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2014-2015 Training Camp and Pre-Season


ColRouleBleu

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Two bits of discouraging news from Therrien's press conference today:

1. He reinforced that the decision to play Galchenyuk at center was for training camp and that he was happy with his 4 centers already in position. It means the team is still being too short-sighted to move past Desharnais and develop the players who can actually help us here long-term and with higher potential.

2. He stated that there was no reason to have a young defenceman make the team just to sit in the press box as the team's 7th D man. This was seemingly in reference to Beaulieu, Tinordi, and Pateryn. This is extremely scary, as it really makes me worry the team will go with someone like Bouillon or maybe Drewiske as the 7th D man. I agree that the young guys can't sit in the press box all season, but that's why you rotate guys in and out of the line-up as needed. I don't think there's much advantage to sending Beaulieu back to Hamilton, seeing as he was already good enough to play in the NHL last year. I also don't see much benefit to Pateryn going back there for a full season, since he's already played a couple of seasons there in addition to playing 4 full seasons of university hockey. Maybe you could argue Tinordi could still improve in the AHL, but regardless there's no reason to bring back Bouillon at the expense of those young players getting NHL experience.

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Two bits of discouraging news from Therrien's press conference today:

1. He reinforced that the decision to play Galchenyuk at center was for training camp and that he was happy with his 4 centers already in position. It means the team is still being too short-sighted to move past Desharnais and develop the players who can actually help us here long-term and with higher potential.

2. He stated that there was no reason to have a young defenceman make the team just to sit in the press box as the team's 7th D man. This was seemingly in reference to Beaulieu, Tinordi, and Pateryn. This is extremely scary, as it really makes me worry the team will go with someone like Bouillon or maybe Drewiske as the 7th D man. I agree that the young guys can't sit in the press box all season, but that's why you rotate guys in and out of the line-up as needed. I don't think there's much advantage to sending Beaulieu back to Hamilton, seeing as he was already good enough to play in the NHL last year. I also don't see much benefit to Pateryn going back there for a full season, since he's already played a couple of seasons there in addition to playing 4 full seasons of university hockey. Maybe you could argue Tinordi could still improve in the AHL, but regardless there's no reason to bring back Bouillon at the expense of those young players getting NHL experience.

That's just sad. MT's foresight is not his strong suit. :(

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Two bits of discouraging news from Therrien's press conference today:

1. He reinforced that the decision to play Galchenyuk at center was for training camp and that he was happy with his 4 centers already in position. It means the team is still being too short-sighted to move past Desharnais and develop the players who can actually help us here long-term and with higher potential.

2. He stated that there was no reason to have a young defenceman make the team just to sit in the press box as the team's 7th D man. This was seemingly in reference to Beaulieu, Tinordi, and Pateryn. This is extremely scary, as it really makes me worry the team will go with someone like Bouillon or maybe Drewiske as the 7th D man. I agree that the young guys can't sit in the press box all season, but that's why you rotate guys in and out of the line-up as needed. I don't think there's much advantage to sending Beaulieu back to Hamilton, seeing as he was already good enough to play in the NHL last year. I also don't see much benefit to Pateryn going back there for a full season, since he's already played a couple of seasons there in addition to playing 4 full seasons of university hockey. Maybe you could argue Tinordi could still improve in the AHL, but regardless there's no reason to bring back Bouillon at the expense of those young players getting NHL experience.

hmmm I don't know I bet once injuries start happening the young guys will get their chances

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Two bits of discouraging news from Therrien's press conference today:

1. He reinforced that the decision to play Galchenyuk at center was for training camp and that he was happy with his 4 centers already in position. It means the team is still being too short-sighted to move past Desharnais and develop the players who can actually help us here long-term and with higher potential.

