Habs_Hockey_Nutz Posted August 4, 2018 Report Share Posted August 4, 2018 9 hours ago, BigTed3 said: It's fine to try Hudon at center. The problem comes back to the same issue, which is that all of our centers are either bottom 6 players (Danault, Plekanec, DLR, Peca, etc.) or else they're skill players but with very little experience at center and/or very little size (Drouin, Domi, Hudon, Kotkaniemi, etc.)... so either way, you're ending up with two top 6 centers who don't really have the moxie to play in any situation. Instead, you're going into the season with two guys who are going to need some amount of shielding or who just aren't capable of being in the top 6. It's fine to experiment with Hudon as your 2C if your 1C is Crosby or Matthews or Backstrom or Tavares or McDavid or Barzal or Draisaitl or Johansen or so on. It's a much bigger gamble to have Hudon as your 2C if Drouin is your 1C. Both guys are going to have the same lack of experience, the same size issues, the same need to improve their defensive games, and so on. Just creates a bit of a mess for a coach to try to win match-ups. 7 hours ago, maas_art said: We have Gallagher, Scherbak, Armia, Shaw and a few players like Lehkonen and Hudon who have played RW but may be better suited to LW. Hudon actually spent a lot of time at RW last year. Per Szporer's article i linke to above: "According to the team’s roster page, Charles Hudon is a left-winger, but on four of his top five lines from last season he played on the right. On two of those, he played opposite Pacioretty. On two others, he was centered by Danault, who in turn centered Pacioretty on the team’s most-common line overall." So Pacioretty (LW) - Danault (C) - Hudon (RW) was the team's most common line overall last year. Now, maybe Hudon is more effective at LW (and i still would really like to try him at centre) but there's been a history (last year at least) of using him on the right. I understand the concerns and facts stated. That said, if the upcoming season is basically a write-off, shouldn't the goal be to experiment and see what the young players can do regardless of the results in terms of winning games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigTed3 Posted August 4, 2018 Author Report Share Posted August 4, 2018 52 minutes ago, Habs_Hockey_Nutz said: I understand the concerns and facts stated. That said, if the upcoming season is basically a write-off, shouldn't the goal be to experiment and see what the young players can do regardless of the results in terms of winning games. Absolutely. But you also have to ask what you're realistically going to be doing in the future. It's pretty unlikely the team can win with Drouin and Hudon as their top 2 centers down the line, and in the end, the plan seems to be the hope that at least one and maybe both of Poehling or Kotkaniemi becomes a top 6 center. They've also drafted a lot of other centers like Ikonen, Olofsson, McShane, etc. so I don't know that Hudon or Drouin's future necessarily lies at center when we're a competitive team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Habs_Hockey_Nutz Posted August 4, 2018 Report Share Posted August 4, 2018 14 minutes ago, BigTed3 said: Absolutely. But you also have to ask what you're realistically going to be doing in the future. It's pretty unlikely the team can win with Drouin and Hudon as their top 2 centers down the line, and in the end, the plan seems to be the hope that at least one and maybe both of Poehling or Kotkaniemi becomes a top 6 center. They've also drafted a lot of other centers like Ikonen, Olofsson, McShane, etc. so I don't know that Hudon or Drouin's future necessarily lies at center when we're a competitive team. That could be what the results show in the end. But the experience gained would only add to the players' values should they be replaced in future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigTed3 Posted September 10, 2018 Author Report Share Posted September 10, 2018 So with Max out and Tatar in, I guess we're looking at something like Domi-Drouin-Scherbak Hudon-Danault-Gallagher Tatar-Plekanec-Armia Byron-Peca-Shaw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kinot-2 Posted September 10, 2018 Report Share Posted September 10, 2018 3 hours ago, BigTed3 said: So with Max out and Tatar in, I guess we're looking at something like Domi-Drouin-Scherbak Hudon-Danault-Gallagher Tatar-Plekanec-Armia Byron-Peca-Shaw Doesn't exactly instill hope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigTed3 Posted September 11, 2018 Author Report Share Posted September 11, 2018 13 minutes ago, kinot-2 said: Doesn't exactly instill hope. Depends what you're hoping for. I'm hoping for Jack Hughes, so there's instilling going on for me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Habberwacky Posted September 11, 2018 Report Share Posted September 11, 2018 Mete says he thinks Suzuki has a shot at making the team out of camp. Not sure that says how good he is or how bad Mete thinks out forwards are. I like Hudon Drouin Gallagher Lehkonen Domi Byron Tatar Danault Scherbak De la Rose (Deslauriers) Plekanec Armia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Habs=stanleycup Posted September 11, 2018 Report Share Posted September 11, 2018 32 minutes ago, BigTed3 said: Depends what you're hoping for. I'm hoping for Jack Hughes, so there's instilling going on for me! True! With this team's makeup we're on fast pace to be in last place, or close to it anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChiLla Posted September 11, 2018 Report Share Posted September 11, 2018 11 hours ago, BigTed3 said: So with Max out and Tatar in, I guess we're looking at something like Domi-Drouin-Scherbak Hudon-Danault-Gallagher Tatar-Plekanec-Armia Byron-Peca-Shaw What a mess... and the D looks even worse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BizarreReverend Posted September 11, 2018 Report Share Posted September 11, 2018 55 minutes ago, ChiLla said: What a mess... and the D looks even worse. Scary, isn't it? It'll be a long 82 games, that's for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChiLla Posted September 11, 2018 Report Share Posted September 11, 2018 2 hours ago, BizarreReverend said: Scary, isn't it? It'll be a long 82 games, that's for sure. Absolutely. That's the team Bergevin managed to "build" in 6 years, pathetic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
