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#20 Manny Malhotra 2014-2015


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This was proven by who Therrien had on the ice for the last 20 seconds of the Avs games with the faceoff in the Habs zone.

Same against Boston. Pleki's line was on the ice late in the third for faceoffs in our zone and Malhotra was taking them then immediately going back to the bench for Galchenyuk to get on.

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Same against Boston. Pleki's line was on the ice late in the third for faceoffs in our zone and Malhotra was taking them then immediately going back to the bench for Galchenyuk to get on.

Two centremen at that point ... don't need more offense.

Habs had thinking hats on over the past year, and did their work with analytics. Either that, or its all hunches. :) Anyways, there's clearly a new focus on face-offs. Habs are even third in the League (last I looked) in the circle.

Now, Gallagher is taking the right side face-offs both ends for the DD line, DD taking the left side. Well, except after that icing with that line on and the lineman wouldn't let Gallagher take the right side face-off :huh: What was that about?!? The rule can't be "centreman has to take it" ... it's gotta be first guy who steps up takes it, staying in.

At any rate ....

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Two centremen at that point ... don't need more offense.

Habs had thinking hats on over the past year, and did their work with analytics. Either that, or its all hunches. :) Anyways, there's clearly a new focus on face-offs. Habs are even third in the League (last I looked) in the circle.

Now, Gallagher is taking the right side face-offs both ends for the DD line, DD taking the left side. Well, except after that icing with that line on and the lineman wouldn't let Gallagher take the right side face-off :huh: What was that about?!? The rule can't be "centreman has to take it" ... it's gotta be first guy who steps up takes it, staying in.

At any rate ....

I'm glad they did, 2 years ago we had one of the worst FO % in the league. Hard to be a puck possession team when you lose the draws.

I did notice a slight improvement in the FO's last season, DD started winning more, so did Pleks, Eller improved his % and white was always decent on draws.

Malhotra has definitely come as advertised... PK guy who wins draws. Really, the whole team has improved in that area. Like I said before, hard to be a puck possession team when you're not winning many FO's.

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Malhotra has definitely come as advertised... PK guy who wins draws. Really, the whole team has improved in that area. Like I said before, hard to be a puck possession team when you're not winning many FO's.

I really, really like Mike Babcock ... smart, smart, honest/frank, and never blows his cool or disrespects anyone.

After Detroit loss to Montreal 10/21 he cited two key factors:

  • Detroit lost too many key face-offs (thank you Malhotra et al ... I think Pleks had the worst Montreal face-off stat for the game ... at 59% !!)
  • Carey Price's puck-handling

If the Leafs don't throw the bank at Babcock, they are stupid. Well, yeah, I know that ... that's true anyways about the Leafs. But, they should still throw the bank at him anyway. Best coach in hockey.

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I really, really like Mike Babcock ... smart, smart, honest/frank, and never blows his cool or disrespects anyone.

After Detroit loss to Montreal 10/21 he cited two key factors:

  • Detroit lost too many key face-offs (thank you Malhotra et al ... I think Pleks had the worst Montreal face-off stat for the game ... at 59% !!)
  • Carey Price's puck-handling

If the Leafs don't throw the bank at Babcock, they are stupid. Well, yeah, I know that ... that's true anyways about the Leafs. But, they should still throw the bank at him anyway. Best coach in hockey.

If i'm Babcock, i resign with a decent organization like the Wings and stay as far away as possible from that coach killing team in T.O.

Money is nice but your sanity is more important.

Gotta say,,,,Malhotra has been a breath of fresh air for us in the circle.

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If i'm Babcock, i resign with a decent organization like the Wings and stay as far away as possible from that coach killing team in T.O.

Money is nice but your sanity is more important.

A couple of things:

1) Toronto can offer Money - and proximity to family although coaching in Detroit isnt that much further. Still, I could see him viewing location as a slight advantage.

