2024-25 Montreal Canadiens discussion thread

[Prime Minister Koivu]

Habs are just starting to compete and we are paper thin. Every absence since Heineman has effected Montreal greatly and the loss of Guhle seems to be crushing us. 

[GHT120]

15 hours ago, tomh009 said:

If playing with Finland (rather than playing on his PlayStation) will bring back the joy of hockey, it will all be for the better.

And if it doesn't, time away from the rink might have worked better.

[tomh009]

3 hours ago, Prime Minister Koivu said:

OR made possible by our 9 wins in 12 games - depending on your perspective. 
We could be dead last without that winning streak 

It's really a tale of two seasons: 9-17 in the first 26 games, 15-11 in the last 26. It's more than a streak, but at the moment it looks like they cannot sustain that level of play.

[tomh009]

3 hours ago, GHT120 said:

And if it doesn't, time away from the rink might have worked better.

I read his full interview, and time away from the rink was definitely not helping his mental state before. Of course we don't know what will happen, but "too many games" really does not appear to be the problem.

[Prime Minister Koivu]

This cool stat compares 2023/2024 xGF% to 2024/2025 season so far. 
 

Habs are up 27 points this season 

 

 

[DON]

I guess?

Bottom Six Minutes: The Habs are a mess in transition

"The Habs’ transitional play has fallen off a cliff of late, and it doesn’t take a genius to understand why. When breaking out of their zone, forwards are gone far too early, and the defencemen are forced to try low-percentage lob passes into traffic, which tend to be the hockey equivalent of a punt more often than not. When they’re not trying lobs or stretch passes, they often try to clear the zone by simply forcing the puck along the wall and into traffic, which is the hockey equivalent of a jump ball, as they initiate board battles instead of trying to clear the zone with possession."

 

Montreal Canadiens are No. 3 in 2025 NHL prospect pool rankings - The Athletic

 

The Canadiens’ pool has everything. One of the most talented forward prospects in the world, plus several promising others (at both center and wing) behind him. One of the most talented goalie prospects in the world, plus another top young NHL/AHL goalie. And two top D prospects not including the two top young D they already have in the NHL, plus some others who could play games there as well.

Now they’ve just got to find a way to elevate them all, put them in positions to succeed and get better while doing it with a young team. Easy, right?

2024 prospect pool rank: No. 10 (change: +7)

 

"...He profiles as a point-per-game, first-line, all-star-level winger. I truly believe he’s going to mesmerize in the prime of his career in the NHL."

 

i will poach a bit more;

[Lanes World]

Hilarious that Hutson has more points than Michkov. 

[Commandant]

28 minutes ago, Lanes World said:

Hilarious that Hutson has more points than Michkov. 

 

And Michkov keeps getting benched for poor play in his own end. 

[GHT120]

14 minutes ago, Commandant said:

And Michkov keeps getting benched for poor play in his own end. 

And/or general attitude

[The Chicoutimi Cucumber]

We all seem to be giving up on Dach, and I can see why. After a horrid first half - understandable due to missing a whole season - he showed signs of life, but has now mostly lapsed back into futility.

 

I still think, though, that he’ll need one more season, a fresh start, before we can truly start to conclude that he can’t be what we hoped. 

 

Maybe the idea of signing a Monahan-type stopgap isn’t a bad idea. That would allow Kirby to keep working on his game on W, or else slot him into a less-demanding bottom-6 role.

 

1 hour ago, Lanes World said:

Hilarious that Hutson has more points than Michkov. 

 

Yes, but if we want to cackle about other teams’ high picks, don’t look too closely at Logan Cooley’s stats. I strongly suspect we made the wrong pick.

[Prime Minister Koivu]

1 hour ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

We all seem to be giving up on Dach, and I can see why. After a horrid first half - understandable due to missing a whole season - he showed signs of life, but has now mostly lapsed back into futility.

 

I still think, though, that he’ll need one more season, a fresh start, before we can truly start to conclude that he can’t be what we hoped. 

 

Maybe the idea of signing a Monahan-type stopgap isn’t a bad idea. That would allow Kirby to keep working on his game on W, or else slot him into a less-demanding bottom-6 role.

 

 

Yes, but if we want to cackle about other teams’ high picks, don’t look too closely at Logan Cooley’s stats. I strongly suspect we made the wrong pick.

I could see a world where our second line of Dach, Laine, Newhook all get pushed to the third line. 
 

New centre, Demidov, Roy/Heineman/Laine

[alfredoh2009]

1 hour ago, Prime Minister Koivu said:

I could see a world where our second line of Dach, Laine, Newhook all get pushed to the third line. 
 

