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Montreal signs Bobby Farnham


dlbalr

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They need a fighter. With Gallagher and now Shaw they're going to be one of the more abrasive teams in the league. Like I've said before, it's a part of the game, and if there isn't a designated clown guys like N8 are going to step up...with very mixed results. Farnham can skate at least.

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They need a fighter. With Gallagher and now Shaw they're going to be one of the more abrasive teams in the league. Like I've said before, it's a part of the game, and if there isn't a designated clown guys like N8 are going to step up...with very mixed results. Farnham can skate at least.

Is there really a spot for him as an NHL regular though? Unless they're trading away a couple of their fourth liners, I don't see there being room for him on the roster let alone in the lineup.

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We seem to be going in a completely new direction. MB seems to want to add toughness in a big way. We were a very skilled fast team, now? it looks like we want to be fighters.

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Is there really a spot for him as an NHL regular though? Unless they're trading away a couple of their fourth liners, I don't see there being room for him on the roster let alone in the lineup.

There could be. He got eight goals last year, and with the way things went in that department, your write-up could have been "Habs Add Scoring With Farnham Signing."

I think they have a lot of 4th liners that are unremarkable. Byron is going to play. Mitchell and Flynn are nothing players. They could just as easily roll out Byron-McCarron/DLR-Farnham. He's going to get a shot on the roster. The theme this year is being harder to play against and he fits in with that while the BuffaloBros are anything but.

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I don't think Mitchell is a nothing player. Not at all.

We saw what he did, and we've seen enough revolving door 4th line centres over the past 5 years to know that what he did was valuable. It was certainly better than anything they got out of Malholtra, Engqvist, Metropolit, and a number of other players they tried in that role.

As for Farnham, the very fact that he was signed weeks after free agency began and got a two-way cheap money deal (And the two-way here is key) tells me that Bergevin recognizes the number of fourth liner players on the team, and that he's likely for the AHL.

As for "needing a staged fighter" and "its part of the game".... look around the NHL, fights are still happening, but the number of teams carrying a player whose sole purpose is to fight is drastically reduced from even what it was 5 years ago. Its fallen off the map entirely. Fights are way down. And when fights do happen, they typically happen between two guys who can play the game, as part of the game. The number of enforcers who drop the gloves right off the draw cause they can't skate has disappeared, so I don't see the value of this position in the NHL.

In the AHL, you still have thugs though, so he's fine to be there.

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There could be. He got eight goals last year, and with the way things went in that department, your write-up could have been "Habs Add Scoring With Farnham Signing."

I think they have a lot of 4th liners that are unremarkable. Byron is going to play. Mitchell and Flynn are nothing players. They could just as easily roll out Byron-McCarron/DLR-Farnham. He's going to get a shot on the roster. The theme this year is being harder to play against and he fits in with that while the BuffaloBros are anything but.

His goal total was a complete fluke from the beginning of the year - he had just one in the second half of his season. He also has never really been a scorer in the minors so I wouldn't expect that to translate over to 2016-17. He's more of a 2-3 goal player.

I know you're not a big Mitchell fan but he logged nearly 13 minutes per game last year. I don't see him coming out of the lineup at all, especially since he has two years left at over $1M per. Flynn could possibly sit though I think he brings way more to the table than most think (he's their best faceoff player for one).

(I also think there's no room for McCarron or de la Rose to make it either. If you want McCarron to be an impact NHL'er, playing him on the fourth line isn't going to help that cause. More top six time in the AHL makes sense, especially when you consider his offence dried up in the second half down there last year.)

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Guest Stogey24

He's an energy player. Never takes a shift off. I think that's more the reason for the signing than the fights.

Highly doubt he wears a Habs uniform unless a pile of injuries

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Todd Cordell, New Jersey blogger figures the devils did the right thing in letting Farnham go.

I'd agree. He's not an NHL calibre player, not even remotely close to one. His best skill is running around trying to cheap shot people (he's not even a great fighter). He's a minor league goon that can somewhat hold his own on a fourth line in games where it's likely to be chippy.

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His goal total was a complete fluke from the beginning of the year - he had just one in the second half of his season. He also has never really been a scorer in the minors so I wouldn't expect that to translate over to 2016-17. He's more of a 2-3 goal player.

I know you're not a big Mitchell fan but he logged nearly 13 minutes per game last year. I don't see him coming out of the lineup at all, especially since he has two years left at over $1M per. Flynn could possibly sit though I think he brings way more to the table than most think (he's their best faceoff player for one).

(I also think there's no room for McCarron or de la Rose to make it either. If you want McCarron to be an impact NHL'er, playing him on the fourth line isn't going to help that cause. More top six time in the AHL makes sense, especially when you consider his offence dried up in the second half down there last year.)

I think he was signed to play some games. Why wouldn't they sign an AHL goon if that was what they wanted?

Mitchell, I think his ice time and stats were inflated by injuries. He's very replaceable. Players like him and Flynn should come and go every other year, these multi-year deals for fourth liners are silly.

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I don't think Mitchell is a nothing player. Not at all.

We saw what he did, and we've seen enough revolving door 4th line centres over the past 5 years to know that what he did was valuable. It was certainly better than anything they got out of Malholtra, Engqvist, Metropolit, and a number of other players they tried in that role.

