Will the Habs make the playoffs?

[eldag 0]

9 hours ago, kinot-2 said:

I'm glad you're not holding your breath. We won't crawl back into the race and we won't be getting a new GM, better qualified or not. 

This

[Habberwacky 0]

We need to clean up a few west coast games against AZ and  Colorado (2) and continue dominate the Atlantic. If we can do that and beat up teams like Boston,  
So I say yes but ask again after we play Boston 2 or 3 times

Atlantic                                  East                                             Central                                     Pacific

Tampa Bay  1-1                    New York R  1-1                            Winnipeg  1-0                     Los Angeles 0-2

Boston                                   New York I                                    Dallas   0-1                          Anaheim    0-1

Toronto 0-1-1                        Pittsburgh                                   St. Louis 0-1                         Edmonton  0-2

Detroit  2-0                            Washington 0-1                         Chicago 1-1                          San Jose 0-2

Ottawa   2-1                           Philadelphia                               Nashville 0-1                        Vancouver 2-0

Florida   1-1                            Columbus 1-0-1                       Vegas   1-0                             Calgary  1-0-1

Buffalo  3-0                             Carolina    0-1                            Minnesota 0-2                       Arizona 0-1    

  Record  9-4-1                      New Jersey 1-0                          Record VS 3-6                        Colorado

      14 left                                Record  VS 3-3-1                         5 left                                           3-8-1

  Play each team (4)                       (3) 17 left                                    (2)                                        (2) 4 left

[PAPPAPUMPED 0]

I think the Habs are missing a couple of pieces to make this team a winner .

A big power Centre is needed along with another scoring winger & maybe a puck carrying D man .

 

No reason to press the panic button & yes the Habs a have a very good shot @ pulling together a long winning streak to make it into the playoffs .

Patience is the key here no panicking just yet, Bergevin is no fool trust me on this .

[Regis22 0]

2 hours ago, PAPPAPUMPED said:

I think the Habs are missing a couple of pieces to make this team a winner .

A big power Centre is needed along with another scoring winger & maybe a puck carrying D man .

 

No reason to press the panic button & yes the Habs a have a very good shot @ pulling together a long winning streak to make it into the playoffs .

Patience is the key here no panicking just yet, Bergevin is no fool trust me on this .

More than a couple of pieces . A Team this low overall needs more than just a couple

At least 2 REAL Centre's and probably 2 puck moving D men just to be competitive

They haven't put together  a long winning streak all year so Im not expecting one now

As for MB , everything he's done this year has nt worked out

 

 

 

Edited January 9, 2018 by Regis22

[maas_art 0]

1 hour ago, Regis22 said:

More than a couple of pieces . A Team this low overall needs more than just a couple

I agree unless you can land a couple of elite talents.  Put John Tavares and OEL on this team tomorrow & you've probably  got a shot at making the playoffs and doing some damage (assuming Weber comes back healthy soon and we have no other major injuries).  

The problem is that you dont just "add" guys like that.  You have to give up players.  So maybe you add JT and lose Pacioretty.  Or maybe you add OEL and lose AG + Mete.  So now you're stronger in positions you were weaker - you're better - but still not a contender.

MB has made a heck of a mess.  Unless he gets really lucky (fleecing Chiarelli or Snow for example) I dont see how he's getting out of this with his job.... which is not a bad thing. 

[HabsRuleForever 0]

On 2018-01-09 at 0:45 PM, PAPPAPUMPED said:

I think the Habs are missing a couple of pieces to make this team a winner .

A big power Centre is needed along with another scoring winger & maybe a puck carrying D man .

 

No reason to press the panic button & yes the Habs a have a very good shot @ pulling together a long winning streak to make it into the playoffs .

Patience is the key here no panicking just yet, Bergevin is no fool trust me on this .

This team is not a playoff team. This team is barely an NHL caliber team.

[maas_art 0]

4 hours ago, HabsRuleForever said:

This team is not a playoff team. This team is barely an NHL caliber team.

