markierung Posted December 17, 2006 Share Posted December 17, 2006 Did latendresse already get demoted back to the fourth because of the return of higgins? By the end of the game, higgins was always on when the first line came out and Lats was on the fourth next to lapierre. Personally, i think the first line is much more dangerous with higgins on the wing. Just look at Ryder's production. It went down as soon as Higgins got hurt. Also, i think since latendresse is playing much better now, he would definitely make our fourth line a little more dangerous. Lats Lapierre and Streit/Downey it looks like either Murray or Downey is getting sent down. Personally, i hope it's murray. Downey seems to hit more and is more of a team player I think we can also 4get about higgins centering the 2nd for now, as it looks like plekanec is finally getting comfortable with the russians. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMMR Posted December 17, 2006 Share Posted December 17, 2006 Yeah Latendresse is back on the 4th line, and yes Higgins makes the 1st line better no doubt. The Canadiens 4th line is the best it has been all year all three players can play in the offensive zone and create chances. It sucks for Latendresse but at least Carbonneau knows that if a top line winger goes down he can produce. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KoZed Posted December 17, 2006 Share Posted December 17, 2006 Yeah Lats was back on the fourth with Lapierre and Streit by the 2nd period. They had some good shifts. With the way Lats can draw guys to him by controlling the puck in traffic he makes the 4th more dangerous. As for the 1st, anyone would look good with Higgins and Koivu. The way these two can exchange the puck to each other; all the 3rd guy has to do is go to the net and get open. The question now is: what happens when Begin comes back? Who gets scratched? Lapierre? Streit? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BTH Posted December 17, 2006 Share Posted December 17, 2006 Latendresse-Lapierre-Streit For a fourth line, that's incredible. I wonder what happens when Begin gets back. They'll probably demote Lapierre but.... is it time that Stevie B is finally expendable? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markierung Posted December 17, 2006 Author Share Posted December 17, 2006 i think streit will go back to being a 7th dman who gets some penalty killing and power play time. that should net him about 7-8 minutes a game. also,(knock on wood) someone is bound to get injured Begin is not expendable. The guy is 6th in the league in hits for under 1 million dollars!!!!!!! Why would we give that up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fromage Posted December 17, 2006 Share Posted December 17, 2006 Begin is not expendable. The guy is 6th in the league in hits for under 1 million dollars!!!!!!! Why would we give that up. His salary and cap hit is exactly 1million. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BTH Posted December 17, 2006 Share Posted December 17, 2006 i think streit will go back to being a 7th dman who gets some penalty killing and power play time. that should net him about 7-8 minutes a game. also,(knock on wood) someone is bound to get injured Begin is not expendable. The guy is 6th in the league in hits for under 1 million dollars!!!!!!! Why would we give that up. This season he hasn't been doing so well. As the talent level of the team goes up, these is a new standard, a new minimum that a guy must pass, no matter how much herat he has. He's a great guy to have but his time in Montreal may be drawing to a close. Also, priceless guys like that who give it their all for the league minimum are no longer priceless once they stop making the league minimum and start making a million dollars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean Posted December 17, 2006 Share Posted December 17, 2006 Why should we even consider ditching Bégin when we have 2 much worse players than him on the roster (Murray and Downey) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huzer Posted December 17, 2006 Share Posted December 17, 2006 This season he hasn't been doing so well. As the talent level of the team goes up, these is a new standard, a new minimum that a guy must pass, no matter how much herat he has. He's a great guy to have but his time in Montreal may be drawing to a close. Also, priceless guys like that who give it their all for the league minimum are no longer priceless once they stop making the league minimum and start making a million dollars. This season he was also asked to play center. He's a much better winger than center. Anyway (and I know the bulk of Habs fans tend to overrate the youngsters) it's pretty wild when a line (even though it's the 4th) has two rookies on it here in Habs land and people aren't