2020-21 State Of The Habs

[maas_art]

8 minutes ago, H_T_L said:

As of Monday, the Canadiens had $1,768,785 in salary-cap space, according to CapFriendly.com.

I think this is a temporary thing.  

Since we sent Poehling and Fleury to the AHL, we are now able to put Suzuki and Perry on the Taxi squad (where their cap hits dont count today) but they will (at least Suzuki) be back up tomorrow so those caps will be back with the main club.     Its good our number crunchers are saving cap hits here and there but ultimately i believe we're just a smidge under the cap when everyone is healthy/with the team. 

[claremont]

On 2/9/2021 at 12:15 PM, maas_art said:

Armia back with full contact at practice today.  Decent chance he'll be back either tomorrow or thursday (he's been skating pretty much the whole time so the only thing that could be a holdup would be timing).  

Perry still rotating with him but probably only a matter of time before Armia reclaims his spot.   Interestingly Frolik was rotating in on 4th line. Im sure he wont play but it looks like if we lose someone to injury, they will likely only bring in frolik (over Perry) if its a 4th liner. 

I am thinking Perry is up on the Roster as the 13th forward unless he gets injured. The waiver rules say once a player has played 9 games (Perry has 7 at present) or is on the roster for 29 days, he has to clear waivers again. I don't think the habs would risk Perry thru waivers again unless Perry does the Spezza statement of "If I am claimed, I am going to retire and refuse to play for another team". Perry definitely wants to play. Frolik is unlikely to get in the lineup anytime soon unless Mete is sent to the taxi squad. 

[maas_art]

33 minutes ago, claremont said:

I am thinking Perry is up on the Roster as the 13th forward unless he gets injured. The waiver rules say once a player has played 9 games (Perry has 7 at present) or is on the roster for 29 days, he has to clear waivers again. I don't think the habs would risk Perry thru waivers again unless Perry does the Spezza statement of "If I am claimed, I am going to retire and refuse to play for another team". Perry definitely wants to play. Frolik is unlikely to get in the lineup anytime soon unless Mete is sent to the taxi squad. 

No, Perry was recalled on "emergency status" which means he can stay with the team up to 9 games (or the return of the injured player - armia) wiithout it counting against the cap.   

This is different from regular call up - which you would have been correct about but would have counted against our cap. 

[maas_art]

On 2/9/2021 at 11:04 AM, H_T_L said:

As of Monday, the Canadiens had $1,768,785 in salary-cap space, according to CapFriendly.com.

Back up against it at $147,448 cap space once they pulled guys back off the taxi squad for tonight's game. 

[BigTed3]

1 hour ago, claremont said:

I am thinking Perry is up on the Roster as the 13th forward unless he gets injured. The waiver rules say once a player has played 9 games (Perry has 7 at present) or is on the roster for 29 days, he has to clear waivers again. I don't think the habs would risk Perry thru waivers again unless Perry does the Spezza statement of "If I am claimed, I am going to retire and refuse to play for another team". Perry definitely wants to play. Frolik is unlikely to get in the lineup anytime soon unless Mete is sent to the taxi squad. 

 

42 minutes ago, maas_art said:

No, Perry was recalled on "emergency status" which means he can stay with the team up to 9 games (or the return of the injured player - armia) wiithout it counting against the cap.   

This is different from regular call up - which you would have been correct about but would have counted against our cap. 

Eric Engels said that Armia was activated today and that the Habs have switched Perry from emergency recall to regular recall as of today (even though they apparently didn't have to until tomorrow). So sounds like Perry is staying for now. Habs also "promoted Verbeek and Hillis" to the taxi squad to meet the minimum 4 guys on that list. Further suggestion they are keeping Perry around for now.

[maas_art]

5 minutes ago, BigTed3 said:

Eric Engels said that Armia was activated today and that the Habs have switched Perry from emergency recall to regular recall as of today (even though they apparently didn't have to until tomorrow). So sounds like Perry is staying for now. Habs also "promoted Verbeek and Hillis" to the taxi squad to meet the minimum 4 guys on that list. Further suggestion they are keeping Perry around for now.

