GDT Game #8 Oct. 28th 2023 Habs vs Jets 7pm

[Prime Minister Koivu]

5 hours ago, Sir_Boagalott said:

 

I hope Armia keeps playing and putting up points.  

Armia was solid all night and Marty had him on the PK right away. 
 

He is clearly an upgrade on Ylonen and I would put Armia in Gallagher‘s spot. 
 

4 hours ago, alfredoh2009 said:

watched the recorded game, but fast-forwarded most of the 1st. TVA play-by-play guys were saying how Slaf was a turnover machine tonight. He didn't seem to me as being worse than Gallagher or Anderson.

Guhle was great, Allen was great, Monanhan had a great game too.

 

It is unexpected to see them in the top 10 of the league, despite all the injuries. When they loose. it has been bad, but their record is really good:

 

 

Slaf set up Anderson with prime scoring chances several times but Anderson failed to even get a shot off each time. 
 

I was impressed with Slafkovsky’s playmaking skills. 
 

However that line got hemmed in the Dzone often and the Jets were all over them. 

[IN THE HEARTS OF MEN]

He does turn over the puck to easily in possession. He still gets knocked down too easily and has one hand on his stick way too often.  He's only 19, and signs of growth are there. I expect him to break out in the 2nd half of the season or earlier. Especially if Monahan slides between him and Newhook when Dvorak returns

[DON]

Habs win Leafs lose

But;

Matheson hit showers early for some reason after the 2nd? Cant be for a good reason.

Guhle played 25:08 in 1st game back after injury, seems alot.

 

Was interesting to see Harris out there for the OT.

 

Just 1 shot for Suzuki in 22:19... BOO!

Gallagher had 4 and even Pezzetta credited with 2 shots in just 8:02.

 

Kaiden Guhle’s dominant return illustrated through a single play in Canadiens win - The Athletic

“They were on the power play, so I think it was (Nikolaj) Ehlers playing D, so I kind of saw that right away,” Guhle said. “Not sure how much D he’s played in his life, so I just held it. And we needed a goal, so kind of got lucky under the stick — Army’s got such a good shot, he just basically shot it through him and in the net.

 

10 Thoughts: Allen backstops Habs to 4-3 win over Jets – HabsWorld.net

Bottom Six Minutes: Kaiden Guhle’s triumphant return - Habs Eyes on the Prize

 

[DON]

Monahan now has 4g (3 on the PP, 1 SH) in 7 games, had 6g in 25 games last year, just another solid game from him.

[The Chicoutimi Cucumber]

Anderson is lacking confidence right now, not quite trusting his own instincts.

 

I understand MSL’s attempt to add new elements to his game, but you can’t teach an old dog new tricks; and as much as I like Anderson, he has never shown the hockey smarts needed to be a very adaptable player. That might have been a misjudgement by MSL. 

 

It’s probably best to just accept that he is what he is, a high-speed bulldozer who only knows one offensive play (cutting to the net at high speed) but who does a lot of other good things away from the puck and on the boards. Hopefully Anderson can get back to that place and just move on.

[Sir_Boagalott]

Hmm, interesting: on the play that Monahan scores as Matheson is passing the puck to Suzuki  you can clearly hear Sean say "Nick" and Suzuki passes it right to him. 

 

 

 

 

[Commandant]

This happens all the time.  Players call for passes.  The only strange thing was the mic picking it up this time.

[Sir_Boagalott]

Well, considering how their PP generally sucks ass, I'd tend to think that communication is probably somewhat rare for them and could be part of their problem.  The timing of when Sean calls out to Suzuki was perfect.  i.e. if you call that your open the other team hears that too and will generally think to cover you. 

 

 

[Commandant]

Yes when you call for a pass it has to come quick.

 

Another thing players do when they are open is quickly tap their stick on the ice.

 

This is all normal stuff man.

[The Chicoutimi Cucumber]

Anyone remember "IGGY?" 

[hockeyrealist]

On 10/29/2023 at 8:29 AM, Prime Minister Koivu said:

Armia was solid all night and Marty had him on the PK right away. 
 

He is clearly an upgrade on Ylonen and I would put Armia in Gallagher‘s spot. 
 

 

Slaf set up Anderson with prime scoring chances several times but Anderson failed to even get a shot off each time. 
 

I was impressed with Slafkovsky’s playmaking skills. 
 

However that line got hemmed in the Dzone often and the Jets were all over them. 

Slaf gave away far more picks than he did something good with, looks lost with the puck, loses almost every contested puck. These great set ups you refer to were far from that.  Rose coloured glasses on you, Slaf does not look like he belongs in the NHL.

was at game and was very obvious live.

still think he will turn out to be useful but still far too young, scared.

[hockeyrealist]

On 10/29/2023 at 9:54 AM, IN THE HEARTS OF MEN said:

He does turn over the puck to easily in possession. He still gets knocked down too easily and has one hand on his stick way too often.  He's only 19, and signs of growth are there. I expect him to break out in the 2nd half of the season or earlier. Especially if Monahan slides between him and Newhook when Dvorak returns

He was brutal, could see the fear in his eyes when he had the puck.

[hockeyrealist]

10 hours ago, Commandant said:

Yes when you call for a pass it has to come quick.

 

Another thing players do when they are open is quickly tap their stick on the ice.

