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Poll of the Week


BigTed3

  

17 members have voted

  1. 1. Who should be the Canadiens' 2nd line center going forward?

    • David Desharnais
    • Lars Eller
    • Scott Gomez


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A controversial decision... is Gomez still the best choice despite his struggles? Is DD's early-season success enough for you? Is Eller ready? We want to know who you think should be the 2nd line center (in terms of minutes and linemates) for the rest of the year once everyone is healthy...

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I voted Eller, although for me its a toss up between him and Gomez.

As far as I am concerned, DD should be in the bottom six. There is no question he is a useful member of this team and provides strong value for his contract, but he has neither the size, the vision or the defensive prowess to un-seed either Eller or Gomez.

I think that on paper - even with his struggles - Gomez is the better option right now, today. That said, Eller is unquestionably the more likely long-term solution and I think he's close enough that with the right line-mates and minutes, he could already outperform Gomez (and learn/improve his game while doing so). Personally, I would look at a 2 / 2a system. When everyone is healthy, we clearly have some strong wingers for both to play with. The biggest difference right now between whomever gets 2nd line and 3rd line centring duties is ice time and PP time. I would try to balance that out between both Eller and Gomez.

On the flip side, giving Gomez 2nd line ice time, wingers etc, would give him an opportunity to get his game going & frankly that may be all it takes to make him valuable as a tradable commodity come deadline. If someone was to take him, they would be on the hook considerably less in real money for the next 2 years than they would in cap hit (and there's still a chance of a cap buyout this summer with the new CBA).

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Guest habs1952

Going forward Lars is the easiest choice, hes got the size and skill just needs the tiem to develop, keep gomez this season and if we can buy him out do it. If we can buy him out adn sign him to a cheaper contract definitely do it.

I don't think that is allowed. I think if you buy a player out your not allowed to sign him for a year.

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Guest habs1952

I didnt know that, but with the CBA ending if we get the free buy out period wouldnt that mean we have a free signing period?

A: The Habs buy out Gomez

B: The CBA expires therefore you won't see any players signing

C: The new CBA contains the same clause pertaining to bought out players not eligible to resign with the team that bought them out.(I'm not 100% sure about this but I don't think teams can re-sign a player they've bought out)

D: Why in the world would you want to re-sign Gomez? :blink::lol: :lol:

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A: The Habs buy out Gomez

B: The CBA expires therefore you won't see any players signing

C: The new CBA contains the same clause pertaining to bought out players not eligible to resign with the team that bought them out.(I'm not 100% sure about this but I don't think teams can re-sign a player they've bought out)

D: Why in the world would you want to re-sign Gomez? :blink::lol: :lol:

well if we get him cheap on a 1-2 year deal he holds the fort for very little money until eller is ready and then were not playing the 7 million dollar man on the third line

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Guest habs1952

At this point in time I picked Gomez but I would love to see a line of Patches/Eller/Cole. If the season starts going south then I'd scratch Gomez and move Eller to the second line just to get a head start on next year.

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I voted DD, but the more I think about going forward the more I think Eller.

And who am I kidding I like Eller more than Desharnais. But in that moment I was thinking about Desharnais and just kind of what he has been providing for us at the moment.

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I voted DD, but the more I think about going forward the more I think Eller.

And who am I kidding I like Eller more than Desharnais. But in that moment I was thinking about Desharnais and just kind of what he has been providing for us at the moment.

who's that pastry in your avatar :lol:

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Going forward, as in next season? Or going forward, as in for the rest of this season?

Going forward. It was intended to mean the rest of this year (once they're all healthy), since we don't know who'll be here next season, but I suppose you can interpret the question however you want.

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Was curious to see how people would vote on this one. I voted for Gomez, and I'm going to explain why.

There seems to be a lot of support for Eller, but I think much of this is based on his being likely to be the best of the bunch 2 or 3 years from now. I know people are excited to see what he can do in a top 6 role, but while he's shown flashes of offensive talent, he's also shown stretches of immaturity as a hockey player, much like PK Subban. Last year, Subban had Hamrlik and Wisniewski to lean on. This year, with Markov out, he's been asked to be the general on the point, and it shows that he misses having some support back there. In Eller's case, we have two guys (Gomez and DD) whose games are more advanced right now. And while it doesn't mean their raw skill is better, I think each of DD and Gomez is ahead of Eller on the depth chart right now. I would advocate for keeping Eller at center on a lower line, since that's where he's at his best and where we should hope he'll be playing for us for years. No sense in playing him as a winger for a year or two then trying to switch him back.

