2016-17 State of the Habs

[BigTed3]

25 minutes ago, kinot-1 said:

 

It's been my experience that if you have 20 people (more, if you include coaches, trainers, management etc.), you "might" get along with half of them. Does anyone think that DD is well liked by everyone? After all, he gets plenty of ice time and PP time, and accomplishes next to nothing. I wouldn't want to be on his line. Does anyone think that if you are a "floater", then you will be well liked? Max should take lessons from Radulov. 

Exactly. Not everyone is going to like everyone else or have personalities that gel. But PK did his job on the ice pretty much every night and he gave an effort every time out there, and that's more than can be said for some. PK might have loved the spotlight but he never put any of his teammates down in public and he took a lot of the media pressure off of them and onto himself. I just don't get people like Brisebois mouthing off to the media about how bad a teammate PK was and how that hurt the team's record... as noted, the team had a better record with Subban last year than it does this year at the same point, and Subban has made it further in the playoffs than Weber ever has. So despite all the rumblings about Subban, the team outcomes suggest that he's been largely responsible for helping the Habs have success.

[Habs=stanleycup]

Not a good situation re Galchenyuk possibly sidelined long term unless a trade happens:

 

'While the Canadiens generated enough offence to beat the Kings Sunday, Plekanec was once again held off the scoresheet. The veteran centre has gone 13 games without a goal and has only three assists during that span. Plekanec has only one goal all season and that came on Nov. 5 when he scored a short-handed goal in a 5-4 win over the Philadelphia Flyers. Plekanec is the Canadiens’ highest-paid forward (US$6 million annually), earning $250,000 more than Alexander Radulov and $1.5 million more than captain Max Pacioretty.

With Galchenyuk on the sidelines the Canadiens simply need to get more offence out of Plekanec, who has 1-6-7 totals in 25 games, tying him for 331st in the NHL scoring race through Sunday’s games. But Plekanec isn’t the only one who will have to pick up his offensive production until Galchenyuk gets back or GM Marc Bergevin can make some kind of a trade for another centre.

Brendan Gallagher has only one goal in his last 19 games. Pacioretty had one goal in seven games before scoring twice Sunday against the Kings for his first multi-goal game of the season after being put back on the No. 1 line. Now it looks like Desharnais will find himself back as the Canadiens’ regular No. 1 centre.

This doesn’t look good for Galchenyuk or the Canadiens unless Plekanec and some other players can start finding the net when it’s on the ice.'

 

http://montrealgazette.com/sports/hockey/nhl/montreal-canadiens/stu-cowan-pressures-on-tomas-plekanec-as-habs-lose-alex-galchenyuk

[jeff33]

I feel we have been teetering on the edge for a while now, and chuck being out might be the little nudge that pushes us over. 

we had close results on this road swing, and for stretches played these teams fairly evenly, but the talent disparity is to me very obvious, even with chuck in the lineup. 

without chuck....our forward group looks downright atrocious.   DD-plek-danault-mitchell.......mama mia thats bad.

Its looking like he might be out a month or so, in which case you know our value village GM wont do anything at all, so Im prepared for that...although IMO the need for another fwd particularly a C was pressing even before this.  Anything worse....there has to be steps taken, and if we crap out again it HAS to be the end of the line for team foxhole. I cant sit through another end of the year presser where they say well, what team in history could ever possibly hope to overcome the loss of its top line C!!! No changes necessary.

So here I am torn, perhaps this is the bad luck we need to empty the foxhole, but on the other hand it lends itself to become another excuse.  All I really know is we are about to be exposed BAD and Im interested to see what moves we make (if any)

[vegasrick]

If it's at all possible, I think we may actually witness a free-fall this year that's even worse than the one last season.  Even with Price in net, the worst teams in the league are going to outplay and outscore this current Habs lineup, thanks to the routine mismanagement of talent and stone-age "system" of hockey still in place by the head coach with the full support of his foxhole buddy.

Too bad the regular season isn't twelve games long, 'cuz the Habs would be kings of the regular season....but then they would still collapse in excruciating fashion come playoffs, anyway.  

I'm just glad Vegas will have NHL hockey soon. 

[PuckPundit]

The problem with Habs scoring woes is, bar Weber, they don't have someone who can score from long range.  The team is dependent on goals scored near the net or inside the crease.  

Find me a forward who can unleash an accurate bullet at the point or outside the opposition's blue line.   

[H_T_L]

Winger called up from the farm ( Sven). This likely means one of our current wingers will be playing center for awhile.

[habs1952]

Another year lost. 

[Habs=stanleycup]

This week's Hockey Inside Out Show:

 

 

[habs_93]

38 minutes ago, Habs=stanleycup said:

This week's Hockey Inside Out Show:

 

 

To recap: Alex Galchenyuk isn't that important, David Desharnais is a "great playmaker", Shea Weber is magical, and "serious fans" are smart enough to totally disregard empirical reality and once again go all-in on magic beans.