Does this not put us over the cap though? I thought we had less than Perry's $750k salary in space? 

[BigTed3]

3 hours ago, maas_art said:

Does this not put us over the cap though? I thought we had less than Perry's $750k salary in space? 

No, we've been able to add Perry even from the time Armia went down. We had saved enough cap space during the first week or so of the season to make that happen. We still have 150-200k of free cap space, even with Perry here. I suspect he'll be "sent down" shortly to save space though. Wouldn't be surprised if he sits tomorrow and Byron is back in.

[kinot-2]

CP (our starter) has these numbers: 2.81 GAA and a SV% of .899. While Allen (our back-up) has these numbers: 1.81 GAA and .940 SV%.

Mete' is the only player with a minus at -2.

I'll leave it right there. 

[jennifer_rocket]

10 hours ago, kinot-2 said:

CP (our starter) has these numbers: 2.81 GAA and a SV% of .899. While Allen (our back-up) has these numbers: 1.81 GAA and .940 SV%.

Mete' is the only player with a minus at -2.

I'll leave it right there. 

Yeah, at this point... I'm playing Allen in every second game. He's been better than Price so there's no reason to go to Carey for 75% of the games. Give Allen half of them. If Carey continues to struggle, then Allen should get more.

[claremont]

11 hours ago, BigTed3 said:

No, we've been able to add Perry even from the time Armia went down. We had saved enough cap space during the first week or so of the season to make that happen. We still have 150-200k of free cap space, even with Perry here. I suspect he'll be "sent down" shortly to save space though. Wouldn't be surprised if he sits tomorrow and Byron is back in.

Perry took a good crack against the boards late in the 3rd period IFIRC, I expect Byron to jump up. I really don't see Frolik playing much unless Perry falters. A team to keep a watch on is Pittsburgh. If they falter, I would not be surprised to see Burke make some splash - the Penguins are woefully weak in draft choices. 

[claremont]

Anybody think That Gallagher and Tatar have been carrying PD rather than the other way around?

[archey]

2 events last night stood out to me.

Gallagher went into the boards and Weber fell on the guy.

They won't switch captaincy over it. Oh well. Recurring nightmares of my group when I was 6 and the girls WAYYYYYYYYYYY outskated everyone.

[kinot-2]

With 31 goals scored at 5 on 5, Habs are 6th in the NHL.
With 16 goals allowed at 5 on 5, Habs are 5th in the NHL (They are 1st considering games played)

So the problem isn't there.

With 12:09 minutes per games, the Habs are 2nd most penalized team in the NHL
62 minors, also good for 2nd in the NHL

[maas_art]

4 hours ago, claremont said:

Anybody think That Gallagher and Tatar have been carrying PD rather than the other way around?

No question.  Its a bit worrisome as its been pretty much the whole season.  Im not prepared to say he's done but Id certainly consider swapping PD and JK for a few games. 

[26NCounting]

12 minutes ago, maas_art said:

No question.  Its a bit worrisome as its been pretty much the whole season.  Im not prepared to say he's done but Id certainly consider swapping PD and JK for a few games. 

Personally I would swap PD and Evans. Evans has some terrific speed and drive, would like to see what the kid can do with legit line mates.  PD can sulk on the 4th line or be replaced by Poehling, his lack of drive and looking lost on the ice is getting old in my books

[BigTed3]

So believe it or not, we're already a quarter of the way through the season, so here are my quarter-way grades:

 

Goalies:

- Allen: B+... pretty good start for Allen. Room for improvement, but he looks good compared to his competition.

- Price: D... harsh? Yes. But for a guy being paid 10.5M, he isn't even in the top 31 goalies in the league right now. That isn't acceptable.

 

Defence:

- Petry: A+... our best player to start the year. People should stop being surprised by this.

- Kulak: B+... our 2nd-best defenceman. Underrated.