 

This is all normal stuff man.

indeed, you also hear opponents often trying to mimic a teammate.  Heard it a lot when Allen or a dman were playing puck in own zone and Jets would call for it as tho they were a Hab. Old trick but still works.

some games the players are so loud you can hear them easily, when the team is playing timid (like first period of this game) they are quiet. Easy way to tell if they are involved or hesitant to make mistake.

[hockeyrealist]

22 hours ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

Anderson is lacking confidence right now, not quite trusting his own instincts.

 

I understand MSL’s attempt to add new elements to his game, but you can’t teach an old dog new tricks; and as much as I like Anderson, he has never shown the hockey smarts needed to be a very adaptable player. That might have been a misjudgement by MSL. 

 

It’s probably best to just accept that he is what he is, a high-speed bulldozer who only knows one offensive play (cutting to the net at high speed) but who does a lot of other good things away from the puck and on the boards. Hopefully Anderson can get back to that place and just move on.

He played well enough to get bumped back into first line when Habs were in need of offense.  And the team responded well, but I don’t think you’re off base on your points.

I do see what you’re saying, but even without fitting in great he does create more space for 14/22 when on their line, whether by forechecking as F1 or blowing d zone quickly and spreading the d back which allows more room for east-west plays that 14/22 love to use.   I agree totally that he isn’t the best fit with them but he is sneakily useful there. Perhaps if they got more than ten-twenty games in a row to get used to each other it would work better. Habs def missing a couple true top 6 wingers tho.  I don’t see Slaf ( obv too early to tell ) as being the answer to that either, but can see Roy being a true top 6 fit.  At current time, Daxh was the only fw that I recall who really complemented 14/22 well and obv he has a lot of value driving his own line if he can stay healthy.

 

 

 

[BCHabnut]

9 minutes ago, hockeyrealist said:

Slaf gave away far more picks than he did something good with, looks lost with the puck, loses almost every contested puck. These great set ups you refer to were far from that.  Rose coloured glasses on you, Slaf does not look like he belongs in the NHL.

was at game and was very obvious live.

still think he will turn out to be useful but still far too young, scared.

He was a giveaway machine last game. Needs to shoot more too. It will come. He's noticeably better this year than last when he has the puck. 

[hockeyrealist]

Armia did look good, was never in wrong place, made some smart plays and is a boost to penalty kill. Hopefully he’s recognized the need to perform consistently.

 

Harris had a rough game, still get out muscled too often, seems overwhelmed at times. Think I liked Lidstom’’s play game more over recent stretch.  Could be b/c Harris has often been on his off-side.

 

Stupid fight for Pearson to engage in, lost momentum that Habs had just gained. Bad opponent to allow himself to get sucked in by, Jet player had him by short before scrap even commenced.

 

Allen was obv the difference, hard to believe a goalie can allow three and still be the reason a team wins, but he was sharp and seemed to allow very few rebound chances.

 

Habs were very sloppy to start game, first period particularly seemed like nobody wanted to hold puck and just looked for immediate passes and didn’t connect on any.  Was tense in the building and players seemed tense as well.  They improved as game went on and third period was their best.

 

Habs were often putting a fw out past centre when puck was in their zone, cherry picking sort of, found it odd but obv they had their reasons b/c it was obviously a strategy and many players were using it even at 5v5, it did not lead to any scoring chances tho so seemed like a poor choice.  Would rather see our forwards back helping dmen and making short breakout passes, building lots of speed as they exit out zone.

 

Character win tho, nice to see most of young Dmen progressing.

 

 

[hockeyrealist]

6 minutes ago, BCHabnut said:

He was a giveaway machine last game. Needs to shoot more too. It will come. He's noticeably better this year than last when he has the puck. 

It seems like he doesn’t always recognize how much time he has and rushed his pass into traffic or off track.  That should continue to improve as he adjusts, easy to forgot how young he is and I have to remember to have patience and manage expectations with him.

Had great seats for this game and seeing his eyes was very telling, he looked scared with the puck a couple times when he was near my seat, looked like a younger me trying to get the nerve to touch my first boob.  I think some of the big hits he has taken has left a memory.

So much time for him, but it is I possible not to see that he has been rushed. Should have stayed in Europe last year, maybe AHL this year.  It was obvious live, much more so than when I’ve watched televised games.

[hab29RETIRED]

2 hours ago, hockeyrealist said:

Slaf gave away far more picks than he did something good with, looks lost with the puck, loses almost every contested puck. These great set ups you refer to were far from that.  Rose coloured glasses on you, Slaf does not look like he belongs in the NHL.

was at game and was very obvious live.

still think he will turn out to be useful but still far too young, scared.

He looked really good with Dach in the first game. While he’s looked better this year than last year, there is a big difference in how he looked in the two games with Dach, then he has after Dach went down. Ditto with Newhook. I really think Anderson is the wrong guy to play with them.
 

I don’t see Slafkovsky or Newhook as play drivers - at least not yet, may they never will be. Both looks really good with someone else driving the play. If Dvorak wasn’t injured, I’d suggest putting Monohan between them, but despite our seeming depth at Centew in thw offseason, we really only have two legit top three centres now.

 

I think this is a good time to try and Slafkovsky on the top line for a few games to see how he does. I’d rather try that option before bringing up Roy YET.

 

other thing I’d like to consider is bringing up Andersson - with the caveat that I haven’t seen any Laval games, so I’m not even sure he is playing centre, or if he’s on the wing. But if he is playing centre, maybe bring him up to play between Neehook and Slafkovsky.