Professional hockey media, ladies and gentlemen.

[ChiLla]

6 minutes ago, habs_93 said:

To recap: Alex Galchenyuk isn't that important, David Desharnais is a "great playmaker", Shea Weber is magical, and "serious fans" are smart enough to totally disregard empirical reality and once again go all-in on magic beans.

Professional hockey media, ladies and gentlemen.

I quote: "There should be a slew of forwards behind Alex Galchenyuk that can pick up the slack."

Right, like who for example? He was Top 10-15 in scoring all season long before his injury for crying out loud. How are you going to replace that? That 'expert panel' is full of amateurs.

[Habs=stanleycup]

27 minutes ago, habs_93 said:

To recap: Alex Galchenyuk isn't that important, David Desharnais is a "great playmaker", Shea Weber is magical, and "serious fans" are smart enough to totally disregard empirical reality and once again go all-in on magic beans.

Professional hockey media, ladies and gentlemen.

LOL. It's a head-scratcher to be sure.

[jeff33]

39 minutes ago, ChiLla said:

I quote: "There should be a slew of forwards behind Alex Galchenyuk that can pick up the slack."

Right, like who for example? He was Top 10-15 in scoring all season long before his injury for crying out loud. How are you going to replace that? That 'expert panel' is full of amateurs.

thanks for quoting that and sparing my face from the palm of death. I often get confused watching the habs, thinking its the oilers in the 80's. what with our "slew" of dangerous forwards. 

[habs1952]

3 hours ago, ChiLla said:

I quote: "There should be a slew of forwards behind Alex Galchenyuk that can pick up the slack."

Right, like who for example? He was Top 10-15 in scoring all season long before his injury for crying out loud. How are you going to replace that? That 'expert panel' is full of amateurs.

The person who said this is correct, there SHOULD be. But MB has spent his tenure bringing in 3rd and 4th liners instead of skill players, so there isn't. 

[Habs=stanleycup]

Supplement to the Hockey Inside Out Show:

 

 

[Habs=stanleycup]

Supplement #2 to the Hockey Inside Out Show:

 

 

[BigTed3]

A lot of things going right for the Habs right now. The last two games have been wins, but further to that, they've been wins where we've dominated the play and didn't suffer lapses during the games. Great hockey and we just have to hope we can keep playing like this, because the schedule gets a lot tougher after the Boston game. A few things I want to point out:

- Radulov is the guy who makes this team tick. We can talk about Galchenyuk and his points, and he's the best position player on this team skill-wise. We can talk about Weber and Petry and Markov playing well on the back end. We can talk about Pacioretty's goals. But Radulov is the difference between last year's team and this year's. Every player who plays with him is better, and the best thing that happened to Pacman and Plekanec was getting to play with Radu. He reminds me of a veteran soccer player like Zidane or Drogba or so on... just commands respect and looks like a man playing against children sometimes.

- Shea Weber has by no means been bad, but it's been maybe 2-3 weeks since I've commented to myself that he's played a great game. Earlier in the year, he was in the stars and the storyline all the time. He's been pretty quiet of late, and Petry and Markov and even Emelin have largely outplayed him of late.

- We will end up missing Galchenyuk, despite the last two games. But with Desharnais, I almost wonder if our line-up is better through addition by subtraction. Again, DD is skilled and he's earned his spot in the NHL, but he's just so uni-dimensional that it handicaps the rest of the line-up having to give him favorable match-ups and zone starts and PP time. You have a guy like Danault as your third-line center instead and suddenly that's a line you can put out in any situation. It allows you to give some of the favorable ice time to the better offensive players, and the third line is better defensively, without really losing that much offensively.

- And on a similar note, I really love that Lehkonen-Danault-Shaw line. It's a real third line that can play both ways and produce offence regularly. You keep that line together and it's a game-changer in a lot of ways. We have 4 top-6 players in Galchenyuk, Pacman, Radu, and Gallagher. But having Danault pivot that strong a 3rd line allows you to keep Plekanec as your 2C. Assuming he can turn it around as he has the past two games, then suddenly the top 6 looks more complete. There is absolutely still a need for another top 6 player, but it would be easier to find a top 6 winger via trade or even to promote a younger player into that role without the responsibility of being a center. I think Hudon has shown the most of all the potential candidates, but McCarron could easily be there as well. Suddenly, there are options...

 

[Habs=stanleycup]

Recorded the game & watched it after work. So refreshing to see our offence paying off into goals and for Pacioretty also, finally!

(Mind you I think they lucked out with the Avalanches poor goal-tenting & lack of defensive structure)

However a BIG win is a win and this was a real treat to watch right on the heels of having thrashed the Devils.

Go Habs Go, all the way to the Cup! 

