patinwoody Posted June 15, 2009 Report Share Posted June 15, 2009 Great Stanley Cup win for the Penguins. I could not stop being envious of the Penguins young talented team of superstars, Crosby,Malkin,Fleury, Stall etc...(1st or 2nd overall picks). The last time the Penguins won the Stanley Cup was in 1992. The Canadiens won it the following year in 1993. Today the Penguins are an elite team, while the Habs, in my opinion are an average team, with aging players and no real superstar. (No one has proven themselfs yet). My question: As a Hab fan, would you be able to tolorate the Canadiens finishing at the bottom of the league for 3 -4 seasons. Stock up on blue chip prospects and in a few years emerge triumphant like the Penguins?[/color] Here is a break down of the HABS & Penguins standings: 1992/1993 Pitts: 1st 119 points Mon: 6th 102 points 1993/1994 Pitts: 3rd 101 points Mon: 9th 96 points 1994/1995 (shorten season) Pitts: 3rd 61 points Mon: 17th 43 points 1995/1996 Pitts: 4th 102 points Mon: 9th 90 points 1996/1997 Pitts: 10th 84 points Mon: 17th 77 points 1997/1998 Pitts: 5th 98 points Mon: 12th 87 points 1998/1999 Pitts: 11th 90 points Mon: 19th 75 points 1999/2000 Pitts: 13th 88 points Mon 18th 83 points 2000/2001 Pitts: 9th 96 points Mon: 24th 70 points 2001/2002 Pitts: 26th 69 points Mon: 18th 87 points 2002/2003 Pitts: 29th 65 points Mon: 20th 77 points 2003/2004 Pitts: 30th 58 points Mon: 13th 93 points 2004/2005 Pitts: Strike No Season Mon: Strike No Season 2005/2006 Pitts: 29th 58 points Mon: 15th 93 points 2006/2007 Pitts: 10th 105 points Mon: 19th 90 points 2007/2008 Pitts: 4th 102 points Stanley Cup Finals Mon: 3rd 104 points 2008/2009 Pitts: 8th 99 points Stanley Cup Champs Mon: 13th 93 points Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billy-piton Posted June 15, 2009 Report Share Posted June 15, 2009 i don't think we should go the penguins' way. first of all, pens got very lucky taking a four really good guys in such a short time, but many other teams which were also tanking a lot had never built a dynasty. second, having so many high draft picks in the team isn't possible on a long run without heavily hurting a depth. i think this was the last chance for pens to win the cup. now, with malkin's 9m and staal's 4m cap hit contracts it will be a much more difficult to add enough quality players to repeat what they did current season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teststory Posted June 15, 2009 Report Share Posted June 15, 2009 Good point it all depends on who is available in the draft. Unfortunately Crosby and Malkin are not available every draft. The Pens are lucky to have gotten both players. There are teams out there that have lost a lot, but were unable to draft players like that. I guess it's a matter of tanking at the right time. The Pens were lucky to draft Mario/Jagr and then draft Crosby/Malkin. I haven't heard of any available that is of the calibur of these two guys at the moment. Sometimes it's better to find your own way to win instead of always trying to follow the path of the best teams. I'm not sure weather tanking is best or trying to build through trades, free agency, lucky late round picks. There isn't really a sure winning formula out there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocket-1 Posted June 15, 2009 Report Share Posted June 15, 2009 lol i can't talk about this anymore..... what team wouldn't like to have 2 first round draft pick and a 2nd choice overall within' 3 years. 03, 1st overall: Fleury. 04, 2nd overall: Malkin 05, 1st overall: Crosby Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DA_Champion Posted June 15, 2009 Report Share Posted June 15, 2009 I wonder if Penguins management saw that Malkin and Crosby and co were on the way, and that this was why they drafted Marc Andre Fleury when they did. There were clearly superior draft choices at first overall, such as Eric Staal, however, had they drafted Eric Staal they would have improved a lot faster and not gotten Crosby and Malkin, whereas drafting a goaltender is a long-term project - and implies future high draft picks as well. There are other recent examples to what Pittsburgh did. They are Chicago and Washington, though not as extreme, and hence probably why they're not as good. Carolina was in the conference finals off their 2nd overall pick in Eric Staal (the guy a rational team manager would have picked ahead of Marc-Andre Fleury). Detroit had Datsyuk in the 7th round, Zetterberg in the 6th and Lidstrom in the 3rd - incredible odds. Going below that, Vancouver drafted the Sedin twins at 2nd and 3rd overall, Anaheim had Bobby Ryan (2nd overall) and had good drafting in Getzlaf (21st overall). Boston built a team the regular way. Basically, Pittsburgh, Washington, Carolina and Chicago are 3 extreme examples of tanking to win; whereas Boston is the only feasible example of winning properly. ******* All that said, while I see tanking as a superior strategy overall, I oppose it for the habs now. The time to tank was last year, we could have picked up a gold mine off impending UFAs kovalev and komisarek, there's a very deep draft in 2009 and it's in Montreal. Now that opportunity has passed due to the short-sightedness of Gainey. Rather than having impending UFA and thus a lot of freedom, we will now be taking on long-term contracts. The 2010 NHL draft, from what I know, will not be nearly as deep. Our core moving forward is Markov, Hamrlik, Higgins, Plekanec, Latendresse, Price, Lapierre, and Andrei Kostitsyn. Right now we have them all for the next 2 years, and then they slowly leave after that. Rebuilding now would mean getting rid of half of them, we don't have the troops to do that and most of them are not even worth a 1st rounder. I think our best hope to win in the next five years is a "tune up", let our youth prospects sink or swim next year, structure contracts have a lot of cap space for the 2010 UFA season, and aim to win like Boston does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DA_Champion Posted June 15, 2009 Report Share Posted June 15, 2009 lol i can't talk about this anymore..... what team wouldn't like to have 2 first round draft pick and a 2nd choice overall within' 3 years. 03, 1st overall: Fleury. 