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Jan. 15, Montreal vs Ottawa, 7:30 PM


dlbalr

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Late in game, goalie pulled, need two goals. ............and plekanic is the center? really?? really ???

So safe to say Tomas Plekanic is the coaches number one offensive threat at center. He is not a playmaker, he aint a scorer.....but when we need a goal he is the man we got to at center. BTW he was tossed from the face off, went offside when chucky won it, then lost the next one and sens scored in empty net.

I like TP better as a checking line center, and killing penalties.

Best face off man in nhl on the habs bench for a huge face off.

oh well

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Late in game, goalie pulled, need two goals. ............and plekanic is the center? really?? really ???

So safe to say Tomas Plekanic is the coaches number one offensive threat at center. He is not a playmaker, he aint a scorer.....but when we need a goal he is the man we got to at center. BTW he was tossed from the face off, went offside when chucky won it, then lost the next one and sens scored in empty net.

I like TP better as a checking line center, and killing penalties.

Best face off man in nhl on the habs bench for a huge face off.

oh well

Malhotra should have taken the draw, but none of Galvhenyuk Dd or Eller have made a case for that spot.

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Guest Stogey24

Late in game, goalie pulled, need two goals. ............and plekanic is the center? really?? really ???

So safe to say Tomas Plekanic is the coaches number one offensive threat at center. He is not a playmaker, he aint a scorer.....but when we need a goal he is the man we got to at center. BTW he was tossed from the face off, went offside when chucky won it, then lost the next one and sens scored in empty net.

I like TP better as a checking line center, and killing penalties.

Best face off man in nhl on the habs bench for a huge face off.

oh well

Yup, I noticed too. The best players aren't being played it's who Therrien likes. I mention Sekac a lot, but he was all over the net last night and still didn't get top PP time.
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Yup, I noticed too. The best players aren't being played it's who Therrien likes. I mention Sekac a lot, but he was all over the net last night and still didn't get top PP time.

Guys. Does anybody really believe that the management of the team didn't notice this as well? There are times when decisions and changes are made that are ad hoc.. seat of the pants flying... and things that are noted and filed....much , much more often. You can't just bitchslap a line for instance that you've put together without giving all involved a fair viewing, not for immediate results but long term. As MB says, if you manage like a fan, you'll soon be one. Coaching isn't different. See "Maple Leafs".

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Guys. Does anybody really believe that the management of the team didn't notice this as well? There are times when decisions and changes are made that are ad hoc.. seat of the pants flying... and things that are noted and filed....much , much more often. You can't just bitchslap a line for instance that you've put together without giving all involved a fair viewing, not for immediate results but long term. As MB says, if you manage like a fan, you'll soon be one. Coaching isn't different. See "Maple Leafs".

MT is the last one that has lines in mind for "long term"

he changed the lines from wed to thursday, then changed them again before thursdays game was over.

just my opinion but tomas plekanic plays way too much and in way too many situations. Last night was another glaring example of that. ie Powerplay? #14 Penalty kill #14 four on four #14 last minute of game # 14 our goalie pulled # 14 their goalie pulled # 14 ............there is not a hockey game situation that pleks does not get the call.....................he just aint THAT good. Not many are.

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MT is the last one that has lines in mind for "long term"

he changed the lines from wed to thursday, then changed them again before thursdays game was over.

just my opinion but tomas plekanic plays way too much and in way too many situations. Last night was another glaring example of that. ie Powerplay? #14 Penalty kill #14 four on four #14 last minute of game # 14 our goalie pulled # 14 their goalie pulled # 14 ............there is not a hockey game situation that pleks does not get the call.....................he just aint THAT good. Not many are.

I was at the Panthers game last night, but the Plekanec line generated 18 shots vs Columbus and the only goal against Ottawa. Why wouldn't he be on the ice?

When Plek gets hot, like Eller, you have to ride that donkey until it's dead.

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Malhotra should have taken the draw, but none of Galvhenyuk Dd or Eller have made a case for that spot.

