Poehling and Primeau sign 3-year pact with Habs

[jennifer_rocket]

1 hour ago, maas_art said:

I feel like Poehling being an NHLer is a given.  He's basically a lock as a 3rd-4th liner.  Can he be a 2nd liner? Maybe.  1st? Doubtful but who knows. 

I think at worst he's Lars Eller 2.0

Most likely he's Danault 2.0

In a perfect world, if his game translates more into the NHL than the college game (it happens, but rarely) then he's ROR 2.0 

 

Cant wait to find out!

I think the big questions are, does he make the team out of camp next season and is he a fixture in the lineup?

[CATATAFISH]

Am I the only one aware that Poehling’s wingers were his FAR less talented brothers in the Minors? Judging by the comments, I am.

[BigTed3]

6 hours ago, maas_art said:

I feel like Poehling being an NHLer is a given.  He's basically a lock as a 3rd-4th liner.  Can he be a 2nd liner? Maybe.  1st? Doubtful but who knows. 

I think at worst he's Lars Eller 2.0

Most likely he's Danault 2.0

In a perfect world, if his game translates more into the NHL than the college game (it happens, but rarely) then he's ROR 2.0 

 

Cant wait to find out!

 

5 hours ago, jennifer_rocket said:

I think the big questions are, does he make the team out of camp next season and is he a fixture in the lineup?

I'm not sure if he makes the team out of camp, I really don't know one way or the other. I don't think we should over-react to one good game this season, but I also think he'll be given every chance to make the team. Whether he does or not might depend on what MB does with the roster over the summer.

I think he might spend a lot of his first season in the bottom 6 the way JK did this year, but ultimately, I think Poehling will do better at the NHL level than many think. The average pundit has him penciled in as a 3rd-line center with an outside shot at being a #2, as you alluded to Maas. But what helps him are the following:

1. He seems like he'll be a Julien/Bergevin type player. A potential character leader, a gritty hard-nosed player... he seems like the type of guy Julien would throw out in any situation once he gets some experience. I don't think he'll be starved for ice time if he seizes his opportunities.

2. He fills a need that no other player on the Habs does. Look at our skill players... Domi is small, Gallagher small, Shaw, Byron, Drouin all small... Danault and Lehkonen and Kotkaniemi are a bit bigger but none of them really plays an overly physical game. Poehling is young and might still put on weight, but already he looks like a tank on the ice. He fills a niche for a stronger center and a power player and maybe a guy who gets PP time because he can work the area around the net. The PP didn't work well this year ad how many chances did Armia get on the PP1 just because he's a big body? Maybe Poehling gets opportunity there as a bigger body with more talent.

4 hours ago, CATATAFISH said:

Am I the only one aware that Poehling’s wingers were his FAR less talented brothers in the Minors? Judging by the comments, I am.

3. I'll continue on this thought pattern here. It's really hard to project how college players fare in the NHL. You have guys like Brady Tkachuk, who didn't put up a ton of points in college and who played really well for the Sens this season. Like Tkachuk, Poehling is a bit more physically developed than some of the 17-19 year-olds who are moving through the Canadian junior leagues. So his game might translate better to the NHL. But it's definitely harder to project how Poehling will play moving from less talented teammates and less talented opposition and a shorter schedule to the NHL.

So hard to project, but I see Poehling being a better player than Eller and Danault in the long run. I think he'll be better offensively than Eller and more physical and offensive than Danault. Like Danault and Eller, I could easily see Poehling being a good candidate to be captain of this team one day, and FWIW, if his offensive skill doesn't end up translating as well to the NHL as we'd like, Bob Gainey could be a guy he models himself after pretty easily.

[HabsAlways]

15 hours ago, BigTed3 said:

 

2. He fills a need that no other player on the Habs does. Look at our skill players... Domi is small, Gallagher small, Shaw, Byron, Drouin all small... Danault and Lehkonen and Kotkaniemi are a bit bigger but none of them really plays an overly physical game. Poehling is young and might still put on weight, but already he looks like a tank on the ice. He fills a niche for a stronger center and a power player and maybe a guy who gets PP time because he can work the area around the net. The PP didn't work well this year ad how many chances did Armia get on the PP1 just because he's a big body? Maybe Poehling gets opportunity there as a bigger body with more talent.

 

I think this is the key point.    Poehling is probably not going to be leading the team in points.    But he'll be do fine offensively, but far more importantly will be a big physical center similar to Kirk Muller who can dominate defensively and probably be a 50-60pts guy.     He will be just as important to our long term success as guys like Kotkaniemi and Suzuki who should be based on projections the guys leading the team on the stats sheet.

[East_Coast_Juggalo_13]

On 4/9/2019 at 0:06 PM, HabsAlways said:

I think this is the key point.    Poehling is probably not going to be leading the team in points.    But he'll be do fine offensively, but far more importantly will be a big physical center similar to Kirk Muller who can dominate defensively and probably be a 50-60pts guy.     He will be just as important to our long term success as guys like Kotkaniemi and Suzuki who should be based on projections the guys leading the team on the stats sheet.

Muller is actually a decent compare on a guy like Poehling.  

[ramcharger440]

On 4/9/2019 at 11:06 AM, HabsAlways said:

I think this is the key point.    Poehling is probably not going to be leading the team in points.    But he'll be do fine offensively, but far more importantly will be a big physical center similar to Kirk Muller who can dominate defensively and probably be a 50-60pts guy.     He will be just as important to our long term success as guys like Kotkaniemi and Suzuki who should be based on projections the guys leading the team on the stats sheet.

 

2 hours ago, East_Coast_Juggalo_13 said:

Muller is actually a decent compare on a guy like Poehling.  

100% to all this.

[BigTed3]

6 hours ago, East_Coast_Juggalo_13 said:

Muller is actually a decent compare on a guy like Poehling.  

 

On 4/9/2019 at 11:06 AM, HabsAlways said:

I think this is the key point.    Poehling is probably not going to be leading the team in points.    But he'll be do fine offensively, but far more importantly will be a big physical center similar to Kirk Muller who can dominate defensively and probably be a 50-60pts guy.     He will be just as important to our long term success as guys like Kotkaniemi and Suzuki who should be based on projections the guys leading the team on the stats sheet.

I think people forget how proficient Muller was offensively. He was a good two-way player and a guy who played with grit and toughness, but he was also a 1st line player for much of his career and he was consistently a top 30-50 scorer in the league. Even if you account for the fact he played in a high-scoring era and you don't expect Poehling to reach 80-90 points a year, the fact remains that Muller still compared well to his peers in the same era. I'm not certain Poehling will end up being a top 30-40 point-producer in the league on a regular basis. By definition, that would almost be asking him to be a first-line player, and while it's always possible, I don't think that's the expectation most people have. Like you said, I think we'd be pleased for him to be a good 2C and put up 50-60 points a season. While I agree with you guys that Muller's style of play could be a target for Poehling, I also think you're underrating Muller's offensive production somewhat.

[booboo_mtl]

From what I’ve seen of Poehling, which isn’t too much, he’s a big game player. Exactly what we need, no more Patches type who disappear when games mean more, this guy takes it upon himself to control the game be it WJC or his first NHL game. Small sample sizes obviously but I’m down with these type of players