Habs vs Coyotes, Nov. 10, 9 PM EST

[Toronthab]

most teams have a better record then the Habs..

my point is that while we could be a few point higher with some better luck, the Habs are not even as good as Phoenix...

Yup.

Lafleur scores!! uh...no...it was Gorges!!!

[bbp]

Let us thank Saint Raphael!

Maybe we should pick a patron saint for each game

Perhaps we will win more!

[Natural Mystic]

It's over, we won?

[Toronthab]

Let us thank Saint Raphael!

Maybe we should pick a patron saint for each game

Perhaps we will win more!

I'll dig out the list! Wasn't there a street hockey mad medieval kitchen pleb named St Scorsalotte?

[hab29RETIRED]

It's over, we won?

I don't what I'm more surprised at. We actually won, or according to RDS all three of the stars were Habs

[angryhabsfan]

weber rang it off the post. gorges got it in his wheelhouse and it had some knuckle on it

[The Chicoutimi Cucumber]

Totally crap game in terms of entertainment value.

I'll take the result, though.

[Toronthab]

It's over, we won?

HAHAHAHA!

[angryhabsfan]

the puck was on an edge and went matrix through the goalie smith

[Toronthab]

Totally crap game in terms of entertainment value.

I'll take the result, though.

Moi aussi! Merci!

[The Chicoutimi Cucumber]

It's amazing how pessimistic I've become about this group. At no point did I have any confidence we'd win, no belief at all. At one point we were outshooting them 20-8 and losing. I thought that was the season in a nutshell; same with Weber ringing it off the bar in OT. It just seems inevitable that our guys will flub their chances, that they'll hit posts, that their rushes will come to nothing.

These guys just seem to be a collective Charlie Brown, going around with a cloud - of injury, of bad luck, of their own errors and limitations - over their heads.

So hopefully we can build on this and start chasing the cloud away. No fun watching your team with that mindset.

[bbp]

So hopefully we can build on this and start chasing the cloud away. No fun watching your team with that mindset.

Agreed, I never have been as pessimistic towards the habs chances as I am now... Lets all band together and change the collective attitude of all habs fans!

*epic pause*

[IN THE HEARTS OF MEN]

I'd like to see Eller between them while Ak46 is out and then when AK46/Cammy/Gomez are back have the following lines:

Cole-Eller-Ak46

Cammy-Pleks-MaxPac

Gionta-Gomez-DD

Darche-Nokelainen-Moen

camm Eller AK (eller and AK have been great camm will bring more quality)

DD plex max (DD showed us most when with pac)

cole gomez gionta (say what you want but if we want this season to turn around gomez needs to come through)

moen noki blunden(white) (sorry darche but blunden is bigger and faster and brings more energy when white returns u should be in the press box)

L-markov-L-gorges

L-emelin -R-subban

L-spacek- R-weber

L-gill

L-diaz

R-campoli

this is my healthy habs line up!

were another 4/5 game win streak away from being back on the right side of the playoff picture

[The Chicoutimi Cucumber]

were another 4/5 game win streak away from being back on the right side of the playoff picture

That's the trouble...we need to get hot and we cannot afford any significant losing streak. That's what horrible starts do to you. Until the bodies start coming back it's gonna be touch and go at best.

Emelin wasn't too good tonight, you might want to think harder about having him on your second pairing.

[Colin]

It's amazing how pessimistic I've become about this group. At no point did I have any confidence we'd win, no belief at all. At one point we were outshooting them 20-8 and losing. I thought that was the season in a nutshell; same with Weber ringing it off the bar in OT. It just seems inevitable that our guys will flub their chances, that they'll hit posts, that their rushes will come to nothing. These guys just seem to be a collective Charlie Brown, going around with a cloud - of injury, of bad luck, of their own errors and limitations - over their heads. So hopefully we can build on this and start chasing the cloud away. No fun watching your team with that mindset.

Not to pick on you, but I'd like to take this moment to illustrate a small point.

