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The Habs Pre-season


flames4eva

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Management, players, media and posters have said, "Its just the preseason"... but where for some it seems to be not so important it has others wondering about the team they are supporting. To me its a dud as far as the NHL is concerned.

Training camps are too large, too short and then there is a compressed pre-season schedule where the young Hockey players are showcased and judged on too small a suspect sample to be of any true evaluation value, while vets use it to work out kinks get in game shape knowing that their performance is secondary to the fact they have signed contracts.

What's the point? Selling a few more tickets?

Wannabees playing wannabees happens every game during a minor pro season but very little value seems to be given to that aspect... players that excel there are guaranteed very little in terms of progressing a career. Yet in a game where vets are not playing up to snuff the young players play a make or break game with very few openings truly available.

And so it is with our Habs. What does it mean to you? Important or not? Useful or not? Why and/or why not?

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Personally i would prefer to see the pre season longer. Maybe start it up mid August. Also the schedule could be alot better 5 games in 6 games seems a little much. If you want to have that many or even more games then spread them out over the entire month of September.

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nothing is on the line so its pointless hockey, but some guys need these few games to get with it like Price,Spacek,Gill for example.. other guys like Plekanec and Cammalleri are in mid season form so other than a few guys needing some pre games its pointless

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Preseason to me, is a way for prospects to earn or lose spots, veterans to work into game shape for the season, and coaches to evaluate the merits and drawbacks of systems, matchups, set plays, lines, and adjustment strategies. Winning and losing are completely irrelevant IMO.

I donno i find it to be a big deal because its the first hockey that i've seen in Montreal got eliminated by the Flyers. I love pre-season hockey but i must admit that i make to big of a deal about it. It's entertaining. But you have to focus on the positives and the prospects in pre-season not what the scoreboard ends up so i think you are very right.

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Important in terms of getting back into game shape for the guys coming back to the team. You can't just throw them into full out regular season hockey, they'll end up with strains of all sorts.

Important to work out the kinks in systems, special teams, goal-tending etc. It's just a way for guys to get back into "game shape", which shouldn't be confused with being "in shape". Even if they're working out off ice or even on ice during the summer, they haven't played an NHL paced game since April-May. Thus, they need the 5-8 games in the pre-season to get back into that form and let the body re-adjust.

For the rookies, it's important because the staff gets a chance to see the strengths and weakness of each player and can give them some input on what they need to work on. Those going to Hamilton get an idea of what needs to be done, so they get a chance to get a look with the big club.

In terms of assessing how a team is actually going to do in the regular season? Pre-season isn't that important, you could suck all pre-season and come out the gate flying. I always believe the regular season is jockeying for position and even then, if you make the playoffs as the #1 seed you could find yourself eliminated before you can say "Et Le But".

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Important in terms of getting back into game shape for the guys coming back to the team. You can't just throw them into full out regular season hockey, they'll end up with strains of all sorts.

Important to work out the kinks in systems, special teams, goal-tending etc. It's just a way for guys to get back into "game shape", which shouldn't be confused with being "in shape". Even if they're working out off ice or even on ice during the summer, they haven't played an NHL paced game since April-May. Thus, they need the 5-8 games in the pre-season to get back into that form and let the body re-adjust.

For the rookies, it's important because the staff gets a chance to see the strengths and weakness of each player and can give them some input on what they need to work on. Those going to Hamilton get an idea of what needs to be done, so they get a chance to get a look with the big club.

In terms of assessing how a team is actually going to do in the regular season? Pre-season isn't that important, you could suck all pre-season and come out the gate flying. I always believe the regular season is jockeying for position and even then, if you make the playoffs as the #1 seed you could find yourself eliminated before you can say "Et Le But".

Excellent post. And case in point for the fact that thier is a big difference in what happens in Pre-Season and what happens in the actual NHL Season: The leafs won 6 games in pre-season last year.

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Preseason to me, is a way for prospects to earn or lose spots, veterans to work into game shape for the season, and coaches to evaluate the merits and drawbacks of systems, matchups, set plays, lines, and adjustment strategies. Winning and losing are completely irrelevant IMO.

That's pretty much it exactly. While I wouldn't say winning and losing are completely irrelevant (they can help to magnify what works or isn't working with the new experiments, systems, players, etc) they aren't overly important. If nothing else, preseason serves as a good place to condition players and try some new things, as well as give young players a risk-free look rather than eating up important time in games that count.

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preseason isn't important towards entertainment level. IT is more important for the habs organization to see which rookies and young talent they have so they can see how they perform.

As to the NHL players, the preseason is just a way to get into the "habit" again. Its like a warm up. Scores dont matter IMO. Win or Losses dont matter either.

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Preseason to me, is a way for prospects to earn or lose spots, veterans to work into game shape for the season, and coaches to evaluate the merits and drawbacks of systems, matchups, set plays, lines, and adjustment strategies. Winning and losing are completely irrelevant IMO.

Once again Weeps you are bang on

+100

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As a life long Detroit Lions fan, I can assure that preseason wins/losses are irrelevant :)

I was gonna make mention of the 4-0 preseason, 0-16 Regular Season Lions. Thanks for sparing me the trouble. As a Packers fan if just felt like bragging. ;)

And on topic...The preseason is a very important time, but it has NOTHING to do with the fans. It is for the players, the prospects and the coaches to work out the kinks and develop a gameplan. Fans should feel privileged to be allowed to watch it at all.

GO HABS GO!!!!!!

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Another pre-season bonus is that the young kids get a taste of the NHL game. Sure there are lots of other rookies around and the vets aren't probably playing quite up to stuff, but for a lot of them it's the closest they're going to get to world-class competition. Playing against people that are better than you is a great way to find out where you need to improve.

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Preseason is VERY important.

Management gets to sell extra tickets and beer. The coaches get to evaluate players and strategies. The fans get to practice yelling at the top of their lungs. And since the games are meaningless, nobody riots or burns police cars when it's over.

What's not to love about all that? :D

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Preseason is VERY important.

Management gets to sell extra tickets and beer. The coaches get to evaluate players and strategies. The fans get to practice yelling at the top of their lungs. And since the games are meaningless, nobody riots or burns police cars when it's over.

What's not to love about all that? :D

So basically, hockey as how it was meant to be; a simple fun game? :D

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It's not all that important.

In fact, the first half of the regular season is not all that important. Not these days.

The NHL season has become like an ultra marathon: you want to be around for, and jelling, and in good shape, and uninjured when the race really gets going. In the NHL now, that is the last 1/3-to-40% of the regular season, plus the play-offs.

You can poop yourself out going at it too hard, and worrying too much, early on.

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