DD has done fairly well in the 2nd line spot at present, but again, Gomez is the more complete player. I think DD is the better passer from inside the blue line, but Gomez is a superior puck carrier, defensive player, and puck protector down low. With respect to this season, Gomez gives us the best combination of skills to allow us to win games.

The most important factor for me though is what we lose/gain by moving each of these guys around the line-up. If you put Eller in as the second line center, suddenly you have DD and Gomez as your 3rd and 4th line centers in some order. That makes two set-up men playing with lesser wingers like Moen, Darche, Nokelainen, Palushaj, etc. It just doesn't make sense. You're now essentially wasting all the centering skills of each player (DD and Gomez) AND you're putting pressure on the youngest center on the team (Eller) to have to produce. I realize we all want to see what Eller can do, but in the big picture of things, there's no need to rush him and it's not in the best interest of the team. Let Eller play with AK or whoever else on the 3rd line and develop confidence from favorable match-ups. Let him develop his game so that when we do ask him to play a top 6 role, he's not over-whelmed by it. And let the guys (Gomez > DD) who need to play with skill players (and know how to use them better) do so.

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Was curious to see how people would vote on this one. I voted for Gomez, and I'm going to explain why.

There seems to be a lot of support for Eller, but I think much of this is based on his being likely to be the best of the bunch 2 or 3 years from now. I know people are excited to see what he can do in a top 6 role, but while he's shown flashes of offensive talent, he's also shown stretches of immaturity as a hockey player, much like PK Subban. Last year, Subban had Hamrlik and Wisniewski to lean on. This year, with Markov out, he's been asked to be the general on the point, and it shows that he misses having some support back there. In Eller's case, we have two guys (Gomez and DD) whose games are more advanced right now. And while it doesn't mean their raw skill is better, I think each of DD and Gomez is ahead of Eller on the depth chart right now. I would advocate for keeping Eller at center on a lower line, since that's where he's at his best and where we should hope he'll be playing for us for years. No sense in playing him as a winger for a year or two then trying to switch him back.

DD has done fairly well in the 2nd line spot at present, but again, Gomez is the more complete player. I think DD is the better passer from inside the blue line, but Gomez is a superior puck carrier, defensive player, and puck protector down low. With respect to this season, Gomez gives us the best combination of skills to allow us to win games.

The most important factor for me though is what we lose/gain by moving each of these guys around the line-up. If you put Eller in as the second line center, suddenly you have DD and Gomez as your 3rd and 4th line centers in some order. That makes two set-up men playing with lesser wingers like Moen, Darche, Nokelainen, Palushaj, etc. It just doesn't make sense. You're now essentially wasting all the centering skills of each player (DD and Gomez) AND you're putting pressure on the youngest center on the team (Eller) to have to produce. I realize we all want to see what Eller can do, but in the big picture of things, there's no need to rush him and it's not in the best interest of the team. Let Eller play with AK or whoever else on the 3rd line and develop confidence from favorable match-ups. Let him develop his game so that when we do ask him to play a top 6 role, he's not over-whelmed by it. And let the guys (Gomez > DD) who need to play with skill players (and know how to use them better) do so.

I agree. But I don't want Eller on the 4th line either. I want him to play on the 3rd line with AK and DD. I mean once Gomez is back we should try to use DD at wing. Most likely Eller is in our plans for the future and DD isn't. So let Eller be the center.

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Going forward. It was intended to mean the rest of this year (once they're all healthy), since we don't know who'll be here next season, but I suppose you can interpret the question however you want.

Going forward for the remainder of the season I guess I would stick with Scott. I like Lars in his role on the third line centering Kostitsyn and [insert name here] on the other wing. I'm also not sure if Lars is ready to manage the second line role. I guess experience would tell, but I think Scott may be better suited for the role as this season plays out. I also believe we NEED to get Scott scoring. Like, for real. Desperately. If we are to have any change of moving him in the off-season he's going to need to do SOMETHING this season. We might as well try to put him in the best position to succeed as the second half of the season rolls around.

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DD the rest of this season.

Eller is an ideal 3rd line center with heavy special team rotation.

Gomez isn't bad, he's just simply not as productive as DD nor does he possess any untapped potential like Eller.

Long run, get DD value up and trade him for someone with size.

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