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State Of The Habs 2018-19


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43 minutes ago, jennifer_rocket said:

Well. It truly looks like it's us or Columbus. It would be awfully funny should Columbus miss out given how much that team may, ahem... "change" next year. I really hope we edge them out. The game on Thursday is, obviously, MASSIVE. 

Even though they have 1 game in hand and would pull ahead of us (same number of points, more wins) with a victory in that one, I still feel like we have the edge.  

I think the race is going to come down to the wire & I also dont think we're out of the running for the 1st WC slot.   

I think we will be competitive in all our remaining games - including the ones against TB and Tor - i mean if we're not, whats the point in making the playoffs? 

 

 

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8 minutes ago, maas_art said:

Even though they have 1 game in hand and would pull ahead of us (same number of points, more wins) with a victory in that one, I still feel like we have the edge.  

I think the race is going to come down to the wire & I also dont think we're out of the running for the 1st WC slot.   

I think we will be competitive in all our remaining games - including the ones against TB and Tor - i mean if we're not, whats the point in making the playoffs?

I think we'll certainly be competitive down to the wire... although I do think TB will beat us convincingly. Winnipeg, Washington, Toronto... we can beat those teams! I have faith!

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48 minutes ago, jennifer_rocket said:

 I do think TB will beat us convincingly

I still am hoping for a miracle & that we make it to 7th in the east & the 1st WC.  2nd WC = TB and probably a very quick series - BUT - as we've seen many times, if there's ever a round for an upset, 1st is often the one.  Once juggernauts like TB get rolling and get some confidence but there's a historical precedence for a surprise in that first round. Id still put our odds at very low if we do indeed draw them but you never know. 7 games... a few bounces- Drouin getting out of his slump, the PP scoring... and then there's Carey Price. 

Should be a fun few weeks.  

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19 minutes ago, maas_art said:

I still am hoping for a miracle & that we make it to 7th in the east & the 1st WC.  2nd WC = TB and probably a very quick series - BUT - as we've seen many times, if there's ever a round for an upset, 1st is often the one.  Once juggernauts like TB get rolling and get some confidence but there's a historical precedence for a surprise in that first round. Id still put our odds at very low if we do indeed draw them but you never know. 7 games... a few bounces- Drouin getting out of his slump, the PP scoring... and then there's Carey Price. 

Should be a fun few weeks.  

There's always a chance! No one thought we'd get by Pittsburgh and Washington with Halak!

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2 hours ago, jennifer_rocket said:

I think we'll certainly be competitive down to the wire... although I do think TB will beat us convincingly. Winnipeg, Washington, Toronto... we can beat those teams! I have faith!

At that point though Tampa may rest players, they don't need any more wins and this time of year who knows what players may be playing with nagging injuries.

 

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10 hours ago, habs1952 said:

The problem is Drouin play doesn't warrant him playing. The team is trying to make the playoffs and he just disappears.

The thing is... would Julien be given the green light to sit him out and play one of Hudon, Peca or Deslaurier at forward? Another thing they could consider is dressing Reilly as a seventh d-man that could also play wing.

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19 minutes ago, Habs_Hockey_Nutz said:

The thing is... would Julien be given the green light to sit him out and play one of Hudon, Peca or Deslaurier at forward? Another thing they could consider is dressing Reilly as a seventh d-man that could also play wing.

I'm not really into the idea of sitting Drouin in favor of Hudon, Peca, Deslaurier, or Reilly. He'll provide the team a greater chance to win being in the lineup than either of those four guys. Drouin's game is clearly not where many hoped it would be, but he's a good player with lots of skill.

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1 hour ago, jennifer_rocket said:

I'm not really into the idea of sitting Drouin in favor of Hudon, Peca, Deslaurier, or Reilly. He'll provide the team a greater chance to win being in the lineup than either of those four guys. Drouin's game is clearly not where many hoped it would be, but he's a good player with lots of skill.

Agreed.  Even as frustrating and downright bad he's looked at points this year, id still rank him in the top 6-7 forwards on this roster so if im Julien im not sitting him in favour of another player thats currently in the pressbox.   He *should* be our #1LW and easily in our top 3-4 but he's not and thats what is super frustrating but it doesnt mean he's not one of our 12 best forwards night in, night out. 

The usual solution is moving a player to a different line/linemates/assignments but Tatar deserves that spot in our top 6 and Lehks has (finally) looked great next to domi so its tough to know where to put him.   I am not sure Drouin/JK makes the most sense right now (especially not when their "finisher" is Armia).  But then again, id probably swap JK and Danault so what do i know.  

If i had my way:

Tatar - JK - Gallagher
Drouin - Domi - Shaw
Lekhonen - Danault - Armia
Byron - Thompson - Weal

If Drouin doesnt seem sparked, or Lehks regresses, swap them but i think this is our best balanced lineup and should help someone like Drouin get going again.  But i think its Moot. No way Julien puts JK on the top line yet, even though i think he's earned it and could handle it. 

 

 

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10 minutes ago, ramcharger440 said:

Juulsen is practicing in Laval. nice.

Thats excellent news. I doubt we'll see him this year but im really happy to hear his vision is good enough for him to skate with the team.  He's wearing a no-contact jersey but i think its still a very good sign. 

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1 hour ago, ramcharger440 said:

Juulsen is practicing in Laval. nice.

