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2024-25 Montreal Canadiens discussion thread


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11 minutes ago, Habs Fan in Edmonton said:

 

Last in both but still would have been a .500 team with an OT win last night, I am guessing the only thing saving us so far has been goaltending. 


Goaltending and special teams are doing the work. So at least we have that  
 

And these goaltender stats include Primeau’s first disaster game 

 

 

 

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A positive on the PK.

 

Canadiens weekly notebook: Kaiden Guhle’s injury, Jake Evans and Joel Armia are PK perfect - The Athletic

 

Across the NHL, 13 forwards have played at least 15 minutes on the penalty kill at this early stage of the season, and Armia and Evans are the only two who have not been on the ice for a goal against. 

 

Caufield admitted at the end of last season that his shoulder felt better than it had at the start of the season, and studies have shown hockey players can take up to three years to fully recover from labrum surgery.

 

Habs Weekly: Struggles in the Second Week – HabsWorld.net

 

One of the comments I’ve seen a lot of over the first couple of weeks has been the expression of surprise about how the defence is even worse than last season.  This doesn’t surprise me.  Frankly, I’m surprised that some expected otherwise.

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Slafkovsky, Matheson and others have had therapy days already and Slafkovsky, Matheson have had multiple therapy days in a row. 
 

All these therapy guys keep playing games. 
 

Haven’t we seen this before? Hurt players being played anyway, leading to long injuries? 
 

The last two seasons this happened and even lead to medical staff turnover. 
 

 

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1 hour ago, Prime Minister Koivu said:

Slafkovsky, Matheson and others have had therapy days already and Slafkovsky, Matheson have had multiple therapy days in a row. 
 

All these therapy guys keep playing games. 
 

Haven’t we seen this before? Hurt players being played anyway, leading to long injuries? 
 

The last two seasons this happened and even lead to medical staff turnover. 
 

 

Also playing small rookie d-men alot of minutes.

 

Got a guess how many games Hutson will actually survive this year?

I will guess <65.

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29 minutes ago, DON said:

Also playing small rookie d-men alot of minutes.

 

Got a guess how many games Hutson will actually survive this year?

I will guess <65.

 

That thought had occurred to me as well. I sure hope I'm wrong, but his going down with a significant injury would absolutely be par for the course for any Habs player we are excited about.

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2 hours ago, Prime Minister Koivu said:

Slafkovsky, Matheson and others have had therapy days already and Slafkovsky, Matheson have had multiple therapy days in a row. 
 

All these therapy guys keep playing games.

Also possible that the new medical team is getting the players to take more therapy days in order to avoid exacerbating the injuries.

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55 minutes ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

 

That thought had occurred to me as well. I sure hope I'm wrong, but his going down with a significant injury would absolutely be par for the course for any Habs player we are excited about.

 

He doesn't seem to put himself in a position to get blown up, at least. I'm more concerned about Guhle lasting than I am Hutson.

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1 hour ago, tomh009 said:

Also possible that the new medical team is getting the players to take more therapy days in order to avoid exacerbating the injuries.

Good point. It's all guessing. 

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4 hours ago, huzer said:

 

He doesn't seem to put himself in a position to get blown up, at least. 

Maybe OK in game 5, but what about game 50, especially if he does great and is a big part of Habs offense and 'planned for' by other teams?

In the frozen four he 'seemed' to take more abuse or closer checking, which is smart because he was a big part of BUs offense (from watching the shift video of the games anyways).

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The idea that small players get hurt more than big players also has been proven to be false.... bigger, longer bones and joints are actually weaker and more prone to injury.   The numbers suggest that players over 6'3 get hurt more often and miss more games than players under 5'9"

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25 minutes ago, DON said:

Maybe OK in game 5, but what about game 50, especially if he does great and is a big part of Habs offense and 'planned for' by other teams?

In the frozen four he 'seemed' to take more abuse or closer checking, which is smart because he was a big part of BUs offense (from watching the shift video of the games anyways).