- Weber: C+... started strong. He's been brutal the past 4-5 games. Bad turnovers, out of position, can't clear his zone. Needs to do better.

- Romanov: C... good skater, good with the puck. Needs to work on positioning but he'll learn with experience.

- Edmundson: C-... he's trended the opposite of the rest of the team. Terrible start, but he's looked much better in the past little bit.

- Chiarot: D... pretty decent start and then just hit a wall and looks like Chiarot of last year again. Too many bad plays in his own end, too many dumb penalties.

- Mete: D... was it rust or is he just not cut out for the NHL?

 

Forwards:

- Suzuki: A-... a lot of games where he was our best forward, even though he's struggled the past couple.

- Anderson: A-... a power forward who can score!

- Drouin: A-... many are harsh on Drouin, but he's been strong to start the year.

- Toffoli: B+... lots of goals, but mainly against one team. Needs a bit more consistency.

- Evans: B+... pleasant surprise on the 4th line.

- Armia: B... decent start for Armia despite missing time.

- Kotkaniemi: B-... spurts of impressive play and moments where he looks like he's running around. Needs to calm down a bit and looks like he needs a mentor.

- Lehkonen: B-... a good 4th liner, good job on the PK especially.

- Perry: B-... he's still a contributor.

- Gallagher: C+... working hard most nights, but he's got to produce more.

- Danault: C-... for a guy who fancies himself a 1C, he hasn't scored and isn't creating. That said, better effort the past 3 nights.

- Tatar: C-... inconsistent. Looks like he could be in better game-shape.

- Byron: C-... slowly losing his grip on a roster spot.

 

Coach and GM:

 

- Julien: B+... team has played reasonably well to start the year, despite the past two games. He has most of the forwards in the right seats and he's playing his young guys as needed. Don't like how he's handled the defence though. We can't do both Chiarot and Edmundson in the top 4 and that move to play Mete really messed things up.

 

- Bergevin: A-... he addressed most of the needs he needed to. Got a strong back-up goalie. Got Romanov over here. Brought in a power forward in Anderson, and Toffoli also working out well. Would have been nice if it didn't take him 9 years to get tot his point though and he's still failing to address the lacunes on the left side of the defence.

[26NCounting]

I was reading an article earlier this morning that says the following ......

 

"The team came out this season with few practices, playing having fun and scoring a ton of goals.  JC has now had more time with the team and they are now playing his style a more defensive style rather than the run and gun.  The players no longer look like they are having fun, this is an old school coaching at a new school game".

 

I wonder how much truth is in this statement

[26NCounting]

7 hours ago, BigTed3 said:

So believe it or not, we're already a quarter of the way through the season, so here are my quarter-way grades:

 

Goalies:

- Allen: B+... pretty good start for Allen. Room for improvement, but he looks good compared to his competition.

- Price: D... harsh? Yes. But for a guy being paid 10.5M, he isn't even in the top 31 goalies in the league right now. That isn't acceptable.

 

Defence:

- Petry: A+... our best player to start the year. People should stop being surprised by this.

- Kulak: B+... our 2nd-best defenceman. Underrated.

- Weber: C+... started strong. He's been brutal the past 4-5 games. Bad turnovers, out of position, can't clear his zone. Needs to do better.

- Romanov: C... good skater, good with the puck. Needs to work on positioning but he'll learn with experience.

- Edmundson: C-... he's trended the opposite of the rest of the team. Terrible start, but he's looked much better in the past little bit.

- Chiarot: D... pretty decent start and then just hit a wall and looks like Chiarot of last year again. Too many bad plays in his own end, too many dumb penalties.

- Mete: D... was it rust or is he just not cut out for the NHL?

 

Forwards:

- Suzuki: A-... a lot of games where he was our best forward, even though he's struggled the past couple.

- Anderson: A-... a power forward who can score!

- Drouin: A-... many are harsh on Drouin, but he's been strong to start the year.

- Toffoli: B+... lots of goals, but mainly against one team. Needs a bit more consistency.