Yes he should have taken the draw. Not the first time lets Manny sit on bench when he should be "taking the draw". Therriens man crush on TP gets in the way sometimes.

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They haven't been scoring lately so I don't mind shaking up the lines.

I say it all the time, this team is so soft, and now if those "grittier" players are playing soft. They don't go to the net and they don't protect there own net. For as much Emelin bashing going on, Subban and Markov have been equally as bead in there own in in the last 5 games or so.

Unless MB is going to get some size and grit upfront, we'll start seeing these type of games the rest of the year. The games and intensity increase each week. Especially team looking to get into the playoffs.

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Guest Stogey24

I was at the Panthers game last night, but the Plekanec line generated 18 shots vs Columbus and the only goal against Ottawa. Why wouldn't he be on the ice?

When Plek gets hot, like Eller, you have to ride that donkey until it's dead.

Hot, cold, medium, or mild Plekanec is out there.
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They haven't been scoring lately so I don't mind shaking up the lines.

I say it all the time, this team is so soft, and now if those "grittier" players are playing soft. They don't go to the net and they don't protect there own net. For as much Emelin bashing going on, Subban and Markov have been equally as bead in there own in in the last 5 games or so.

Unless MB is going to get some size and grit upfront, we'll start seeing these type of games the rest of the year. The games and intensity increase each week. Especially team looking to get into the playoffs.

I don't think the season's really started yet. It's not like we're the Leafs where the looming shadow of death hangs over the organization. We're putting up the points and coming along, and have seen sparks of terrific hockey like our CBJ game. Fact is it's an utterly insane 82 game season wherein only saints or psychopaths could possibly get "up" for every match. When the chips are on their way down we'll see more and more of what we have to bring. The players all know that they're playing for the mob...you and me.

Hot, cold, medium, or mild Plekanec is out there.

I'm a big Pleks fan.

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Guest Stogey24

I'm a big Pleks fan.

yup, nothing wrong with that. I think he's a good all around player. It's just that he's not a 70 point guy anymore, but he's still treated like one.
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I was at the Panthers game last night, but the Plekanec line generated 18 shots vs Columbus and the only goal against Ottawa. Why wouldn't he be on the ice?

When Plek gets hot, like Eller, you have to ride that donkey until it's dead.

Yes great game the night before. Agreed. But manny should have taken the draw. The goalie was pulled, the entire line of pleks, gally, max still could have been out there.

Eller was having a great game, while pleks was not. He was losing draws, two dumb penalties, off sides and chirping at the ref all night.

But for sure you ride the donkey till its dead, (died early in the game, ya gotta count on other guys in back to back road games)

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They haven't been scoring lately so I don't mind shaking up the lines.

I say it all the time, this team is so soft, and now if those "grittier" players are playing soft. They don't go to the net and they don't protect there own net. For as much Emelin bashing going on, Subban and Markov have been equally as bead in there own in in the last 5 games or so.

Unless MB is going to get some size and grit upfront, we'll start seeing these type of games the rest of the year. The games and intensity increase each week. Especially team looking to get into the playoffs.

Agree with all that except shaking up the line because they are slumping a bit on the score sheet. Teams break out of scoring slumps with the lines together all the time, and get better as a line having gone through it. Two ways of looking at it i know.

But yes they are far too soft and it will be even more obvious down the stretch.

Watched Markov barely get to the bench last night he was so gassed. As i have been saying all year he will be a shadow of himself come spring time. Plays way way too much.

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MT is the last one that has lines in mind for "long term"

he changed the lines from wed to thursday, then changed them again before thursdays game was over.

just my opinion but tomas plekanic plays way too much and in way too many situations. Last night was another glaring example of that. ie Powerplay? #14 Penalty kill #14 four on four #14 last minute of game # 14 our goalie pulled # 14 their goalie pulled # 14 ............there is not a hockey game situation that pleks does not get the call.....................he just aint THAT good. Not many are.

So what ? It just means that Plekanec is like our 4th-5th best player. Aussuming that the top 3-4 also always see those game situations.

It's also worth remembering that it's not always "who do you send out", but also who you send your guys against.