worried to death about it. I think the 4th line, at this point, is an ideal spot for Latendresse. He'll get PP time as well. The fact is, the Habs are a stronger team with Higgins on Koivu's wing. That's not a knock on Latendresse, he's still getting used to the NHL level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BTH Posted December 17, 2006 Share Posted December 17, 2006 Why should we even consider ditching Bégin when we have 2 much worse players than him on the roster (Murray and Downey) Yeah, Murray and Downey especially should definitely be gone, but I don't think Begin is 100% untouchable like he used to be. As now we have more depth and more talented players. For example Lapierre has more talent and still gives it his all, yet is cheaper and younger. But then again, it's nice to have some leadership around since we have so many young players. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMMR Posted December 17, 2006 Share Posted December 17, 2006 When Begin heals Gauthier/Gainey will have to make a decision and with the way Lapierre is playing Murray appears to have lost his spot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortcat1 Posted December 17, 2006 Share Posted December 17, 2006 i expect that latendresse will be left on the 1st line... he's developping well there and he isn't a drain to his linemates. i do believe it's a win-win thing for him & the team. higgins will probably center he 2nd GO :hlogo: GO! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BTH Posted December 18, 2006 Share Posted December 18, 2006 i expect that latendresse will be left on the 1st line... he's developping well there and he isn't a drain to his linemates. i do believe it's a win-win thing for him & the team. higgins will probably center he 2nd GO :hlogo: GO! That would be my solution to but Carbo wants Higgins on the 1st. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athlétique.Canadien Posted December 18, 2006 Share Posted December 18, 2006 (edited) Lat's is probably on the fourth simply for the reason that you don't want to create too many line change ups in one game. Lat's will be promoted. Him playing on the fourth was what was is good for the team on saturday. Trade Begin? Why? Begin has little value to the rest of the league. He simply would not be the same player anywhere else. Playing for the Habs is different, he's awesome Edited December 18, 2006 by ATHLÉTIQUE.CANADIEN Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oleg Petrov Posted December 18, 2006 Share Posted December 18, 2006 Begin is still untouchable, but I don't think he'd be on the IR if Carbonneau didn't realize he had a problem brewing. I don't think the Habs will ditch Downey. His roster spot is to sit in the stands and be ready to find himself pencilled in for a game that could get rough. No other player can honestly handle that role - you don't want a player that's good for anything else to be sitting in the stands. So he's essentially the 13th forward, a role that nobody else should be relegated to. Murray, on the other hand - he was already platooning with Downey, but when Begin comes back, then the question becomes whether you can platoon him with Downey and Streit - even if Streit is the 7th d-man, he's been so good as a 12th forward/on-call defenseman for when a d gets injured mid-game/gets a 10-minute misconduct that you can't dress Murray without effectively choosing him over Streit, which is impossible because of how good Streit has been in filling that role. My feeling is that when Begin comes back, Lapierre will be sent down because even if Lapierre is a stronger force than Begin this week, the Habs are not ready to start sitting Begin for Lapierre. If you're not going to sit Begin, then you have to sit three of Lapierre, Downey, Streit and Murray, and there's no point in keeping Lapierre if you're not giving him 10 mins or more of ice time. Because of the way Streit's playing, though, I don't think the Habs can hang on to Murray either, as it's ridiculous to play Murray ahead of Streit, and he's no good to anybody in the stands (unlike Downey). So Lapierre sent down, Murray waivered and sent down or traded to Phoenix once the Christmas trade freeze is over...I'm sure they could use him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaos Posted December 18, 2006 Share Posted December 18, 2006 Latendresse-Lapierre-Streit For a fourth line, that's incredible. I wonder what happens when Begin gets back. They'll probably demote Lapierre but.... is it time that Stevie B is finally expendable? Doubt it. They just gave him a million a year for three years. He's pretty much untradeable. Can't sit him either. Lapierre can be sent down to Hamilton. Pretty much solves that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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