all the doom-and-gloomers who were traumatized because we *only* managed to sign Hamrlik.. ). Edited January 28, 2008 by The Chicoutimi Cucumber Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirty Harry Posted January 28, 2008 Share Posted January 28, 2008 For every McGuire, Mackenzie, Burnside, Melrose, etc. who really follows every team closely and has a good grasp of the game there's 20 lazy hacks who know jack and are still basing their writing on last year's stories (Kovalev, Souray, #1 PP gimmick, etc.) and like you said make their predictions on star power. Most probably don't even grasp the fundamentals of hockey and think baseball where you can plug .340 hitters or 1.90 ERA pitchers into any team and it'll be augmented bigtime. In hockey chemistry, systems and teamwork trump individual skill any day and this year the habs have it and it's working for them. I think even a lot of GMs don't get it since they still line up every year to pony up money for UFAs coming off big breakout seasons (Blake, Drury, etc.), either without studying the root causes of why, or just disregarding the risks of the difficulty in repeating in a different scene, and rolling the dice anyways. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brobin Posted January 28, 2008 Share Posted January 28, 2008 Melrose is now predicting the Habs go to the finals... all we need now is McGuire to get on the bandwagon and we are pretty much screwed.... Personally, I think the Habs will go out in the 2nd or 3rd round. They need a bit of maturing and experience yet, plus one more reliable scorer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lazy26 Posted January 29, 2008 Share Posted January 29, 2008 (edited) Melrose is now predicting the Habs go to the finals... all we need now is McGuire to get on the bandwagon and we are pretty much screwed.... Personally, I think the Habs will go out in the 2nd or 3rd round. They need a bit of maturing and experience yet, plus one more reliable scorer. I'd be content with that. What's important is that our young guys get some winning experience in the playoffs. First things first though, let's get there first. Edited January 29, 2008 by lazy26 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wamsley01 Posted January 29, 2008 Share Posted January 29, 2008 I don't know why this team flies so far under the radar. Ray Ferraro - who I like - was on the radio in Vancouver describing the New Jersey Devils as the 'biggest surprise in the East.' Huh? Not the 2nd place Montreal Canadiens that everyone had picked to finish 14th in the Conference? Not the team with the 6th best offence that everyone had dismissed as popgun-offence losers without Souray? Why aren't the Habs getting the same kind of buzz that even Nashville and Buffalo got when they emerged as powers 2-3 years back? I think a lot of it comes down to star power. The same logic that saw the Rangers as huge UFA 'winners' and the Avs as Cup contenders because of Smyth, Sakic, and Stastny, now fails to notice the Habs' thus-far impressive season. At least the TSN guys are paying attention and willing to eat their words. Full credit to Macguire - clearly he is prepared to praise an excellent Montreal team, just as he is prepared to lambaste the Habs when he doesn't think they're any good. Our solid performance over the hitherto-lethal post-Christmas period has sold me. I'm convinced that this is Year One of the Habs' re-emergence as a seriously good team. The rebuilding has finally begun to come to fruition, and - barring disaster or serious injury - it's only going to get better from here. Enjoy, folks, enjoy, 'cause this is what you've been waiting for. (I'd also like to point out that Wamsley01 and I were expending a lot of energy around here defending the Habs' overall approach at the start of the year, against all the doom-and-gloomers who were traumatized because we *only* managed to sign Hamrlik.. ). What do you know eh CC? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KoZed Posted January 29, 2008 Share Posted January 29, 2008 HARDWARE HOPEFULS: None Right now Carbo is in the running for the Jack-Adams along with Dave Tippett and Mike Babcock. If the regular season was to end today, the Habs would have improved by 14 positions compared to last season and just 6 pts behind the SCF finalists of last year (Ottawa) with one of the youngest teams in the league. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neech Posted January 29, 2008 Share Posted January 29, 2008 I'd be content with that. What's important is that our young guys get some winning experience in the playoffs. First things first though, let's get there first. Seriously, I'd be really happy if we won a playoff series. We're still going to have to fight to get in, but we're in good shape at the moment. If we win one series we have a chance to win another, we won't be relying on Theo like in years past. And come on, the 4th best record in the league at the break for a team picked to be out of the playoffs deserves a B+ at least. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saskhab Posted January 29, 2008 Share Posted January 29, 2008 Right now Carbo is in the running for the Jack-Adams along with Dave Tippett and Mike Babcock. If the regular season was to end today, the Habs would have improved by 14 positions compared to last season and just 6 pts behind the SCF finalists of last year (Ottawa) with one of the youngest teams in the league. Tippett? Really? I'd say Bourdeau is definitely in the running if the Caps win the SE. And if one of the Blues, Blue Jackets, or Blackhawks make it their coaches will get consideration as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KoZed Posted January 29, 2008 Share Posted January 29, 2008 Tippett? Really? I'd say Bourdeau is definitely in the running if the Caps win the SE. And if one of the Blues, Blue Jackets, or Blackhawks make it their coaches will get consideration as well. I don't see any Adams winner come from a team in the Southleast division. Too weak. Denis Savard could get consideration in Chicago, especially considering the amount of injuries they've had to deal with. Stevens in Philly could get some credit too. I mentionned Tippett because he's holding his own with no real stars (no pun intended) against juggernauts like SJ and Anaheim. Even Lemaire should get some credit for standing atop the NW division ahead of more hyped teams. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wamsley01 Posted January 29, 2008 Share Posted January 29, 2008 I don't see any Adams winner come from a team in the Southleast division. Too weak. Denis Savard could get consideration in Chicago, especially considering the amount of injuries they've had to deal with. Stevens in Philly could get some credit too. I mentionned Tippett because he's holding his own with no real stars (no pun intended) against juggernauts like SJ and Anaheim. Even Lemaire should get some credit for standing atop the NW division ahead of more hyped teams. Yeah, but we have had numerous discussions about the media and the hype they create. If Washington wins that division Boudreau will probably win because he will be seen as the guy who turned it around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnyhasbeen Posted January 29, 2008 Share Posted January 29, 2008 You don't think Paul Maurice should win this year? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wamsley01 Posted January 29, 2008 Share Posted January 29, 2008 You don't think Paul Maurice should win this year? In my books. YES!! He has made this a great season for me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Habsfan Posted January 29, 2008 Share Posted January 29, 2008 (edited) How about Carbonneau for the Adams Trophy? Experts had predicted that the Habs would finish anywhere between 10th and 14th in the east. THey are currently 2nd(In points) and will most likely finish 4th or 5th, which is a huge improvement over last year! Edited January 29, 2008 by Habsfan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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