Overtime, 4 on 4 at home. Chicago send Toews and Kane. Do you want Galchenyuk or DD to begin ?

No. You want to control Toews and Kane with Plekanec. THEN, next wave, send Pax and DD or Galchenyuk Gallagher, or whoever you think is hot tonight against Hossa and Saad.

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Pleks is OUR #1 center, therefore he's going to get the quality icetime. He's playing great with Max + BG. Trust me 30, Pleks and/or the rest of the top line is not the issue, because they're on point 100%. We need production from atleast one more line.

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i hear you ice but i was not reffering to "the issue" what ever that maybe.

pleks taking the big draw instead of manny was just another example of how plaks is over used and over rated. imo

Not a huge issue or huge deal i guess, most dont seem to mind that Tomas Plekanic is the Habs "go to guy" Just puzzles the hell outta me.

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The issue with over-using Pleks, to me, is not that MT has a "man crush" on Pleks, it's that MT doesn't like Malholtra's overall game. Think about it - if the ONLY thing a player does well is take face-offs, then that player is a liability the moment after the puck is dropped, and as a coach, you're going to be reluctant to waste those shifts just to get a 10% increase in your chance of winning the draw. It wasn't supposed to be like this; Manny was supposed to come in and relieve Plekanec of some of that grinding defensive duty. But because Therrien doesn't believe Malholtra can eat significant minutes, we're back to Plekanec as Mr. Everything.

I have huge respect for Plekanec, but Habs 30/31 is right that there's something askew when a 45-point C is your top ice-time-getter night after night. That's a question of team structure, though, not perverse coaching.

Maybe MT should start shifting those defensive minutes to Eller. See if he can handle it. After all, we KNOW he cannot be relied on to generate good offence. So maybe he can become a genuine 3rd-line C and start eating those hard D-zone minutes.

As for the game, I listened for a while on the radio before giving up in disgust. It was obvious from the start this was one of those "wasted" games that every team puts in from time to time over an 82-game sked. Forget it and move on.

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Eller was having a great game, while pleks was not. He was losing draws, two dumb penalties, off sides and chirping at the ref all night.

It should be noted that Plekanec was much better than Eller at faceoffs yesterday (48% vs 23% though obviously neither are particularly good numbers) while Galchenyuk had an 0-for night. I agree that Malhotra should be used more for offensive zone faceoffs as well but if not him, Plekanec was the only choice of the four starting centres to make if they had any hopes of winning the draw based on how the game had gone.

I didn't catch this during the game but speaking of chirping the ref, Plekanec took a misconduct after the ENG.

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It should be noted that Plekanec was much better than Eller at faceoffs yesterday (48% vs 23% though obviously neither are particularly good numbers) while Galchenyuk had an 0-for night. I agree that Malhotra should be used more for offensive zone faceoffs as well but if not him, Plekanec was the only choice of the four starting centres to make if they had any hopes of winning the draw based on how the game had gone.

I didn't catch this during the game but speaking of chirping the ref, Plekanec took a misconduct after the ENG.

You know, this team still has a problem at C.

Desharnais - on pace for 40 points. More importantly to my mind, he is not reliably generating anything. At his best, DD is a limited player but a good offensive catalyst. He hasn't been this all season long. If he keeps this up, I'll join the ranks of the DD bashers. He has to be an exciting offensive player if he is going to be anything at all.

Eller - having a better all-around season than last year, IMHO. A serviceable secondary player but not a go-to guy either defensively (that's Pleks) or offensively (that's...well, I dunno). As always, Lars remains content to be a guy who gets by rather than a guy who makes things happen on either side of the puck.

Galy - he's gone ice-cold, to the point where he was back on the wings last night. A work in progress. Not there yet.

Pleks - still as good in a two-way sense as ever, but like I pointed out in other threads, his offensive game has degenerated significantly from his peak, when he was reliably dangerous in the O-zone as well as reliably good defensively. He's more like Carbonneau nowadays than the poor man's Datsyuk he used to be.

