Pre-Game Talk: 2023-2024 Habs Rookie Camp & Training Camp

[Adam Michaels]

Send both Norlinder and Barron down and keep Lindstrom up?

The way you should look at it is would you rather have Lindstrom be the one to sit in the press box some games as an extra body on D or would you rather have Norlinder or Barron to be the ones in that position?

It's also crowded in Laval, but you can be sure that Norlinder, Mailloux, and Barron will be priorities because they're late cuts. And Trudeau also has had a great rookie and main camp. So these 4 would surely be priorities for JF Houle to use most and in all situations because they'll be in line to be among the first call ups.

You have Bisson, Galipeau, Keeper, and a bunch of other D like Struble and Tourigny to have to work with. But with the kinds of camps the aforementioned prospects had, HuGo and MSL will surely give the mandate to JF Houle and his staff that they should be prioritized.

 

[Captain Mountain]

Send both Norlinder and Barron down and keep Lindstrom up?

I'd personally rather have Lindstrom be the 7th D-man and have Norlinder and Barron playing games.

 

[Redux91]

https://twitter.com/EricEngels
Eric Engels
https://twitter.com/EricEngels
@EricEngels

D pairs:
Matheson-Savard
Guhle-Kovacevic
Harris-Xhekaj
Norlinder-Barron

Lindstrom in rotation

Doesn't sound good for Lindstrom, I'm expecting waivers for him later this week and probably one of Barron or Norlinder.

This is telling for Barron, and telling for Norlinder

They're both on the '4th pair', but if you put a 'trending arrow' next to both names, you could imagine one is up and the other down

 

[dcyhabs]

Marty doing things the way I would do them.

When the final cuts are made, I would send Norlinder and Barron down, because they need to play. Lindstrom can be the 7th D. He's probably gone after this year, so it's ok if he doesn't play that much this year.

It already seems like we'll have to make a lot of trades of dmen by this time next year. It looks like Mailloux, Reinbacher, Barron, and Norlinder will all graduate next year. That will leave us with:

Matheson - Reinbacher
Guhle - Mailloux
Xhekaj - Barron/Kovacevic
Harris, Norlinder
Savard traded

We will keep 7 dmen. So we'll have to trade 3 or 4 dmen within the next 1 year.

And that's assuming Trudeau, Struble, Hutson and Engstrom aren't NHL ready and play in Laval.

Some of the D will likely bust. I don't see Norlinder having massive value unless he has a really good season. The habs will probably need to trade one or two, and while Guhle and probably Reinbacher should stay barring a really, really impressive return, I'd expect one of the better guys to be moved for a better return and not someone who outplays their stat line like Harris or Kovacevic.

 

[DramaticGloveSave]

This is telling for Barron, and telling for Norlinder

They're both on the '4th pair', but if you put a 'trending arrow' next to both names, you could imagine one is up and the other down

I wouldn’t put too much stock in the order Engels listed them lol

 

[26Mats]

Some of the D will likely bust. I don't see Norlinder having massive value unless he has a really good season. The habs will probably need to trade one or two, and while Guhle and probably Reinbacher should stay barring a really, really impressive return, I'd expect one of the better guys to be moved for a better return and not someone who outplays their stat line like Harris or Kovacevic.

Even if Norlinder busts, that leaves us with 9 dmen. I'd rather none of these guys be #7D and not play enough. So I'd trade 3 of them. But even if you keep 8 you have to trade 2.

 

[BLONG7]

https://twitter.com/EricEngels
Eric Engels
https://twitter.com/EricEngels
@EricEngels

D pairs:
Matheson-Savard
Guhle-Kovacevic
Harris-Xhekaj
Norlinder-Barron

Lindstrom in rotation

Doesn't sound good for Lindstrom, I'm expecting waivers for him later this week and probably one of Barron or Norlinder.

Savard as a #1 Dman???
Think he should be dropped a pairing, or two..............we are in serious trouble if he stays on the top pair.
Barron and Norlinder need to play a lot of minutes...........probably in Laval.
Can't see us keeping one of those kids, to put in the pressbox.

 

[26Mats]

The way you should look at it is would you rather have Lindstrom be the one to sit in the press box some games as an extra body on D or would you rather have Norlinder or Barron to be the ones in that position?

It's also crowded in Laval, but you can be sure that Norlinder, Mailloux, and Barron will be priorities because they're late cuts. And Trudeau also has had a great rookie and main camp. So these 4 would surely be priorities for JF Houle to use most and in all situations because they'll be in line to be among the first call ups.

You have Bisson, Galipeau, Keeper, and a bunch of other D like Struble and Tourigny to have to work with. But with the kinds of camps the aforementioned prospects had, HuGo and MSL will surely give the mandate to JF Houle and his staff that they should be prioritized.

Do Galipeau, Bisson, or Keeper have any shot at the NHL? If not, Struble and Trourigny's development should be ahead of them.

Savard as a #1 Dman???
Think he should be dropped a pairing, or two..............we are in serious trouble if he stays on the top pair.
Barron and Norlinder need to play a lot of minutes...........probably in Laval.
Can't see us keeping one of those kids, to put in the pressbox.

The first pair is usually your #1D and you're 3rd best defensive dman. The #2 usually leads a 2nd pair, as Guhle is doing in this case. Is Savard better defensively than Kovacevic and Harris or Xhekaj on their right side? It's not an insane conclusion to say yes.

