dlbalr Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 With the men's tournament kicking off tomorrow (Plekanec will be the first Hab to play), let's get the discussion thread going. I know there's already an Olympic thread with regards to the Habs but that's speaking more about the effect of the break, this one is to talk about the Habs' players and how they're performing. (If anyone's wondering, we do have a general Olympic thread in The Lounge as well.) As always, we have our StatTracker which also shows the schedule for each Hab: http://www.habsworld.net/article.php?id=3321 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sakiqc Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 SO which Habs will be the most successful? I hope it's Carey!! Will be interesting to see Max on USA's 1st line. Glad to see Plekanec captain the Czech. I don't think anyone expect them to eliminate the Russians though. And I really hope Subban will be a regular. He's a great skater and the kind of player who enjoy the moment and isnt hindered by pressure. On the contrary, he tries to do too much and maybe that's what scares the coaching staff. Would be exciting to see him there. Seriously, who cares about Bouwmeester chemistry with Pietrangelo? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neech Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 I have a feeling Subban will start in the pressbox. They're using Hamhuis on the second wave PK, and they have plenty of PP guys already. Not the choice I'd make, of course. PK could do a lot of damage on the big ice. EDIT: Apparently, Hamhuis didn't do any special teams work today while PK was on the powerplay, which is a good sign. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KoRP Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Totally BS if Hamhuis or Bowmeester are starters over PK, guess we will have to wait and see. Price starts game one vs Norway, so that's cool..... Miss the NHL already, but you have to admit, the Olympic hockey is exciting. All I want is for Price to win the Gold as the starter, that's my whole expectation/wish list in a nutshell... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helmethead Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Looks like price starts game one.. But Lou is set to start against the Austrians. Does this mean they alternate or is price considered the starter since he starts game one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meller93 Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 If subban is in the box, especially in games that should be easy wins, I've lost a lot of hope for the management. This is where they should want to play subban, because the mistakes they might believe he's gonna make won't necessarily cost us a game. Not that I think Subban would be a detriment versus anyway. I think he's a top 5 defender in the entire Olympics let alone canada. I mean he grew up playing in Belville! Isn't that arena bigger? Olympic size? Maybe I heard wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Chicoutimi Cucumber Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Interesting to read a discussion in today's Globe on Crosby's captaincy. It was noted that Team Canada doesn't have a lot of "larger than life personalities" on it, being filled with "quiet types" who let their play do the talking. PK Subban was mentioned as the one exception. Well, there you go. PK doesn't fit the robotic preferred "profile." At most I expect him to be deployed as a PP specialist because all the "experts" are generous enough to allow that he has a Howitzer of a shot. Never mind that he is one of the strongest skaters in all of hockey and has mad rushing skills. Nope, don't need any of that, especially not on the big ice If Subban were a nice quiet good boy, he would be universally hailed as one of Canada's brightest young stars. The whole thing is ridiculous. But hey. at least he made the damned team. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DON Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Nice to see Womens' team 'upsetting' USA. If Subban plays, then super, but at least 1 very skilled d-man has to sit no matter what. So if he has to sit, I might disagree a bit; but, its not in same catagory as Bourque taking shootout in Nagano and Gretzky not (now that was just kooky). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlbalr Posted February 12, 2014 Author Share Posted February 12, 2014 Looks like price starts game one.. But Lou is set to start against the Austrians. Does this mean they alternate or is price considered the starter since he starts game one? I would imagine the plan is to decide after the Austria game. Given that Price is starting, I think they're leaning towards him if both have similar outings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Machine of Loving Grace Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Can't you place an extra player on the bench in Olympic hockey compared to the NHL? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlbalr Posted February 12, 2014 Author Share Posted February 12, 2014 Can't you place an extra player on the bench in Olympic hockey compared to the NHL? Two, actually. Most teams will go 7/13, the odd one (Russia tends to do this) goes 8/12. There still will be healthy scratches though as each team has 22 skaters on the team. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DON Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Plekanec got an assist on the geriatric Czech team. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meller93 Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 I made a very astute observation during the Czech-Sweden game; Plekanec and Jagr have great chemistry. Surprised more people haven't noticed this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Chicoutimi Cucumber Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 GRRRR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DON Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 I made a very astute observation during the Czech-Sweden game; Plekanec and Jagr have great chemistry. Surprised more people haven't noticed this. Ryder is a good player also, but like Jagr, not many GMs are real keen having them in their dressing room. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neech Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 No PK today, but he'll play tomorrow against Ostrich. Karlsson looked great yesterday against the Czechs, can't help but think that PK could too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlbalr Posted February 13, 2014 Author Share Posted February 13, 2014 Karlsson looked great yesterday against the Czechs, can't help but think that PK could too. You know who actually stood out to me yesterday in that game? Kaberle. He looked quicker than he was with the Habs and a lot more aggressive as well. After seeing him struggle last year, I was actually quite surprised as to how well he played. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnyhasbeen Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 You know who actually stood out to me yesterday in that game? Kaberle. He looked quicker than he was with the Habs and a lot more aggressive as well. After seeing him struggle last year, I was actually quite surprised as to how well he played. Welcome to international hockey which brings out the best in the non-North American players. Just another example. This is their Stanley Cup. As a Canadian youth I always dreamed of holding silver over my head. Not wearing gold around my neck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Chicoutimi Cucumber Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 Kaberle was never AS BAD as fan discourse made him out to be. A lot of that had to do with salary rather than his actual play. Beyond that, the big ice helps some players - and that has nothing to do with their "desire" or "will" or "character" or childhood aspirations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Machine of Loving Grace Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 Kaberle was never AS BAD as fan discourse made him out to be. A lot of that had to do with salary rather than his actual play. Beyond that, the big ice helps some players - and that has nothing to do with their "desire" or "will" or "character" or childhood aspirations. Had Kaberle been on a contract for only say $2M we would have kept him and had easily the most lethal PP in the league. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hab29RETIRED Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 What was BAD about the Kaberle deal was trading for such a lousy contract in exchange for spacek's expiring deal. Kaberle was horrible when the deal was made and was a pylon outside of the PP. Kaberle was never AS BAD as fan discourse made him out to be. A lot of that had to do with salary rather than his actual play. Beyond that, the big ice helps some players - and that has nothing to do with their "desire" or "will" or "character" or childhood aspirations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlbalr Posted February 14, 2014 Author Share Posted February 14, 2014 Subban's in for Canada today while Price will not dress (Smith will back up Luongo). Plekanec had an assist in over 20 minutes of ice time for the Czechs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeLassister Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 Subban's in for Canada today while Price will not dress (Smith will back up Luongo). Plekanec had an assist in over 20 minutes of ice time for the Czechs. Does that mean they're going with Luongo all the way ? I find it strange that you won't dress your #1 as the backup in case Luongo goes down. Fleury didn't dress at all in Vancouver if I remember correctly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commandant Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 I think they want Smith to get a medal if canada wins, and he needs to be dressed for one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Chicoutimi Cucumber Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 Habs29, the main reason the 2011 team sucked was the moribund power play. We were in fact close to the top of the league in most other statistical categories over the first half but were losing due to a lack of PP production. So bringing in Kaberle made some sense in principle. What didn't make sense, IMHO, was the following, appallingly incoherent series of managerial decisions: 1. Bring in Kaberle to give your coach a PP option. 2. Two games later, fire your coach. 3. Then trade away the player who led the dressing-room rebellion against the coach (Cammy) for a bag of pucks. So: support the coach by adding an expensive contract, then fire the coach, then dump the guy who got the coach fired. This was insane, panicky GMing - the worst of all possible worlds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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