04, 2nd overall: Malkin 05, 1st overall: Crosby I've given it some though, and I think they drafted Fleury as it would allow them to draft Malkin (or Ovechkin) and Crosby in the following years. Fleury was not the best player available, but more importantly, he would take a long-time to develop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruuvimeisseli Posted June 15, 2009 Report Share Posted June 15, 2009 Im ok with going for the first overall pick 1 year and next year make the playoffs. like the flyers because we have the dept to be a great team but we just need an elite center. Or like trade both of our 3rd round picks, Mcdonagh and Subban, for a top 4 pick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteenIsThaFuture Posted June 15, 2009 Report Share Posted June 15, 2009 Im ok with going for the first overall pick 1 year and next year make the playoffs. like the flyers because we have the dept to be a great team but we just need an elite center. Or like trade both of our 3rd round picks, Mcdonagh and Subban, for a top 4 pick. Technically it didn't work like that, Phillys pick, James van Riemsdyk the 2nd overall pick, is still playing college hockey. It takes a while for players to develop, even a sure thing like Stamkos didn't really dominate this year, not everyone is like Crosby, Ovie or Malkin who just step in and own the league. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RSD Posted June 15, 2009 Report Share Posted June 15, 2009 dont forget the pens werent going to the cup with the team as it was in january...they added kunitz and guerin to make a whole new line for crosby to be on so they could spread out their offense...im not sure they make it to the playoffs if they didnt add these two players... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patinwoody Posted June 15, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 15, 2009 Im ok with going for the first overall pick 1 year and next year make the playoffs. like the flyers because we have the dept to be a great team but we just need an elite center. Or like trade both of our 3rd round picks, Mcdonagh and Subban, for a top 4 pick. Yes, we would need another 'Guy Lafluer' type trade for a 1st rounder. But I don't think that exsist in today's NHL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kubby31 Posted June 15, 2009 Report Share Posted June 15, 2009 It takes a while for players to develop, even a sure thing like Stamkos didn't really dominate this year, If I'm correct,I remember media were beginning to get on him,started to second guess all the hype surrounding him,but ya it took him a while,but he then started to turn it around later in the season. But yes moneypuck,I know what your saying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacob_mtl Posted June 15, 2009 Report Share Posted June 15, 2009 yes because of we do get vincent l we will be doing ilke the penguins and we will have a superstar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
movetheleafs Posted June 16, 2009 Report Share Posted June 16, 2009 I don't trust that we have the right people that would be able to make the proper picks/trades. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mortwinkler Posted June 17, 2009 Report Share Posted June 17, 2009 I think regardless the next three season for the Habs aren't going to be good ones, whichever route they decide to take. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kubby31 Posted June 17, 2009 Report Share Posted June 17, 2009 I think regardless the next three season for the Habs aren't going to be good ones, whichever route they decide to take. Holy crap,Just got through gainey's 5yr plan,now it's another 3. Sucks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catt-_mtlc Posted June 17, 2009 Report Share Posted June 17, 2009 After this 5 year plan not working I think we need to try something else. With the Habs draft history however, even a few years of top draft picks might not help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironhorse Posted June 17, 2009 Report Share Posted June 17, 2009 wow everyone is so pessimistic on these boards. the way I see we were very close to putting up a similar if not better record than 07/08. you think if Tanguay, Lang, Higgins and all the injuries we had, were even in the lineup for half the games they missed then we would have squeaked out atleast 3-4 more wins. then we wouldn't be talking about re-building or another 3 year plan or whatever. all bob needs to do now is bring most of these guys back, beef up the defense a little and get some size down the middle( if we don't resign lang) and I believe we will be near the top of the conference next season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catt-_mtlc Posted June 17, 2009 Report Share Posted June 17, 2009 wow everyone is so pessimistic on these boards. the way I see we were very close to putting up a similar if not better record than 07/08. you think if Tanguay, Lang, Higgins and all the injuries we had, were even in the lineup for half the games they missed then we would have squeaked out atleast 3-4 more wins. then we wouldn't be talking about re-building or another 3 year plan or whatever. all bob needs to do now is bring most of these guys back, beef up the defense a little and get some size down the middle( if we don't resign lang) and I believe we will be near the top of the conference next season. I can only speak for myself but I feel pessimistic mainly because we don't really have a team at the moment plus this possible change of ownership is coming at a bad time. We're only a couple of weeks away from the July 1st free agency deadline and none of our free agents are signed yet. On top of that we had a so-so year and alot of our players regressed including and most importantly Price. If we would have been free of injuries like in 07/08 I'm sure we would have done alot better. This team is in a rebuilding phase whether we would like to admit it or not. I just feel like we're a long way from the Detroit's and Pittsburgh's in the league and that leaves me less optimistic by the day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironhorse Posted June 17, 2009 Report Share Posted June 17, 2009 I can agree with you there I don't see us as a legit contender yet. And yes we don't really have a team right now you're right so it's hard to predict what will happen next season. But I trust in Bob as long as he's the man calling the shots. As someone said in a previous thread I think the team is somewhere in between the team that finished 1st in 07/08 and the team that finished 8th this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thefooligan5 Posted June 22, 2009 Report Share Posted June 22, 2009 I've given it some though, and I think they drafted Fleury as it would allow them to draft Malkin (or Ovechkin) and Crosby in the following years. Fleury was not the best player available, but more importantly, he would take a long-time to develop. That sounds good but considering the league uses a lottery for the bottom teams it seems like a senseless risk to take especially when there was no guarantee that Malkin would even leave Russia to come play in the NHL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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