[ChiLla]

10 hours ago, BigTed3 said:

- Radulov is the guy who makes this team tick. We can talk about Galchenyuk and his points, and he's the best position player on this team skill-wise. We can talk about Weber and Petry and Markov playing well on the back end. We can talk about Pacioretty's goals. But Radulov is the difference between last year's team and this year's. Every player who plays with him is better, and the best thing that happened to Pacman and Plekanec was getting to play with Radu. He reminds me of a veteran soccer player like Zidane or Drogba or so on... just commands respect and looks like a man playing against children sometimes.

Absolutely, IMO there's no doubt about that. We're a tremendously improved hockey team with him in the lineup and MB does deserve credit for getting him. I don't think there was any other UFA available who would've had a similar influence on our offense. This guy is an elite hockey player, re-signing both him and Galchenyuk should be a priority in the offseason. I truly hope we can afford to keep him.

[roy_133]

I like Radulov, a lot, but I also think sometimes we tend to start overstating things. If you mean the biggest difference between this year when we're 19-6-3 and last year when we were 19-6-3 at the same point the difference probably nothing yet. If you mean big picture last year's team over 82 and this year's over 28, Radulov or not this team can't survive a .903 team SV% and a low PDO. Nothing about this team's early season numbers seem better than last year's. Seems pretty similar in a lot of respects. Radulov is a major upgrade, don't get me wrong. Do I think he drives Galchenyuk or drives Pacioretty? Not really.

I also think sometimes we overreact to samples and volatility. Plekanec played with Radulov early in the year and did nothing and now all the sudden Radulov is his savior? Pacioretty and Radulov look good together but Pacioretty was already starting to show signs of life and most of his goals, other than his hatty one which was all Radulov, have been pretty much vintage Pacioretty. A couple of snipes, a few from just bulking SOG that look kind of ugly and the odd defection. Pacioretty tends to do this every year. Radulov helps, I think Galchenyuk would have helped too. I think the biggest benefit to Max has been going back to a clearly offensive role, with more ice time and offensive situations.

I don't want to take away from Radulov because he's definitely one of our 3 best forwards and possibly our best but I'm wary of over-crediting guys. He's a good, top line caliber player. Happy to have him.

[H_T_L]

It was about this time last year that we started that infamous breakdown. Same record so far after 28 games, and game 29 just happened to be vs the Bruins,,, as it is this year. How did we do you ask???? Bad news.

[habs_93]

37 minutes ago, roy_133 said:

I like Radulov, a lot, but I also think sometimes we tend to start overstating things. If you mean the biggest difference between this year when we're 19-6-3 and last year when we were 19-6-3 at the same point the difference probably nothing yet. If you mean big picture last year's team over 82 and this year's over 28, Radulov or not this team can't survive a .903 team SV% and a low PDO. Nothing about this team's early season numbers seem better than last year's. Seems pretty similar in a lot of respects.

We're actually doing slightly worse in adjusted 5-on-5 Corsi with a slightly higher PDO, if you can believe it.

[BigTed3]

For 5v5 close zone-adjusted Corsi, we're at 50.6% thus far this year and we were 50.1% for the season last year. Overall team Corsi is 51.6% this season and was 51.5% last year. Pretty comparable, maybe a titch better. Radulov himself is at 52.6%. I'm not saying he's the only good player on the team, but I find he has really been the guy who has been most consistent and driving play when he's on. Compared to who we had in that spot last year, I think he's the biggest upgrade and biggest difference between last year and this one.

[habs_93]

8 minutes ago, BigTed3 said:

For 5v5 close zone-adjusted Corsi, we're at 50.6% thus far this year and we were 50.1% for the season last year.

I'd caution against using close for anything. With close, you're throwing out hundreds or thousands of 5-on-5 minutes and limiting your sample size to get something that doesn't tell you much more than raw 5-on-5 does. Whereas with adjusted Corsi, you're weighing the events from all score states, so you're getting a more robust result.

[Habs=stanleycup]

33 minutes ago, BigTed3 said:

For 5v5 close zone-adjusted Corsi, we're at 50.6% thus far this year and we were 50.1% for the season last year. Overall team Corsi is 51.6% this season and was 51.5% last year. Pretty comparable, maybe a titch better. Radulov himself is at 52.6%. I'm not saying he's the only good player on the team, but I find he has really been the guy who has been most consistent and driving play when he's on. Compared to who we had in that spot last year, I think he's the biggest upgrade and biggest difference between last year and this one.

Radulov is definitely a gifted motivator as well. 

[roy_133]

I was going based on our stats for the same time frame last year, when we were 19-6-3, someone has been keeping the comparison going on Twitter but either way, I don't disagree Radulov is the biggest upgrade although we had the exact same record last year and if we keep it up this year instead of collapse like last year, the biggest difference will be goaltending which was awful last year. 

I love him, think he's the biggest upgrade to the lineup other than a healthy Price as well, I just stop short of crediting him for Galchenyuk's step forward and Pacioretty's revival I guess. He's good, he could be our best forward, he could also be our 3rd best forward but it's all close. We're lucky we got him instead of giving Lucic or Ladd 7 years or something.