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2023-24 Montreal Canadiens Discussion Thread


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2 minutes ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

 

Geez, that is some rarified air. Well, except for Plasse, LOL.

Let's not forget ( or maybe we should forget 🤭) Plasse was the 1st overall pick of the 1968 NHL draft 🙃

 

Well stats for you. When the draft was not the end all for prospects. A different era.

 

( Just had to say he was 1st pick overall. Obviously different context 🤭)

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8 minutes ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

Geez, that is some rarified air. Well, except for Plasse, LOL.

It is ... add to that how much Price (41 games) and Dryden (64!) played, though, and Primeau's sample size looks rather smaller.

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13 minutes ago, tomh009 said:

It is ... add to that how much Price (41 games) and Dryden (64!) played, though, and Primeau's sample size looks rather smaller.

Not only the number of games, but both played on 100+ point teams ... which does mean they played on very good teams but it also means there was pressure/expectations for them to perform and win, unlike with the Habs this season.

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For once, ClickBait30 raises a valid question (I-M-O) ... will the recent health issues with MSL's son cause him to reconsider whether he wants to spend the season in Montreal and/or with the team on road trips?  ... although I expect he sneaks in a couple/few of visits to see the family.

 

It is a very fair question ... if he and his wife would consider moving the family to Montreal, I expect they would already have done so.

 

NOTE: Apologies if I missed this having been discussed previously.

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Sounds like Jack Todd or Marinaro BS to me, or thereabouts.

 

St Louis is just 48, starting coaching career and maybe will end up with a US team in a few years, but kinda doubt is anytime too soon.

Coaches seem to have short shelf-life to begin with, not sure what average stint is... 3 or 4 years?

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1 hour ago, DON said:

Sounds like Jack Todd or Marinaro BS to me, or thereabouts.

 

St Louis is just 48, starting coaching career and maybe will end up with a US team in a few years, but kinda doubt is anytime too soon.

Coaches seem to have short shelf-life to begin with, not sure what average stint is... 3 or 4 years?

MSL did not pursue a post-retirement coaching career ... I am not certain it was ever a be-all and end-all for him ... other than a stint as a consultant to Torts with the CBJs he was out of the "NHL hockey world" for several years ... a unique opportunity presented itself in an environment (city and management personnel) that interested him and he took it ... but he walked away from the NHL once for family and I would not be shocked if he did again ... NOT PREDICTING anything, just a possibility ... one HuGo need to at least be considering.

 

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Well, that was the first thing I thought of when rumours popped up that it involved his son. “Is he going to want to keep coaching?”

 

I strongly suspect he will.  

 

From a fan perspective, what I found interesting was my internal dismay at the thought of losing MSL behind the bench. Without commenting on his bench management and tactical skills, he does seem to have a skill in bringing along the young talent. 

 

 

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No surprise and opening for Johnathan to get some action and likely hoping to do enough for maybe more than 1 game of action.

 

Kaiden Guhle Receives One-Game Suspension – HabsWorld.net

 

 "Accordingly, David Savard could be split from Arber Xhekaj to move up for the top pairing with one of Harris or Kovacevic sliding onto the second pairing where the minutes and matchups would be a bit lighter. "

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I am so much more invested in the Rocket games right now that all I hope is that Xhekaj, Guhle, Harris, Struble and even Kovacevic continue their progress. Win or loose, development is what matters this season for the D.

Forwards, I am happy with how well the young are doing. Suzuki, Slasfkovsky, Caufileld, Newhook.

 

Armia, Gallagher, Anderson can coast till the end of the season for all I care as long as they play well enough to offload some minutes from the top line and prevent any injuries.

 

Go Habs! Go!

 

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On 3/29/2024 at 11:06 AM, Habs Fan in Edmonton said:

 

He is incredible, he has 60 more assists than Matthews. They say the mark of a great player is that they make those around them better. McDavid does that. Now Matthews is an incredible shooter but does he make those around him better? It seems like 35 assists is not that impressive when you are a center and always surrounded by talented linemates. 

 

His 1 interview on that was the best.  Earlier in the season he was having a scoring slump and a reporter asked him about it  and he remarked that he wasn't going to shoot anymore.  When his scoring slump ended the same reporter brought that up and McDavid said he thought he saw his teammate behind the net and he was trying to pass to him but missed.