Two years ago, 2009-2010 season, the Habs beat the Caps and Pens during their Cinderella march into the playoffs. The team scoring was as follows:

Tomas Plekanec $2,750,000 82 25 45 +5 50 70 70 91 C

Scott Gomez $8,000,000 78 12 47 +1 60 3 59 62 13 C

Mike Cammalleri $5,000,000 65 26 24 +7 16 50 50 21 RW

Brian Gionta $5,000,000 61 28 18 +3 26 46 46 79 D

Andrei Markov $5,750,000 45 6 28 +11 32 34 34 47 D

Marc-Andre Bergeron $731,000 60 13 21 -7 16 34 34 46 RW

Andrei Kostitsyn $3,250,000 59 15 18 +1 32 33 33 15 C

Glen Metropolit $1,000,000 69 16 13 -1 24 29 29 44 D

Roman Hamrlik $5,500,000 75 6 20 -2 56 26 26 57 LW

Benoit Pouliot $803,250 39 15 9 +8 31

1 24 25 6 D

Jaroslav Spacek $3,833,333 74 3 18 +9 50 21 21 32 LW

Travis Moen $1,500,000 81 8 11 -2 57

5 1 19 24 74 RW

Sergei Kostitsyn $592,000 47 7 11 +4 8 18 18 67 LW

Max Pacioretty $517,000 52 3 11 -5 20 14 14 40 C

Maxim Lapierre $663,000 76 7 7 -14 61

4 14 18 42 C

Dominic Moore $1,083,000 21 2 9 +4 8 11 11 75 D

Hal Gill $2,250,000 68 2 9 -10 68

2 11 13 52 LW

Mathieu Darche $258,000 29 5 5 +2 4 10 10 26 D

Josh Gorges $1,000,000 82 3 7 +2 39

1 10 11 22 D

Paul Mara $1,675,000 43 0 8 -16 48

3 8 11 94 C

Tom Pyatt $427,000 40 2 3 -5 10 5 5 20 D

Ryan O'Byrne $725,000 55 1 3 -3 74

6 1 4 10 36 RW

Matt D'Agostini $500,000 40 2 2 -12 26

2 4 6 84 LW

Guillaume Latendresse $803,000 23 2 1 -4 4 3 3 17 RW

Georges Laraque $1,415,000 28 1 2 -6 28

4 3 7 76 D

P.K. Subban $14,000 2 0 2 +1 2 2 2 53 C

Ryan White $159,000 16 0 2 -6 16

2 2 4 31 G

Carey Price $2,200,000 41 0 1 0 8 1 1 58 C

David Desharnais $27,000 6 0 1 -1 0 1 1 72 D

Mathieu Carle $66,000 3 0 0 +1 4 0 0 20 D

Jay Leach $199,000 7 0 0 0 5

1 0 1 41 G

Jaroslav Halak $800,000 45 0 0 0 0 0 0 59 C

Brock Trotter $14,000 2 0 0 -1 0 0 0 48 RW

J.T. Wyman $14,000 3 0 0 -2 0 0 0 34 D

Shawn Belle $16,000 2 0 0 -2 0 0 0 61 C

Ben Maxwell $233,000 13 0 0 -2 6 0 0 70 LW

Greg Stewart $140,000 5 0 0 -3 11 1 0 1 68 D

Yannick Weber $82,000 5 0 0 -5 4 0 0 28 C

Kyle Chipchura $500,000 19 0 0 -10 16

More importantly, the standings after 239 games in the NHL regular season were as follows:

San Jose Sharks +8 18 12 2 6 2 61 42 26

Colorado Avalanche +8 18 12 2 6 2 56 43 26

Washington Capitals +7 17 10 2 7 4 65 52 24

Pittsburgh Penguins +7 17 12 4 5 0 54 44 24

New Jersey Devils +7 15 11 3 4 0 39 33 22

Calgary Flames +6 15 10 3 5 1 52 43 21

Philadelphia Flyers +5 14 9 3 5 1 52 37 19

Los Angeles Kings +5 17 10 1 7 2 57 50 22

Buffalo Sabres +5 14 9 2 5 1 40 33 19

Columbus Blue Jackets +4 16 9 1 7 2 51 54 20

New York Rangers +3 18 10 0 8 1 56 48 21

Phoenix Coyotes +3 17 10 4 7 0 45 39 20

Chicago Blackhawks +3 15 8 2 7 2 43 38 18

Dallas Stars +3 17 7 1 10 6 54 52 20

Vancouver Canucks +2 18 10 2 8 0 52 46 20

Ottawa Senators +2 14 7 2 7 2 42 42 16

Detroit Red Wings +2 15 7 1 8 3 43 48 17

Tampa Bay Lightning +2 15 6 1 9 5 39 47 17

Atlanta Thrashers +1 14 7 1 7 1 48 45 15

Edmonton Oilers 0 17 8 2 9 1 52 53 17

Boston Bruins 0 16 7 2 9 2 38 41 16

New York Islanders 0 17 6 2 11 5 44 50 17

Nashville Predators 0 15 7 2 8 1 31 43 15

Anaheim Ducks -1 15 6 1 9 2 45 49 14

St. Louis Blues -1 15 5 0 10 4 33 40 14

Montreal Canadiens -1 17 8 7 9 0 45 54 16

Minnesota Wild -4 16 6 3 10 0 36 49 12

Florida Panthers -4 15 5 2 10 1 40 55 11

Toronto Maple Leafs -4 15 3 0 12 5 39 55 11

Carolina Hurricanes -9 16 2 1 14 3 32 59 7

We were 5th last in the NHL!!! And we went on to the Conference Finals! A season isn't won or lost in November. Look at the players; we're a much better team now than we were then! Hell, a couple of years before that (I'm done digging stats for now), Detroit started terribly, and I think either went very deep or won the Cup. I get that the start has been frustrating and there have been more than a few things that have irked. But let's not throw in the towel quite yet. Wasn't it Wamsley (and me years before) who preached over and over about not rating a team so early in the season? Considering the turmoil, I'm actually pretty stoked about where the team is today. Price, I think we're seeing now, isn't going to be a one-year wonder. He's looking as stalwart as ever. We've dealt with injuries to almost *all* our key guys, many concurrently, and we're still only one game under .500 and a mere four points out. With five games left in the season, there's still a chance to make the playoffs when you're four points out!! Even if the other team plays .500 hockey.

Hell, we're four points out and our captain started injured, our star scoring forward (Cammi) has been or has played injured for half the season. Gomez, even if he isn't worth his money, has still been injured most of the season, and he would have given us more. Our All-Star defender hasn't played a minute. His replacement for the PP played 11:05-ish. Our new boy took five or six games to find his stride (perfectly reasonable, particularly given his playing time early on). Eller is really only just rounding into form now after missing training camp and half the summer from injury. We've lost Kosty, Spacek, White... Okay, injuries aren't excuses, but they are *reasons.* With all these players in the lineup, I think we have a few more points. As it is, we're on the cusp. And I haven't even started on the back room intrigue (Pearn, etc).

Don't get me wrong, I'm not *happy.* But to be so pessimistic with all the positives. Cole, looking like the PF we crave. Patches, whose game has taken another giant stride. Plex who continues to roll. Kosty looks better this season. PK is controlled out there. And we still have Markov, Cammi, Gomez, White, Campoli who will all come back to the squad to improve it. I'm happy to stay in touch with what we've got until they get back. More than that, we play the best defensive game we've seen in years, so there's every reason to believe that, if the posts stop killing us, we might just pick up a couple more wins that we really deserve. (When was the last time this team wasn't regularly outshot?)

Plenty of time, Hab fans. Lets enjoy what's on the ice and take heart in the positive. Despite the start, this is the best Habs team in over a decade.

EDIT, oh I'm having WORDS with the editor now. I have to make all these columns work! Going to be here all night. Okay, that's all you get. I'm tired, so this is good enough.