2. He stated that there was no reason to have a young defenceman make the team just to sit in the press box as the team's 7th D man. This was seemingly in reference to Beaulieu, Tinordi, and Pateryn. This is extremely scary, as it really makes me worry the team will go with someone like Bouillon or maybe Drewiske as the 7th D man. I agree that the young guys can't sit in the press box all season, but that's why you rotate guys in and out of the line-up as needed. I don't think there's much advantage to sending Beaulieu back to Hamilton, seeing as he was already good enough to play in the NHL last year. I also don't see much benefit to Pateryn going back there for a full season, since he's already played a couple of seasons there in addition to playing 4 full seasons of university hockey. Maybe you could argue Tinordi could still improve in the AHL, but regardless there's no reason to bring back Bouillon at the expense of those young players getting NHL experience.

2 very predictable pieces of news.

On 1, the decision to play Galchenyuk at C basically has to be made during the offseason so appropriate roster adjustments can be made. I mean, he's our 2nd line LWer and there's no proven scoring depth behind him at that position. Also a C would have to be moved and it's hard to move well salaried players in training camp for reasonable value and now with the Eller contract, all of our C's other than Galchenyuk have reasonably high salaries.

I was disappointed steps weren't taken this summer, move Desharnais and sign a productive winger in the Vrbata class with that money (a LW but you get the idea) but I mean, it's pretty obvious they've basically tied their hands and made it so Galchenyuk almost has to play wing this year. Best case is probably a few minor injuries to other C's that allows Galchenyuk to get 15-20 games over the course of the year to prove himself at C so they go ahead and make the move next summer beyond a doubt.

On 2, I don't know that I 100% agree with your conclusion. I don't know that the news means Bouillon or someone like that makes the team, I think there's a non-zero chance they just go with 6 defenders. Especially if they're really firm on the 6 and they're going to carry 3 goalies. I think the point is though they have someone in mind for that 6 spot and that they don't want to alternate. Anyone who is the 7 will be sitting in the press box. If the plan was, let's say, we think Beaulieu is clearly the best of the kids and the most ready to make an impact and we want him to play straight from game 1 on (barring a drop in performance), I don't have a problem with not having Pateryn sitting in the press box. I just don't think it means much, it's very easy to call up and send down as the need arises. Last year towards the end of the season we had Parros in the press box and by that point if there was an injury someone would have been called up before Parros would have played.

You're right that Pateryn especially probably doesn't need much more AHL seasoning (if any) but if they don't think there's a spot for him and they think he's clearly behind Beaulieu, the option of him playing in Hamilton until needed is likely more appealing than sitting in the press box. I guess I wouldn't have a problem with sending them both down until I saw them actually use a veteran ahead of one of those guys in any situation. Even if they go down, there will be injuries, Beaulieu (or whoever gets first crack) may not perform. I think there's going to be enough games to go around if they're smart and I don't think it requires one sitting in the press box alternating or waiting.

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Does anyone know if tonights scrimmage is streamed or on RDS?

Just found out.

RDS is broadcasting the scrimmage tonight.

Projected Line-ups:

RED

Forwards

Pacioretty-Desharnais-Parenteau

La Rose Hudon-Bourque

Bournival-Andrighetto-McCarron

Thomas-Dowell-Sorkin

Defence

Markov-Gilbert

Tinordi-Pateryn

Finley-Bouillon

WHITE

Forwards:

Scherbak-Galchenyuk-Gallagher

Moen-Plekanec-Sekac

Prust-Malhotra-Weise

Bowman-Dumont Gregory

Defenders:

Emelin-Subban

Beaulieu-Weaver

Drewiske-Nygren

No news on who is in goal yet.

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1. He reinforced that the decision to play Galchenyuk at center was for training camp and that he was happy with his 4 centers already in position. It means the team is still being too short-sighted to move past Desharnais and develop the players who can actually help us here long-term and with higher potential.

The interesting thing is that MT is constantly calling DD a "young leader" while MB hasnt acknowledged him. I suppose there's still a chance that if Galchenyuk performs well in pre-season then MB moves one of the other centres, forcing MT's hand. It sure seems like he's done that before.

