tomh009 Posted January 29, 2021 Author Share Posted January 29, 2021 20 minutes ago, Sir_Boagalott said: Ya, it is basicaly impossible to have a streak that long, but he could turn out to be a point a game guy. The main reason I brought that up it is because so far he is the only Habs that is consistently getting points every game. I think his streak will continue for a while and could be one of the longest to happen in years. We actually have SIX players at PPG pace or better right now: Toffoli, Drouin, Petry (all better than 1.0), Perry (yeah, only two games), Suzuki and Armia. Two guys from the second line, three from the third plus a D-man. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir_Boagalott Posted January 29, 2021 Share Posted January 29, 2021 21 minutes ago, tomh009 said: We actually have SIX players at PPG pace or better right now: Toffoli, Drouin, Petry (all better than 1.0), Perry (yeah, only two games), Suzuki and Armia. Two guys from the second line, three from the third plus a D-man. Yes, that is true but other than Suzuki they are all streaky and lack his consistency. I've said this in another thread regarding that individual scoring streakiness. There really isnt anything preventing them all being hot in the same game. ex: 3 Habs getting hattricks and Price getting a shout out and winning it 9-0. Then go cold and lose 3-1 or 2-1 in the next 1-2 games. That hasnt happened yet, but is it a fluke/luck, or ? There are still a lot of unknowns like that which could go either way and only time will tell. It will be interesting to see what happens as the season plays out. As good as their record is it is insane that they can actually improve, and I believe they are. ex: their d was a lot better tonight and they stopped taking the 4-6 dumbass penalties/game. Had those areas not improved in this game it could have potentially ended like the other 2 OTL they have. In those games its like they played 57 mins and tonight they played a solid 58.5mins. It almost seems like they have yet to play a full 60 min game and the season is an 1/8 over and they have only failed to pick up 2 pts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hab29RETIRED Posted January 29, 2021 Share Posted January 29, 2021 Always great to beat Calgary and even though I’ve never really warmed up to Chariot. It was nice to see him taking down Tkachuk - I thought Perry would have been the one to mix it up with Tkachuk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DON Posted January 29, 2021 Share Posted January 29, 2021 9 hours ago, GHT120 said: ... they are bound to lose games and I fear tonight may be their first outright loss ... Crystal ball needs a tune up. Suzuki 3 of 14 on faceoffs, still a work in progress; but, seems such a smart player doing so well...dont think anybody is too concerned. Evans 55%, looks pretty solid so far and seems to be in Julien's good books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomh009 Posted January 29, 2021 Author Share Posted January 29, 2021 7 hours ago, Sir_Boagalott said: Yes, that is true but other than Suzuki they are all streaky and lack his consistency. I've said this in another thread regarding that individual scoring streakiness. There really isnt anything preventing them all being hot in the same game. ex: 3 Habs getting hattricks and Price getting a shout out and winning it 9-0. Then go cold and lose 3-1 or 2-1 in the next 1-2 games. That hasnt happened yet, but is it a fluke/luck, or ? There are still a lot of unknowns like that which could go either way and only time will tell. It will be interesting to see what happens as the season plays out. The probability is actually pretty low that they all go hot and cold in sync, at least for any significant number of games. Working out as well as it has to date, though? Maybe not, and there are bound to be games where no one is able to put the puck in the net. But having the scoring this well distributed means that the risk of that is much lower, whether because of the players going cold or the opponents shutting them down. It still very early, but as has been said many times before, this team is difficult to play against. 🙂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomh009 Posted January 29, 2021 Author Share Posted January 29, 2021 6 hours ago, DON said: Suzuki 3 of 14 on faceoffs, still a work in progress; but, seems such a smart player doing so well...dont think anybody is too concerned. Evans 55%, looks pretty solid so far and seems to be in Julien's good books. Face-offs take skill, strength and experience. From the sounds of it, Danault is working with "the kids" to help them improve this, and Kotkaniemi has improved from about 41% last year to 48% so far this year. Evans is around the same average, too. Suzuki has more work to do on this aspect as he's below 42% so far this season, but he's still young and has fewer than 80 games under his belt (Kotkaniemi is at about 120, and Evans only 20). He'll get there. And while he's not tall (listed at 5'11) he is solid, and actually weighs more than Kotkaniemi, so he surely has the strength to succeed in the face-off circle yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IN THE HEARTS OF MEN Posted January 29, 2021 Share Posted January 29, 2021 I'm not worried at all about faceoffs. They'll come around. EVANS has been a revelation thus far and he along with his wingers are playing more to the tune of a 3rd line then a 4th. Kk was relentless yesterday, he had Toffoli are really playing well together. Perry and his 35 yr old legs dont seem to out of place either short term. CALGARY just cannot match us line by line and we haven't even mentioned the TDG line yet. At what point do we start mentioning Suzuki as a star in this league amongst the best C's in hockey? He has the junior pedigree! I mean the guy continues to defy the odds and win matches consistently head to head vs the very best in the business. Not to mention he continued right where he left off in the bubble and is a PPG. Note* Jonathon Drouin has 8 points in 7 games? LoL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
habs#4,9,10,33 Posted January 29, 2021 Share Posted January 29, 2021 11 hours ago, DON said: Crystal ball needs a tune up. Suzuki 3 of 14 on faceoffs, still a work in progress; but, seems such a smart player doing so well...dont think anybody is too concerned. Evans 55%, looks pretty solid so far and seems to be in Julien's good books. still early with the overall face off percentage but with having 3 young centres and a forth in the taxi squad, would it not be a good idea from the organization to hire a face off expert part time to work with the kids? One that comes to mind Is Guy Carbonneau. I think he finished his career with a 60%.. just a thought love Price new pads from last night. 👍 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GHT120 Posted January 29, 2021 Share Posted January 29, 2021 12 hours ago, DON said: Crystal ball needs a tune up. ... But my hope came true ... I'll take that kind of error anytime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Habsfan Posted January 29, 2021 Share Posted January 29, 2021 6 hours ago, tomh009 said: Face-offs take skill, strength and experience. From the sounds of it, Danault is working with "the kids" to help them improve this, and Kotkaniemi has improved from about 41% last year to 48% so far this year. Evans is around the same average, too. The latest numbers for face offs won (From ESPN.com) Danault: 52.6% KK: 50.7% Evans: 45.5% Suzuki: 41.0% Really happy to see KK improve his Face off percentage!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DON Posted January 29, 2021 Share Posted January 29, 2021 51 minutes ago, habs#4,9,10,33 said: still early with the overall face off percentage but with having 3 young centres and a forth in the taxi squad, would it not be a good idea from the organization to hire a face off expert part time to work with the kids? One that comes to mind Is Guy Carbonneau. I think he finished his career with a 60%.. just a thought love Price new pads from last night. 👍 Dont know if a faceoff coach is that effective, i think Malhotra is one with some team. Yannick Perreault seems best fit, the #1 faceoff guy in last 30yrs...rest of his game weak, but he was good at that one thing. Pads? I didnt notice that, but then again, i typically couldnt even tell you if Habs wear white or red at home. Kinda tune out, or dont notice stuff like that i guess? 8 minutes ago, GHT120 said: But my hope came true ... I'll take that kind of error anytime. Hey, had to bring it up. Fyi: Perreault 60.9% Carbo 57.2% Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomh009 Posted January 29, 2021 Author Share Posted January 29, 2021 35 minutes ago, DON said: Dont know if a faceoff coach is that effective, i think Malhotra is one with some team. Yannick Perreault seems best fit, the #1 faceoff guy in last 30yrs...rest of his game weak, but he was good at that one thing. Fyi: Perreault 60.9% Carbo 57.2% Perreault is a player development coach with Chicago. Antoine Vermette might be available, though: his career average was 56.6% But Danault is a not-too-shabby 54.6% over the last three seasons, and he's already on board. If Kotkaniemi, Suzuki and Evans can learn from him and all get above 50%, we'll have improved significantly already. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DON Posted January 29, 2021 Share Posted January 29, 2021 31 minutes ago, tomh009 said: But Danault is a not-too-shabby 54.6% over the last three seasons, and he's already on board. There you go, you talked yourself out of hiring another coach, let the 27yr old vet teach em and the biggest part is practice or repetition, which is on each individual centre to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomh009 Posted January 29, 2021 Author Share Posted January 29, 2021 39 minutes ago, DON said: There you go, you talked yourself out of hiring another coach, let the 27yr old vet teach em and the biggest part is practice or repetition, which is on each individual centre to do. That was actually proposed by habs#4,9,10,33. 