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Is this team better heading into the playoffs than last year?


Guest Stogey24

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Well, barring a collapse in their last 3 games, the New York Rangers will win the president's trophy this year.

I love this, as it essentially eliminates the Rangers sometime in the first three rounds - no president's trophy winner has ever gone to the cup final.

(Of course, there's a first time for everything.)

Not sure of the exact number but I think the president's trophy winner has won the cup eight times. These particular Rangers did it in '94, I think. Sportsnet tweeted it today (last night) sometime.

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Think about the logic in that statement for 5 minutes because those 2nd and 3rd string goalies sure weren't the ones shooting the puck on Price. I hear all this talk about Bishop but the point is we (still) have Carey Price. One might argue Tampa has more skill but Carey Price is better than Ben Bishop. I just can't imagine many goalies out there being the reason we lose a series. If Tampa beats us, it won't be because of Ben Bishop. Don't get me wrong, I do understand where people are coming from but I highly doubt any goalie will be the reason the Habs lose a series this year because once again we have a better goalie than them. If Price gets lit up, then it will be because of the skaters on the other team, not their goalie. And quite honestly if we can't score on Tampa that often in a playoff series, I will put blame on our team a lot more than praise Ben Bishop. Ben Bishop is literally an average goalie. I've watched the games as well and agree he's done pretty well against us but in general his numbers aren't that impressive.

As for this year's team compared to last year's team I agree that it really is a good question. I actually think that we are a better team this year for sure (offense=weaker, defense=better, goaltending=better, overall=better) but at the same time there's a completely different vibe heading into the playoffs than last year heading into them. I think acquiring Vanek was one of the more exciting moments for me in recent memory if not the most exciting. I was pretty excited about Kovalev as well but this move really made me feel like we had a legit shot at the cup. This year, we're kind of just going through the motions heading into the playoffs and like Chicoutimi Cucumber pointed out, our lack of any major deadline moves for our top 6 may raise some questions, whether it's for the fans or the players themselves. I personally think that the players are professionals and aren't too bothered by it in a negative way. The main difference is that the Vanek trade, regardless of his performance. instilled a lot of positive vibes into the team as well as the fan base and may have improved their psychological mentality in the post deadline season more than this year. We have a lot of new faces this year, so we can't really expect the same type of performance unless of course, we are better.

Great post. :thumbs_up:

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Yep, the last time the Rangers won the Prez trophy was '94, and they won the cup too... I certainly hope history doesn't repeat it's self, hatin' the Rags. ;)

And yeah, good post Xxx, we didn't get that top 6 guy, but you have to admit our defense is at least 2x better than last year... and the Habs have a great team spirit(and Carey Price), so I am still very confident!

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Definitely like the defense better. No Gorges.

No Cube or Murray either, Beaulieu a year and a length better than last year, and Petry is awesome... Gilbert isn't bad either when compared to those 3 pylons...

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Not sure of the exact number but I think the president's trophy winner has won the cup eight times. These particular Rangers did it in '94, I think. Sportsnet tweeted it today (last night) sometime.

Yes, president trophy winner has won 8 of the last 28 cups.

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xXx, nice post!

The reason people fear Bishop is that, unless we can get 3/4 lines rolling the way we did last playoff, we have a relatively feeble offence. So Bishop doesn't have to be as good as Price in order for TB to win - he merely needs to be good enough to stop our guys from scoring. Price is great but he's not superhuman; TB is going to score some goals in this hypothetical series. In short, the 'fear' isn't of Bishop beating Price, it's of the Habs being incompetent to beat Bishop.

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xXx, nice post!

The reason people fear Bishop is that, unless we can get 3/4 lines rolling the way we did last playoff, we have a relatively feeble offence. So Bishop doesn't have to be as good as Price in order for TB to win - he merely needs to be good enough to stop our guys from scoring. Price is great but he's not superhuman; TB is going to score some goals in this hypothetical series. In short, the 'fear' isn't of Bishop beating Price, it's of the Habs being incompetent to beat Bishop.

I honestly think the bigger problem is Tampa's defence matches against us really well. Teams that muck in front of the net do a better job against the Bolts. Teams who rely on the point get their lanes blocked and clogged. Because of that, Bishop doesn't have to be spectacular. He just has to be big.

A guy who killed us last playoffs? Anton Stralman. Where was he? New York. Where is he now? Tampa. I fear Stralman more than I do Bishop. If a line of Prust, Eller and Smith-Pelly started crashing the net we'd probably break Bishop. But anytime they try a pass, Stralman would probably break it up. He's a guy I was completely wrong on when it comes to his ability as a D-man. I want Nathan Beaulieu to turn into Anton Stralman for us.

