Will the Habs make the playoffs?

[BigTed3]

Do you believe the way Marc Bergevin says he believes?

[FanFromAB]

I am a fan and when I watch them play, I want to watch them play well and win.  They are what they are, a bubble team and with a good little winning streak thy could make a push...crazier things have happened in the NHL. 

 

[Regis22]

No

[PuckPundit]

The organization deluding itself and fans that it's better than the results show. And that's hurting the tank.

First, this roster lacks the consistency to sustain a crazy streak to defy the Math. Second, so what if they make it only to be embarrassed in the first round? I'd rather take a top 3 draft to build the future. 

[jwlk]

absolutely not

[maas_art]

Im going to say yes, for 3 reasons:

1) Im too much of an optimist to believe we are "out" until we're mathematically out. 

2) I do think Mb is going to make a big trade - and soon - something along the lines of Pacioretty for RNH + LHD  and I think having an actual top line centre is going to change this team drastically.

3) our division is sooooooo bad. 

 

[ChiLla]

The team isn't good enough to win consistently.

[FanFromAB]

6 hours ago, maas_art said:

Im going to say yes, for 3 reasons:

1) Im too much of an optimist to believe we are "out" until we're mathematically out.    

Me too! 

2) I do think Mb is going to make a big trade - and soon - something along the lines of Pacioretty for RNH + LHD  and I think having an actual top line centre is going to change this team drastically.

RNH + Davidson?  Seriously though, I think Edmonton will want more than we think for RNH.  

3) our division is sooooooo bad. 
Except for Boston, Toronto and Tampa, so that means we have to compete with the likes of Pittsburg and co. 

 

 

 

[HabsAlways]

Sadly, they will squeak into the playoffs ... get knocked out in the first round with a small chance of making it to the 2nd and the French media and MB/Molson will declare it a successful season and nothing will be done to fix this roster.

[Noob616]

9 hours ago, maas_art said:

3) our division is sooooooo bad. 

That's true but it doesn't really matter at this point. Tampa Bay, Boston, and Toronto are 23, 13, and 12 points ahead and the Habs are never catching them. The only chance is a wild card spot and I'd be very surprised if the Metro division didn't send 5 teams. 

I just don't see it happening, the math is far too dire. To have even an outside chance they'd have to win 25 of the remaining 40 games, and to really lock it in you're looking at probably at least 28 wins or thereabouts. I have a very hard time believing this team is suddenly going to turn it on and win nearly 75% of their games with Weber out.

[H_T_L]

I'm not holding my breath. If we crawl back into this race, then so be it. If we don't, and it gets us a new and better qualified GM,,,, even better

[kinot-2]

34 minutes ago, H_T_L said:

I'm not holding my breath. If we crawl back into this race, then so be it. If we don't, and it gets us a new and better qualified GM,,,, even better

I'm glad you're not holding your breath. We won't crawl back into the race and we won't be getting a new GM, better qualified or not. 

[H_T_L]

3 minutes ago, kinot-2 said:

I'm glad you're not holding your breath. We won't crawl back into the race and we won't be getting a new GM, better qualified or not. 

Leaves you with that empty feeling,,,, doesn't it?

[kinot-2]

11 minutes ago, H_T_L said:

Leaves you with that empty feeling,,,, doesn't it?

Yup,,,, the same as when we drafted Chuck. Missed the POs. and got the 3rd pick. 

[maas_art]

1 hour ago, Noob616 said:

That's true but it doesn't really matter at this point. Tampa Bay, Boston, and Toronto are 23, 13, and 12 points ahead and the Habs are never catching them.

12 points is 6 games each way.  We play boston at least 3 more times this year, you win all 3, you've cut that gap in half.

Look, even as an optimist I dont necessarily think we'll make the playoffs (and part of me thinks we shouldnt because post season = 1 more year of Bergevin most likely) but Im never going to root against my team.  Besides, history is full of teams getting hot in the second half of the season & riding that deep into the playoffs.   I dont think we can compete in the playoffs as we are now but as mentioned above, I do think we're going to make a big trade sooner than you might think. 

[Regis22]

1 hour ago, Noob616 said:

That's true but it doesn't really matter at this point. Tampa Bay, Boston, and Toronto are 23, 13, and 12 points ahead and the Habs are never catching them. The only chance is a wild card spot and I'd be very surprised if the Metro division didn't send 5 teams. 

I just don't see it happening, the math is far too dire. To have even an outside chance they'd have to win 25 of the remaining 40 games, and to really lock it in you're looking at probably at least 28 wins or thereabouts. I have a very hard time believing this team is suddenly going to turn it on and win nearly 75% of their games with Weber out.

[jennifer_rocket]

I'm surprised 4 people have vote "yes" so far. I think after 40+ games we know what we have here... and that's a poor hockey club. It will be more of the same after our break week. Carey's in form, so he might scrape us together a few extra wins, but the team can't score, so... we are not going to make it.

[loyalhabsfan]

Our tank seems to be stuck in reverse. 