2. He stated that there was no reason to have a young defenceman make the team just to sit in the press box as the team's 7th D man. This was seemingly in reference to Beaulieu, Tinordi, and Pateryn. This is extremely scary, as it really makes me worry the team will go with someone like Bouillon or maybe Drewiske as the 7th D man. I agree that the young guys can't sit in the press box all season, but that's why you rotate guys in and out of the line-up as needed. I don't think there's much advantage to sending Beaulieu back to Hamilton, seeing as he was already good enough to play in the NHL last year. I also don't see much benefit to Pateryn going back there for a full season, since he's already played a couple of seasons there in addition to playing 4 full seasons of university hockey. Maybe you could argue Tinordi could still improve in the AHL, but regardless there's no reason to bring back Bouillon at the expense of those young players getting NHL experience.

Tough to say. I think it could be what you've hypothesized but it may also mean one of them will be sent back (leaving the other 2) rather than rotating all 3.

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2 very predictable pieces of news.

On 1, the decision to play Galchenyuk at C basically has to be made during the offseason so appropriate roster adjustments can be made. I mean, he's our 2nd line LWer and there's no proven scoring depth behind him at that position. Also a C would have to be moved and it's hard to move well salaried players in training camp for reasonable value and now with the Eller contract, all of our C's other than Galchenyuk have reasonably high salaries.

I was disappointed steps weren't taken this summer, move Desharnais and sign a productive winger in the Vrbata class with that money (a LW but you get the idea) but I mean, it's pretty obvious they've basically tied their hands and made it so Galchenyuk almost has to play wing this year. Best case is probably a few minor injuries to other C's that allows Galchenyuk to get 15-20 games over the course of the year to prove himself at C so they go ahead and make the move next summer beyond a doubt.

On 2, I don't know that I 100% agree with your conclusion. I don't know that the news means Bouillon or someone like that makes the team, I think there's a non-zero chance they just go with 6 defenders. Especially if they're really firm on the 6 and they're going to carry 3 goalies. I think the point is though they have someone in mind for that 6 spot and that they don't want to alternate. Anyone who is the 7 will be sitting in the press box. If the plan was, let's say, we think Beaulieu is clearly the best of the kids and the most ready to make an impact and we want him to play straight from game 1 on (barring a drop in performance), I don't have a problem with not having Pateryn sitting in the press box. I just don't think it means much, it's very easy to call up and send down as the need arises. Last year towards the end of the season we had Parros in the press box and by that point if there was an injury someone would have been called up before Parros would have played.

You're right that Pateryn especially probably doesn't need much more AHL seasoning (if any) but if they don't think there's a spot for him and they think he's clearly behind Beaulieu, the option of him playing in Hamilton until needed is likely more appealing than sitting in the press box. I guess I wouldn't have a problem with sending them both down until I saw them actually use a veteran ahead of one of those guys in any situation. Even if they go down, there will be injuries, Beaulieu (or whoever gets first crack) may not perform. I think there's going to be enough games to go around if they're smart and I don't think it requires one sitting in the press box alternating or waiting.

On the Galchenyuk news, I agree with you 100% that the team needed to sort this out earlier. Nevertheless, it's disappointing that they continue to place sheltering Desharnais ahead of developing our best forward prospect in maybe 20 years. What I would like to see is the team use Galchenyuk at center maybe late in games if it's not close or on the PP etc. I'd also like to see them work on trading DD once the season starts. By all accounts, it sounds like Galchenyuk has looked pretty comfortable at center thus far, although it remains to be seen if he can perform in games.

On D, I think going with 6 guys is a bit of a risk, especially since we start the season with a road trip. We'll probably need to have an extra body ready in the event of injury just in case. If it ends up being 6 guys plus call-ups, that's still preferable to Bouillon hanging around and eating up a roster spot though.

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1. The obvious stand-out from this game was the play of the Galchenyuk line. All three guys were really good tonight, Sherbak showing impressive vision for a young guy and Gallagher showing the same drive to the net as usual. But Galchenyuk was easily the best player on the ice. He looked remarkably comfortable at center, and his confidence level seemed to be through the roof. Yes, it's an intra-squad game and maybe it's just that he's a year older, but he looked a lot better carrying the puck this year compared to prior years and he looks stronger too. We'll see if this continues into real games, but thus far it looks hard to remove him from a center ice position. As for Scherbak, he'll have an uphill battle to stick in the NHL, but he's put himself in the conversation.