I try to make the point over and over that Tampa is a complete team. They have depth on defence, foward and goal. You have to beat the Lightning every shift, which is what Michel Therrien and the Habs did last post-season. They beat them every shift. We set our lines up to counter their lines. In the regular season we really didn't do that, and we also let them kill us on special teams. In two or three games they scored two powerplay goals on us. I have far more confidence in Montreal in a series against Tampa than just regular season games.

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xXx, nice post!

The reason people fear Bishop is that, unless we can get 3/4 lines rolling the way we did last playoff, we have a relatively feeble offence. So Bishop doesn't have to be as good as Price in order for TB to win - he merely needs to be good enough to stop our guys from scoring. Price is great but he's not superhuman; TB is going to score some goals in this hypothetical series. In short, the 'fear' isn't of Bishop beating Price, it's of the Habs being incompetent to beat Bishop.

Well yes. Thing is the habs are not a scoring machine by any means. Bishop or any other goalie just has to good not great.

I like the way Gallagher is playing right now. He is finding the net, creating scoring chances. Weiss and Eller have to raise their offensive game too. The secondary scoring or lack there of has been off set by having the best goalie in the league playing at the very top of his game.

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Guest Stogey24

Well yes. Thing is the habs are not a scoring machine by any means. Bishop or any other goalie just has to good not great.

I like the way Gallagher is playing right now. He is finding the net, creating scoring chances. Weiss and Eller have to raise their offensive game too. The secondary scoring or lack there of has been off set by having the best goalie in the league playing at the very top of his game.

This is just me talking here, but I haven't been very impressed with Weise lately. He's not really a hard nosed player. Its almost like he has Lappierre syndrome at times. He needs to know his role on this team is a fourth liner
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This is just me talking here, but I haven't been very impressed with Weise lately. He's not really a hard nosed player. Its almost like he has Lappierre syndrome at times. He needs to know his role on this team is a fourth liner

Weise is an odd duck. He plays well on the fourth and sometimes you can put him in the top six and because he's full of so much energy and gusto he can get stuff done that more talented players cannot. But he doesn't have the ability to do it consistently. I often hear complaints when he's compared to Eller that Eller got his points in the bottom six and Weise got most of his in the top six. But the fact still remains that Weise actually put up points in his top six stints. He didn't go cold.

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Guest Stogey24

Weise is an odd duck. He plays well on the fourth and sometimes you can put him in the top six and because he's full of so much energy and gusto he can get stuff done that more talented players cannot. But he doesn't have the ability to do it consistently. I often hear complaints when he's compared to Eller that Eller got his points in the bottom six and Weise got most of his in the top six. But the fact still remains that Weise actually put up points in his top six stints. He didn't go cold.

Listen I completely agree with you, Eller doesn't have the offensive upside we all hoped he would turn out to have. I just can't understand why in his entire time with Montreal he's never seen a shift with Pacioretty. Every other combination on earth has been tried, except that one.

On another note, can someone tell me why Jacob De La Rose is still on this roster? Is there something with waivers that's stopping this guy from going back to Hamilton? Just because the guys doesn't turn the Puck over when he has possession of it(rarely) shouldn't be enough to hold him in the line up

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So 'not impressed' with Weise and don't think Rose is NHL calibre.

Am excited to hear which upgrades should replace them, that you approve of?

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Listen I completely agree with you, Eller doesn't have the offensive upside we all hoped he would turn out to have. I just can't understand why in his entire time with Montreal he's never seen a shift with Pacioretty. Every other combination on earth has been tried, except that one.

On another note, can someone tell me why Jacob De La Rose is still on this roster? Is there something with waivers that's stopping this guy from going back to Hamilton? Just because the guys doesn't turn the Puck over when he has possession of it(rarely) shouldn't be enough to hold him in the line up

He has seen a few but nothing significant. Last year they had a few shifts together and looked completely out of place. Of course I seem to be the only person who remembers said shifts probably because I argue against Eller so much. DD and Patches are usually attached at the hip and when they finally separated the two, it was about putting Pacioretty with Plekanec. Eller is looked upon as a bottom six/third line center and the one time he looked to be producing more than that, it was on a third line "youngster" line, no different to when Plek had the Kostitsyn's in 2008-2009 or the Petrov/Koivu/Bure line from 95-96.

DLR does seem a bit out of gas right now. Should just give him a break and give Flynn a game or two.