habs1952 Posted September 11, 2018 Report Share Posted September 11, 2018 5 hours ago, ChiLla said: Absolutely. That's the team Bergevin managed to "build" in 6 years, pathetic. That's the team Molson LET Bergevin build in 6 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Habs=stanleycup Posted September 11, 2018 Report Share Posted September 11, 2018 4 hours ago, habs1952 said: That's the team Molson LET Bergevin build in 6 years. Dark days indeed for the CH thanks to those two. Misleading information, arrogance and lies. Embarrassing as a lifelong fan of this organization. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
East_Coast_Juggalo_13 Posted September 12, 2018 Report Share Posted September 12, 2018 Here are my opening night lines: L1: Tatar, Drouin, Gallagher By default, really L2: Domi, Suzuki, Scherbak That could potentially be a pleasant surprise on an otherwise dismal season. L3: Hudon, Danault, Lehkonen All 3 are similar players who have played together before. L4: Deslauriers, Plekanec/Peca, Armia/Shaw D1: Mete, Petry Again, by default D2: Reilly, Juulsen Yes, that is how bad our d is. D3: Alzner, Ouellet,/Benn/Schlemko G1: Price (Until he gets: Injured/Pitches a fit/demands a trade) G2: Niemi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jennifer_rocket Posted September 12, 2018 Report Share Posted September 12, 2018 I'm assuming Byron and Shaw won't be healthy to begin the year. Max Domi - Jonathan Drouin - Tomas Tatar Charles Hudon - Phillip Danault - Brendan Gallagher Arturri Lehkonen - Tomas Plekanec - Nikita Scherbak Nicolas Deslauriers - Matthew Peca - Joel Armia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caperns61 Posted September 12, 2018 Report Share Posted September 12, 2018 Drouin, Danault Domi Lekonen Suzuki Gallager Hudon/Tatar Pleks Scherback/Shaw/Armia Delauries Peca Sherback/Shaw/Armia No matter what you do you have 3 really good 3rd lines a good 4th line, and a few second line players. have fun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigTed3 Posted September 12, 2018 Author Report Share Posted September 12, 2018 7 hours ago, jennifer_rocket said: I'm assuming Byron and Shaw won't be healthy to begin the year. Max Domi - Jonathan Drouin - Tomas Tatar Charles Hudon - Phillip Danault - Brendan Gallagher Arturri Lehkonen - Tomas Plekanec - Nikita Scherbak Nicolas Deslauriers - Matthew Peca - Joel Armia Actually they announced today that Byron had been given the green light by the doctors and would start camp on schedule with everyone else tomorrow. Not sure if that means he's in game shape by opening day, but he's got a shot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jennifer_rocket Posted September 13, 2018 Report Share Posted September 13, 2018 14 hours ago, BigTed3 said: Actually they announced today that Byron had been given the green light by the doctors and would start camp on schedule with everyone else tomorrow. Not sure if that means he's in game shape by opening day, but he's got a shot. Ah, I guess that's good for Montreal. Well... better than Byron not being ready. It's hard to say anything is good for Montreal right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigTed3 Posted September 17, 2018 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2018 Tony Marinaro says Bergevin told him today on TSN690 that his 4 centers to start the season if it started right now are 1. Domi 2. Danault 3. Plekanec 4. Peca So those are the guys to beat. It means they're viewing Domi as a 1C and Drouin as a winger, and it means Peca has the edge for the last center spot. Also suggests Kotkaniemi and Suzuki would have a lot to do to win a spot, and Suzuki had said yesterday that the Habs told him they view him as a center going forward. So with all that in mind, seems like Drouin-Domi-Armia and Tatar-Danault-Gallagher are what the coaches view as the potential top 6. Plekanec is currently between Shinkaruk and Hudon. Guessing the latter keeps that spot as a default, but Shinkaruk might just be a placeholder for now. The Habs are testing Lehkonen with Kotkaniemi, but Lekhonen almost certainly moves into the top 9 somewhere, Scherbak can move up from playing with Suzuki, and then Byron and Shaw will draw back in at some point. I'm guessing the Habs view their bottom 6 as potentially being Lehkonen-Plekanec-Hudon Byron-Peca-Shaw which means Scherbak, Deslauriers, DLR, McCarron, Ward, etc have work to do to find a starting job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwlk Posted September 17, 2018 Report Share Posted September 17, 2018 news is we have alot of centers, think we are still missing on the quality centers, but Domi will start at center, so management believes Domi is a better center than AG, we will see https://www.tsn.ca/bergevin-domi-to-play-centre-drouin-at-wing-1.1174529 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maas_art Posted September 17, 2018 Report Share Posted September 17, 2018 36 minutes ago, jwlk said: news is we have alot of centers, think we are still missing on the quality centers, but Domi will start at center, so management believes Domi is a better center than AG, we will see https://www.tsn.ca/bergevin-domi-to-play-centre-drouin-at-wing-1.1174529 They've been playing Domi at centre (Drouin-Domi-Armia) for the scrimmages & they've looked very good apparently. Julien says that Domi is there because he "knows what drouin can do" so its possible they are just testing things but from people who have watched them play together, apparently Drouin looks more comfortable now than he did at centre. Armia is apparently looking very good as the mucker on that line but obviously its early and just pre-season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
