Jump to content
The Official Site of the Montréal Canadiens
Canadiens de Montreal

#20 Robert Lang 2008-2009


sens27

Recommended Posts

Do you have a direct qoute on that from Gainey? I thought they got Lang because he is another good offensive player to add to the team. So far he has filled many different roles including PK, PP, and also third line center. He also is thrown in with Kovalev once in a while in four on four situations. So far I don't think it's made much of a difference weather or not hes won or lost the faceoffs. Perhaps it will down the road, but we will have to wait and see.

I think over his career he's been a decent face-off guy but I agree that Gainey got him for the other things he brings to the club,,,if he could get around 47-50% I'd be happy considering his huge upside offensively and defensively....Gainey knew what he was getting and it looks like he's enjoying playing in Montreal

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think over his career he's been a decent face-off guy but I agree that Gainey got him for the other things he brings to the club,,,if he could get around 47-50% I'd be happy considering his huge upside offensively and defensively....Gainey knew what he was getting and it looks like he's enjoying playing in Montreal

Versatility

Knowledge of the game

Size

All things Gainey knew he would bring.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lang's got to improve his faceoffs, we went out and acquired him for that, and as of now, he's dead last among our centres.

Koivu 58,2%

Plekanec 57,8%

Lapierre 55,6%

Lang 42,7%

you get yannick p. for faceoffs you get robert lang to be 6' 3' clearing out the in between the circles and banging the gimies home

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As I said before this guy is a bit underestimated in what he can do offensively. I don't think many people here thought much of him, but I watched him play in Pittsburgh and he grew on me after watching him center Kovalev and Straka for a few years. Hes not that flashy, but he can stickhandle pretty well when needed and he is pretty balanced in ability to shoot or pass the puck. A lot of the time he does the little things that aren't noticed to often. It's a bit unforunate that he has to play the third line, but I guess whatever is best for the team. I know he is a very capable second or even first line center with the right wingers. He also has the awesome mullet still.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As I said before this guy is a bit underestimated in what he can do offensively. I don't think many people here thought much of him, but I watched him play in Pittsburgh and he grew on me after watching him center Kovalev and Straka for a few years. Hes not that flashy, but he can stickhandle pretty well when needed and he is pretty balanced in ability to shoot or pass the puck. A lot of the time he does the little things that aren't noticed to often. It's a bit unforunate that he has to play the third line, but I guess whatever is best for the team. I know he is a very capable second or even first line center with the right wingers. He also has the awesome mullet still.
Yeah, I know what you mean. At first I was maybe comparing him to Sundin, but that's not fair to him -- he'll be the first to tell you he's no Sundin.

But his experience still shows through as I watch him more and more: things like down-low cycling and board work, coming out from behind the net, and he really has good vision. He's just lacking acceleration, but the Habs have plenty of that elsewhere in the line-up -- he's been brought in for his size, experience, attitude, and general two-way capability. He's likely still to fully hit his stride too.

On a sidenote, I read yesterday that Smolinksi is still working out in Detroit / Windsor staying ready, hoping a team will call him up; I hope he gets picked up, if he's still that keen to play. TBay should probably have signed him instead of Roberts ($2.4MM !! :blink: ), who's seeing 8 minutes a game, no points so far (man, those new owners and manager in TBay are wack! :D ).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, I know what you mean. At first I was maybe comparing him to Sundin, but that's not fair to him -- he'll be the first to tell you he's no Sundin.

But his experience still shows through as I watch him more and more: things like down-low cycling and board work, coming out from behind the net, and he really has good vision. He's just lacking acceleration, but the Habs have plenty of that elsewhere in the line-up -- he's been brought in for his size, experience, attitude, and general two-way capability. He's likely still to fully hit his stride too.

On a sidenote, I read yesterday that Smolinksi is still working out in Detroit / Windsor staying ready, hoping a team will call him up; I hope he gets picked up, if he's still that keen to play. TBay should probably have signed him instead of Roberts ($2.4MM !! :blink: ), who's seeing 8 minutes a game, no points so far (man, those new owners and manager in TBay are wack! :D ).

I totally agree Innis, his vision is incredible and he's more physical than what we first heard. Everyone kept saying that he's soft, I haven't seen that yet.

As far as Smokes is concerned, I liked him. I hope someone picks him up.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What a chance he missed tonight on that wide-open net! :D And Ward stoned him in OT on the PP. He's played very well for us so far, killing penalties and all.

When I saw Plekanec leave the ice in discomfort, I got thinking to myself: Thank God we got Lang, can you imagine Lapierre on the second line?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lang is definitely good to have in case Pleks goes down. In fact I was thinking he is good to have just to provide the oportunity to experiment with the lines a bit. So far we haven't seen Kovy and Lang together much except for in OT or on 5 on 3 situations. I think it would be interesting to swap Kovalev and Higgens once in a while to see if something sparks. Higgens was good with Pleks and Andrei at one point when they were together. Kovalev has a past with Lang. Of course this is only if the lines continue to struggle a bit at even strength. I don't think Higgens is fitting in to great with Lang his first two games even though it's been not enough time to make a good judgement.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Memo:

Please don't miss anymore open nets. :P

Lang needs to be a wee bit more consistent with his face-off work, too. He's been getting whooped lately in the circle, and I thought we signed him because he was supposed to provide impressive face-off technique to a club that was lacking in that department. As it is now, Lapierre and Koivu appear to be our best face-off performers. Lang needs to use that as motivation to improve. Maybe Carbonneau can offer them incentives to perform the best on a per game basis. :lol:

Any ideas?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What a chance he missed tonight on that wide-open net! :D And Ward stoned him in OT on the PP. He's played very well for us so far, killing penalties and all.

When I saw Plekanec leave the ice in discomfort, I got thinking to myself: Thank God we got Lang, can you imagine Lapierre on the second line?

If we didn't have Lang, Guy was going to experiment with other options like moving Sergei K to center or putting Higgins back there if there was an injury.

I think though, at the very least Chipchura would be playing and would probably end up on the second line before Lapierre.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...