2. Pacioretty also played a strong game, although I wasn't overly impressed with either of his linemates. I still believe he can do more with other players, namely Eller...

3. A lot of the other bubble players up front were pretty quiet. DLR had a couple of good shifts, but was pretty quiet. Didn't notice much from Andrighetto, Hudon, etc.

4. Beaulieu was pretty good on D, Pateryn not too bad, Nygren had that solid check and didn't make any big mistakes... the loser tonight on D for me was Tinordi, whose stock seems to be falling a little thus far. He'll need to step it up in games.

5. Plekanec got the short end of the stick again... playing with Moen and Sekac, he was easily the only guy on his line who flashed anything. One good thing about keeping a Scherbak in Montreal is the potential trickle-down effect of giving Plekanec a better linemate as well. If Scherbak can do enough, then a top 9 of Pacioretty-Eller-PAP, Scherbak-Galchenyuk-Gallagher, Bournival-Plekanec-Bourque/Sekac doesn't seem too terrible.

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In terms of the stock watch for the bubble players:

- Thomas: star of the game, stock goes up, although I still don't see him making the squad

- Andrighetto: down, didn't do a lot and was out-muscled a bunch of times

- McCarron: up, he got hurt but he looked really good up until that point.

- De La Rose: down slightly, in that he didn't stand out

- Scherbak: down, even though he made a few exciting plays. We knew he could play offence, but what'll determine his shot at making the team is whether he can play systematic defence and he had some blunders tonight in his own end.

- Sekac: up, decent game and by virtue of other bubble players fading, I think his shot at making the team improved tonight

- Tinordi: down, looked like he was trying too hard and wasn't concentrated enough

- Pateryn: down, had a few decent moments but still a bit rusty and he'll have to do more to displace Beaulieu as the leading candidate to make the starting 6

- Nygren: up, I think he was fairly solid compared to the two guys I just mentioned, not enough to make a move in the rankings yet but a start

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Wasn't sure where to post this but...

Arpon Basu: #Habs instituted a new system meant to create turnovers. "We want to create turnovers as quick as possible," Tomas Plekanec said.

Sounds interesting.

Plekanec also said Sekac's nickname is Forrest Gump beause he ran the beep test for "like two hours".

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Prospect watch update and their odds of making the team:

- Thomas: stock goes up again tonight. Still not enough in my book to displace anyone but he's working his way towards "first call-up" status

- Scherbak: down... he had to hit a homerun to make this team and he hasn't done that, despite showing flashes again.

- Beaulieu: up and up. Solid game, looked good on the PP... it's his spot to lose.

- Pateryn: up slightly. Decent 2nd half to the game, but the fact he played over Tinordi and Bouillon is probably a good thing for him. He likely goes down to Hamilton when you look at his overall performance thus far, but he's still in the mix.

- Budaj: up. He was pretty good tonight, and thus far he has the edge on Tokarski...

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You'd think Sekac would almost certainly have to be on the team at this point. I can't imagine he chose us out of all the potential teams he could have signed with unless MB told him he'd have a shot at making the NHL team. And if MB told him he'd have a shot, Sekac has undoubtedly done everything he had to do thus far in camp to earn that spot. So for him not to make the team would likely make Bergevin look pretty bad and make it difficult for other free agents to trust him... Sekac has out-played Moen, he's out-played Bourque... Habs have to find a spot for him.

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You'd think Sekac would almost certainly have to be on the team at this point. I can't imagine he chose us out of all the potential teams he could have signed with unless MB told him he'd have a shot at making the NHL team. And if MB told him he'd have a shot, Sekac has undoubtedly done everything he had to do thus far in camp to earn that spot. So for him not to make the team would likely make Bergevin look pretty bad and make it difficult for other free agents to trust him... Sekac has out-played Moen, he's out-played Bourque... Habs have to find a spot for him.

Agreed. Unless he really stinks it up, and I don't see that happening, he has to make the team. Not only do I think he's good enough to play our 3rd line, I think he could easily play our second. Really happy with this pick up right now, very exciting!

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