New centre, Demidov, Roy/Heineman/Laine

in my projection of what a cup winning Habs team looks like, New-centre+Demidov+plug is my second line Laine will walk after his contract is done, Newhook and Dach are 3Ws

[Prime Minister Koivu]

Habs always play two afternoon games on superbowl weekend. 
 

Don't typically do very well but maybe this year will be different 

[DON]

2 hours ago, Prime Minister Koivu said:

Habs always play two afternoon games on superbowl weekend. 
 

Don't typically do very well but maybe this year will be different 

Getting to the point again where i just hope game is entertaining, Habs score a couple and not a blowout.

 

[alfredoh2009]

10 minutes ago, DON said:

Getting to the point again where i just hope game is entertaining, Habs score a couple and not a blowout.

 

Hello darkness my old friend

 

I’ve been here for a while, nice to have company

[DON]

 

HW 3 Stars: January’s Top Prospects – HabsWorld.net

 

"1st Star: Cayden Primeau – Admittedly, the players in the first half of this column aren’t going to qualify as true prospects as it was the veterans that largely carried the way.  Primeau was the best of them..."

 

"3rd Star: Oliver Kapanen

"...Looking ahead a bit, I’ll be curious to see if he winds up finishing in North America once his SHL campaign comes to an end or if he’ll be on the radar for Finland at the Worlds instead."

[Commandant]

How is a 29 year old one of January's top prospects.  Dauphin is playing well but hes not a prospect.

[Lanes World]

AHL stud 

[DON]

Laine still on a 37.8g/82gm pace; but 2018-19 was last time he played a full 82 game season.

[dlbalr]

4 hours ago, Commandant said:

How is a 29 year old one of January's top prospects.  Dauphin is playing well but hes not a prospect.

 

Laval's best performers, I don't restrict them to only prospects as otherwise, it'd be hard to pick some months.  The second half of it is the true prospect part.

[xXx..CK..xXx]

 

If one looks at the Western Conference, does everyone think that Utah is out of the playoff race? Because that’s how far the Habs are out of the playoffs. The only thing is that Utah has less teams to compete with for a spot. If only we had one or two more wins recently. We’re still right there even with our recent performances. 
 

It’s really particular that the main difference between a few weeks ago and now is the confidence level of the group. It’s also frustrating that a freak car accident was the turning point of our season after our previous positive turning points of getting Laine back, trading for Carrier, and Dobeš playing like a future Dobeš. Guhle getting injured has amplified things but it shouldn’t have such an effect in the sense that players lose their personal confidence à la Laine to such an extent. Fans can lose belief when a teammate gets injured but the players should still believe. I’ve played puck as well so I get it but Laine is a pretty solid professional hockey player. One would think he’d believe he’s pretty good. In fact, when he first emerged on scene in the NHL, he was all big talk. 
 

I’ve brought up the confidence thing a few times over the weeks, both positively around the time they were beating all the cup winners, Vancouver at home and a couple of good matches against Dallas but then saw it change after a few of our losses. Something changed around the time we were up 3-0 versus Toronto and then ended up losing 7-3. 
 

We followed that loss up with a couple of wins but the Habs were already playing slightly different and getting over the top goaltending.

 

Recently though, Laine has brought confidence up in regards to himself, and today Evans said “we just need to get our confidence back”. I’ve probably heard the word confidence mentioned a few other tines as well. So as cliché as it sounds, a lack of confidence is likely a real thing right now. 
 

The Habs need to realize that they are playing to stick together as a unit because pretty soon Hughes will be selling the name on the back of their jersey, as well as the crest in the front of their jersey if things don’t change. Forget anxiety, nervousness and a lack of confidence, play with pride, intensity and use your frustration in a positive way if you want this team to stick together and continue to fight for a playoff spot. They are professionals and someone should be able to help them regain their confidence. Unfortunately there’s only one more game before the 4 Nations Cup break and then the deadline is within a few weeks afterward. Time-is-a running out.

[hab29RETIRED]

3 hours ago, xXx..CK..xXx said:

 

If one looks at the Western Conference, does everyone think that Utah is out of the playoff race? Because that’s how far the Habs are out of the playoffs. The only thing is that Utah has less teams to compete with for a spot. If only we had one or two more wins recently. We’re still right there even with our recent performances. 
 

It’s really particular that the main difference between a few weeks ago and now is the confidence level of the group. It’s also frustrating that a freak car accident was the turning point of our season after our previous positive turning points of getting Laine back, trading for Carrier, and Dobeš playing like a future Dobeš. Guhle getting injured has amplified things but it shouldn’t have such an effect in the sense that players lose their personal confidence à la Laine to such an extent. Fans can lose belief when a teammate gets injured but the players should still believe. I’ve played puck as well so I get it but Laine is a pretty solid professional hockey player. One would think he’d believe he’s pretty good. In fact, when he first emerged on scene in the NHL, he was all big talk. 
 

