2022 NHL Playoffs

[DON]

49 minutes ago, Habs Fan in Edmonton said:

 

4.8M/year is not chump change for a guy who could be no more than a #3 centre.  Aho will be a UFA in a couple years. hmmm.......

$4.45 for Habs soon to be #3 centre and Dvorak should have bit better season is my guess (above his 48.4pt/pace last year, which wasnt horrible).

[GHT120]

2 minutes ago, DON said:

$4.45 for Habs soon to be #3 centre and Dvorak should have bit better season is my guess.

I agree ... and of course Dvorak as 3C assumes an ELC-centre (through the rest of CD's contract) to be the 1/2C that pushes him down ... not quite the same cap impact as having Aho ($8M+) and Staal ($6M), and Trocheck?, ahead of him. 

[DON]

7 minutes ago, GHT120 said:

I agree ... and of course Dvorak as 3C assumes an ELC-centre (through the rest of CD's contract) to be the 1/2C that pushes him down ... not quite the same cap impact as having Aho ($8M+) and Staal ($6M), and Trocheck?, ahead of him. 

Dvorak for 3 more years, young mentor for faceoffs at least.

[The Chicoutimi Cucumber]

30 minutes ago, DON said:

$4.45 for Habs soon to be #3 centre and Dvorak should have bit better season is my guess (above his 48.4pt/pace last year, which wasnt horrible).

 

I’m surprised his pace was that high! I guess his atrocious first half sort of skewed my impression. Yes, he will be better, as will Petry and a couple of others. Strongly agree that it makes sense to keep him around: important insulation for Wright, and the team needs C regardless.

[Commandant]

27 minutes ago, GHT120 said:

I agree ... and of course Dvorak as 3C assumes an ELC-centre (through the rest of CD's contract) to be the 1/2C that pushes him down ... not quite the same cap impact as having Aho ($8M+) and Staal ($6M), and Trocheck?, ahead of him. 

 

They are likely to let Trocheck go for cap reasons.

 

The talk is that they want KK to be the number 2 next year.

 

Good luck with that.

[Commandant]

4 minutes ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

 

I’m surprised his pace was that high! I guess his atrocious first half sort of skewed my impression. Yes, he will be better, as will Petry and a couple of others. Strongly agree that it makes sense to keep him around: important insulation for Wright, and the team needs C regardless.

 

He was the highest scorer on the team after his return from injury.

 

Yes even over caufield and suzuki down the stretch.

 

I dont expect him to lead the team in points over a full season but hes got some offence and it showed under MSL.  Seems he was another player stunted under DD.

[The Chicoutimi Cucumber]

8 minutes ago, Commandant said:

 

He was the highest scorer on the team after his return from injury.

 

Yes even over caufield and suzuki down the stretch.

 

I dont expect him to lead the team in points over a full season but hes got some offence and it showed under MSL.  Seems he was another player stunted under DD.

 

2021-22 DD might be the worst Habs coach I’ve seen. Perron had three successful seasons, and if we later learned that Gainey and Robinson were doing the actual coaching, that’s a decent record. Blueberry was worse than DD inasmuch as he drove out Roy, crippling the franchise for a decades, but he did not drag down the on-ice performance of the entire team in the way that DD did. Cunneyworth never had a chance, so he was hard to gauge. Maybe the best parallel is Carbo, who had a strong season and then collapsed into a pile of puke. But DD…boy. What a flop. 

[DON]

8 minutes ago, Commandant said:

...  Seems he was another player stunted under DD.

I really didnt think DD was such a huge negative, but holy moly, it does seem pretty obvious.

[tomh009]

2 hours ago, Habs Fan in Edmonton said:

4.8M/year is not chump change for a guy who could be no more than a #3 centre.  Aho will be a UFA in a couple years. hmmm.......

I doubt they will be able to sign all their UFAs in 2024: Not only Aho, but Teravainen, Skjei and Pesce as well.

[The Chicoutimi Cucumber]

25 minutes ago, tomh009 said:

I doubt they will be able to sign all their UFAs in 2024: Not only Aho, but Teravainen, Skjei and Pesce as well.

 

If the KK contract becomes a franchise millstone, that will be sweeeeeet

[tomh009]

The Canes pulled Raanta after falling behind 3-0.  And put in Kochetkov, who let in the second shot he faced.