Malholtra - 'nuff said. One trick pony, pretty much washed up.

That's pretty thin gruel. Looking at how the team is constructed, the fundamental problem is that Galy and Eller just haven't become the players we wanted them to become. Galy's backsliding recently is worrisome, but at least he had a strong spell for a while there. Eller, I think he is what he is. C'est une problem.

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Guest Stogey24

You know, this team still has a problem at C.

Desharnais - on pace for 40 points. More importantly to my mind, he is not reliably generating anything. At his best, DD is a limited player but a good offensive catalyst. He hasn't been this all season long. If he keeps this up, I'll join the ranks of the DD bashers. He has to be an exciting offensive player if he is going to be anything at all.

Eller - having a better all-around season than last year, IMHO. A serviceable secondary player but not a go-to guy either defensively (that's Pleks) or offensively (that's...well, I dunno). As always, Lars remains content to be a guy who gets by rather than a guy who makes things happen on either side of the puck.

Galy - he's gone ice-cold, to the point where he was back on the wings last night. A work in progress. Not there yet.

Pleks - still as good in a two-way sense as ever, but like I pointed out in other threads, his offensive game has degenerated significantly from his peak, when he was reliably dangerous in the O-zone as well as reliably good defensively. He's more like Carbonneau nowadays than the poor man's Datsyuk he used to be.

Malholtra - 'nuff said. One trick pony, pretty much washed up.

That's pretty thin gruel. Looking at how the team is constructed, the fundamental problem is that Galy and Eller just haven't become the players we wanted them to become. Galy's backsliding recently is worrisome, but at least he had a strong spell for a while there. Eller, I think he is what he is. C'est une problem.

Galchenyuk is young, these drop offs will happen. I think he'll figure it back out in the next little bit
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Don't know where the conclusion that Plekanec is a career 45 point center came from.

He's had four seasons in his career under 50 points in full seasons: last season, his 08-09 year and his first two seasons in the NHL. Everything else is between 52-70 points. For TOI/G he's 31st in the league (for all centers - ROR who plays wing now). At even strength he's 30th for all centers. The way people talk about Plekanec makes me think they are actually Devils fans talking about Travis Zajac, who almost averages as much ice time as Steven Stamkos at even strength with only 15 points to show for it.

He's always going to log big minutes as a top six center who plays PK1 on an often penalized team and also plays PP2 but it's mostly because he's one of our best forwards at even strength and the league has shifted from top centers logging big minutes on the PP but being rested at ES to being played hard at even strength with a bigger emphasis on two PP units.

Back in 97-98 you had 25 centers that averaged over 14 minutes of even strength ice time, including the likes of Igor Larionov, Jason Allison, German Titov and Stu Barnes. Today, 59 centers average more than 14 minutes at even strength. In other words, there's higher expectations on the centers to put a lot of time in and it's not just a mish mash of top line centers and third line shutdown centers. In 03-04, Dave Scatchard averaged 15:08 of even strength ice time with 25 points to show for it (on a team that made the playoffs). Last year, six teams had two centers that averaged over 15:08 of even strength ice time and all of them had better scoring totals than Dave Scatchard.

What I'm trying to say is that centers log more minutes today than they used to prior to the lockout... at even strength. As individual players they log less all together minutes. Hopkins averages the most time altogether this year with 21:14. There were 16 centers averaging more in 98-99 in total ice time per game and the only one who averages less than four minutes a game on the powerplay was Trevor Linden. Plekanec sits at 2:04 PP TOI/G on the team, behind Desharnais and Galchenyuk. DD leads centers at 2:18 PP TOI/G.

TL:DR

- Calling Plek a 45 point center is dismissive and incorrect to his career totals

- Plek is our best even strength center so he plays big time at even strength

- The NHL used to have top centers lean hard on PP time. Now they lean hard on ES time. That skews your viewpoint of what a top center does.

- Plek is 31st for centers TOI/G. He's either outscoring or tied with 10 of the centers playing more minutes than him. So for Top 31 centers, he's on the edge of the Top 20 in scoring for high minute centers.

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