2) You mention that TO is a coach-killing team...and I agree - BUT - the biggest problem there has been management & Babcock strikes me as the type of guy who would tell management "this is what i need, go get it" vs. a guy like Carlisle who will just 'be a good soldier' and use what they give him. I think Babcock would have a strong hand in molding that team. Its not that I want him to coach TO (although part of me would like for them to get better so they actually offer us competition.. there's a reason why the bruins have taken over as our main rivals!) but i think that if he did make that decision, he is one of the few people who could possibly make it work out right.

Gotta say,,,,Malhotra has been a breath of fresh air for us in the circle.

People always talked about Perrault but the wonderful thing about Malholtra is that if he loses the draw - especially a key late defensive zone faceoff - unlike perrault, he's one of the better defensive players on the team.

I used to cringe when Perrault would go out late in the game on a defensive zone draw & lose because then, not only have you lost the draw, you also have a marginal (at best) defensive player on the ice - but with Malholtra, he's pretty much as good as any of our defensively responsible forwards. Its a definite win win.

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This is the malhotra thread, how did it become the mike Babcock thread? :lol:

On that, Toronto might throw tons of money his way, but you know sather hates to be outdone, it'll probably end up a bidding war. :lol:

Don't you see how we slyly tossed Malhotra into the conversation?? :lol: :lol:

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  • 2 months later...

TSN posting the players in the league who have the lowest percentage of scoring chances for-to-against (i.e. similar to Corsi but for scoring chances instead of shots). Dead last in the league is Manny Malhotra at 30%. Next come three Sabres. But for a guy who wins draws and gives his team possession more than 50% of the time to start the shift, his lines are being outchanced more than 2-to-1 with him on, meaning they don't retain possession nor are they effective at generating chances nor are they effective at keeping the other team away from scoring. It's clear Malhotra is good at face-offs, but he seems to be a one-trick pony. He's certainly not the defensive stalwart he was made out to be when he was signed, and if he's not that, what is he really being kept around for? I have a hard time believing we wouldn't be better off with Thomas, Andrighetto, DLR, or Dumont in the line-up.

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At first I really liked him because he allowed Pleks to play more of an offensive role. However, I have to agree. He's a great faceoff guy and is good on the PK, but brings literally nothing offensively/possession wise. We have great 4th line players in Prust, Bournival and Weise, but they are having a hard time chipping in offensively like they did last year with Malholtra centering them.

I'd rather a guy like Brodziak, Goc, Lapierre (all of whom are FA this off season).

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He played pretty well last night. The 4th line as a whole was pretty stellar.

Malholtra, to me, looks a lot worse when he has to carry that 4th line. if he has 2 strong wingers he is way more effective. I would really really like to see Prust stay on that 4th line if we're keeping Malholtra there.

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I have no problem keeping Malhotra in the lineup right now. Yes, our fourth line has been pretty weak all year long, but a smart coach will make use of Malhotra when required and staple him to the bench when required. I really like the impact his acquisition has had on our overall face-off game.

If only we had one of those :lol:

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I have no problem keeping Malhotra in the lineup right now. Yes, our fourth line has been pretty weak all year long, but a smart coach will make use of Malhotra when required and staple him to the bench when required. I really like the impact his acquisition has had on our overall face-off game.

He's possibly helped other players on the draw, but he could do that as a roving coach in our system. Eller, DD, Plekanec, etc. have all been decent on the draw in their own right (we were #1 in the league in face-offs as of last week, not sure if we still are). But why spend a line-up spot on Malhotra when your better players are winning draws? He's a lefty like the rest of them, so he doesn't add much value to what would be there without him. I'd rather get a player like Thomas, Andrighetto, Dumont, etc. in and bring skills we could use more frequently.

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What does the man have to do to score :blink: ?

Probably possess the puck in the offensive zone. I mean, it's theoretically possible to score while hemmed in your own zone (be the last man to touch the puck and have the opposition shoot it into their own, empty net?) but it's difficult.

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  • 1 month later...

I still don't believe Malhotra deserves to be in the starting 12. That being said, it's always nice to see a guy like Malhotra or Parros or Laraque get one after working hard for it. I know his teammates were happy for him, and I think it's good for morale to have a guy with no luck break through and get one.

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