GDT Montreal Canadiens vs. St. Louis Blues | January 16th, 2016 | 7:00 EST

[xXx..CK..xXx]

I think this season is over and I don't ever like to throw in the towel. But this team is missing a key ingredient. It may be the coach and really as much as i don't like him, he is probably not the problem but he needs to go. You can't fire the team.

We can't underestimate the difference Price makes and the impact he has on not only our team but the opponent. As long as he's healthy, he's more important to this team than any other player in the league. He wins games on his own. Now, I don't want that to have to be the case but I can't agree that this season is over and really, it's not. Price needs to remain healthy and we can still see if anything happens at the trade deadline.

My only qualm this season has been how Kassian and Semin were handled. I'm not saying they are huge solutions or that their dismissals are even part of the reason we're going through what we are currently going through. But we need players like those on the team... yes even Semin couldn't hurt with that contract right now. Give a damn.

[John B]

Agree about Kassian and Semin. When goals are hard to come by, big crash the net kind of players like Kassian are extremely helpful. Garbage goals are goals too.

[dlbalr]

My math might be wrong, but I believe they're out of the playoff picture for the first time in four years.

They're still in. Tampa and Montreal are the wildcard teams, both at 50 points, 1 behind Boston and 3 behind Detroit in the division.

[The Chicoutimi Cucumber]

Agree about Kassian and Semin. When goals are hard to come by, big crash the net kind of players like Kassian are extremely helpful. Garbage goals are goals too.

Semin was a POS, but I didn't like to lose Kassian like that either. At least he had a chance to be an impact FW, however remote that chance was.

Price would certainly have made the difference tonight, because Condon looked bad on a couple, especially the tying goal, which was entirely his fault. But when the team is dominating quality opposition, it's pretty hard to say 'we need Price to win these games single-handedly.' What we need, desperately, is finish. Think back to last year's playoff - we lacked finish against TB, and Price was not enough to save us.

It's not MT's fault either. He had his team primed to get 50 frigging shots and completely own the Blues for 58 out of 60 minutes. If they fire him, I won't cry in my beer, but he can't go out there and capitalize on those chances for them.

[Guest Stogey24]

My math might be wrong, but I believe they're out of the playoff picture for the first time in four years.

Sometimes the dog keeps chewing on the fabric of what used to be his favorite toy, and you have to throw it in the trash.

DD is Therrien's chewie.

I'm so tired of it.

Plekanec had a really good game with 9 shots.

Markov with over 26 min of ice time. That's definitely on the high side

[xXx..CK..xXx]

Semin was a POS, but I didn't like to lose Kassian like that either. At least he had a chance to be an impact FW, however remote that chance was.

Price would certainly have made the difference tonight, because Condon looked bad on a couple, especially the tying goal, which was entirely his fault. But when the team is dominating quality opposition, it's pretty hard to say 'we need Price to win these games single-handedly.' What we need, desperately, is finish. Think back to last year's playoff - we lacked finish against TB, and Price was not enough to save us.

It's not MT's fault either. He had his team primed to get 50 frigging shots and completely own the Blues for 58 out of 60 minutes. If they fire him, I won't cry in my beer, but he can't go out there and capitalize on those chances for them.

Semin may have been a "POS" (though I do think it's a harsh assessment of him) but his profile is at least that of a top 6 forward. Maybe he would have only ended up with 10 goals this season but I would have honestly preferred that to the 10-15 Andrighetto and Carr will combine for this season in the stints they see with the big club. I see a contender as having a relatively consistent lineup when healthy and we shouldn't need to have to decide between Andrighetto and Carr come playoff time. Semin was brought in to be a top 6 player and either way, it was handled poorly. I don't think Bergevin can be forgiven for both acquiring him in the first place and then letting him go so soon into the season. Either one or both of those decisions were wrong. Therefore, I have a problem with how the situation was handled either way. My personal preference would have been to keep him once he was acquired.

Make sense of the timeline for me. Semin goes through rough start - Teammates back up his work in practice and say he's going to be a big part going forward (I know, what else are they going to say?) - Semin becomes a healthy scratch but Therrien is also encouraged by his performance in practice while he's in the doghouse and expects him to come out of it - Players get injured and so Semin is forced into the lineup, against Therrien's will because Semin didn't have to go through the normal doghouse routine - The team then calls up the young guns to play instead of Semin and eventually release him from the team.