- Evans: B+... pleasant surprise on the 4th line.

- Armia: B... decent start for Armia despite missing time.

- Kotkaniemi: B-... spurts of impressive play and moments where he looks like he's running around. Needs to calm down a bit and looks like he needs a mentor.

- Lehkonen: B-... a good 4th liner, good job on the PK especially.

- Perry: B-... he's still a contributor.

- Gallagher: C+... working hard most nights, but he's got to produce more.

- Danault: C-... for a guy who fancies himself a 1C, he hasn't scored and isn't creating. That said, better effort the past 3 nights.

- Tatar: C-... inconsistent. Looks like he could be in better game-shape.

- Byron: C-... slowly losing his grip on a roster spot.

 

Coach and GM:

 

- Julien: B+... team has played reasonably well to start the year, despite the past two games. He has most of the forwards in the right seats and he's playing his young guys as needed. Don't like how he's handled the defence though. We can't do both Chiarot and Edmundson in the top 4 and that move to play Mete really messed things up.

 

- Bergevin: A-... he addressed most of the needs he needed to. Got a strong back-up goalie. Got Romanov over here. Brought in a power forward in Anderson, and Toffoli also working out well. Would have been nice if it didn't take him 9 years to get tot his point though and he's still failing to address the lacunes on the left side of the defence.

I would give Weber a solid B+, they need to change the PP up opposing teams are coving him closely this is a coaching issue not a player

Gallagher B+  he is grinding hard and setting up PD a ton just PD is a waste of space on the team and can't finish

PD F In his head he is a 1C and trying to play like however he lacks the talent and the drive.  Watching him last night he isn't even fighting for position infront of the net

Edmunson C-  he is slow and offensively challenged but does provide some size and presence in front of the net.  Needs to add more grit and physicality to his game to offset his liabilities

Julien D His lack of imagination on the PP will kill this team, can't seem to motivate the team and get them up for games.  Needs to be more creative with his lines and bench veterans when not preforming

Bergevin B- too early to give a fair assessment, the Edmunson signing could hurt, he is slow and offensively challenged but does provide some size and presence in front of the net. 

 

[electron58]

2 hours ago, 26NCounting said:

I was reading an article earlier this morning that says the following ......

 

"The team came out this season with few practices, playing having fun and scoring a ton of goals.  JC has now had more time with the team and they are now playing his style a more defensive style rather than the run and gun.  The players no longer look like they are having fun, this is an old school coaching at a new school game".

 

I wonder how much truth is in this statement

It does make sense. That's why the Bruins did so good when CJ left.  &, CJ didn't do very well for us, until Luke Richardson & Dominique Ducharme came on board. I wonder if CJ is reverting back to his old self. I'm not against replacing CJ, but, what french coaches are available?

[jennifer_rocket]

I haven't watched enough games to hand out grades to a majority of the team. However, I do think I've watched enough to pass judgements on some of them. 

Price has not been good enough. He hasn't been good enough for a few seasons now. Currently his save percentage is below 0.900. That's just brutal for the highest paid goaltender of all time. Allen has been much better. I appreciate the fact that Julien is using them both consistently. Hopefully Price finds his way back to being a good goaltender.

Petry has been awesome! No one (i.e. casual fans) ever seems to think he's our best D. But he is.

The Danault-Gallagher-Tatar trio looks like they're still playing pre-season games. Suzuki-Anderson-Drouin has easily been our most consistent and best line. We'd probably have 1-2 more wins if Danault's line could get it together. It's like we added scoring depth, and then the scorers we had slacked off... 

[jennifer_rocket]

In addition, when you look at the top three highest paid players in the league (McDavid, Panarin, Matthews) it feels like they are massive difference makers. It just doesn't feel like Price is anymore. And that's not to say there aren't other players in the top-10 who are underperformers compared to their salary (e.g. Doughty, Toews), but I don't want to aspire to be like those teams. I want Montreal cap dollars spent in a way that helps us win. Not hinders us. Price needs to be better or we need to consider leaving him for Seattle to take in the expansion draft. I feel like each season Price's value continues to crater and we need to stop waiting around for him to "rebound" just because NHLPA members and NHL team managers still believe he's amazing.