We're in a very weird situation - and it falls squarely on the GM.   When we last had a team this bad (thanks to mr Houle) our roster was just in shambles. We were bad everywhere. Bad goaltending, bad defensmen, bad wingers, bad centres. etc. We had some bright spots (Koivu, Rucinsky, later Markov and pleks etc) but for the most part we were totally devoid of talent.  

The habs right now have some very very good players.  But they all play LW, RW, RD or Goal.   Most people would rank your #1C  #1-2D and Goal as your 4 most important positions.  We're totally lacking 2 of those, our goalie is the highest paid in the league and our #1D is on the wrong side of 30.   This is very bad.

Meanwhile we have some really good young players in Galchenyuk, Gallagher, Drouin, Lehkonen, Danault, Scherbak, Mete, Lindgren, etc.    

The really frustrating part is that we have some excellent trade chips in Pacioretty, Weber, Shaw, Petry etc but I dont see MB moving them.

If you put a top GM in control of this team right now, I think we could be a playoff team by next year & contending the year after.  Move those assets for young players & built this team properly.   

[kinot-2 0]

1 hour ago, maas_art said:

We're in a very weird situation - and it falls squarely on the GM.   When we last had a team this bad (thanks to mr Houle) our roster was just in shambles. We were bad everywhere. Bad goaltending, bad defensmen, bad wingers, bad centres. etc. We had some bright spots (Koivu, Rucinsky, later Markov and pleks etc) but for the most part we were totally devoid of talent.  

The habs right now have some very very good players.  But they all play LW, RW, RD or Goal.   Most people would rank your #1C  #1-2D and Goal as your 4 most important positions.  We're totally lacking 2 of those, our goalie is the highest paid in the league and our #1D is on the wrong side of 30.   This is very bad.

Meanwhile we have some really good young players in Galchenyuk, Gallagher, Drouin, Lehkonen, Danault, Scherbak, Mete, Lindgren, etc.    

The really frustrating part is that we have some excellent trade chips in Pacioretty, Weber, Shaw, Petry etc but I dont see MB moving them.

If you put a top GM in control of this team right now, I think we could be a playoff team by next year & contending the year after.  Move those assets for young players & built this team properly.   

CC Geoff Molson & MB.

[HabsRuleForever 0]

4 hours ago, maas_art said:

We're in a very weird situation - and it falls squarely on the GM.   When we last had a team this bad (thanks to mr Houle) our roster was just in shambles. We were bad everywhere. Bad goaltending, bad defensmen, bad wingers, bad centres. etc. We had some bright spots (Koivu, Rucinsky, later Markov and pleks etc) but for the most part we were totally devoid of talent.  

The habs right now have some very very good players.  But they all play LW, RW, RD or Goal.   Most people would rank your #1C  #1-2D and Goal as your 4 most important positions.  We're totally lacking 2 of those, our goalie is the highest paid in the league and our #1D is on the wrong side of 30.   This is very bad.

Meanwhile we have some really good young players in Galchenyuk, Gallagher, Drouin, Lehkonen, Danault, Scherbak, Mete, Lindgren, etc.    

The really frustrating part is that we have some excellent trade chips in Pacioretty, Weber, Shaw, Petry etc but I dont see MB moving them.

If you put a top GM in control of this team right now, I think we could be a playoff team by next year & contending the year after.  Move those assets for young players & built this team properly.   

However if MB stays I shudder to think.....

Molson can’t be that blind. Can he?!

[archey 0]

We're not playing for the sister city of Flint, Michigan and I hope you know what I mean but we have no chances with this coach. 

Yeah it's all about top talent but look-- Winning with Therrien meant nothing. so who has the right talent? Maybe nobody.

We probably go with CJ for another year and then see the light...

[ramcharger440 0]

Will this team make the playoffs? no.

[jwlk 0]

i would love to blame the coach, but this team is missing so many parts it's hard to throw the coach under the bus, you would have to think with like 8 mill in cap space you cant find someone who could help this train wreck

[HabsRuleForever 0]

12 minutes ago, jwlk said:

i would love to blame the coach, but this team is missing so many parts it's hard to throw the coach under the bus, you would have to think with like 8 mill in cap space you cant find someone who could help this train wreck

I wonder if PK would come here?

