GDT Game #43: Avalanche at Canadiens, 15 January, 7 PM

[Habs Fan in Edmonton]

One thing that really stood out for me last game and in other games in how sturdy Suzuki is.  He is not particularly tall but listed at 210 lbs so his core and lower body strength is definitely there, like Crosby.  He is not easily pushed off the puck and is good in the corners. His sturdiness is certainly a big part of the reason why he rarely gets hurt. 

 

He may not be an elite #1 center but give me 2 centers like him any day and we are off to the races (with another good winger or two).  He is a keeper and a great long term signing. 

[The Chicoutimi Cucumber]

2 minutes ago, tomh009 said:

I only saw bits of the game, but the advanced stats say that the #1 line indeed held its own (about 50% xGF)--but the fourth line also outworked the Avs' fourth line. Our second and third lines were badly outmatched, though. I suppose that this is what we get for having our entire second line on IR ...

 

Fair point. It helped the Habs’ cause that the Avs’ goalie was not exactly Tretiak. (Not that he was horrible, just that he wasn’t particularly great).

 

Suzuki is evolving into just a tremendous hockey player. Definitely hitting another level in terms of his overall ability to control play. Having Slaf on his line really helps as well; Slick Nick clearly regards him as another option to pass to beyond CC, and it’s helping to make Suzuki even harder to manage for opposing D.

 

I noticed a couple of games ago, just based on eye test, that Caufield’s shot seems to be recovering its zip. If he can get back to his 40-goal self, that line will single-handedly make the Habs watching down the stretch.

[Prime Minister Koivu]

18 minutes ago, Habs Fan in Edmonton said:

One thing that really stood out for me last game and in other games in how sturdy Suzuki is.  He is not particularly tall but listed at 210 lbs so his core and lower body strength is definitely there, like Crosby.  He is not easily pushed off the puck and is good in the corners. His sturdiness is certainly a big part of the reason why he rarely gets hurt. 

 

He may not be an elite #1 center but give me 2 centers like him any day and we are off to the races (with another good winger or two).  He is a keeper and a great long term signing. 

Im hoping Dach is that centre and in my mind the Habs need to get one more high end winger and then we are a playoff team with two strong scoring lines. 
 

Hopefully HuGo can leverage our depth at defence to get that winger. 

[Prime Minister Koivu]

19 minutes ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

 

I noticed a couple of games ago, just based on eye test, that Caufield’s shot seems to be recovering its zip. If he can get back to his 40-goal self, that line will single-handedly make the Habs watching down the stretch.

That Caufield goal was his patented old school corner snipe. As you say, if Caufield can regain that shot and start filling the net then we are in for an exciting second half. 
 

 

[hab29RETIRED]

22 minutes ago, Prime Minister Koivu said:

Im hoping Dach is that centre and in my mind the Habs need to get one more high end winger and then we are a playoff team with two strong scoring lines. 
 

Hopefully HuGo can leverage our depth at defence to get that winger. 

Thats why I wanted is to take Michkov or Leonard at the last draft. Michkov could have been a Kane type of winger, while Leonard could have given us two lines with big wingers.

[hab29RETIRED]

22 minutes ago, Prime Minister Koivu said:

That Caufield goal was his patented old school corner snipe. As you say, if Caufield can regain that shot and start filling the net then we are in for an exciting second half. 
 

 

If his timing is/was good off because of his shoulder, and he’s back to normal, I can see him going in a year where he scores 20 goals in the second half.

[Prime Minister Koivu]

Just now, hab29RETIRED said:

Thats why I wanted is to take Michkov or Leonard at the last draft. Michkov could have been a Kane type of winger, while Leonard could have given us two lines with big wingers.

I bet we regret not taking Leonard. 
 

I think he is exactly the type of player the Habs need. 
 

I understand why HuGo took a possible stud Right Dman as they are rare but I think Leonard is going to be special 

[TurdBurglar]

2 minutes ago, Prime Minister Koivu said:

I bet we regret not taking Leonard. 
 

I think he is exactly the type of player the Habs need. 
 