Regardless of personal opinion about him, the timeline did not really make sense to me. It is as though Therrien was willing to work through it with Semin as long as he could place him in the press box for a few weeks. Once injuries occured and Semin would have been "forced" into the lineup, they called the young guns up, who were always going to be a temporary solution anyway and released Semin.

It's certainly not the biggest deal in the world, but considering his contract, I just can't agree with the way it was handled.

Then after all that, we ALSO dealth Kassian away.

I am on the other hand willing to be patient and if we do acquire a top 6 forward come deadline time, this will mostly be forgotten.

[Commandant]

When Semin only had 1 goal as a Hab, how do you figure hed even get 10?

and how do you figure that is better than getting similar production out of Carr and Andrighetto?

Semin was garbage.

The debate on Kassian I can see, he didn't get much chance.

[Commandant]

IT STILL MAKES NO ING SENSE THOUGH AND HERE IT IS

Аrpon Basu ‏
Habs shooting percentage since Dec. 1 is 5.6% (all situations), worst in the NHL. So opposing Sv% is .944.

[Neech]

I wouldn't blame the coach after a game like tonight where the effort was there. Therrien frustrates me as well but the team hasn't quit on him. I wish he would trust Beaulieu and Galchenyuk more, however, because they need to be top-class players if we're trying to contend with this core.

[Neech]

Slow guys like Markov and DD shouldn't see the ice at 3 on 3. Hand it over to our young speedsters and hope for the best, it's a crapshoot anyways.

[xXx..CK..xXx]

When Semin only had 1 goal as a Hab, how do you figure hed even get 10?

and how do you figure that is better than getting similar production out of Carr and Andrighetto?

Semin was garbage.

The debate on Kassian I can see, he didn't get much chance.

It's a matter of perspective. What's being lost in all of this is that my issue is with how it was handled not specifically Semin and his statistics. People have different opinions and my opinion is that Semin was not given much of a chance either. As a coach you have two options when it comes to a struggling player. You either place him in a position to succeed, or you place him in the doghouse. In this case, Semin was placed in the doghouse and then as he began the process of working out of it he was set free. Seemingly because there was no more doghouse to be in as a result of us getting some injuries. I can't agree that "slow as molasses" or not, 10 games is enough of a sample size for anything to mean anything. Semin may have been garbage but Therrien also expected him to be garbage with the way he was treated. I understand that no one player deserves special treatment, but in this case it's my personal opinion that in this specific situation, there was a better way to at least try and get him going.

Admitedly, I don't mean to make a big deal about Semin specifically though, that situation is just amplified by the fact that Kassian was not give a shot either. It's more the combination that both of these things happened that gets to me because like I said, I'll forget about this issue as soon as Price is back and a top 6 player is acquired at the deadline.

My issue with Carr and Andrighetto and their similar to production to Semin is that ideally a veteran is a part of the lineup on a consistent basis. My issue is that Carr and Andrighetto are currently in the AHL. A contender shouldn't have to rely on players who come up and down throughout the season as a result of injuries, especially when it's not completely clear which one is the better choice (and not for amazing reasons). I like Carr and Andrighetto but releasing Semin for either of them is sincerely a meh decision to me. I don't expect either of them to get more than 1 or 2 goals in a 7 game series. My expectations would be at least the same from Semin.

I don't even care about Semin specifically and my original post was about BOTH Kassian and Semin being let go. With that being said, we're a better team with either of those players in the lineup . That's more an indication that we don't have a legitimate 2nd line as Chris pointed out, rather than me stating that Semin is anything more than he is... which I will agree wasn't necessarily much. That wasn't my point.

[Commandant]

Semin had 15 games... not 10... just saying.

He wasn't getting the job done.

[xXx..CK..xXx]

Semin had 15 games... not 10... just saying.

He wasn't getting the job done.

I get your side of it without a doubt but what about Plekanec with 1 goal in 27 or how Fleischmann has 1 in his past 21? I like all these players but honestly Semin was here when we were 9-0-0. Now we have to look at a revolving door of players as some people put it instead of having a consistent lineup. I don't even see it as looking at it in retrospect, I didn't like the way it was handled at the time either. If we kept Kassian, you wouldn't hear about it from me.

