Prime Minister Koivu Posted November 26, 2005 Share Posted November 26, 2005 I am not a professional NHL analyst but it seems to me that CJ needs to change a couple of things. He seems to have a policy where if you make a blunder, you get moved to the bottom line or not played at all. The problem with this is players loose their edge. Their confidence goes for a shit and they tighten right up. Afraid to make a mistake they stop taking the necessary risks in order to score. Komisarek's icetime is all over the place for this reason. Our lines need some time to play together. Holy crap! Sometimes it seems that the lines change every shift. Dags jumps from 2nd to 4th and back all the time. Poor Higgins (who is working his ass off) is thrown around all over the place. How can this young future star prove himself? Plekanec has no chance under this system. He gets a 30 second chance once and a while to play on a better line. No goal = no more ice time. There are tons of examples but you get the picture. What do you guys think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
option+ Posted November 26, 2005 Share Posted November 26, 2005 I too am miffed with Julien, especially with regards to playing the rookies. You'd think that after Kovalev went down, they'd see more ice time, but it seems that Julien has instead shortened his bench. Makes no sense to me. We were so much sharper with the rooks in the lineup. We were FAST too, one of if not THE fastest teams in the NHL. Now? Well, at the moment we're essentially playing only 8 forwards. Ribeiro and Bonk are plodders. Ryder and Sundstrom are good skaters but not great. Koivu, Zednik and Begin are very good skaters, but not burners. Bulis is the only guy playing regularly right now who SCARES other teams with his speed (and he can't finish). With the forwards we're currently playing, we no longer have the speed advantage we had in the first 10-15 games of the year. I don't get it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobRock Posted November 26, 2005 Share Posted November 26, 2005 Especially when it comes to the Ryder-Ribeiro-mystery winger line, I have to agree that he's got to leave someone there with those two for a full slate of games and not move guys around from one game to the next. Higgins has been doing all that he can out there, but at times I feel like he's not being utilized as much as he should be by the Mikes. They're so used to having a new guy on the wing every game that they've relied more on each other to make plays than whoever Julien puts out there with them. Instead of Julien throwing every other winger out there, he should be telling Ryder and Ribs to use Higgins or Pleks or Zhogey more cause he's not gonna rotate them in and out anymore. I actually think that during the bad old days, previous coaches were guilty of doing the exact same thing. It would seem like a trio had some good games put together, but once they had a bad game or two, changes were made. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mathieug Posted November 26, 2005 Share Posted November 26, 2005 Didn't Mr Julien got married a couple of weeks ago? Maybe it's still something that stuck from the wedding dance? La la la la CHANGER la la la la CHANGER ta ta ta CHANGER! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prime Minister Koivu Posted November 26, 2005 Author Share Posted November 26, 2005 Originally posted by mathieugDidn't Mr Julien got married a couple of weeks ago? Maybe it's still something that stuck from the wedding dance? La la la la CHANGER la la la la CHANGER ta ta ta CHANGER! LMAO :king: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JLP Posted November 26, 2005 Share Posted November 26, 2005 Alain Vigneault used to change the lines like crazy and that drove me crazy. I'd hoped we were beyond that... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PB Posted November 26, 2005 Share Posted November 26, 2005 With Kovalev in town, Julien and the team must have been doing something right, some many victories..........yet most of them where low scoring game won by a single goal....which is fine....until you loose your best player and the quality of your first line takes a serious dive. I dont see how they can go around that probleme with this formation,...specially in the new LNH where they cant just strap themselves around their best goally as they did in the past while hoping to capitalised on the other teams mistake......they'll always come-up shortchanged that way. I gess Julien as to reformulate the CH' overall approach while Kovalev is missing and ask is players to do things that they havent been asked before......like getting each lines to post a player in front of the net as soon as they have some control in the offensive zone.....each lines should double their effort at both end. I would keep the third line intact if the other team as an incredible first line.....otherwise I would spread them all over. The five on five lines could look like this. Zednick, Koivu, (Begin) Ryder, Ribeiro, (Dagenais) Perezhogin, ( Bonk ), Higgins Bulis, Plecanek, Sundstrom Facing slap-shots from the point while being push around is understandably scary but Begin, Dagenais and Bonk would be required to do it until Kovy's back....while the others would be suggest to imitate them. It could work,.. but for it to work well we might end-up with most players half exhausted and injured upon Kovalev's return. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoRvInA Posted November 26, 2005 Share Posted November 26, 2005 Well guys claude Julien was doing these change up fast curve and spit balls all throuhout the season ... now that it actually aint working doesnt mean he's doing a bad job.. it worked before... the man has to adjust the play too and just like a chef the ingredients are what makes the plat de resistance.. IMHO I'm not worried one bit... we started well were tinkering with the lines making the "depth" of the team versatile... yes I agree we need to make some rookies play more whatever the consecuences... build confidence.. what matters is that there is no way were gonna not make the playoffs we just need to prepare tweak and oil the machine in a way that all our players feel confident when asked to step up. thats all... cause for the playoffs thats what matters the most! Vive les Habs Libres Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dutch_Habs_Fan Posted November 27, 2005 Share Posted November 27, 2005 Well Pleks and Perezh. got their time almost doubled, and pays off. JULIEN, PLAY THE YOUNGSTERS MORE!!! Oh a line with the three rookies looks brutal, what would that be! I only wish he would try that more! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olematelot Posted November 28, 2005 Share Posted November 28, 2005 With respect to CJ juggling the lines and the negative comments directed to this tactic for those of you that are old enough to remember there was a coach back in the 70s who juggled his lines all the time, his name was Scotty Bowman, if memory serves me correctly he did all right doing this. The man is trying to find something that works, far better than sitting back and doing nothing don't you think. [Edited on 2005/11/28 by olematelot] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
option+ Posted November 28, 2005 Share Posted November 28, 2005 Olematelot, my problem with CJ juggling his lines was that he was only juggling them with 8 forwards. The rookies weren't playing very much until Saturday. I personally could care less if Julien juggles his lines, as long as Perez, Plekanec and Higgins are part of the juggling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olematelot Posted November 28, 2005 Share Posted November 28, 2005 But there are others on here that are against line juggling at all. Every team in the league juggles their lines Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoRvInA Posted December 2, 2005 Share Posted December 2, 2005 To comment on Concerned fan's comments... I was partial to Julien until last night.. he was half way ok.. I agree there are many problems with our forwards.. and CJ must be dealing with them on a priority bases... Firstly arguably getting the So called Veteran players to respond more consistently... cause Even if you get your Rooks to play Excellent and your vets do you have 60% of your payroll sucking ass when 5% is doing great! Unacceptable.. But in yesterdays case... Unless BONK and the second line is his major concern... It was the perfect time to let Free rule or Carte Blanche to the Rooks "AK 47" included...(Andrei Kastitsyn although for now he's a Toy AK that shoots blanks)... On the ice have them step up... No doubt there are different views to what presses more in CJ and Bob Gaineys eyes... Rooks that suck can be sent down Vets that suck Cant go anywhere! at least not without a major loss! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
habschris Posted December 2, 2005 Share Posted December 2, 2005 The problem with sitting people when they make mistakes is that more often then not it is the veteran D making the blundrs, ribiero, bonk, zednick, etc. I bet if you benched a few of the vets it would be a nice wake up call. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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