As for Farnham, the very fact that he was signed weeks after free agency began and got a two-way cheap money deal (And the two-way here is key) tells me that Bergevin recognizes the number of fourth liner players on the team, and that he's likely for the AHL.

As for "needing a staged fighter" and "its part of the game".... look around the NHL, fights are still happening, but the number of teams carrying a player whose sole purpose is to fight is drastically reduced from even what it was 5 years ago. Its fallen off the map entirely. Fights are way down. And when fights do happen, they typically happen between two guys who can play the game, as part of the game. The number of enforcers who drop the gloves right off the draw cause they can't skate has disappeared, so I don't see the value of this position in the NHL.

In the AHL, you still have thugs though, so he's fine to be there.

I notice you conveniently forgot Ryan White.

Farnham had eight goals. If he was a waterbug skater and +.000000009 Relative Corsi with eight goals and 20 PIMs this board would singing Bergeivin's praises.

If you didn't see think N8's concussion vs Foligno last year and think this team needs someone who can fight, there's not much of a discussion to be had.

He'll get 20 games, even if offends sensibilities.

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I'd agree. He's not an NHL calibre player, not even remotely close to one. His best skill is running around trying to cheap shot people (he's not even a great fighter). He's a minor league goon that can somewhat hold his own on a fourth line in games where it's likely to be chippy.

And we need this guy because?

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And we need this guy because?

He's not a disruption in the room like subban was.

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I think he was signed to play some games. Why wouldn't they sign an AHL goon if that was what they wanted?

Mitchell, I think his ice time and stats were inflated by injuries. He's very replaceable. Players like him and Flynn should come and go every other year, these multi-year deals for fourth liners are silly.

I think they signed Farnham as an insurance policy, someone that could be brought up to play against certain opponents or in case the team was getting pushed around. I doubt they view him as an every game type of player; if they did, they'd have given him a one-way deal and he'd have been signed two weeks ago. If it were me, I'd have signed someone to a minor league deal (Patrick Bordeleau was who I was actually expected) and then if it turned out they needed him on the big club, sign him at that point to an NHL deal.

The injuries played a part in Mitchell playing that much but even when everyone was healthy he was still over 10 minutes most nights. He's a full-time player on this team even if there is more of a push to get tougher.

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I notice you conveniently forgot Ryan White.

Farnham had eight goals. If he was a waterbug skater and +.000000009 Relative Corsi with eight goals and 20 PIMs this board would singing Bergeivin's praises.

If you didn't see think N8's concussion vs Foligno last year and think this team needs someone who can fight, there's not much of a discussion to be had.

He'll get 20 games, even if offends sensibilities.

As Brian said, he scored 8 goals out of pure fluke. If you are expecting another 8 goals, I think you might be waiting 4 seasons for it.

As for a guy getting concussed cause he got hit, a fighter doesn't stop that from happening. All he does is fight after the fact, which doesn't fix Nate's concussion.

There is no evidence that teams who have fighters get injured less, in fact numbers show the opposite. Which is why less and less teams are carrying these guys.

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So it looks like we are heading in the direction of truculence. I'm confused by this. I was arguing with a truculence guy at work who believes we need old time hockey, because that wins cups. I looked through the cup winners since the 76 flyers and the only truly truculent teams I could find were the LA Kings twice, Anaheim, and Boston. There were some tough guys on the other teams, but they were all speed and skill first.

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An Ivy League goon. Beauty :hyper: This guy should be very interesting and funny if nothing else. Who names their kid Bobby these days?

edit - Yup I was right. Bobby is born into the DeMoulas family owners of a supermarket chain for starters. Then he went to Ivy League school and was All Academic for his four years at Brown. So not only does he start out richer and smarter than pretty well every NHL player, he is one of the smaller ones at 5-10, 185 pounds.

All those 6-6 270 pound hulks who dropped out of high school in a small mining town in northern Canada to try to make it as a hockey goon are asking "WTF?" :wall:

Edited by ethan raphael
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I notice you conveniently forgot Ryan White.

Farnham had eight goals. If he was a waterbug skater and +.000000009 Relative Corsi with eight goals and 20 PIMs this board would singing Bergeivin's praises.

If you didn't see think N8's concussion vs Foligno last year and think this team needs someone who can fight, there's not much of a discussion to be had.

He'll get 20 games, even if offends sensibilities.

Damn I miss that shithead player

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So it looks like we are heading in the direction of truculence. I'm confused by this. I was arguing with a truculence guy at work who believes we need old time hockey, because that wins cups. I looked through the cup winners since the 76 flyers and the only truly truculent teams I could find were the LA Kings twice, Anaheim, and Boston. There were some tough guys on the other teams, but they were all speed and skill first.

They need to give the fans a reason to cheer.

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"for a guy getting concussed cause he got hit, a fighter doesn't stop that from happening. All he does is fight after the fact, which doesn't fix Nate's concussion. " - statement makes no sense, an earlier poster had a valid point and the rebuttal is wrong, just trying to make the situation fit the argument.

N8 got laid out fighting Foligno, sticking up for Fleishman. So having an enforcer would definitely have helped as N8 would be told that it is not his job and to stick with playing hockey. He was concussed getting one-punched in a fight he initiated.

Watch the clip of N8 being embarrassed on home ice. Typical of the season and he hasn't been the same since.

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