 

Oh, how badly I feel for them.

[GHT120]

23 minutes ago, tomh009 said:

The Canes pulled Raanta after falling behind 3-0.  And put in Kochetkov, who let in the second shot he faced.

 

Oh, how badly I feel for them.

I won't be able to sleep tonight.

 

[tomh009]

Kotkaniemi is really racking up the ice time tonight, over eight minutes already with one period to go yet!

[Dalhabs]

I never thought I would say Lets go Rangers...   But this is the time for that.

[Prime Minister Koivu]

Kotkaniemi looked awful last night. He constantly falls down and he seems like he doesn’t know what to do. He looks like he has regressed significantly. 
 

I like the way the Rangers play. High pressure, high tempo, the canes couldn’t keep up. 
 

 

[Habs Fan in Edmonton]

7 hours ago, Dalhabs said:

I never thought I would say Lets go Rangers...   But this is the time for that.

 

I agree, Montreal would move up to the 26th spot with Calgary's pick, Canes go home.  Definitely some positives with a Rangers win. 

[The Chicoutimi Cucumber]

5 hours ago, Prime Minister Koivu said:

Kotkaniemi looked awful last night. He constantly falls down and he seems like he doesn’t know what to do. He looks like he has regressed significantly. 
 

I like the way the Rangers play. High pressure, high tempo, the canes couldn’t keep up. 
 

 

 

I assume that’s the template for Hugh-Gort’s Habs, since Gorton built those Rangers.

 

Whatever happens to Carolina, plodding teams (Dallas, St Louis, maybe Nashville) got purged from these playoffs. It’s speed, skill, offence all the way down the line. Ironically, Tampa might be the “slowest” of the survivors - which is a good thing for the game. These are dream playoffs from an entertainment POV, and in a copycat league, they bode very well for the future.

 

 

[hab29RETIRED]

3 hours ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

 

I assume that’s the template for Hugh-Gort’s Habs, since Gorton built those Rangers.

 

Whatever happens to Carolina, plodding teams (Dallas, St Louis, maybe Nashville) got purged from these playoffs. It’s speed, skill, offence all the way down the line. Ironically, Tampa might be the “slowest” of the survivors - which is a good thing for the game. These are dream playoffs from an entertainment POV, and in a copycat league, they bode very well for the future.

 

 

Big difference with Tampa and the remaining team is they not only have a lot of elite players like the Avs, Oilers and Rangers, but they also have the best goalie and GM in the game.

Rangers also have a great young goalie (who still lacks experience), and have made some good deals, but they will probably have a hard time keeping their roster together next year.  I don’t see the Avs being able to keep Kadri. Edmonton is going only as far as McDavid and Draisaitl can carry them. Carolina, solid roster, but lousy goaltending.

 

Tampa seems to bring in the perfect deadline acquisition every year, and shed players that are good players, but not worth their cap hits. They are probably the only team that has a truly elite player in every key position - goal, centre, Wingers, Dmen.  On top of that they are well coached and have learned how to win.  

[Sir_Boagalott]

On 5/27/2022 at 10:40 AM, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

I find it really surprising Calgary was so easily steamrolled by Edmonton.

 

My Hydro was out for 120+ hours so I missed games 3 & 4 but I was shocked when I found out that Edm was up 3-1 in the series.  I figured it would be tied or the Flames would be up 3-1.

 

On 5/27/2022 at 1:29 AM, BCHabnut said:

I would wager that 75% of gms would want the Coleman redirection to count. I can't believe that goal was called back.

 

As it happened I couldnt see how it went in.

 

On 5/27/2022 at 10:13 AM, huzer said:

 

I was surprised. I've seen enough skate "repositioning" goals count because it wasn't a "distinct kicking motion". That one seemed to be called back on intent. Yes, he angled his skate, but not what I would call a kick.

 

As soon as they showed 1 reply of it I figured the goal would be called back.  I thought the exact same thing as Bieska.  i.e. Coleman did a great job at making it look like he didnt do it on purpose, while he totally did it in purpose.    I think some people are reading way to much into "kicking" because he 100% pushed the puck into the net using his *left* foot - hence that constitutes a kicking motion. 

