dlbalr Posted October 8, 2011 Share Posted October 8, 2011 Masse to me will always be the guy the Habs signed due to media pressure. The signing came days after they lost out on Riendeau to the Bruins, and Masse has alwasys seemed like a bad consolation prize for that. If it makes you feel any better, Masse has been the better of the two since going pro. In 29 career AHL games (the rest have been in the ECHL), Riendeau has 1 goal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbp Posted October 8, 2011 Share Posted October 8, 2011 If it makes you feel any better, Masse has been the better of the two since going pro. In 29 career AHL games (the rest have been in the ECHL), Riendeau has 1 goal. Yeah I looked buddy up and it doesn't look like we missed out on much right there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commandant Posted October 8, 2011 Share Posted October 8, 2011 Not saying that I wished we had riendeau instead. Just saying that I think masse's signing was due to fallout after the bruins got riendeau. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMMR Posted October 9, 2011 Share Posted October 9, 2011 Just let Subban play 30 minutes a night until Markov is healthy. Problem solved. This should be a real option unless game is out of hand. He does not get tired, during the commercial breaks he is always skating around he has boundless energy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoRvInA Posted October 9, 2011 Share Posted October 9, 2011 I think that's grossly exaggerated... I mean look at Edmonton... thats bad Let me tell you why its not... Carey Price was this close to getting injured on game one... PK is our current number one D (in any other top tier team he'd be third best D). There isnt a number 2 nor a number 3 D in our team. Gorges, Spacek Gill are top 6 (between 4 and 6) Just like last year, I say dress 7 D and play them until they drop (constantly) no more experiments Martin keep them playing until they play to their potential whatever that is. But No...now we're going to make PK play over 25 min. In turn make him believe he is the one thing keeping this team together (NOT GOOD) Price, if he gets injured ....then bye bye season. Call in a Alex Henry who wont let anyone touch our goalie. Put Cole on the PP Pierre is tied up 49 signings and thats it. so screw hamilton get the best D's out of there Other than that Im Optimisitc! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbp Posted October 9, 2011 Share Posted October 9, 2011 Let me tell you why its not... Carey Price was this close to getting injured on game one... PK is our current number one D (in any other top tier team he'd be third best D). There isnt a number 2 nor a number 3 D in our team. Gorges, Spacek Gill are top 6 (between 4 and 6) Just like last year, I say dress 7 D and play them until they drop (constantly) no more experiments Martin keep them playing until they play to their potential whatever that is. But No...now we're going to make PK play over 25 min. In turn make him believe he is the one thing keeping this team together (NOT GOOD) Price, if he gets injured ....then bye bye season. Call in a Alex Henry who wont let anyone touch our goalie. Put Cole on the PP Pierre is tied up 49 signings and thats it. so screw hamilton get the best D's out of there Other than that Im Optimisitc! Where I said Edmonton is worst, would you rather have Theo Peckham and Tom Gilbert as your top pairing? PK beats them by a long shot. I believe Georges as a top 4 d-man in the league was established a while ago. Montreal shouldn't bring up a fighter. Ever. It doesn't work. Did having George Laraque on our team ever stop Lucic or anyone else for that matter? no. Intimidators... well they are overrated at intimidating. They are useless in the new NHL. Most goons, including Henry for sure, couldn't catch most players too fight them! People will just draw penalties from them then they will get suspended a few games later. Plus... With Price. If Nashville lost Rinne would they be done? If New York Rangers lost Lundquvist? Buffalo Miller? If Dallas Lehtonen (i think they are done with him anyways), What if Detroit had too rely on Conklin if Howard went down? Calgary with Kipper? Tampa needs Roloson to be in playoff form come playoff time, Columbus needs Rookie Mason back... Most teams would be finished if they lost their starting goalie. Exceptions like Boston, Vancouver, Washington or Philly, who have younger future starters as backups are not the norm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Chicoutimi Cucumber Posted October 9, 2011 Share Posted October 9, 2011 CoRvInA may be exaggerating, but the basic argument that our D is a problem is entirely valid. This team subtracted a top-tier offensive defenceman (Wiz) and a legitimate # 4, minutes-eating all-around defenceman (Hamrlik), while adding a #4-5 defense-only defenceman (Gorges) and nobody else. Granted, we then went out and got Campoli, who, *in combination* with Gorges, could be considered to replace or even upgrade what Hammer brought. (Whether it makes sense to replace one player with two is another matter; better to have kept Hammer and added Gorges). But the gaping hole left by Wiz remains. The whole plan - the entire season, really - depends on Markov coming back healthy. Our opening-night configuration could not sustain one additional injury to the back end. Now 'the whole plan' depends on totally raw rookies stepping in and eating significant minutes for an unspecified length of time until Markov returns. This desperate patch-up might manage to keep us hanging in, but it's likely to be like playing Russian roulette most nights. And when Markov suffers his inevitable next injury, we'll be right back in the crapper. It's frustrating. With Markov back, and the D relatively healthy, this team is a force to be reckoned with. But with him out, our lack of depth is exposed. Compare that to Vancouver, where Keith Ballard is a #5-6 defenceman. Those guys can lose no less a light than Christian Erhoff and still have 5 top-4 defenders. That's how it's done, and that's why I was just about the only guy arguing that we should at least have made some sort of serious effort to woo Wiz, and why the 'salary cap' argument against re-signing Hammer is so unconvincing. Oh well. EDIT: on less intelligent boards than this one, the backlash against JM is in full spate. Apparently we have an offensive powerhouse being stifled by JM's defensive system. Take ONE look at the back end and you will see why this team will have a hell of a time scoring goals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commandant Posted October 9, 2011 Share Posted October 9, 2011 A few points.... 