campabee82 Posted September 19, 2018 Report Share Posted September 19, 2018 Here is the lineup I feel they should at least attempt to start (Yeah I know the top two centers are inexperienced but feel they should at least get a shot) Drouin--Kotkeniemi--Gallagher Domi--Suzuki--Hudon Byron--Danault--Sherbak De La Rose--Plekanec--Shaw (if available) Armia Mete--Petry Rielly--Juulsen Alzner--Oullette/Benn and obviously Price again not confident installing but I don't think that we have many other options. Plus I feel like both Suzuki and Kotkeniemi are mostly ready to play in the NHL, they will make mistakes but should be able to play through them and grow faster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maas_art Posted September 19, 2018 Report Share Posted September 19, 2018 Here's what I think they will do. Not sure id do it this way but my guess is you'll see something like: Drouin - Domi - Armia Tatar - Danault-Gallagher Hudon - Suzuki/Kotkaniemi - Scherbak Byron - Plek/DLR - Peca I think one of (not both) Suzuki or Kotkaniemi will be given a 9 game tryout. If its Kot I think he goes back to Europe or Laval after 9. If its Suzuki, i think there's a chance he sticks with the big club (neither would learn much in Junior but Kot has the opportunity to play agains men in either Laval or Finland.) Up front I think we might be better than expected but we will only be able to score by committee. We'll be lucky to have anyone break 60 points most likely, but 6+ players with 20 goals is not out of the realm of possibility. On the back end its a tire-fire. Unless the new defense coach (Richardson I *think* is getting that?) has the guts to say "No Alzner in the top 4" we are in trouble. There are some decent players there (Mete, Petry, Juulsen, Rielly) but out biggest problem are guys like Alzner, Schlemko and Benn playing way over their heads. Alzner as a 3rd pairing guy who specializes on the PK may be ok. Alzner as a top pairing guy is going to be a disaster. With Weber out, Petry, Mete, Juulsen and Rielly should probably be our top 4 (although guys like Sklenicka, Moravcik or Ouellet may challenge for one of those spots). Im still holding out hope that MB is going to take some of the surplus of players we have & try to package for one true top 4 dman. Pipe dream, i know, but as it stands right now we're probably losing 2-3 players to waivers if we dont move some bodies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jennifer_rocket Posted September 19, 2018 Report Share Posted September 19, 2018 58 minutes ago, maas_art said: Up front I think we might be better than expected but we will only be able to score by committee. We'll be lucky to have anyone break 60 points most likely, but 6+ players with 20 goals is not out of the realm of possibility. 6+ players with 20 goals... I'm not so sure about that. How many 20-goal scorers did we have last season? Gallagher and Byron? Byron's managed 20 twice with us. Tatar maybe scores 20...? Do Drouin and Domi pop in 20 each? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maas_art Posted September 19, 2018 Report Share Posted September 19, 2018 12 minutes ago, jennifer_rocket said: 6+ players with 20 goals... I'm not so sure about that. How many 20-goal scorers did we have last season? Gallagher and Byron? Byron's managed 20 twice with us. Tatar maybe scores 20...? Do Drouin and Domi pop in 20 each? Im not saying its going to happen, im saying there's no one on the roster that makes me think they can break 60 (unless they take a big jump forward) but there are several guys who have scored 20 goals (or come close). Without a true #1 line you have to assume ice time and PP time will be spread out more so seeing multiple players score 20 ish wouldnt be unrealistic. Those who have scored 20 in the past: Gallagher, Drouin, Byron, Tatar, Plekanec, Shaw, Weber Those who have come close: Domi (18), Lehkonen (18) Obviously i dont think Pleks, Shaw or Weber are going to score 20 this year but the other 4 could for sure. I think that Lehkonen and Domi may well score more this year & lets not forget about guys like Hudon (inconceivably low shooting percentage last year) and Armia (buried in the Winnipeg depth charts) as guys who may surprise. Even guys like Danault or Peca, if called upon to play a more offensive role, could find themselves pulling a Paul Byron & chipping in more goals than we expect them to. Or maybe this is the year Sherbak finally breaks out. And if Nick Suzuki somehow makes the club, who knows. So im not saying that we will have 6 guys score 20 goals, but I do think we may be surprised where the offense comes from this year. We're going to need all 4 lines contributing if we have a chance of winning any games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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