I understand why HuGo took a possible stud Right Dman as they are rare but I think Leonard is going to be special 

Considering Nashville was willing to give up their best prospect, one of the best goalie prospects in the NHL and more to get Reinbacher, I think you’re downplaying Reinbacher here a little.

 

 

[Commandant]

2 hours ago, alfredoh2009 said:

 

I think he was affected by COVID and/or concussions for a while. I think he is healthy again and playing as well as he was playing in his playoff hot-streak. He would be a great complement to a scoring-heavy team, like Eller was fro WSH

 

He's 30, it is just a hot-streak... he was an inconsistent player before Covid and the injuries and those may have contributed to making his scoring drought be longer than it normally is but teams around the NHL know that he is a streaky player, and was a streaky player even before COVID, and will likely not shake that in his 30s now.  I don't see teams interested unless we eat half that salary. 

[hab29RETIRED]

10 minutes ago, Commandant said:

 

He's 30, it is just a hot-streak... he was an inconsistent player before Covid and the injuries and those may have contributed to making his scoring drought be longer than it normally is but teams around the NHL know that he is a streaky player, and was a streaky player even before COVID, and will likely not shake that in his 30s now.  I don't see teams interested unless we eat half that salary. 

100% agree. He is a guy who can score on a hot streak, but really isn’t an offensive guy. He is effective when physical and he is skating and playing hard. However, he takes far too many nights off, and at times he looks like he needs to go see the wizard for a heart, a brain, and despite his size - courage.  He would have been a decent resigning for $2m (number I said how how we should have gone about Jennie was a UFA), and a great to have at around $1.5m to $1.75m. I wish we had let him walk  and resigned Lekhonan to the same contract, but that ship sailed a long time ago. Typical MB and his size fetish.
 

100% agree that we can’t move him without eating 50% of his salary and even than may need a 3rd team to eat 25%. If we could get a decent pick to eat 50% for this year and next, I’d make that deal in a heartbeat - even if it means we lose our last retention spot.

[Prime Minister Koivu]

17 minutes ago, TurdBurglar said:

Considering Nashville was willing to give up their best prospect, one of the best goalie prospects in the NHL and more to get Reinbacher, I think you’re downplaying Reinbacher here a little.

 

 

You may be entirely correct about Reinbacker and people that are smarter than me chose him. 
 

I think my lament is tied to Brady Tkachuk being the guy we needed but we chose Kotkaniemi. 
 

Leonard seems to be that kind of player with a similar level of skill. We need a guy like this. 
 

I do understand how tough it is to get a franchise RD and that’s what Reinbacker might be so I get why HuGo took that chance. 
 

Habs D are going to be a force to be reckoned with in the near future and we will have second pairing capable Dmen that sit every night because we are so deep. 
 

I expect HuGo to use our D to get that winger to play with Dach. 

[DON]

1 hour ago, Prime Minister Koivu said:

I expect HuGo to use our D to get that winger to play with Dach. 

I think Hughes just was quoted saying he knows they need more offense, so will be a priority.

[Habs Fan in Edmonton]

2 hours ago, Prime Minister Koivu said:

I bet we regret not taking Leonard. 
 

I think he is exactly the type of player the Habs need. 
 

I understand why HuGo took a possible stud Right Dman as they are rare but I think Leonard is going to be special 

 

Maybe, maybe not. I was one of those hoping they might take Leonard BUT I also realize I am no professional scout.  Time will tell. 

[tomh009]

2 hours ago, hab29RETIRED said:

I wish we had let him walk  and resigned Lekhonan to the same contract, but that ship sailed a long time ago. Typical MB and his size fetish.

While I would have preferred to keep Lehkonen, you also have to remember that we would not have Barron (or the 2024 second) had we done that.

[hab29RETIRED]

3 hours ago, Prime Minister Koivu said:

You may be entirely correct about Reinbacker and people that are smarter than me chose him. 
 

I think my lament is tied to Brady Tkachuk being the guy we needed but we chose Kotkaniemi. 
 