 

I'll show myself out.

[Habs=stanleycup 0]

5 minutes ago, HabsRuleForever said:

I wonder if PK would come here?

 

I'll show myself out.

I actually think he would if we had a serious change of management and priorities.

[maas_art 0]

29 minutes ago, HabsRuleForever said:

I wonder if PK would come here?

 

I'll show myself out.

 

22 minutes ago, Habs=stanleycup said:

I actually think he would if we had a serious change of management and priorities.

I absolutely think PK would come back but Poile isnt letting him go. 

[archey 0]

Did MB honestly say our defense is better????????????

No we're not making the playoffs.

[BigTed3 0]

15 minutes ago, archey said:

Did MB honestly say our defense is better????????????

No we're not making the playoffs.

He did. And we're not.

[Regis22 0]

4 hours ago, jwlk said:

i would love to blame the coach, but this team is missing so many parts it's hard to throw the coach under the bus, you would have to think with like 8 mill in cap space you cant find someone who could help this train wreck

Other teams aren't giving away their players just because Montreal has cap space. Find a team with an elite C or D man who doesn't want that player . Then you have to give them something to get that player. 

[ChiLla 0]

4 hours ago, Regis22 said:

Other teams aren't giving away their players just because Montreal has cap space. Find a team with an elite C or D man who doesn't want that player . Then you have to give them something to get that player. 

The best we can hope for is that maybe other teams need to unload a contract to make room for a rental, which is clearly a terrible strategy with minimal upside. Maybe some team will need to trade a player to get under the cap in the offseason, but we're not the only franchise with available Cap space and the perfect timing for that strategy was probably last summer during the expansion draft (e.g. the Marcus Johansson trade).

Either way, all that Cap space is doing nada for us this season and that's probably not going to change, unless we spend it on UFAs, which usually tend to be overpaid and often don't even want to come here. Off the top of my head, there aren't many players available that could help us. Tavares isn't going to end up in Montreal, John Carlson is definitely interesting but yet another RHD, though James Neal or JvR could be options to replace Pacioretty if they hit the market. Bringing back Lars Eller could also help, given our black hole down the middle. He's clearly not the solution as a scoring center but Danault-Eller-Plekanec(?) would still be much better than what we have now.

[archey 0]

3 hours ago, ChiLla said:

The best we can hope for is that maybe other teams need to unload a contract to make room for a rental, which is clearly a terrible strategy with minimal upside. Maybe some team will need to trade a player to get under the cap in the offseason, but we're not the only franchise with available Cap space and the perfect timing for that strategy was probably last summer during the expansion draft (e.g. the Marcus Johansson trade).

Either way, all that Cap space is doing nada for us this season and that's probably not going to change, unless we spend it on UFAs, which usually tend to be overpaid and often don't even want to come here. Off the top of my head, there aren't many players available that could help us. Tavares isn't going to end up in Montreal, John Carlson is definitely interesting but yet another RHD, though James Neal or JvR could be options to replace Pacioretty if they hit the market. Bringing back Lars Eller could also help, given our black hole down the middle. He's clearly not the solution as a scoring center but Danault-Eller-Plekanec(?) would still be much better than what we have now.

I forget who it was but don't forget we root for a team with a very deep willingness to attach a charge of libel to it's players and whether it's justified or not the amount of message it sends is in the air. I talk to a guy whose wife did something to me but a defenseman who's wife tweets is gone quick. It doesn't affect the players left behind? We aren't taking Eller back.

[BigTed3 0]

5 hours ago, ChiLla said:

The best we can hope for is that maybe other teams need to unload a contract to make room for a rental, which is clearly a terrible strategy with minimal upside. Maybe some team will need to trade a player to get under the cap in the offseason, but we're not the only franchise with available Cap space and the perfect timing for that strategy was probably last summer during the expansion draft (e.g. the Marcus Johansson trade).

