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I won't accept 7D no MORE :lol:

Once Markov is back on the ice, we should roll the following:

Subban-Gorges

Emelin-Markov

Kaberle-Diaz

Kaberle and Diaz worked pretty well together until the constant D-rotation made both of them worse.

No, Campoli? I am going to cry...

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I won't accept 7D no MORE :lol:

Once Markov is back on the ice, we should roll 8 the following:

Subban-Gorges

Emelin-Markov

Kaberle-Diaz

Kaberle and Diaz worked pretty well together until the constant D-rotation made both of them worse.

Fixed B)

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Wanna now why the NFL is the best league in sports: Peyton Manning was released today. PEYTON MANNING. Nobody is untouchable in the NFL.

Hockey doesn't have the heart to send Gomez to the minors where he can still collect his cheque meanwhile a living legend that built an entire stadium and NFL franchise can be released in a "classy" way. The NFL is so corporately polished that they managed to convince him to smile for cameras while they held the bloody knife behind him. Watch and learn NHL.

Do I love it? No but that's business. Our Habs don't conduct with class anymore(cammy, Martin, spacek, gill departures) so if they're gonna go corporate they should at least model themselves after a successful one.

Send Gomez to the AHL with a video tribute and a letter thanking him for his service.

Ice:

Pacioretty DD Cole

Bourque Plekanec Leblanc

Geoffrion Eller Palushaj

Staubitz Enqvist White

Gorges Subban

Markov Emelin

Kaberle Diaz

Budaj

Build for the future like the Colts. It may not be classy but a team with Youppi in the stands, players traded in the middle of shifts, lameduck coaches and medical coverups is in no position to claim the high road. It's long since been detoured.

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Yea I am aware. Just another sign that the NFL owners ultimately rule their sport. It still takes a lot of guts to hold a conference showing yourself literally shoving a legend out the door. Wouldn't happen in the NHL.

All I'm asking is to have the hutzpah to send him to the minors. Yea, you still have pay his salary but how much money does missing the playoffs cost you? not having a marquee offensive star to sell jerseys? As a businessman, you have to make this move.

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Wanna now why the NFL is the best league in sports: Peyton Manning was released today. PEYTON MANNING. Nobody is untouchable in the NFL.

Hockey doesn't have the heart to send Gomez to the minors where he can still collect his cheque meanwhile a living legend that built an entire stadium and NFL franchise can be released in a "classy" way. The NFL is so corporately polished that they managed to convince him to smile for cameras while they held the bloody knife behind him. Watch and learn NHL.

Do I love it? No but that's business. Our Habs don't conduct with class anymore(cammy, Martin, spacek, gill departures) so if they're gonna go corporate they should at least model themselves after a successful one.

Send Gomez to the AHL with a video tribute and a letter thanking him for his service.

Just to comment on Peyton. The cameras caught him yesterday in his car. They quickly asked him how he felt about everything and he looked happy. I'm sure he's fine with moving on, however hard it might be. He's going to get to sign a BRAND, NEW, EXPENSIVE contract with an up and coming team, and he'll probably win another Superbowl in the next three or four years.

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While waiting for Leblanc to join the team (again), lines at practice today were as follows:

Pacioretty-Plekanec-Cole

Bourque-Eller-White

Geoffrion-Gomez-Palushaj

Staubitz-Nokelainen

Desharnais and Diaz were not there, injured, and Markov was back after missing yesterday with the flu.

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Please Randy for one game at any point this week:

Pacioretty Desharnais Cole

Bourque Plekanec Leblanc

Geoffrion Eller Palushaj

Staubitz Nokelainen White

Gorges Subban

Markov Emelin

Kaberle Diaz

Price

1 game, that's all I ask. 1 full game. 12 forwards in appropriate roles and 6 defenseman in appropriate roles.

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Projected lines:

White-Plekanec-Bourque

Cole-Desharnais-Pacioretty

Eller-Gomez-Leblanc

Geoffrion-Nokelainen-Staubitz

Gorges-Subban

Emelin-Markov

Kaberle-Diaz

If we're going to move Eller to the wing, can we at least play him with Plekanec? In what way, shape or form is White a better option on that line? That's not a dig on White, it just seems like there's an obvious switch here where you can get two guys actually playing roles they're more suited for.

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Now that we have some idea that Markov could be back to full strength by next season, this is where the D possibly goes from here... in all cases, I'm assuming Weber and Campoli are not back:

Scenario A (stay with what's in house):

Gorges-Subban

Markov-Emelin

Kaberle-Diaz

St-Denis

In this case, we have two decent pairings, but like this season, we're taking some risk with them because everything essentially has to go right for this to work: Markov's knee has to hold up, there can't be other injuries, and two fringe top-4 guys (Gorges and Emelin) have to play to their maximum potential. The 3rd pairing gives you decent puck movement and a 2nd PP unit, but it's shaky defensively. Here, the "top 4" features a guy playing on the wrong side and it demands that each guy play the penalty kill and give us big minutes.

Scenario B (get a mid-level pick-up):

Gorges-Subban

Markov-???

Emelin-Diaz

Kaberle

Here, you try to sign or acquire someone who can play the right side in a more defensive role, but who can give you top 4 minutes. It allows Emelin to shift back over and it gives you another option on the kill, so that we don't need to put too much stress on Markov in that role. However, it leaves us with a conundrum with respect to Kaberle and where he plays. Diaz is a righty and so likely draws in ahead, but that leaves us with a 4.25M scratch.