[jeff33]

its funny how you guys talk about making the playoffs as if thats the optimistic thing......thats the worst thing that could possibly happen!!!

please friends, devote your positive thoughts to us losing every single game for the rest of the year, so we can see the changes this team desperately needs to make

i.e moving on from our joke of a GM, changing our organizational philosophy and turning this roster over 

Do I think we will make the playoffs? Yes, because I am a pessimist. Logically they have no chance, but we have offended the hockey gods and their curse is upon us. 

[jwlk]

12 hours ago, maas_art said:

Im going to say yes, for 3 reasons:

1) Im too much of an optimist to believe we are "out" until we're mathematically out. 

2) I do think Mb is going to make a big trade - and soon - something along the lines of Pacioretty for RNH + LHD  and I think having an actual top line centre is going to change this team drastically.

3) our division is sooooooo bad. 

 

MB has no idea how to make a good big trade, he would be the last guy you want moving MP

[maas_art]

23 minutes ago, jwlk said:

MB has no idea how to make a big trade, he would be the last guy you want moving MP

I dont disagree. I think it could end up hurting us in the long run but I do think that in the short term it may be a boost.  

Lets say for example: John Tavares tells Snow he's going ufa.    MB trades PacMan to NYI and we get JT.   We're a better team with that swap but for how long?  JT goes UFA this summer &  we got rid of one of our biggest trade assets for a few months of a rental.   Sure Max is only signed 1 year himself but that 1 year is a huge difference in terms of contract value and there's no reason to believe he wont be resigned easily. 

 

Now, if we could actually resign JT obviously this is a massive coup but i dont see it happening (and if NY lets us talk to him, expect the price to be much higher than just MaxPac).  Like you, i dont think MB is the guy you want making big trades.   Getting secondary players who are diamonds in the rough like Weise and Danault? yes.  Making big moves? no thank you. 

[BigTed3]

^^ The rumor is that JT's camp has already told the Isles he won't discuss a contract in season and wants to see what his value is on the market. Doesn't mean the Isles aren't favorites to re-sign him, but we might get to a point where we can make a pitch. In that case, it could be one argument for keeping Pacioretty (seen as a bona fide scoring winger to play with him and lure him here) as opposed to trading him for someone like RNH, whom Tavares will probably never be on the ice with.

That said, I don't think Pacioretty staying or going is what will seal our fate. I think we're a better team than our record, if we can patch up our D. If we got Weber back out of the break AND Mete was actually played top 4 again AND we made a trade for another center or D man, I think we could win 28 of the remaining 40 with Price being Price again. It's doable. But the odds are low, so I think in the end, we miss the playoffs.

[maas_art]

1 hour ago, BigTed3 said:

^^ The rumor is that JT's camp has already told the Isles he won't discuss a contract in season and wants to see what his value is on the market. Doesn't mean the Isles aren't favorites to re-sign him, but we might get to a point where we can make a pitch. In that case, it could be one argument for keeping Pacioretty (seen as a bona fide scoring winger to play with him and lure him here) as opposed to trading him for someone like RNH, whom Tavares will probably never be on the ice with.

That said, I don't think Pacioretty staying or going is what will seal our fate. I think we're a better team than our record, if we can patch up our D. If we got Weber back out of the break AND Mete was actually played top 4 again AND we made a trade for another center or D man, I think we could win 28 of the remaining 40 with Price being Price again. It's doable. But the odds are low, so I think in the end, we miss the playoffs.

If we keep MP and acquire JT as a potential rental who goes the other way though?   Id be fine with MP going that way simply because I dont think we should try to resign him. I would not want to lose AG if we're only getting JT for a few months though.  On the plus side Brisson (JT's agent) is 'Very close friends' with Bergevin so if anyone is getting inside info on what it would take to sign JT it would be MB.

I agree with your assessments.  Also, if Karl Alzner begins playing the way he has the last 2 games we are a lot better too (although id like him pushed down to the third pair regardless). But I'll take the odds. I think we squeak in.  Not sure what happens then, but if we do have a guy like JT on our roster things are a bit different. 

 

[BigTed3]

7 minutes ago, maas_art said:

If we keep MP and acquire JT as a potential rental who goes the other way though?   Id be fine with MP going that way simply because I dont think we should try to resign him. I would not want to lose AG if we're only getting JT for a few months though.  On the plus side Brisson (JT's agent) is 'Very close friends' with Bergevin so if anyone is getting inside info on what it would take to sign JT it would be MB.

I agree with your assessments.  Also, if Karl Alzner begins playing the way he has the last 2 games we are a lot better too (although id like him pushed down to the third pair regardless). But I'll take the odds. I think we squeak in.  Not sure what happens then, but if we do have a guy like JT on our roster things are a bit different. 

 

Maybe you misunderstood me, but I don't think we make any move on JT this year. I think MB is waiting to see if he becomes available in the off-season. I wouldn't pay squat to get him now and I certainly wouldn't trade Max for him at this point, now that we're so far back in the standings. Not because I think we should re-sign MP, but because we could get better assets in another trade.

[CANADIENS27]

Not likely.