 

1 hour ago, maas_art said:

Thats excellent news. I doubt we'll see him this year but im really happy to hear his vision is good enough for him to skate with the team.  He's wearing a no-contact jersey but i think its still a very good sign. 

Joel Bouchard said "if he's practicing, it's because he's gotten the green light from the doctors to do so." It would suggest at the very least that he's made some progress and even if he has a non-contact jersey that there's light at the end of the tunnel. Bouchard said Juulsen would accompany the Rocket on their road trips to continue practicing and rehabbing. My feeling is that it's unlikely he's back in the next couple of weeks, but you never know, and theoretically, if the Habs make the playoffs and make a little run, maybe he can still become a factor down the line. Odds are low, but they're not zero.

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7 hours ago, Habs_Hockey_Nutz said:

The thing is... would Julien be given the green light to sit him out and play one of Hudon, Peca or Deslaurier at forward? Another thing they could consider is dressing Reilly as a seventh d-man that could also play wing.

 

6 hours ago, jennifer_rocket said:

I'm not really into the idea of sitting Drouin in favor of Hudon, Peca, Deslaurier, or Reilly. He'll provide the team a greater chance to win being in the lineup than either of those four guys. Drouin's game is clearly not where many hoped it would be, but he's a good player with lots of skill.

Likewise, I'm also not interested in sitting Drouin at this point in the season. I think he could have been sat earlier, but right now we need all hands on deck and I don't think any of the guys on the sideline can provide the needed offensive spark to replace him.

I think we can say we have the 12 best guys in the line-up right now, and it's been a while since we've able to say that. I wasn't sold on Thompson being in over Peca or Hudon to begin with, but he's really played well of late. Byron and Weal adding speed to that 4th line has really helped him, instead of playing with unskilled slower players like Weise and Deslauriers. Like Maas, I also think we need to look at swapping the lines up a bit though. Many of us have been talking for a while about how it's long overdue to see JK between Tatar and Gallagher, and I'll come back to Danault and Lehkonen having had lots of success together too. I actually wonder if throwing Drouin next to those two could be a good option to get him going... two guys with good work ethic, decent skating ability, and defensive smarts. It might take some pressure off Drouin and allow him to focus on bein good offensively. So I'd be interested in looking at something like

Tatar-Kotkaniemi-Gallagher

Byron-Domi-Shaw

Drouin-Danault-Lehkonen

Weal-Thompson-Armia

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4 minutes ago, ramcharger440 said:

I have wondered if Drouin is flat because he is feeling pressure or he just has little intensity? it is so frustrating when he turns it on then falls off the face of the earth.

i would move him in the offseason cause I think we can get something for him. He's my least favorite player on the team, and the most talented, I've seen this movie before. 

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1 minute ago, ramcharger440 said:

I have wondered if Drouin is flat because he is feeling pressure or he just has little intensity? it is so frustrating when he turns it on then falls off the face of the earth.

You could see it last game, he feels like he is under a microscope. Then he had that mishap in his own end where he tried to pull the puck and lost it. He was done after that. Julien will not help with this, he is the worst at getting the most out of talented players. Up to Drouin to have a great first shift and go from that. Its a mental thing which I believe he will fix tonight if given half a chance.

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5 minutes ago, habsisme said:

i would move him in the offseason cause I think we can get something for him. He's my least favorite player on the team, and the most talented, I've seen this movie before. 

I think at this point, whatever any of us individually think about drouin, we can say we have definitely seen this movie before.  trade him this summer if the plan is just to keep punishing him until his trade value is in the toilet

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7 minutes ago, kinot-2 said:

With Leks scoring tonight, we now have 12 players with 10 goals or more. That's most in the NHL. :)

Before the start of the season when everyone was yelling "the sky is falling" and that no one would score goals with Patches & Galchenyuk gone I made a list of all the players I thought could score 10 and the ones i thought might score 20.   I said we could conceivably have 5-6 twenty goal scorers and maybe 10  ten goal scorers.  People said i was nuts.

Well, we have 3 twenty goal scorers with 2 more at 18 (even i didnt think Max Domi would be at nearly 30) and we have 12 guys over 10 goals.  What a tremendous bounce-back season from this team. 

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17 minutes ago, maas_art said:

Before the start of the season when everyone was yelling "the sky is falling" and that no one would score goals with Patches & Galchenyuk gone I made a list of all the players I thought could score 10 and the ones i thought might score 20.   I said we could conceivably have 5-6 twenty goal scorers and maybe 10  ten goal scorers.  People said i was nuts.

Well, we have 3 twenty goal scorers with 2 more at 18 (even i didnt think Max Domi would be at nearly 30) and we have 12 guys over 10 goals.  What a tremendous bounce-back season from this team. 

I was one of those that predicted doom and gloom for this year, and I had, of course concerns about scoring. Domi for Chuck????? Max for Tatar +Suzuki, + a 2nd???  IMO, Domi would maaaaaaybe get 15 goals,,,,,,and Tatar might get about the same,,,,,,,,,,,,maaaaaaaybe. I am so glad I was wrong. 

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7 hours ago, H_T_L said:

So,,, Byron was suspended for 3 games for concussing Weegar last time they faced each other. How many games will Byron miss this time with a concussion of his own from a retaliation fight?? Stupid

Well as a result we could see one of Hudon, Deslaurier or Peca in the line-up... my guess is Peca because his game, although not ad developed is similar to Byron. Personally, I'd still consider dressing Reilly

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