Scenario C (get a top-level pick-up):

Emelin-Subban

Markov-???

Gorges-Diaz

Kaberle

In this scenario, you instantly solidify the top 4 and give yourselves something legitimate, with two potential subs into the top 4 in the event of injury (Gorges and Kaberle). Once again, we're a bit stuck with Kaberle, but at least here, everyone else is in a more reasonable role. Having Gorges on the 3rd pairing also allows us to move him to the right and draw Tomas in to the left side with a defensively-sound partner. The downside is obviously cost and whether anyone is actually available.

There are obviously other scenarios that tweak these combinations a little, but this is essentially what we have in terms of options. In any case, it would be nice to be able to move Tomas, now that we have an abundance of puck-moving D men and to bring in a guy with a bit more size, toughness, and defensive ability. St-Denis can very easily slot into the 7th spot at a much lower cap hit. To me, addressing the need for a top 4 shutdown guy is one of PG's two most important tasks (along with finding a 2nd line left winger) for the off-season.

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Now that we have some idea that Markov could be back to full strength by next season, this is where the D possibly goes from here... in all cases, I'm assuming Weber and Campoli are not back:

Scenario A (stay with what's in house):

Gorges-Subban

Markov-Emelin

Kaberle-Diaz

St-Denis

In this case, we have two decent pairings, but like this season, we're taking some risk with them because everything essentially has to go right for this to work: Markov's knee has to hold up, there can't be other injuries, and two fringe top-4 guys (Gorges and Emelin) have to play to their maximum potential. The 3rd pairing gives you decent puck movement and a 2nd PP unit, but it's shaky defensively. Here, the "top 4" features a guy playing on the wrong side and it demands that each guy play the penalty kill and give us big minutes.

Scenario B (get a mid-level pick-up):

Gorges-Subban

Markov-???

Emelin-Diaz

Kaberle

Here, you try to sign or acquire someone who can play the right side in a more defensive role, but who can give you top 4 minutes. It allows Emelin to shift back over and it gives you another option on the kill, so that we don't need to put too much stress on Markov in that role. However, it leaves us with a conundrum with respect to Kaberle and where he plays. Diaz is a righty and so likely draws in ahead, but that leaves us with a 4.25M scratch.

Scenario C (get a top-level pick-up):

Emelin-Subban

Markov-???

Gorges-Diaz

Kaberle

In this scenario, you instantly solidify the top 4 and give yourselves something legitimate, with two potential subs into the top 4 in the event of injury (Gorges and Kaberle). Once again, we're a bit stuck with Kaberle, but at least here, everyone else is in a more reasonable role. Having Gorges on the 3rd pairing also allows us to move him to the right and draw Tomas in to the left side with a defensively-sound partner. The downside is obviously cost and whether anyone is actually available.

There are obviously other scenarios that tweak these combinations a little, but this is essentially what we have in terms of options. In any case, it would be nice to be able to move Tomas, now that we have an abundance of puck-moving D men and to bring in a guy with a bit more size, toughness, and defensive ability. St-Denis can very easily slot into the 7th spot at a much lower cap hit. To me, addressing the need for a top 4 shutdown guy is one of PG's two most important tasks (along with finding a 2nd line left winger) for the off-season.

I think we're going to be stuck with Tomas and we should just move ahead under that premise.

At this point, we need to look outside the organization for help IMO but probably for a lower-mid tier veteran. I think we probably go with a top 4 of Subban, Markov, Emelin and Gorges so we go ahead and find a physical, defense oriented partner for Kaberle on pairing 3.

Diaz's play has fallen to the point that I don't mind sliding him into a 7th role.

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I think we're going to be stuck with Tomas and we should just move ahead under that premise.

At this point, we need to look outside the organization for help IMO but probably for a lower-mid tier veteran. I think we probably go with a top 4 of Subban, Markov, Emelin and Gorges so we go ahead and find a physical, defense oriented partner for Kaberle on pairing 3.

Diaz's play has fallen to the point that I don't mind sliding him into a 7th role.

+1. Mid level vet you can get on a 2 year deal. It's already bad cap management to have 4.25M guy hidden at even strength working our 2nd PP unit. We simply can't have him as an extra defenseman.

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+1. Mid level vet you can get on a 2 year deal. It's already bad cap management to have 4.25M guy hidden at even strength working our 2nd PP unit. We simply can't have him as an extra defenseman.

It's bad cap management, sure, but I don't think that you can let player salaries or cap hits play any part in your decisions as a coach. At this point Kaberle's $4M is a sunk cost - we're paying him the same way whether he plays on the first pairing or he sits in the press box every single game.

It's like if you buy a used car for a few thousand and then immediately it breaks down and you find out that you're going to have to pay thousands of dollars to get it repaired with no guarantees how long it will last before the next repair bill. You made a mistake buying the car, sure, but at some point you're probably better off just buying a new car and at least minimizing the cost of that mistake.

Having said all that, however, I don't think that this situation actually applies in Kaberle's case :). I agree with dwdemonwolf on this one: give Kabs a steady defensive partner and I real defensive system and I think that he can still be a fine second-paiting guy.

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