 

That's a good point regarding Mathews.  He is highly skilled and has a wicked shot but he isn't a fully rounded player.  So far, it seems like Slaf is a better over all player.  They are both highly skilled and have size but Slaf has toughness and grit while Mathews has little to none.  

 

 

 

 

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7 hours ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

Well, that was the first thing I thought of when rumours popped up that it involved his son. “Is he going to want to keep coaching?”

 

I strongly suspect he will.  

 

From a fan perspective, what I found interesting was my internal dismay at the thought of losing MSL behind the bench. Without commenting on his bench management and tactical skills, he does seem to have a skill in bringing along the young talent. 

 

 

 

 

I agree it is unlikely he will quit any time soon.  I'm uncertain if MSL is skilled at bringing along young talent - but that is definitely a possibility.  It could be that Marty himself is motivating vs him actually being able to motivate people.  There is a big difference between those.  i.e. his story is incredibly motivating so that could be what is inspiring to young players.  ex:  if you were a young player you could be excited and inspired to play for him without him ever having said a word to you.   

 

Plus, there is another factor of how they are not currently punishing rookies for making mistakes like other teams do.  Most teams have a fairly toxic environment for young players.  The Habs are currently an exception to that mentality of punishing young players for mistakes.  The players have the freedom to be themselves without any fear of being held back for any errors they might make.  

 

 

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47 minutes ago, Sir_Boagalott said:

 

 

I agree it is unlikely he will quit any time soon.  I'm uncertain if MSL is skilled at bringing along young talent - but that is definitely a possibility.  It could be that Marty himself is motivating vs him actually being able to motivate people.  There is a big difference between those.  i.e. his story is incredibly motivating so that could be what is inspiring to young players.  ex:  if you were a young player you could be excited and inspired to play for him without him ever having said a word to you.   

 

Plus, there is another factor of how they are not currently punishing rookies for making mistakes like other teams do.  Most teams have a fairly toxic environment for young players.  The Habs are currently an exception to that mentality of punishing young players for mistakes.  The players have the freedom to be themselves without any fear of being held back for any errors they might make.  

 

 

 

Yep, everything you say is very fair. We’re in a rebuilding environment where there is no pressure to win, so the coaching staff can focus purely on development and ‘building good habits.’ 

 

I am impressed with the way they handled Slaf, though. Despite bringing him up too early - or so I thought - they nicely sheltered him from excessive expectations and seem to have taken an approach of building up his fundamentals, in the faith that he would eventually hit the tipping point and start producing. This seems to be working beautifully.

 

I don’t know how ‘motivating’ the mere presence of MSL is. I think, after familiarity sets in after a few weeks of exposure, you need more than your rep. He probably does have a good rapport.

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55 minutes ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

Still waiting for Monty to get the respect he deserves. Probably the Habs need to become a relevant team again before the experts start noticing.

 

That will come but part of me couldn't give a crap whether he gets respect on TSN (Toronto Sports Network) or not. He is a good goalie. 

 

I really like what is building here, goaltending is coming along, the young defense is only going to get better. As we have discussed and we almost all agree on, just need more secondary scoring. 

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14 minutes ago, Habs Fan in Edmonton said:

 

That will come but part of me couldn't give a crap whether he gets respect on TSN (Toronto Sports Network) or not. He is a good goalie. 

 

I really like what is building here, goaltending is coming along, the young defense is only going to get better. As we have discussed and we almost all agree on, just need more secondary scoring. 

 

I wish I had your serenity...it always bugs me when the Habs (either as a team, or as individuals) are unfairly overlooked or dismissed. Like how the Cups of '86 and '93 were systematically devalued ('worst team ever to win a Cup') and the run of 21 is treated as a burp somehow 'caused' by the lockdown. Oh sure. But if it had been TO on those runs, we'd still be hearing about the wonders of those years in granular detail.

 

Meanwhile, on the rebuild, I'd go a bit further than you on this. We don't just need 'secondary scoring.' We need at least one more impact FW and we need at least one legitimate top-pairing D-man, preferably a PP QB with major offensive chops. The latter might already be in the system in Hutson. The former is nowhere to be seen. 

 

Right now, I don't see a contender in the offing. We'll need more.