[bar]

This season so far reminds me of a song, I think I used it last year in my GDT for the playoffs, but I think it's appropiate for the start of this season. I feel like season can go either way, as the song title will describe

[The Chicoutimi Cucumber]

Colin, I think I've been pretty consistent this season in maintaining that this is, on paper, a good team. There is a structural problem with our club, consisting in the loss of Wiz and Hamrlik and serious injuries to their replacements (Markov/Campoli), but barring more injuries (e.g., to Subban) this should correct itself given time. Whether we can survive until it does begin to correct itself is another question - about a 50/50 proposition, I'd say. But against all the prophets of doom, I've consistently focused on where we are in the standings (rather than winning per centage, etc.) with a view to getting a realistic handle on how badly our struggles are actually damaging our ability to make the playoffs. As long as we're not in the range of 7-8 points out 8th place, I will stay calm.

All I was saying there is that at the moment this team inspires total pessimism. It's the Charlie Brown of hockey. We have had no luck, constant injuries, players flubbing great chance after great chance, post after post, etc., etc.. As I fan, I feel total pessimism watching this bunch right now. That's a different issue from my more detatched analysis of the team's actual merits.

[brobin]

The issue I have is that this team is average, with above average goaltending. We are pretty reliant on our goaltenders to play exceptionally to win. We struggle against teams who play a tough grinding system. In a long playoff series, we simply get ground down. Again, our successes here were based on lights out goaltending. If it was just good, we tend to lose.

I still believe this team needs some upgrades. I like Cole. I think we need another move or two in this direction to be a true contender.

Think of this. Pitts is without Crosby. They have missed a lot of Malkin. Even Staal has been out. They are at the top of the league. That is a strong, deep team with incredible coaching, imo. I want us to get to that point.

Look at the Bruins. Say what you want, hate them if you want, but they have the goaltending, speed, and size to win the cup. They will contend for it again this year. A bad start for them is not the same as a bad start for us. They have looked like the real McCoy the last number of games, coming out of their funk.

Toronto is off to a hot start. Their goaltending is very questionable and will probably be their downfall. That said, they have some top players on that team to build around and they are better then we give them credit for. I suspect they will make the playoffs, just not be top in the east.

I am pessimistic on our team, but it comes from a hope that management will recognize they need to do more, and get it done.

[Colin]

The issue I have is that this team is average, with above average goaltending. We are pretty reliant on our goaltenders to play exceptionally to win. We struggle against teams who play a tough grinding system. In a long playoff series, we simply get ground down. Again, our successes here were based on lights out goaltending. If it was just good, we tend to lose.

I still believe this team needs some upgrades. I like Cole. I think we need another move or two in this direction to be a true contender.

Think of this. Pitts is without Crosby. They have missed a lot of Malkin. Even Staal has been out. They are at the top of the league. That is a strong, deep team with incredible coaching, imo. I want us to get to that point.

Look at the Bruins. Say what you want, hate them if you want, but they have the goaltending, speed, and size to win the cup. They will contend for it again this year. A bad start for them is not the same as a bad start for us. They have looked like the real McCoy the last number of games, coming out of their funk.

Toronto is off to a hot start. Their goaltending is very questionable and will probably be their downfall. That said, they have some top players on that team to build around and they are better then we give them credit for. I suspect they will make the playoffs, just not be top in the east.

I am pessimistic on our team, but it comes from a hope that management will recognize they need to do more, and get it done.

As far as contending goes, I would agree that we're only Cinderella contenders at this moment. We're not bonified, in my mind, until we upgrade our 1st/2nd line centre and get one more #2/3 defender. Can we fill from within? Maybe, but Eller still isn't there yet, and neither do we have a defender quite capable. Subban is great - massive potential - but I'd still only list him as a #3 right now. At least in that respect, he could get to a #1/2 by the end of the year. But then I still think we'd be one solid guy short. I'd like to see management take more of a shot with a guy who isn't a reclamation project. Even trading for Turris, while looking good in some respects, won't make us instant contenders.

[BCHabnut]

Not to pick on you, but I'd like to take this moment to illustrate a small point.