😁 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir_Boagalott Posted January 29, 2021 Share Posted January 29, 2021 2 hours ago, DON said: Dont know if a faceoff coach is that effective, i think Malhotra is one with some team. Yannick Perreault seems best fit, the #1 faceoff guy in last 30yrs...rest of his game weak, but he was good at that one thing. Perrault was the best in faceoffs for the last 30 years. However, that is completely irrelevant now. i.e. the NHL changed the faceoff rules so that people can no longer do what he was doing to win those faceoffs. Basically, he figured out some weird trick and what he was doing is against the rules now. If he played today using that tactic he would be tossed out of every faceoff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DON Posted January 29, 2021 Share Posted January 29, 2021 1 hour ago, tomh009 said: That was actually proposed by habs#4,9,10,33. 😁 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GHT120 Posted January 30, 2021 Share Posted January 30, 2021 20 hours ago, DON said: Dont know if a faceoff coach is that effective, i think Malhotra is one with some team. Yannick Perreault seems best fit, the #1 faceoff guy in last 30yrs...rest of his game weak, but he was good at that one thing... Not certain that the best faceoff-ers (to create a new term) are always the best to teach others ... sometimes it is just innate But I have long-felt that there could be a more technical/scientific approach ... experts to improve hand-eye coordination ... psychologists/analysts to review the tendencies of both linesmen and opposing centres ... the Habs are a rich team in the NHL echelons and while player salaries are capped other expenditures are not regulated ... same principle applies to scouting, player development, conditioning, skating ... find the best and pay them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GHT120 Posted January 30, 2021 Share Posted January 30, 2021 21 hours ago, DON said: ... Hey, had to bring it up. Fair enough Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DON Posted January 30, 2021 Share Posted January 30, 2021 23 minutes ago, GHT120 said: Not certain that the best faceoff-ers (to create a new term) are always the best to teach others ... sometimes it is just innate But I have long-felt that there could be a more technical/scientific approach ... experts to improve hand-eye coordination ... psychologists/analysts to review the tendencies of both linesmen and opposing centres ... the Habs are a rich team in the NHL echelons and while player salaries are capped other expenditures are not regulated ... same principle applies to scouting, player development, conditioning, skating ... find the best and pay them But, some will argue faceoffs arnt that important. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GHT120 Posted January 30, 2021 Share Posted January 30, 2021 2 minutes ago, DON said: But, some will argue faceoffs arnt that important. Perhaps ... but it could provide an edge Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DON Posted January 30, 2021 Share Posted January 30, 2021 2 minutes ago, GHT120 said: Perhaps ... but it could provide an edge I agree. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomh009 Posted January 30, 2021 Author Share Posted January 30, 2021 26 minutes ago, GHT120 said: Perhaps ... but it could provide an edge And it certainly does not hurt. Especially DZ face-offs on a PK, or OZ face-offs on a PP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commandant Posted January 30, 2021 Share Posted January 30, 2021 Faceoffs are important, but not nearly as important as they have been treated in this thread and other recent ones. They are one of the things most overrated by fans in terms of how much they are discussed and how important they prove to be. This is even more true when we look at percentages of faceoffs won. PP/SH faceoffs are by far most important, then offensive and defensive zone draws. Neutral zone draws are really not that important, but they all get weighed the same in the stats posted here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commandant Posted January 30, 2021 Share Posted January 30, 2021 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlbalr Posted January 30, 2021 Share Posted January 30, 2021 1 minute ago, Commandant said: Faceoffs are important, but not nearly as important as they have been treated in this thread and other recent ones. They are one of the things most overrated by fans in terms of how much they are discussed and how important they prove to be. I think part of that is because coaches are increasingly dedicating time to them. There are drills after/during practice almost daily and teams are now breaking down success rate by handedness, picking which side of the draw to start a PP/after icing based on the numbers/matchups, etc. Of course, there are the specific situational elements (especially late game situations) where they can really make a difference too. It's true that it's literally just another puck battle which is subject to some randomness but it's also the one puck battle that teams do have some influence on so it's going to naturally garner more attention. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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