 

There is really no argument that it was a regular stopping motion.  i.e. when the net is to the right of you, you would never move left foot across the front of your right foot and to the far right of your body to stop.  Its like he did some incorrect curtsy lunge type motion and his foot just happened to be on the puck and pushed it in. 

 

It's a tough call though because the puck likely would have went in anyway. 

[Prime Minister Koivu]

2 hours ago, hab29RETIRED said:

Big difference with Tampa and the remaining team is they not only have a lot of elite players like the Avs, Oilers and Rangers, but they also have the best goalie and GM in the game.

Rangers also have a great young goalie (who still lacks experience), and have made some good deals, but they will probably have a hard time keeping their roster together next year.  I don’t see the Avs being able to keep Kadri. Edmonton is going only as far as McDavid and Draisaitl can carry them. Carolina, solid roster, but lousy goaltending.

 

Tampa seems to bring in the perfect deadline acquisition every year, and shed players that are good players, but not worth their cap hits. They are probably the only team that has a truly elite player in every key position - goal, centre, Wingers, Dmen.  On top of that they are well coached and have learned how to win.  

I can’t think of another modern era team that has this many elite players. Not just great players, genuinely elite players. 
 

Maybe the Wings were the last team during their cup dominating years but they didn’t have elite goaltending. 
 

I think the Bolts are going to cruise to the final no matter who they play.

 

If HuGo builds a ranger’s style team I’d be happy. Love their tempo, speed and skill and they are fun to watch too

[tomh009]

3 hours ago, Prime Minister Koivu said:

I can’t think of another modern era team that has this many elite players. Not just great players, genuinely elite players. 
 

Maybe the Wings were the last team during their cup dominating years but they didn’t have elite goaltending.

They did have Hasek for their last Cup in 2008.

[Neech]

8 hours ago, Prime Minister Koivu said:

 

If HuGo builds a ranger’s style team I’d be happy. Love their tempo, speed and skill and they are fun to watch too

 

Won't be so easy in Montreal. Fox, Panarin and Trouba all pushed their way to New York. No one doing that for the Habs.

 

 

[The Chicoutimi Cucumber]

8 hours ago, Neech said:

 

Won't be so easy in Montreal. Fox, Panarin and Trouba all pushed their way to New York. No one doing that for the Habs.

 

 

 

I know what you’re saying, but once the Habs are perceived as up-and-comers with a real shot at winning, players will want to come here. I think the idea that Montreal is a place players avoid was true during the Houle era and into the Gainey years, but has gradually dissolved as, first, the Habs have made some playoff runs, and second, player after player talks about what a great place to play it is. If guys will go to Toronto, they’ll go to Montreal. 

[GHT120]

13 hours ago, tomh009 said:

They did have Hasek for their last Cup in 2008.

By that season he was a pretty ordinary goaltender ... .902 regular season and .888 in playoffs ... 

[Neech]

2 hours ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

 

I know what you’re saying, but once the Habs are perceived as up-and-comers with a real shot at winning, players will want to come here. I think the idea that Montreal is a place players avoid was true during the Houle era and into the Gainey years, but has gradually dissolved as, first, the Habs have made some playoff runs, and second, player after player talks about what a great place to play it is. If guys will go to Toronto, they’ll go to Montreal. 

 

Sure, I think we'll get some FA's if we pay slightly above market value to offset the high taxes. But I doubt there will be superstars who have decided on MTL or bust like Panarin and Fox did for the Rangers. We'll have to build the team from the ground up like most other teams, with the added disadvantage of having the lowest total player salary in the league due to taxes. 

 

I don't give Gorton that much credit for where the Rangers are now because their best players pushed their way on to the team, something that is unlikely to repeat here. He also lucked out bigtime twice in the lottery and made consensus choices that hardly appear to be homeruns right now. I do think that we can build ourselves to be a world class, player friendly organization like Toronto seems to be at the moment, and that it doesn't seem like we were under Bergy. 

 

About players saying that they like playing here, of course they will play up the positives to the media. It's in their training to say what an honour it is to put on this storied jersey and play in front of a rabid fanbase. They don't often say how much they'd rather just collect a (higher) paycheck in a sunny clime with no pressure, but it's surely just as common a sentiment as loving the pressure cooker environment.