Two years ago, 2009-2010 season, the Habs beat the Caps and Pens during their Cinderella march into the playoffs. The team scoring was as follows:

Tomas Plekanec $2,750,000 82 25 45 +5 50 70 70 91 C

Scott Gomez $8,000,000 78 12 47 +1 60 3 59 62 13 C

Mike Cammalleri $5,000,000 65 26 24 +7 16 50 50 21 RW

Brian Gionta $5,000,000 61 28 18 +3 26 46 46 79 D

Andrei Markov $5,750,000 45 6 28 +11 32 34 34 47 D

Marc-Andre Bergeron $731,000 60 13 21 -7 16 34 34 46 RW

Andrei Kostitsyn $3,250,000 59 15 18 +1 32 33 33 15 C

Glen Metropolit $1,000,000 69 16 13 -1 24 29 29 44 D

Roman Hamrlik $5,500,000 75 6 20 -2 56 26 26 57 LW

Benoit Pouliot $803,250 39 15 9 +8 31

1 24 25 6 D

Jaroslav Spacek $3,833,333 74 3 18 +9 50 21 21 32 LW

Travis Moen $1,500,000 81 8 11 -2 57

5 1 19 24 74 RW

Sergei Kostitsyn $592,000 47 7 11 +4 8 18 18 67 LW

Max Pacioretty $517,000 52 3 11 -5 20 14 14 40 C

Maxim Lapierre $663,000 76 7 7 -14 61

4 14 18 42 C

Dominic Moore $1,083,000 21 2 9 +4 8 11 11 75 D

Hal Gill $2,250,000 68 2 9 -10 68

2 11 13 52 LW

Mathieu Darche $258,000 29 5 5 +2 4 10 10 26 D

Josh Gorges $1,000,000 82 3 7 +2 39

1 10 11 22 D

Paul Mara $1,675,000 43 0 8 -16 48

3 8 11 94 C

Tom Pyatt $427,000 40 2 3 -5 10 5 5 20 D

Ryan O'Byrne $725,000 55 1 3 -3 74

6 1 4 10 36 RW

Matt D'Agostini $500,000 40 2 2 -12 26

2 4 6 84 LW

Guillaume Latendresse $803,000 23 2 1 -4 4 3 3 17 RW

Georges Laraque $1,415,000 28 1 2 -6 28

4 3 7 76 D

P.K. Subban $14,000 2 0 2 +1 2 2 2 53 C

Ryan White $159,000 16 0 2 -6 16

2 2 4 31 G

Carey Price $2,200,000 41 0 1 0 8 1 1 58 C

David Desharnais $27,000 6 0 1 -1 0 1 1 72 D

Mathieu Carle $66,000 3 0 0 +1 4 0 0 20 D

Jay Leach $199,000 7 0 0 0 5

1 0 1 41 G

Jaroslav Halak $800,000 45 0 0 0 0 0 0 59 C

Brock Trotter $14,000 2 0 0 -1 0 0 0 48 RW

J.T. Wyman $14,000 3 0 0 -2 0 0 0 34 D

Shawn Belle $16,000 2 0 0 -2 0 0 0 61 C

Ben Maxwell $233,000 13 0 0 -2 6 0 0 70 LW

Greg Stewart $140,000 5 0 0 -3 11 1 0 1 68 D

Yannick Weber $82,000 5 0 0 -5 4 0 0 28 C

Kyle Chipchura $500,000 19 0 0 -10 16

More importantly, the standings after 239 games in the NHL regular season were as follows:

San Jose Sharks +8 18 12 2 6 2 61 42 26

Colorado Avalanche +8 18 12 2 6 2 56 43 26

Washington Capitals +7 17 10 2 7 4 65 52 24

Pittsburgh Penguins +7 17 12 4 5 0 54 44 24

New Jersey Devils +7 15 11 3 4 0 39 33 22

Calgary Flames +6 15 10 3 5 1 52 43 21

Philadelphia Flyers +5 14 9 3 5 1 52 37 19

Los Angeles Kings +5 17 10 1 7 2 57 50 22

Buffalo Sabres +5 14 9 2 5 1 40 33 19

Columbus Blue Jackets +4 16 9 1 7 2 51 54 20

New York Rangers +3 18 10 0 8 1 56 48 21

Phoenix Coyotes +3 17 10 4 7 0 45 39 20

Chicago Blackhawks +3 15 8 2 7 2 43 38 18

Dallas Stars +3 17 7 1 10 6 54 52 20

Vancouver Canucks +2 18 10 2 8 0 52 46 20

Ottawa Senators +2 14 7 2 7 2 42 42 16

Detroit Red Wings +2 15 7 1 8 3 43 48 17

Tampa Bay Lightning +2 15 6 1 9 5 39 47 17

Atlanta Thrashers +1 14 7 1 7 1 48 45 15

Edmonton Oilers 0 17 8 2 9 1 52 53 17

Boston Bruins 0 16 7 2 9 2 38 41 16

New York Islanders 0 17 6 2 11 5 44 50 17

Nashville Predators 0 15 7 2 8 1 31 43 15

Anaheim Ducks -1 15 6 1 9 2 45 49 14

St. Louis Blues -1 15 5 0 10 4 33 40 14

Montreal Canadiens -1 17 8 7 9 0 45 54 16

Minnesota Wild -4 16 6 3 10 0 36 49 12

Florida Panthers -4 15 5 2 10 1 40 55 11

Toronto Maple Leafs -4 15 3 0 12 5 39 55 11

Carolina Hurricanes -9 16 2 1 14 3 32 59 7

We were 5th last in the NHL!!! And we went on to the Conference Finals! A season isn't won or lost in November. Look at the players; we're a much better team now than we were then! Hell, a couple of years before that (I'm done digging stats for now), Detroit started terribly, and I think either went very deep or won the Cup. I get that the start has been frustrating and there have been more than a few things that have irked. But let's not throw in the towel quite yet. Wasn't it Wamsley (and me years before) who preached over and over about not rating a team so early in the season? Considering the turmoil, I'm actually pretty stoked about where the team is today. Price, I think we're seeing now, isn't going to be a one-year wonder. He's looking as stalwart as ever. We've dealt with injuries to almost *all* our key guys, many concurrently, and we're still only one game under .500 and a mere four points out. With five games left in the season, there's still a chance to make the playoffs when you're four points out!! Even if the other team plays .500 hockey.

Hell, we're four points out and our captain started injured, our star scoring forward (Cammi) has been or has played injured for half the season. Gomez, even if he isn't worth his money, has still been injured most of the season, and he would have given us more. Our All-Star defender hasn't played a minute. His replacement for the PP played 11:05-ish. Our new boy took five or six games to find his stride (perfectly reasonable, particularly given his playing time early on). Eller is really only just rounding into form now after missing training camp and half the summer from injury. We've lost Kosty, Spacek, White... Okay, injuries aren't excuses, but they are *reasons.* With all these players in the lineup, I think we have a few more points. As it is, we're on the cusp. And I haven't even started on the back room intrigue (Pearn, etc).

Don't get me wrong, I'm not *happy.* But to be so pessimistic with all the positives. Cole, looking like the PF we crave. Patches, whose game has taken another giant stride. Plex who continues to roll. Kosty looks better this season. PK is controlled out there. And we still have Markov, Cammi, Gomez, White, Campoli who will all come back to the squad to improve it. I'm happy to stay in touch with what we've got until they get back. More than that, we play the best defensive game we've seen in years, so there's every reason to believe that, if the posts stop killing us, we might just pick up a couple more wins that we really deserve. (When was the last time this team wasn't regularly outshot?)

Plenty of time, Hab fans. Lets enjoy what's on the ice and take heart in the positive. Despite the start, this is the best Habs team in over a decade.

EDIT, oh I'm having WORDS with the editor now. I have to make all these columns work! Going to be here all night. Okay, that's all you get. I'm tired, so this is good enough.

[dlbalr]

I see someone noticed I uploaded this the other day...

[BCHabnut]

I see someone noticed I uploaded this the other day...

Ya it's awesome.