1) Alex Henry is not an NHL defenceman... not even close. 2) Keith Ballard was so good last year that the Canucks made him a healthy scratch in the Stanley Cup finals and played a raw rookie with less than 5 regular season games in Chris Tanev instead. He has been an unmitigated disaster for them. 3) PK Subban has grown so much in a year. Yes, he's young, but saying he'd be at best a 3rd Defenceman on a top tier team is a stretch. He'd be second on Boston. For 2nd, he'd be right up there with anyone on Pittsburgh or Washington. He'd be the 2nd D on Tampa, heck he might be first on Tampa since Brewer brings 0 offence. Are those not the teams picked by most "experts" to win the Eastern Conference? He's fine being our number 2 defenceman, which is what he'll be as soon as Markov returns.... and realistically 20 games missed is a large estimate for Markov right now considering that would take us to late november. Losing Campoli hurts, no doubt about that. But I don't think this team is in as bad a shape as some make it out to be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BTH Posted October 9, 2011 Share Posted October 9, 2011 I just noticed Craig Rivet is listed as UFA! Is there anything listed about Karl Dykhuis?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Chicoutimi Cucumber Posted October 9, 2011 Share Posted October 9, 2011 Yes, Ballard struggled last season in returning from injuries and adjusting to the new regime, but he has always been rated a top-4 NHL defencemen. Focusing on his absolute worst performance is missing the point. Our present roster has only one defenceman who remotely fits the profile of a legitimate offensive defenceman. This is inadequate. Now if Markov comes back strong in 20 games, we may be OK, assuming we can eke out enough 2-1 and SO wins to stay around .500 until then. Dykhuis and Rivet! Hell, bring back Igor Ulanov!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commandant Posted October 9, 2011 Share Posted October 9, 2011 Yes, Ballard struggled last season in returning from injuries and adjusting to the new regime, but he has always been rated a top-4 NHL defencemen. Focusing on his absolute worst performance is missing the point. Our present roster has only one defenceman who remotely fits the profile of a legitimate offensive defenceman. This is inadequate. Do you think it was 1 performance that made the Canucks take a veteran D out of the Stanley Cup finals and make him a healthy scratch, or was it a season's worth of poor performances? Heck he had a bad year his last year in Florida and that led to him being available for trade as well. He's had 2 straight seasons where he has been below the level of a top 4 defenceman. The Canucks are lucky to have Edler, Salo, Hamhuis, Bieksa as legit top 4 Dmen, because Ballard hasn't been that. Now if Markov comes back strong in 20 games, we may be OK, assuming we can eke out enough 2-1 and SO wins to stay around .500 until then. Dykhuis and Rivet! Hell, bring back Igor Ulanov!! 20 games takes us to the end of november.... I think thats a worst case scenario, considering he's already skating. 1 year off the ice for a second straight tear in his knee, sounds about right, (on the long side of the 9-12 month plan). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Chicoutimi Cucumber Posted October 9, 2011 Share Posted October 9, 2011 Do you think it was 1 performance that made the Canucks take a veteran D out of the Stanley Cup finals and make him a healthy scratch, or was it a season's worth of poor performances? Heck he had a bad year his last year in Florida and that led to him being available for trade as well. He's had 2 straight seasons where he has been below the level of a top 4 defenceman. The Canucks are lucky to have Edler, Salo, Hamhuis, Bieksa as legit top 4 Dmen, because Ballard hasn't been that. 20 games takes us to the end of november.... I think thats a worst case scenario, considering he's already skating. 1 year off the ice for a second straight tear in his knee, sounds about right, (on the long side of the 9-12 month plan). Re: Ballard, whatever. He could be one of those rare top-4 defenders whose game suddenly and mysteriously plummets when he hits his late 20s. (something similar happened to Mara). Or he could be a guy who just needs to recover from a debacle last season. It's beside the point, which is that our current configuration sucks. Markov coming back strong and staying healthy will certainly relieve some of my pessimism. I'd note, however, that that will still require both he and Subban to not miss any further time with injuries. With Campoli unavailable, this is still a vulnerable position to be in. To contend, we'll need, in effect, a Campoli replacement. One of the young guys may be able to grow into that role - provided he is sheltered by a healthy Markov/Subban, or just comes out of left field and shocks us all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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