Jump to content

Dec. 27, Habs vs Hurricanes, 7 PM


dlbalr

Recommended Posts

1 hour ago, Commandant said:

Chucky is tied for the team lead in points... despite being Julien's whipping boy. 

 

I passed on this game, which was an obvious dud, but that's an interesting point. No doubt CJ will credit it to his deft management of Galy's minutes :lol: 

 

The kid can put points on the board, but given this team's embarrassment of riches on offence, well, he's a victim of the numbers game. Right? Right...?

 

?:tumbleweed:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, sbhatt said:

The sole bright spot was that Galchenyuk joined the ever increasing ranks NHL players who have more goals than Max Pacioretty. 

 

 

I just love the fact he scored a goal reminiscent of a Kovalev snipe off the right wall like that, been awhile... 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Stogey24 said:

 I don't remember a shittier more one dimensional d Corp than this one. 

 

#BlameBergevin   

 

 

 

Alzner looked particularly bad a few times in that game.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Commandant said:

Julien says “Galchenyuk came to play tonight” and...”we’ve got him on the wing but it doesn’t mean we’ll never see him at centre again if we have the need.”

 

I wonder if CJ is realizing he has more rope than Bergevin does, and that the centremen provided to him are getting the team nowhere...

 

Because even though Galchenyuk has been Julien's whipping boy since last season, CJ has always seemed to believe that Galchenyuk's place was eventually at centre, contrary to statements made by other management.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What's the one dimension of the D?

 

Soft, slow, turnovers and no offense. I count 4 dimensions.

 

I would put Galchenyuk at center, put him with Drouin and gallagher. 

 

At least the offensive is in post season form. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had to do a double take when I seen that Galchenyuk and Danault are tied for the lead in team scoring. I'm not sure what's more surprising, Galchenyuk doing that while playing with a bunch of bums or Phillip Danault being Phillip Danault. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

57 minutes ago, Chris said:

What's the one dimension of the D?

 

Soft, slow, turnovers and no offense. I count 4 dimensions.

 

I would put Galchenyuk at center, put him with Drouin and gallagher. 

 

At least the offensive is in post season form. 

 

 

There is a very strong case to be made that this organization has it perfectly backwards. It's got a guy who plays better at C on the wing (Galy) and a guy who plays better on the wing playing at C (Drouin). Then it wonders why its FW unit sucks :bonk:

 

As for the D, it's terrible. A legit #1 guy and a raft of #4-6 guys. An absolute joke. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jerabek had an awesome game last night to be fair. 

 

Best game he's played as a Hab, and for one night looked every bit a top pair defenceman. 

 

I don't expect that every night... he's more a 5/6... but he was really good in that game. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, Chris said:

Yea, 

 

they need a #1 center, a #2 center

 

and start over on the D, Obviously Weber, Mete and i think Jerebek is alright. 

 

I would start moving the rest. 

 

 

 

Put Galy back at C and Drouin on the wing, for starters. We're at the point where this is a simple no-brainer, being pig-headedly denied by a management group that cares more about its ego than winning.

 

As for 'moving the rest'...well, the sooner you can dump Alzner, the better. But really it depends on whether you want a rebuild. If we could somehow add a top-pairing puck-mover, the D would suddenly look a whooooole lot better.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

 

Put Galy back at C and Drouin on the wing, for starters. We're at the point where this is a simple no-brainer, being pig-headedly denied by a management group that cares more about its ego than winning.

 

As for 'moving the rest'...well, the sooner you can dump Alzner, the better. But really it depends on whether you want a rebuild. If we could somehow add a top-pairing puck-mover, the D would suddenly look a whooooole lot better.

 

I'd leave Drouin at centre. 

Put them both at centre. 

Pulling the plug on the experiment after less than half a season is not smart.  Constantly shifting positions is why Galchenyuk is not a centre today. 

Advanced stats also show that no one is generating more scoring chances for his linemates than Drouin.  If his wingers had buried some of the chances he set up, no one would be asking if he's a centre or a winger right now. 

They are 8 points out of a playoff spot... throw caution to the wind and let both develop as centres. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, Commandant said:

 

I'd leave Drouin at centre. 

Put them both at centre. 

Pulling the plug on the experiment after less than half a season is not smart.  Constantly shifting positions is why Galchenyuk is not a centre today. 

Advanced stats also show that no one is generating more scoring chances for his linemates than Drouin.  If his wingers had buried some of the chances he set up, no one would be asking if he's a centre or a winger right now. 

They are 8 points out of a playoff spot... throw caution to the wind and let both develop as centres. 

 

Fair enough. I'm much more adamant that Galy play C than I am that Drouin go to W; still, Drouin is very young, and I'm beginning to worry about corroding his confidence. But yes, at least put Galy at C! The insanity has gone far enough. 

 

8 points out. At what point does MB accept reality and start selling?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Drouin is even worse than Galchenyuk at center. Don't care about advanced stats. In the preseason i gave you an advanced stat, this team would stink. Guess what, they do. You can't experiment with wingers playing center, especially half way through the season and only with 5 goals. The Drouin center experiment should be done.