Leonard seems to be that kind of player with a similar level of skill. We need a guy like this. 
 

I do understand how tough it is to get a franchise RD and that’s what Reinbacker might be so I get why HuGo took that chance. 
 

Habs D are going to be a force to be reckoned with in the near future and we will have second pairing capable Dmen that sit every night because we are so deep. 
 

I expect HuGo to use our D to get that winger to play with Dach. 

IF Reimbacher is a top pairing D (a legit top pairing guy (not a guy playing here out of necessity), we made the right choice. However if he is a 2nd pairing Dman, we made the wrong choice.

 

i wouldn’t have felt so strongly that we make the wrong pick, if it wasn’t for the overall consensus that this was a draft with a lot of elite forwards, but not really a one with elite high-end dmen.  D was already the strength of our prospect pool, so unless we get a legit top pairing RHD, we made a mistake. Just like we made a mistake taking KK, instead of Hughes or Tkachuk because we had no centres and MB stated many times you can’t trade for higher end top centres (which HuGo proved wrong at two successive drafts).

[hab29RETIRED]

1 hour ago, tomh009 said:

While I would have preferred to keep Lehkonen, you also have to remember that we would not have Barron (or the 2024 second) had we done that.

I’m okay with that. I also think that Lekhonan would have been a better player to play with Suzuki or Dach during their development, and would have been a guy that could have been moved later. He is a guy who actually did work his ass of every shift and want the big elusive unicorn the habs have been chasing forever.

[Habs Fan in Edmonton]

1 hour ago, hab29RETIRED said:

IF Reimbacher is a top pairing D (a legit top pairing guy (not a guy playing here out of necessity), we made the right choice. However if he is a 2nd pairing Dman, we made the wrong choice.

 

i wouldn’t have felt so strongly that we make the wrong pick, if it wasn’t for the overall consensus that this was a draft with a lot of elite forwards, but not really a one with elite high-end dmen.  D was already the strength of our prospect pool, so unless we get a legit top pairing RHD, we made a mistake. Just like we made a mistake taking KK, instead of Hughes or Tkachuk because we had no centres and MB stated many times you can’t trade for higher end top centres (which HuGo proved wrong at two successive drafts).

 

I agree that Reinbacher needs to develop into a top pairing defenseman for this to be the right choice. Time will tell. 

 

It is much harder to trade for higher end top centers, they are hard to find. MB actually proved himself wrong by trading for Suzuki. I hope Hugo will have proved him wrong which means Dach develops into a top end center. He hasn't proven that yet. He needs to stay healthy. 

[The Chicoutimi Cucumber]

Hmmm. It seems to me that if Reinbacher develops into a #2-3 defenceman, that will feel disappointing, but it would only be a proven wrong choice if the players drafted in the immediate vicinity after him go on to become impact players in their own right.

 

Right? If none of those guys become more than second-liners, for example, then I'll be happy with a #2-3 d-man. 

 

We can't just assume that other teams' picks will max out their potential and that ours won't.

 

 

[alfredoh2009]

16 minutes ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

Hmmm. It seems to me that if Reinbacher develops into a #2-3 defenceman, that will feel disappointing, but it would only be a proven wrong choice if the players drafted in the immediate vicinity after him go on to become impact players in their own right.

 

Right? If none of those guys become more than second-liners, for example, then I'll be happy with a #2-3 d-man. 

 

We can't just assume that other teams' picks will max out their potential and that ours won't.

 

 

 

I can agree to that. I would be fine if Reinbacher is a solid #2-#3 and the other draft picks turnout top-line forwards if the corollary is that the Habs win a stanley cup because of the right mix of players.

 

Ultimately, to me, that will be the demonstration that the rebuild was successful and that the draft picks and trades that got us there were the right ones. I want a Stanley cup.

[Habs Fan in Edmonton]

I think when you have the #5 pick in what was supposed to be one of the deeper drafts then you expect to land an impact player.  If you don't get a forward who can score 30 goals consistently or a top pairing defensemen, then you have missed an opportunity.  Let's see how Reinbacher turns out.