I’ve brought up the confidence thing a few times over the weeks, both positively around the time they were beating all the cup winners, Vancouver at home and a couple of good matches against Dallas but then saw it change after a few of our losses. Something changed around the time we were up 3-0 versus Toronto and then ended up losing 7-3. 
 

We followed that loss up with a couple of wins but the Habs were already playing slightly different and getting over the top goaltending.

 

Recently though, Laine has brought confidence up in regards to himself, and today Evans said “we just need to get our confidence back”. I’ve probably heard the word confidence mentioned a few other tines as well. So as cliché as it sounds, a lack of confidence is likely a real thing right now. 
 

The Habs need to realize that they are playing to stick together as a unit because pretty soon Hughes will be selling the name on the back of their jersey, as well as the crest in the front of their jersey if things don’t change. Forget anxiety, nervousness and a lack of confidence, play with pride, intensity and use your frustration in a positive way if you want this team to stick together and continue to fight for a playoff spot. They are professionals and someone should be able to help them regain their confidence. Unfortunately there’s only one more game before the 4 Nations Cup break and then the deadline is within a few weeks afterward. Time-is-a running out.

I think Laine playing on the Evans line is just a bad fit.

 

May as well bench Laine. He can’t play D. He is a shooter and needs to be with a playmaker. I’d try him with Suzuki and Caufield and move Slafkovsky with Dach and Beck (if they are keeping hi lm up), or with Heineman when he is back after the break.  Need to tell Slafkovsky ti start shooting more, let Dach carry the puck. 

 

have one game before the break to try a new mix. May as well do it now. 

[Habs Fan in Edmonton]

4 hours ago, xXx..CK..xXx said:

 

If one looks at the Western Conference, does everyone think that Utah is out of the playoff race? Because that’s how far the Habs are out of the playoffs. The only thing is that Utah has less teams to compete with for a spot. If only we had one or two more wins recently. We’re still right there even with our recent performances. 
 

 

The number of teams you have to catch makes a huge difference. The Habs have to pass 5 teams to catch the final playoff spot. That's tough to do late in the year especially when those teams are playing each other, someone is going to win. Mathematically it makes it a lot harder. Last year Washington got the last wild card spot with 91 points which was lower than normal for the 8th seed. The Habs would have to go something like 18-9 in their last 27 games to end up with 91 points. I think the odds are pretty slim of that happening. 

[The Chicoutimi Cucumber]

3 hours ago, hab29RETIRED said:

I think Laine playing on the Evans line is just a bad fit.

 

May as well bench Laine. He can’t play D. He is a shooter and needs to be with a playmaker. I’d try him with Suzuki and Caufield and move Slafkovsky with Dach and Beck (if they are keeping hi lm up), or with Heineman when he is back after the break.  Need to tell Slafkovsky ti start shooting more, let Dach carry the puck. 

 

have one game before the break to try a new mix. May as well do it now. 

 

I tend to agree with all of this. You can’t play Laine with plumbers. And despite the success Slaf had with Nick and CC last season, my impression is that a lot of the points he does get are secondary or ‘ambient’ points from being with those guys, rather than chances he himself generates. I want to see him start taking charge, if he can, and I don’t think he’s going to do it on that line, where he’s going to defer to his betters.

[xXx..CK..xXx]

6 hours ago, Habs Fan in Edmonton said:

 

The number of teams you have to catch makes a huge difference. The Habs have to pass 5 teams to catch the final playoff spot. That's tough to do late in the year especially when those teams are playing each other, someone is going to win. Mathematically it makes it a lot harder. Last year Washington got the last wild card spot with 91 points which was lower than normal for the 8th seed. The Habs would have to go something like 18-9 in their last 27 games to end up with 91 points. I think the odds are pretty slim of that happening. 

That’s fine as a fan but as an athlete you think about only one shift at a time, one period at a time, and one game at a time. 
 

I have no expectation at this point that the Habs will make the playoffs, but we did did just go something like 12-3-1 (roughly) recently so the proposed w/l is not something that is out of the realm of possibility. 
 

The way they are playing has to change though and it all starts with their mental state. The captain, coach or any veteran leaders need to step up and say enough is enough.

 

I agree that we also need to get Laine going rather than continue to demoralize him. In fact while I didn’t even think of it or intend to bring it up, I was never happy with Laine’s original benching. The coach is the boss, and I reiterate if he knows something else that fans don’t know it’s to be taken into consideration, but he should understand his players and the impact his moves will have on them. This is not special treatment but it’s actually for the betterment of the team. Does a player like Laine learn from a benching and play better, or does it amplify his lack of confidence and make him squeeze his stick? At this point, (2 shutout losses in a row at home) place him with some offensive players, and the points will start coming.