 

Trade patches for a legit #1 center, move Drouin back to the wing. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Stogey24
15 minutes ago, Commandant said:

Goals?  We are measuring a guy who is primarily a playmaker on goals??

 

He'd have a lot more assists if the wingers were burying the chances he creates. 

You cannot still be defending Drouin. 

 

He's on pace for 12 goals. He has been nowhere near good enough. 

 

Put this kid back at wing.  

 

To quote Craig Button: Square peg, round hole

Link to comment
Share on other sites

24 minutes ago, Stogey24 said:

You cannot still be defending Drouin. 

 

I do wonder about Drouin's confidence. He came here looking to be a star offensive player, clearly believed he could be The Guy and clearly wanted to be. And yet he has 18 points in 32 games: absolutely terrible numbers for The Guy. You can blame his wingers, but he's basically had the best the Habs can offer (which ain't saying too much, admittedly). We can reference the "scoring chances generated" all we want, but at some point the results need to be there before a player starts to lose the swagger and confidence needed to be an impact player. He's 22 and being asked to adapt to a position - centre - for which he is arguably not naturally suited, in the highest-pressure market in all of hockey. At some point we really do need to ask ourselves whether we are damaging his development. I know we tend, for some reason, to think of Drouin as something other than a young player finding his way, but that's what he is, and maybe we should start thinking of him developmentally.

 

The other side is that maybe we are helping his development by giving him time to learn the C position.

 

The question is, at what point does the cost to his confidence start to outweigh the "learning" part of the equation? He has been put in a terribly difficult situation: asked to be the #1 C on a bad team that is nevertheless in "win now" mode, when he is not a natural C and is just a kid.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 minutes ago, Stogey24 said:

You cannot still be defending Drouin.

 

Why does this surprise you?  There are still people on this board defending Pacioretty FFS.  At least in Drouin, you have a young player being asked to learn a new role...there is a case to be made for tempered expectations.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My opinion of the handling of Drouin is that it had a lot of similarities to the off season in general. There seems to have been a lack of an original plan. Once all our moves were made, it became clear that the team was selling our trade of Sergachev as having aided in acquiring our much needed top center. 

 

While there weren’t many great centers available (Shipchapyov seemed to be a bust) it was as though we realized, “alright, this is our squad and it looks like we’ll need Drouin to be center if we can’t have Galchenyuk there. If we don’t want Danault and Plekanec to be our top 6 centers, Drouin has to go there.”

 

For me, that’s not a good enough reason for Drouin to be an NHL center. While he’s done an alright job, I do share the view that Galchenyuk seems to be a better center (admittedly outside of the defensive end, which is important).

 

The issue is that there is no guarantee that switching them around would really solve anything. What would get out of it, 2-3 more goals on the year, even if it were successful?

 

My first line would be 67-27-92 and it’s not even because of the way the season has played out. That’s what I would have wanted from the get go, if I weren’t partially brainwashed by Bergevin, as Julien seems to be. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Stogey24
13 minutes ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

 

I do wonder about Drouin's confidence. He came here looking to be a star offensive player, clearly believed he could be The Guy and clearly wanted to be. And yet he has 18 points in 32 games: absolutely terrible numbers for The Guy. You can blame his wingers, but he's basically had the best the Habs can offer (which ain't saying too much, admittedly). We can reference the "scoring chances generated" all we want, but at some point the results need to be there before a player starts to lose the swagger and confidence needed to be an impact player. He's 22 and being asked to adapt to a position - centre - for which he is arguably not naturally suited, in the highest-pressure market in all of hockey. At some point we really do need to ask ourselves whether we are damaging his development. I know we tend, for some reason, to think of Drouin as something other than a young player finding his way, but that's what he is, and maybe we should start thinking of him developmentally.

 

The other side is that maybe we are helping his development by giving him time to learn the C position. The question is, at what point does the cost to his confidence start to outweigh the "learning" part of the equation? He has been put in a terribly difficult situation: asked to be the #1 C on a bad team that is nevertheless in "win now" mode, when he is not a natural C and is just a kid.

Drouin has the most talent on this team, but he's trying to do too much out there. Simplifying this kids game might be exactly what he needs to start producing.

 

Or it's the fact we have the most conservative coach in the nhl. I don't think it's a coincidence we're seeing the top talent on this team regress under Julien...

Pacioretty on pace for 18 goals! That's saying something 

 

Look at what Boston is doing now that Julien is gone.  They just passed the leafs for second place, with 2 games in hand.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 minutes ago, Stogey24 said:

You cannot still be defending Drouin. 

 

He's on pace for 12 goals. He has been nowhere near good enough. 

 

Put this kid back at wing.  

 

To quote Craig Button: Square peg, round hole

 

Why are we talking about goals?  his job is to set up plays, and he's doing that. 

 

He's set up Lehkonen for 20 high danger scoring chances this season.  Lehkonen scored 2 of them. 

 

He's done the same with Pacioretty, Byron, Galchenyuk, and everyone he's played with.  

He sets up chances, if they aren't being buried is that his fault?

he's a playmaker, he's doing his job. 

 

The team has bigger issues than Drouin and moving him would stall his development into a centre which is what the team needs.  No need to continue yo-yoing people around. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...