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Mon. Apr. 26, Habs @ the Flames, 6:30 PM ET. SNW, TSN2, RDS, TSN 690


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  • H_T_L pinned this topic
3 hours ago, BigTed3 said:

The Saturday game. Which in itself was a near-replay of the Friday game.

As such, this game will be a replay of the Fri. game and the Sat. game. I am going to hope for a different result, but, I' not excepting a different ending. 

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im actually surprised we havent seen any 'closed door' players meetings at this point.  The last patch has been really bad and its frustrating that we've used pretty much all our games in hand & are just barely in a playoff spot now. Even a couple of more wins & we'd be fighting for 2nd, not trying to hold on desperately to 4th.

 

I know the playoffs is a "second season" and things can change but right now i feel like we're on a crash course to squeak in and then get demolished in the 1st round.  It seems like the whole team philosophy is "this team is built for the playoffs" but im not convinced. 


I hope we can have a whole team effort today & come out with not only a win but a solid, multi-goal win. 

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To punctuate my post above:
 

Earlier this month, montreal had an eight-point lead on Calgary with five games in hand. 

They’re now holding just one game and are up by four points.

 

We're still in the better position to be sure - we win, we're in - but they have momentum on their side and man its been an ugly stretch. 
 

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Optional practice only this morning. Ducharme meeting with media at 4:30PM EST. No line-up changes announced thus far.

Habs on ice for optional skate this AM included the taxi squad (Frolik, Ouellet, Caufield, and Lindgren). Also included Kulak as well as Byron and Tatar briefly but no Drouin. No Primeau or Evans.

This would suggest to me...

1. Tatar and Byron trying out a skate with their injuries to see how they'd do. Both are possibles for tonight.

2. Less promising for Drouin.

3. The Habs aren't imminently planning on swapping out Lindgren for Primeau, although not a given. But you'd think if Primeau knew he was headed back to the taxi squad that he'd have been on the ice to get some work in.

4. Evans also likely stays in the line-up over Caufield joining the line-up.

 

Again, problem is Caufield's cap hit prevents him from being the forward added instead of Evans. Only ways to get him in would be by demoting Evans and

- Adding someone new to LTIR (Price, Drouin...) which isn't likely to be imminent.

- Demoting Byron, which saves 1.075M in cap space but means you'd need to use your last recall on Byron later if you want him back.

- Demoting Staal, which saves 1.075M in cap space but means he goes through waivers and requires the last recall if you want him back (not sure why you would but hey)

- Ceding Primeau back to taxi squad and promoting Lindgren on emergency recall as the back-up.

- Other possibilities are remote (e.g. ceding an injured Kotkaniemi/Romanov, who don't require waivers or demoting another player who requires waivers)

 

Given the above, I just don't think it's likely we'll see Caufield tonight. The best solution would be to demote Staal, but Bergevin is too stubborn to do that. The easiest for him is to swap Primeau for Lindgren, but as I said, if this was planned, then the team missed a chance to get Primeau some practice time this morning if they knew he wasn't going to be on the roster tonight. So I think we'll see Evans back in and if one of Byron/Tatar can't go, then we get 7 D men again. If both can't go, then maybe we see 8 D men with Kulak. I don't think we're seeing Caufield as long as there are injuries preventing us from demoting other players to maintain cap compliance.

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Looks like this is going to be a real mishmash of a lineup tonight. A bunch of banged up players combined with the senior citizens we already use. I smell a blowout unless Allen stands on his head while balancing two stacks of plates on the edges of his skates.

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2 hours ago, H_T_L said:

Looks like this is going to be a real mishmash of a lineup tonight. A bunch of banged up players combined with the senior citizens we already use. I smell a blowout unless Allen stands on his head while balancing two stacks of plates on the edges of his skates.

A couple of early Habs goals would be a good start for their confidence... 

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4 minutes ago, maas_art said:

A couple of early Habs goals would be a good start for their confidence... 

Who knows,,, maybe the kid can spark some life on our PP,,, assuming the refs give us chances.

I'm tempering my expectations on Cole. The last thing we need is for him to have a brutal debut, which is a possibility with this bandaid lineup we're icing tonight. If he gets thrown on the 4th line with Stall and Perry, so help me i'll puke.

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22 minutes ago, H_T_L said:

Who knows,,, maybe the kid can spark some life on our PP,,, assuming the refs give us chances.

I'm tempering my expectations on Cole. The last thing we need is for him to have a brutal debut, which is a possibility with this bandaid lineup we're icing tonight. If he gets thrown on the 4th line with Stall and Perry, so help me i'll puke.

I believe the plan has been to play him with JK all along. Not sure if they will lead with that but i think thats' been the long-term fit that they see. 

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18 minutes ago, habsisme said:

why Romanov? He's arguably our best defenseman! 

He was the best one left after they removed Kulak (who had been their best D man for the past few weeks). So apparently the Habs are just knocking off anyone who can skate and isn't playing like crap. Bodes well for the likes of Weber, Chiarot, Edmundson, and Merrill, who are all ineffective puck movers and playing poorly. Apparently that keeps you in the line-up these days.

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