[Commandant]

I don't like what happened with Kassian.

I just saw enough of Semin, his inability to skate was apparent.

[Commandant]

Most Shots per game in the NHL: Habs are 4th

Fewest Shots against: Habs are again 4th

Can't buy a win for 6 weeks.

HOW DOES THIS MAKE SENSE?

[BlueKross]

They're still in. Tampa and Montreal are the wildcard teams, both at 50 points, 1 behind Boston and 3 behind Detroit in the division.

Montreal holds the last and final playoff spot - the crossover- there are five teams immediately behind Montreal--they desperately need the two points in Chicago

[DON]

It wasn't a boring game, de la Rose played well won his faceoffs and had a few hits.

PP goal for Subban and 22 shots from Plekanec's line also great to see.

Hope is another entertaining one today, but with just a bit better shooting% for Habs.

[Lovett's Magnatones]

Most Shots per game in the NHL: Habs are 4th

Fewest Shots against: Habs are again 4th

Can't buy a win for 6 weeks.

HOW DOES THIS MAKE SENSE?

We've seen the opposite with Colorado, Toronto, and towards the end of the streak, Florida. It doesn't make any sense, but it has to turn around. Who knows, with percentages like that, they might score 8-10 goals one game.

[Guest Stogey24]

I watched that Emelin hit like 5 times, that was amazing! Hit of the year, no doubt. Watch the scrum after though and Gallagher is taking shots from shattenkirk I think, and Petry just stands there and watches it happen.

[KoRP]

I watched that Emelin hit like 5 times, that was amazing! Hit of the year, no doubt. Watch the scrum after though and Gallagher is taking shots from shattenkirk I think, and Petry just stands there and watches it happen.

Bergevin was right about Emelin, the bigger the game, it seems the better he plays, he's had 4 good games in a row, at least not noticeable in a bad way... Markov on the other hand

Not enough grit over 5'9 on this team... DLR showed he can play an NHL game, I liked his physicality.

[illWill]

That was the most exciting game this team has been involved with in quite some time. They played smart and really got in the Blues' heads. Elliot was much better than Condon and that was the difference. Seemingly running into great goaltending has been a reoccurring issue lately. I guess that's what other teams are used to feeling like playing against Price. And I guess we now know for sure how valuable he really is. Not much to say about the game other than that.

[Chris]

I read somewhere that Emelin had a broken bone in his foot he was playing with for a while and now he is healthy. He has been very good the last week or 2.

To answer commandants question, how does it make sense? It's simple for me, they don't have the offensive talent to score reliably. Price makes this team look way better than it is.

They are who they are.

[The Chicoutimi Cucumber]

Emelin: that was the single hardest clean hit of the entire season, probably in the whole NHL. That's what makes it hard to be unambiguously anti-Emelin IMHO. He raises his game in the clutch. That includes the playoffs. But on a night-in, night-out basis, he remains significantly overpaid.

On Semin: if he really was any good, some other team would have picked him up off waivers. That 30 teams had no use for his services at an affordable rate should settle the argument. People really should stop going on about it. Kassian, that's another story, one that may haunt us if he ever does find his game.

Chris, this team does have "talent offensively" if by this we mean the ability to generate chances and overwhelm the opposition with rush after rush. It's done that on a fairly reliable basis for about three years now.

It's finish that we lack.

I think it's a meaningful distinction, because the team we saw last night IS a very good hockey team. But its structural profile is wrong, if that makes sense. We can carry the play against anyone. But we can't be trusted to capitalize on the chances that generates. In short, we need one less smart, fast hockey player, and one more guy who can reliably SCORE, no matter what his other strengths and weaknesses.

[Chris]

Exactly, talent finishes plays.

[The Chicoutimi Cucumber]

Exactly, talent finishes plays.

Well, maybe it's a semantic point. But talent also manufactures plays and dominates possession and SOG. Michael Ryder knew how to finish but no one would point to him as the epitome of a 'talented' hockey player. Otherwise put, it's a specific type of talent we're lacking. But it doesn't follow that we're a bad team. We're not.