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New lines for Saturday


KoZed

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Latendresse - Koivu - Ryder

Higgins - Grabovski - S. Kostitsyn

http://www.cyberpresse.ca/article/20080314...30/CPACTUALITES

Carbo also took a shot at Higgins, saying he's not working hard enough.

Nice, I like to see Latendresse on a scoring line. He needs a setup man to be productive.

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Higgins has pretty much been in my doghouse all year.

Sets the bar to high for himself he is a good 2nd liner thats it.

I hope he makes me eat some crow but that kid just cant finish. see (jan Bulis)

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Higgins has pretty much been in my doghouse all year.

Sets the bar to high for himself he is a good 2nd liner thats it.

I hope he makes me eat some crow but that kid just cant finish. see (jan Bulis)

Yeah, at the beginning of the year he was missing 5 chances a game and he was all over the ice.

Creating turnovers, working hard along the boards and doing alot of dirty work.

He has been invisible on most nights for months now. I am really disappointed in his play this year.

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I'm a fan of these new lines.

But then again, with all our good young players there are many combinations that look good on paper.

Very happy that Grabs is back in the lineup.

I agree that Higgins has been in the doghouse, he's just had long stretches of invisibility. Just like Koivu and Ryder (not quite as bad as either of them though). But even with a disappointing season he could finish with 25 goals 50 points. His potential is higher than that, and this could be a hump year for him. Two of our leaders from last year left, and he got an A. He definitely set the bar too high, and probably put too much pressure on himself. I still think that he'll level out to being a 25-35 goal guy, which is good for a second liner. This year is a learning experience.

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I don'T know why soo many of you are so hard on higgins. He Has 21 goals. He's on pace to surpass his goal total for the past 2 years.

Higgins will never become a 40 goal player. He's not a power forward either. He's a solid player who can give you 20 to 25 goals a year and can usually play well defensively.

AS far as moving Latendresse up with Koivu, I think it's a good thing. Almost everytime Lats has played with Koivu, he has produced. I just hope it'll continue!

Edited by Habsfan
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I don'T know why soo many of you are so hard on higgins. He Has 21 goals. He's on pace to surpass his goal total for the past 2 years.

Higgins will never become a 40 goal player. He's not a power forward either. He's a solid player who can give you 20 to 25 goals a year and can usually play well defensively.

AS far as moving Latendresse up with Koivu, I think it's a good thing. Almost everytime Lats has played with Koivu, he has produced. I just hope it'll continue!

I am sort of in the same boat as you. Higgins does work hard and I think maybe Carbo should be working a little harder in trying to find ways to beat say....Ottawa. Higgins will not be a 40-50 goal scorer but will be an important cog in Montreals push to be a very good team.

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I am sort of in the same boat as you. Higgins does work hard and I think maybe Carbo should be working a little harder in trying to find ways to beat say....Ottawa. Higgins will not be a 40-50 goal scorer but will be an important cog in Montreals push to be a very good team.

I am fine with Higgins possibly not being what we thought he could be, but at his age you want to see a marked improvement

season to season. How has he improved this year? He is healthy and is he better than he was when he exploded from nowhere

during the 2006 playoff run? Is he playing anywhere near the level he did during the first 20 games of the season?

He had 12 goals after 28 games, he has scored 9 in the following 44 games. He should have cruised to 30, now we are happy with possibly 25?

He deserves criticism for his last 40 games, if his goal was 40 and he gets 25, I am sure he will be disappointed in himself.

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lines are great but WHY Smolinski's playing instead of Lapierre ? he was cruising, one of the only players who was on a hot streak. DAMN

this is a no-sense.

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I am fine with Higgins possibly not being what we thought he could be, but at his age you want to see a marked improvement

season to season. How has he improved this year? He is healthy and is he better than he was when he exploded from nowhere

during the 2006 playoff run? Is he playing anywhere near the level he did during the first 20 games of the season?

He had 12 goals after 28 games, he has scored 9 in the following 44 games. He should have cruised to 30, now we are happy with possibly 25?

He deserves criticism for his last 40 games, if his goal was 40 and he gets 25, I am sure he will be disappointed in himself.

If I remember correctly, Higgins did not expressly say that his goal for this season was 40 goals, more that he thought that he could be a 40 40 guy (without specifying the year, more of an evaluation of his potential). I agree that this season has been subpar for him, and it's not just the slumping production, it's the long stretches where he is total non-factor in games. But, you often see a speedbump in the progress of young players. With Higgins, his own lofty expectations, along with the added pressure of getting the A and being looked at as one of the leaders of the team could have contributed to it. I don't think the level of production we're seeing now is where he will plateau.

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I like those lines :clap:

Latendresse and Ryder have been playing well lately; good addition to Koivu.

Higgins with Grabs and Sergei is a good move too; they are both great passers, and that should get Higgins back on track.

I don't approve Smoke instead of Lapierre though

Edited by rafikz
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No complaints on these new lines from me and Lats has been working harder lately. There have been those that were on him for his play lately, but I have to wonder what last 4 or 5 games those fans watched. Sorry guys ;)

This provides a solid 3 punch. It gets Higgins going. He has to show up now. It's a motivator when you must set an example for Grabs and Sergei. Koivu, Gui and Ryder make for a balanced line potentially full of surprises. Pleks, Kovy and Andrei - The Matrix top it all off to have 3 good balanced lines that can attack but have defensive elements.

And, it's been done without causing any major line disruption. RIGHT ON CARBO :hlogo:

Edited by Athlétique.Canadien
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lines are great but WHY Smolinski's playing instead of Lapierre ? he was cruising, one of the only players who was on a hot streak. DAMN

this is a no-sense.

Yeah, I hate to see Lapierre out of the lineup. He's our most complete and consistent bottom-liner. Smolinski hasn't earned anything this year.

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I wasn't very happy with him in that game. He was a spitfire but he jumped the line before the puck went in resulting in too many offsides. How many times?

Ovechkin and Backstrom are the players i've seen the most often being offside this season...

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The new lines are fine with me, shaking up that ineffective second line and giving Grabovski a chance with Koivu's old wingers. Makes us three lines deep, hopefully.

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I like the 3 offensive lines idea, always did... but I'm not sure how 2 snipers (Ryder and Latendresse) are going to work

on the same line. Could be a defensive nightmare too. I wouldn't mind swapping Sergei K for Ryder... so you'd then have:

- KoKoPlex line

- Latendresse, Koivu, Sergei K (some more creativity, grit, speed, and defensive awareness with Sergei K here)

- Ryder, Grabovski, Higgins

To me, that looks a little more balanced out. As the game goes on, I'm hoping Carbo will see this and do it.

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I like the 3 offensive lines idea, always did... but I'm not sure how 2 snipers (Ryder and Latendresse) are going to work

on the same line. Could be a defensive nightmare too. I wouldn't mind swapping Sergei K for Ryder... so you'd then have:

- KoKoPlex line

- Latendresse, Koivu, Sergei K (some more creativity, grit, speed, and defensive awareness with Sergei K here)

- Ryder, Grabovski, Higgins

To me, that looks a little more balanced out. As the game goes on, I'm hoping Carbo will see this and do it.

That's a good point. Two finishers on one line, who are not the most competent defenders to boot.

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