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12 minutes ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

 

I wish I had your serenity...it always bugs me when the Habs (either as a team, or as individuals) are unfairly overlooked or dismissed. Like how the Cups of '86 and '93 were systematically devalued ('worst team ever to win a Cup') and the run of 21 is treated as a burp somehow 'caused' by the lockdown. Oh sure. But if it had been TO on those runs, we'd still be hearing about the wonders of those years in granular detail.

 

Meanwhile, on the rebuild, I'd go a bit further than you on this. We don't just need 'secondary scoring.' We need at least one more impact FW and we need at least one legitimate top-pairing D-man, preferably a PP QB with major offensive chops. The latter might already be in the system in Hutson. The former is nowhere to be seen. 

 

Right now, I don't see a contender in the offing. We'll need more.

 

I agree on the impact forward, when I say "secondary" scoring I was being perhaps a little too general, we do need another impact forward, no question about that. 

 

The draft will be very interesting as I wonder if they will take a defensemen if the forwards they want are gone. I would love to see them use the Winnipeg pick to trade up and maybe get one of each. 

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12 minutes ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

Right now, I don't see a contender in the offing. We'll need more.

The D looks very promising, with a strong pipeline, but it's only a promise so far; the proof of the pudding will be in the eating, and we are not there yet. The forwards need more work, but between trades (D pipeline will enable some of those), drafting and future UFA signings, it looks possible, if Hughes continues his good work.

 

So, absolutely agree that it's not all there yet, but, to me, it has the potential, and it is moving in the right direction. Maybe next year or two we can start to see what a contending version of the Habs will look like.

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2 hours ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

I wish I had your serenity...it always bugs me when the Habs (either as a team, or as individuals) are unfairly overlooked or dismissed. Like how the Cups of '86 and '93 were systematically devalued ('worst team ever to win a Cup') and the run of 21 is treated as a burp somehow 'caused' by the lockdown. Oh sure. But if it had been TO on those runs, we'd still be hearing about the wonders of those years in granular detail.

 

Meanwhile, on the rebuild, I'd go a bit further than you on this. We don't just need 'secondary scoring.' We need at least one more impact FW and we need at least one legitimate top-pairing D-man, preferably a PP QB with major offensive chops. The latter might already be in the system in Hutson. The former is nowhere to be seen. 

 

Right now, I don't see a contender in the offing. We'll need more.

 

I agree with what you said but personally I'm never bothered when that happens.  In fact, I tend to think that there is a similarity with the 86 + 93 teams and the current Habs.   i.e. they all had a bunch of fairly young unproven and unknown players that turned out being key players. 

 

I wouldn't call it secondary scoring either - I agree with impact F.  Yes, they have a legit need for dmen that are a PP and PK specialists.  We might just have to wait to Konyushkov to arrive - he could be Markov 2.0.

 

The current Habs could be on their way to becoming contenders.  Are any of the current Habs clutch when it matters?  Or, are numerous of them clutch?  Right now, we have no clue on that but hopefully we'll find out next year if they manage to defeat the odds and make the playoffs.  They do have quite a few players that have gone fairly deep in playoffs on their previous teams.  With luck, some of them stepped right up and were leaders on those teams.  

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25 minutes ago, Sir_Boagalott said:

Yes, they have a legit need for dmen that are a PP and PK specialists.  We might just have to wait to Konyushkov to arrive - he could be Markov 2.0.

I think that most likely at least one of Hutson or Mailloux will be an excellent choice for PP1. Both are solid prospects and both have strong PP skills, we just need to wait and see whether (at least) one of them can transfer those skills to the NHL level. Konyushkov is still much further away, so realistically still a much lower probability of reaching this level.

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40 minutes ago, Prime Minister Koivu said:

These are the point leaders for a season since the year 2000. What a damning indictment of offensive failure. 
 

I happy that Suzuki is on this list and I expect him to top it soon. Also screw you Domi for being on this list!

 

 

IMG_0346.jpeg

 

That really is abysmal, Max Domi with the 3rd best season since 2000???  We really need another stud forward in this draft.  Go Nick!!!

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2 hours ago, Habs Fan in Edmonton said:

 

That really is abysmal, Max Domi with the 3rd best season since 2000???  We really need another stud forward in this draft.  Go Nick!!!

 

I hear you! Although to be fair, 72 points is a nice total, and Domi did have a stellar year that season. Slick Nick looks set to pass Saku, and as much as I love Saku, Suzuki is a better overall player than he was. What a gem.

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