[ramcharger440]

1 hour ago, electron58 said:

It does make sense. That's why the Bruins did so good when CJ left.  &, CJ didn't do very well for us, until Luke Richardson & Dominique Ducharme came on board. I wonder if CJ is reverting back to his old self. I'm not against replacing CJ, but, what french coaches are available?

I have felt this way for a long time. CJ is not the right coach for this team. I bet if he were around during the playoffs we would have been destroyed. when he first got back here we had one of the best power plays in the nhl he got here and it went poof gone and it really has not been back since then. there is no excuse for this team to come out unprepared for the games against Ottawa and for sure not against Toronto. I bet if Muller was running the show we would be doing better. jus my opinion.

[26NCounting]

33 minutes ago, ramcharger440 said:

I have felt this way for a long time. CJ is not the right coach for this team. I bet if he were around during the playoffs we would have been destroyed. when he first got back here we had one of the best power plays in the nhl he got here and it went poof gone and it really has not been back since then. there is no excuse for this team to come out unprepared for the games against Ottawa and for sure not against Toronto. I bet if Muller was running the show we would be doing better. jus my opinion.

I tend to agree with your analysis of CJ however I am not entirely sure Muller is the man for the job either.  He is more of a defensive oriented person and I fear we would just trod along the same dismal path we are currently on.  I would love to see us go with a young coach with new ideas for the new style game say a Jim Hulton from Charlottetown Islanders I think might be an excellent choice 

[RCAF48]

3 hours ago, 26NCounting said:

The team came out this season with few practices, playing having fun and scoring a ton of goals.  JC has now had more time with the team and they are now playing his style a more defensive style rather than the run and gun.  The players no longer look like they are having fun, this is an old school coaching at a new school game".

 

I was thinking along similar lines. In the first few games we were very aggressive on the PK but in the last few games we have started to collapse back to an old school defensive box and in OT and 4 on 4 situations Julien sends out players better suited for a slower, less fluid, more defensive situation.

 

11 hours ago, BigTed3 said:

So believe it or not, we're already a quarter of the way through the season, so here are my quarter-way grades :

 

Agree within a +/-  on the majority of your grades with the exception of Kulak but I do agree he is playing better than Mete. 

I don't think you were too harsh on Price but may have been a little tough on Allen. It is hard to assign Julien any sort of grade other than pass/fail and I would reserve judgement on that for now.

[maas_art]

13 hours ago, BigTed3 said:

So believe it or not, we're already a quarter of the way through the season, so here are my quarter-way grades:

 

Overall I agree with your grades.  I think i would be a little easier ont he defense (more B- than Cs) likewise id probably give Carey a C- not a D but the rankings are pretty much right on.  I do hope Edmundson continues to trend better. Maybe he can be a true #4 and if Romanov continues to adapt, you're in better shape than we are right now. 

3 hours ago, jennifer_rocket said:

The Danault-Gallagher-Tatar trio looks like they're still playing pre-season games. Suzuki-Anderson-Drouin has easily been our most consistent and best line. We'd probably have 1-2 more wins if Danault's line could get it together. It's like we added scoring depth, and then the scorers we had slacked off... 

Considering we've mostly lost by 1 goal (or MT net) i think you're right on the money. At least a loser's point here or there. 

6 hours ago, 26NCounting said:

I was reading an article earlier this morning that says the following ......

"The team came out this season with few practices, playing having fun and scoring a ton of goals.  JC has now had more time with the team and they are now playing his style a more defensive style rather than the run and gun.  The players no longer look like they are having fun, this is an old school coaching at a new school game".

I wonder how much truth is in this statement

Tough to say but id agree they look a heck of a lot tighter and not using their strengths right now.   We looked like world-beaters earlier in the year and now look like last year's team.