Lovett's Magnatones Posted July 27, 2013 Share Posted July 27, 2013 I presume he meant four players of PK's calibre. He went on to cite Price, Galy, and Patches as plausible candidates to attain this level, at which point, in his opinion, we'll be in Chicago's class. Unless I'm missing something. While I can see the argument that we need (say) four players of this elite class to contend - it's certainly a plausible reading - I heard the same sort of song and dance back in '93, about how we had no one to rival the Lemieuxs, Jagrs, and Gretzkys of the world and therefore could never win. It seems to me that if your top players are good enough not to be utterly outclassed by your opponents' top players, while the rest of your roster has a significant edge on theirs, you certainly can win. Depth is not to be under-estimated. That's the other side of the equation "the run." If you don't have a 2010 Chicago team, or a dynasty quality team, then you need something crazy like 11 OT wins. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hankhab Posted July 28, 2013 Share Posted July 28, 2013 Our top 9 is not close to Chicagos top nine, in my opinion, but to be fair, its hard to be a contender in one year, so we have to cut Bergevin a little slack. Galchenyuk is our future star, and he"s coming along great, I felt he was our best offensive threat after Eller went down. Eller is becoming a solid centre, he's making the Halak trade look better all the time. Patches, despite his playoff performance, is one of the better wingers in the league, we have a norris trophy winner and several very strong defence prospects who are very close. We are not winning the cup this year, but should be a powerhouse in 2 or 3. I know we are sick of hearing this, but its true, this team a great core going forward. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovett's Magnatones Posted July 28, 2013 Share Posted July 28, 2013 Galchenyuk is something else. We haven't had a number one center of his quality in my lifetime. He's not afraid to go to the front of the net or even stick up for teammates, like in the Gryba incident. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Stogey24 Posted July 28, 2013 Share Posted July 28, 2013 Galchenyuk is something else. We haven't had a number one center of his quality in my lifetime. He's not afraid to go to the front of the net or even stick up for teammates, like in the Gryba incident. Wait till he puts some weight on too. Gonna be a gem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commandant Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 My point, (which is understandably lost in the rude tone of my reply-my apologies) is that once the big boys start going, then you talk about the depth. In Boston's run in 2011, Chara and Thomas especially stole the show, then you started hearing about Peverly and Kelly. Tampa has 2 of the top 5 scorers in the NHL, and those two studs had them in 28th place in the NHL..... I'm with MOLG and CC here..... I think that a core of Subban, Price, Galchenyuk, Pacioretty is good enough as four pillars to a cup team if they properly develop and if we surround them properly. To me it will be about the depth because I have faith in four cornerstones there and I think Subban will continue to be a top 5 NHL defenceman, and Galchenyuk can do the same at forward. Price will need to get there, and Pacioretty could play on the top line of any team in the NHL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Machine of Loving Grace Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 That's the other side of the equation "the run." If you don't have a 2010 Chicago team, or a dynasty quality team, then you need something crazy like 11 OT wins. I love when opinions like this come up but nobody ever discusses the 1995 New Jersey Devils. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbp Posted August 1, 2013 Share Posted August 1, 2013 Tampa has 2 of the top 5 scorers in the NHL, and those two studs had them in 28th place in the NHL..... I'm with MOLG and CC here..... I think that a core of Subban, Price, Galchenyuk, Pacioretty is good enough as four pillars to a cup team if they properly develop and if we surround them properly. To me it will be about the depth because I have faith in four cornerstones there and I think Subban will continue to be a top 5 NHL defenceman, and Galchenyuk can do the same at forward. Price will need to get there, and Pacioretty could play on the top line of any team in the NHL. Agreed. We also have what could be great complimentary pieces in Gallagher, Eller, Pleks (if we get good fast enough for him to still be a quality player), Prust, Emelin. Plus Tinordi/Beaulieu depending on how they develop. I think our biggest need more offense. While we are lacking on the back end in some peoples opinion we won't be in 2 or 3 years with all our young prospects. What we lack is strong 2nd line options. Bourque, Briere, Gio are stop gaps. If Eller becomes a serious #2 and Gallagher continues his strong play we might be okay but... in an ideal world our lineup could be (in say two years). Top Line: Galchenyuk, Paches Second Line: Eller, Gallagher Third Line: Plekanec 1st: PK-Emelin 2nd :Tinordi-Beaulieu 3rd: Diaz-Georges (ignoring sides more talking about depth.) This is also assuming Pleks play deteriorates with age. X:Factor on our current roster is what will happen with DD's career. Unless guys like Collberg or Leblanc have a great couple years we are short 2 top six forwards from being serious threats. I also think we can easily fill out our bottom six with Prust/guys in our system/fa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Machine of Loving Grace Posted August 2, 2013 Share Posted August 2, 2013 I think Collberg could become our second best forward. His ceiling is that high. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeLassister Posted August 2, 2013 Share Posted August 2, 2013 Agreed. We also have what could be great complimentary pieces in Gallagher, Eller, Pleks (if we get good fast enough for him to still be a quality player), Prust, Emelin. Plus Tinordi/Beaulieu depending on how they develop. I think our biggest need more offense. While we are lacking on the back end in some peoples opinion we won't be in 2 or 3 years with all our young prospects. What we lack is strong 2nd line options. Bourque, Briere, Gio are stop gaps. If Eller becomes a serious #2 and Gallagher continues his strong play we might be okay but... in an ideal world our lineup could be (in say two years). Top Line: Galchenyuk, Paches Second Line: Eller, Gallagher Third Line: Plekanec 1st: PK-Emelin 2nd :Tinordi-Beaulieu 3rd: Diaz-Georges (ignoring sides more talking about depth.) This is also assuming Pleks play deteriorates with age. X:Factor on our current roster is what will happen with DD's career. Unless guys like Collberg or Leblanc have a great couple years we are short 2 top six forwards from being serious threats. I also think we can easily fill out our bottom six with Prust/guys in our system/fa You say that Gio and Brière are stop gaps, but honestly, if what we have to do to become a serious threat is add the best UFA possible as a stop gap, than let's go. Signing UFA's is obviously not the best solution, but it is the most efficient solution to get a top 6 forward as drafting is more a long shot... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbp Posted August 2, 2013 Share Posted August 2, 2013 You say that Gio and Brière are stop gaps, but honestly, if what we have to do to become a serious threat is add the best UFA possible as a stop gap, than let's go. Signing UFA's is obviously not the best solution, but it is the most efficient solution to get a top 6 forward as drafting is more a long shot... by stop gap i mean that they aren't likely to be with the team in two years I am just hoping that they, and Bourque, will keep us competitive enough and with the young core we LOOK like a team that could contend and therefore become a destination for a big name. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Posted August 13, 2013 Share Posted August 13, 2013 Conundrum: How can we properly evaluate young defenders with the Canadiens and watch them grow into the types of player the franchise believes they'll becomes without taking a "wing-and-a-prayer" and giving them a shot at playing? At some point you have to take off the kid gloves and let the kids play. There's nothing sure-fire in anything, let alone a defensive group. If Tinordi becomes all that and a bag of chips this year, we don't look anything close to "wing-and-prayer." If both he and Beaulieu make the jump effectively, we look very good. If they get their shot and don't make the impact we need, there's still plenty of time from, say, late November on to make a move to improve the d-corps. I don't get the impatience or the stress. At some point in any team building exercise you have to take a leap of faith. And if it fails, then you have a backup plan. I'm very happy to move into the season with what's available and see where things shake out in the first weeks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.