 

On this, I agree that he is very aware and shifty out there, which works in his favour. The problem is, he has no experience with a schedule as brutal as that of the NHL. Therein lies the danger - that he gets tired midway through the season, loses his normal jump, then gets destroyed on a play he would normally evade.

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14 minutes ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

 

On this, I agree that he is very aware and shifty out there, which works in his favour. The problem is, he has no experience with a schedule as brutal as that of the NHL. Therein lies the danger - that he gets tired midway through the season, loses his normal jump, then gets destroyed on a play he would normally evade.

 

God forbid he gets a blind sided hit, like Gryba on Eller in the playoffs.

 

He is a hell of a talent, smart, slippery and skilled. I hope he grows to his full potential as a Hab.

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20 minutes ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

The problem is, he has no experience with a schedule as brutal as that of the NHL. Therein lies the danger - that he gets tired midway through the season, loses his normal jump, then gets destroyed on a play he would normally evade.

Let's see how things go. I'm sure that this risk has crossed the minds of Hughes and St-Louis as well.

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38 minutes ago, Commandant said:

The idea that small players get hurt more than big players also has been proven to be false.... bigger, longer bones and joints are actually weaker and more prone to injury.   The numbers suggest that players over 6'3 get hurt more often and miss more games than players under 5'9"

 

That makes perfect sense to me. Shorter, sturdy guys with a lower center of gravity are far less likely to go down and get hurt.  Tall slender guys (ie. Dach, Guhle) are far more likely to get hurt than a Suzuki. 

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11 hours ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

 

On this, I agree that he is very aware and shifty out there, which works in his favour. The problem is, he has no experience with a schedule as brutal as that of the NHL. Therein lies the danger - that he gets tired midway through the season, loses his normal jump, then gets destroyed on a play he would normally evade.

Yes, not that he cant play 30 minutes, just likely shouldnt as a rookie, big or small.

82 games is alot vs what he has played.

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1 hour ago, DON said:

Yes, not that he cant play 30 minutes, just likely shouldnt as a rookie, big or small.

82 games is alot vs what he has played.

image.png

 

Those US NDTP games played numbers are not accurate.... the team plays about 60 games a season, that's only the USHL schedule on Hockeydb.  If you use elite prospects you see that he's actually playing about 60 games between the USHL schedule, the U-17 or U-18 World tournaments, and exhibition games against NCAA teams.  The US NTDP plays as heavy a schedule as OHL/QMJHL/WHL teams.

 

Elite prospects includes those games and stats.  Hockeydb ignores them.

 

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1 hour ago, Prime Minister Koivu said:

Good analysis by Engels in the link. 

 

Agreed ... he quotes MSL as saying:

 

I want us to be a team that’s tough to play against on both sides because we’re organized, we’re playing with some intelligence, and we’re playing connected on both sides. That means you have to work physically, but you have to be working mentally, too.

 

So the solution isn't just inserting Xhekaj to beat people up ... it is a top-to-bottom issue.

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Being tough to play against isn't fighting, it can involve hitting but it isn't all that either.  Its about taking away time and space. The NHL is such a fast league and the players are so skilled.  You cant give them room to make a play or skate with the puck or take a shot

 

Being tough to play against is a five man commitment to be on the person with the puck and not giving them the space to make plays. Away from the puck its also not letting your man get open. 

 

Tough to play against is relentless, tight defence, not plastering a guy through the boards or fighting him.

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1 hour ago, Commandant said:

Being tough to play against is a five man commitment to be on the person with the puck and not giving them the space to make plays. Away from the puck its also not letting your man get open.

This is it, ultimately, at its core. You need to take away their options.

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2 hours ago, GHT120 said:

 

So the solution isn't just inserting Xhekaj to beat people up ... it is a top-to-bottom issue.

 

I don't think anyone was suggesting that inserting Arber would solve all their problems, even myself who is probably his biggest fan on these boards wouldn't suggest that. No way one player can solve all their problems. I think Arber felt a lot of pressure to be the guy to stick up for the players and it's probably taken away from his regular game a bit. 

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