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Only play 2 games in next week or so, he is only 19. How long does he need to get his gas back? I heard some say Price should play because he dosent need any more rest. Many sports physiologists chiming in.

Some (one) complain that Rose is still with Habs, but also same person complained that youngsters don't get a fair shot under Therrien? Which is it? Cant complain about everything can you? Rhetorical, as obviously some do.

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I think Weise is saving himself for the playoffs. Not too worried about his recent performance.

Weise is a legitimate 3rd (not 4th) liner. For the last little bit, he's been playing like a 4th liner again. Which he does every once in a while, then comes back and plays like a first liner every 4th or 5th game.

I can live with that. He's a great addition to this team, and he was and remains essentially free.

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Guest Stogey24

Only play 2 games in next week or so, he is only 19. How long does he need to get his gas back? I heard some say Price should play because he dosent need any more rest. Many sports physiologists chiming in.

Some (one) complain that Rose is still with Habs, but also same person complained that youngsters don't get a fair shot under Therrien? Which is it? Cant complain about everything can you? Rhetorical, as obviously some do.

Ya, because Sekac really got a fair shake under Therrien. Sekac sat numerous times for what ever reason Therrien could find. Somehow De La Rose goes 31 straight games without being in the pressbox once
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So 'not impressed' with Weise and don't think Rose is NHL calibre.

Am excited to hear which upgrades should replace them, that you approve of?

Easy Don, was it not you who just "scratched" NB ....again.

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Weise is an odd duck. He plays well on the fourth and sometimes you can put him in the top six and because he's full of so much energy and gusto he can get stuff done that more talented players cannot. But he doesn't have the ability to do it consistently. I often hear complaints when he's compared to Eller that Eller got his points in the bottom six and Weise got most of his in the top six. But the fact still remains that Weise actually put up points in his top six stints. He didn't go cold.

He has set up pacs with some real nice plays. As Max said "everyone wants to play with wiess, he has undercover skill"

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Guest Stogey24

So 'not impressed' with Weise and don't think Rose is NHL calibre.

Am excited to hear which upgrades should replace them, that you approve of?

Key word is LATELY from my post. I know you have a tough time reading, so I wont hold it against you ;)
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Listen I completely agree with you, Eller doesn't have the offensive upside we all hoped he would turn out to have. I just can't understand why in his entire time with Montreal he's never seen a shift with Pacioretty. Every other combination on earth has been tried, except that one.

On another note, can someone tell me why Jacob De La Rose is still on this roster? Is there something with waivers that's stopping this guy from going back to Hamilton? Just because the guys doesn't turn the Puck over when he has possession of it(rarely) shouldn't be enough to hold him in the line up

Asked the same question. Four years on the same club, coach is the Elvis Presley of line juggling, yet Larry and Pacs never sent over the boards for a shift together. ( just a ripple effect from the fixation with DD )

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On another note, can someone tell me why Jacob De La Rose is still on this roster? Is there something with waivers that's stopping this guy from going back to Hamilton? Just because the guys doesn't turn the Puck over when he has possession of it(rarely) shouldn't be enough to hold him in the line up

He wasn't 'papered' back to the minors before the deadline. Basically, this makes him ineligible to play in the AHL for the rest of the year. He will be waiver exempt next year still though.

Only play 2 games in next week or so, he is only 19. How long does he need to get his gas back? I heard some say Price should play because he dosent need any more rest. Many sports physiologists chiming in.

Even if it's not a rest issue, I'd still sit him for 40-game accrued season purposes. I believe he's on pace to hit 40 in Game 7 of Round 1. For that reason, I'd like him to sit at least one of the last two. That way, if Round 1 goes 7 and the Habs lose, they don't burn a year of team control.

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He wasn't 'papered' back to the minors before the deadline. Basically, this makes him ineligible to play in the AHL for the rest of the year. He will be waiver exempt next year still though.

Even if it's not a rest issue, I'd still sit him for 40-game accrued season purposes. I believe he's on pace to hit 40 in Game 7 of Round 1. For that reason, I'd like him to sit at least one of the last two. That way, if Round 1 goes 7 and the Habs lose, they don't burn a year of team control.

Sure got no porblem sitting him a game or two, but waiving him to Hamilton is bit much, was my main beef.

I think Weise is saving himself for the playoffs. Not too worried about his recent performance.

Good way to look at it.

Key word is LATELY from my post. I know you have a tough time reading, so I wont hold it against you ;)

If that makes you feel better, is fine by me.

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