Either way, all that Cap space is doing nada for us this season and that's probably not going to change, unless we spend it on UFAs, which usually tend to be overpaid and often don't even want to come here. Off the top of my head, there aren't many players available that could help us. Tavares isn't going to end up in Montreal, John Carlson is definitely interesting but yet another RHD, though James Neal or JvR could be options to replace Pacioretty if they hit the market. Bringing back Lars Eller could also help, given our black hole down the middle. He's clearly not the solution as a scoring center but Danault-Eller-Plekanec(?) would still be much better than what we have now.

Tavares and Carlson, if they hit market, are the two biggest fish in the UFA pool this year. I've posted about taxes and how that's a huge detriment to players coming here, but if Carlson were interested (maybe Alzner can throw in a pitch about how the Habs love to throw around money for no reason), I'd jump on that no questions asked. You sign Carlson and then you immediately look to trade Weber for assets somewhere else (maybe a LHD, maybe a center...).

As for our cap space this year, I think you can still use it as an asset. I wouldn't take back someone on a longer-term deal, but if there's a player who has a cap hit that a team wants to dump to be able to use that space elsewhere, I'd be happy to take on a 4-5M player plus accept a 3rd rounder in exchange for a 6th rounder, or something like that. May as well use that money to buy yourself picks or prospects, since we didn't use it any other way.

[ChiLla 0]

1 hour ago, BigTed3 said:

Tavares and Carlson, if they hit market, are the two biggest fish in the UFA pool this year. I've posted about taxes and how that's a huge detriment to players coming here, but if Carlson were interested (maybe Alzner can throw in a pitch about how the Habs love to throw around money for no reason), I'd jump on that no questions asked. You sign Carlson and then you immediately look to trade Weber for assets somewhere else (maybe a LHD, maybe a center...).

As for our cap space this year, I think you can still use it as an asset. I wouldn't take back someone on a longer-term deal, but if there's a player who has a cap hit that a team wants to dump to be able to use that space elsewhere, I'd be happy to take on a 4-5M player plus accept a 3rd rounder in exchange for a 6th rounder, or something like that. May as well use that money to buy yourself picks or prospects, since we didn't use it any other way.

Absolutely, all I'm trying to say is that it's a REALLY poor strategy if that was truly our plan B after the 'take it or leave it' deals for Markov and Radulov. You're essentially handcuffing yourself for an entire season for what, swapping draft picks to re-stack the cupboard with players that have a comparably low chance to succeed in the NHL? It just doesn't make any sense.

[BigTed3 0]

8 minutes ago, ChiLla said:

Absolutely, all I'm trying to say is that it's a REALLY poor strategy if that was truly our plan B after the 'take it or leave it' deals for Markov and Radulov. You're essentially handcuffing yourself for an entire season for what, swapping draft picks to re-stack the cupboard with players that have a comparably low chance to succeed in the NHL? It just doesn't make any sense.

Agreed. It never should have been the plan to bank cap space to use as a trade asset for futures. I don't think it was. I think MB planned on spending it on one of Markov or Radulov or both (on his own terms) and when he lost both games of chicken badly, his Plan B was to save the space for the deadline to add assets for a playoff run. But since plan B has been shot, the next best Plan C is to offer that cap space to contenders to take on their short-term problem contracts in exchange for future assets...

[ChiLla 0]

29 minutes ago, BigTed3 said:

Agreed. It never should have been the plan to bank cap space to use as a trade asset for futures. I don't think it was. I think MB planned on spending it on one of Markov or Radulov or both (on his own terms) and when he lost both games of chicken badly, his Plan B was to save the space for the deadline to add assets for a playoff run. But since plan B has been shot, the next best Plan C is to offer that cap space to contenders to take on their short-term problem contracts in exchange for future assets...

Yeah, you're probably right. It's still brutal management though, my guess is he intended to sign both, played hardball and then ended up with none of the two and zero options to adequately replace them.

[kinot-2 0]

Actually, it's a little late for this thread.