 

[BLONG7]

Do Galipeau, Bisson, or Keeper have any shot at the NHL? If not, Struble and Trourigny's development should be ahead of them.


The first pair is usually your #1D and you're 3rd best defensive dman. The #2 usually leads a 2nd pair, as Guhle is doing in this case. Is Savard better defensively than Kovacevic and Harris or Xhekaj on their right side? It's not an insane conclusion to say yes.

Might not be insane, but it's not ideal either...........the guy is not 1st pairing material.

 

[Redux91]

I wouldn’t put too much stock in the order Engels listed them lol

Yeah? Enlighten me then,
You believe they are instead the 3rd pairing, the 2nd pairing or the 1st pairing?

 

[morhilane]

Savard as a #1 Dman???
Think he should be dropped a pairing, or two..............we are in serious trouble if he stays on the top pair.
Barron and Norlinder need to play a lot of minutes...........probably in Laval.
Can't see us keeping one of those kids, to put in the pressbox.

Savard is not a #1 pair dmen, but neither are the Habs young RDs. The kids aren't ready to play against the top opposition each nights.

 

[Tyson]

I'd personally rather have Lindstrom be the 7th D-man and have Norlinder and Barron playing games.

The problem becomes having to possibly send guys to Trois Riviere. We have to start either moving players for other assets or send guys to the ECHL who have no business playing at that level.

 

[26Mats]

I prefer keeping Norlinder or Barron up honestly and do a rotation between either of them Harris and Xhekaj to start the season. Lindstrom doesn't bring anything to this team IMO.

I agree about Lindstrom bringing nothing. That's why I'd have him be the one to sit in the pressbox.

When there are injuries does he get to jump into the top 6 ahead of the guys in Laval? Not at all.

 

[dcyhabs]

Savard as a #1 Dman???
Think he should be dropped a pairing, or two..............we are in serious trouble if he stays on the top pair.
Barron and Norlinder need to play a lot of minutes...........probably in Laval.
Can't see us keeping one of those kids, to put in the pressbox.

Savard is a good third pairing guy who can fill in on the second temporarily. He looked terrible in his first year when he was expected to replace Weber. He looked better on lower pairings with more suitable partners. Putting him on the first line will make it a rough year for Savard and the team.

The problem is there is no first pairing. Guhle made the team way better by playing those minutes and not being as badly outplayed as others who tried, and he may be able to play those minutes well in a year or two. Matheson is good but fragile and ideally second pairing defensively. A lot of the habs D are very good 3rd pairing guys, and weakish second pairing at this point. There are a lot of them, and many, like Xhekaj, have really interesting attribues, but we'll see who can actually do something good with the ice time.

 

[McGees]

Savard as a #1 Dman???
Think he should be dropped a pairing, or two..............

I would drop him faster than the extra cheese dropping from his poutine breakfast.





too harsh?

 

[DramaticGloveSave]

Any forward line combos? Interested to see where Newhook and Monahan are.

 

[Team_Spirit]

People here are like school bullies. ”The House” will get his revenge #40

I'm all for it buddy

 

[Captain Mountain]

The problem becomes having to possibly send guys to Trois Riviere. We have to start either moving players for other assets or send guys to the ECHL who have no business playing at that level.

Looking at the guys Montreal has, I don't see it as being a real problem.

 

[HuGort]

I think Habs going to be competitive this year. Challenge for a playoff spot.

 

[McGees]

I think Habs going to be competitive this year. Challenge for a playoff spot.

They won't be bottom 5 but I don't think they get as high as actually challenging for a spot. Highest I see them is where Ott/Det were last year.

 

[Runner77]

You do understand the difference between an idea and a rule right? One of the D men has to instinctively break while the other has to instintively defend. That is what a good pairing does without thinking about it. Both breaking or both defending is not conceptual and it isn't playing the game Marty wants.
Not everyone can do it and it is one of the main reasons certain pairings certain duos and certain trios never work out. Chemistry is a conceptual and instinctive and has absolutely nothing to do with rules or structure or systems. It's the same in every sport elite players react differently in many given situations. Marty is simply hoping to teach his players to recognize or read and react by making the proper play in some of those instances. There is no way they will ever master them all and some players may not master any.

An idea would be to indent your posts to generate smaller paragraphs so as to make them more legible.

However, it’s not a rule.

 

[FrankMTL]

The Armia mania continues. Hoards of fans invade Mont Tremblant too see the Finnish icon.

Nobody goes to school in Tremblant?



Poor Pezzetta...Probably the only time he will ever hear his name chanted.

 

[the]

Where's the Blue Jays hat??

 

[Runner77]

Justin Barron in an interview with Anthony Martineau:

Pourtant, il affirme, quitte à en surprendre plus d’un, être satisfait de son travail, jusqu’ici.

«Globalement, je suis très heureux de ce que je démontre. J’espère maintenant avoir l’occasion de jouer à Ottawa samedi.»

Surprisingly, Barron is claiming that he’s happy about how he’s played so far in the pre-season. He says « overall, I’m very happy about what I’m showing. Hoping to play on Saturday vs. Ottawa. »

On the one hand, what else was he going to say? Maybe he could have chosen to leave that assessment to others?

On the other, well some pundits feel that he’s not putting in enough effort, is not hungry enough for someone who doesn’t want to get demoted to Laval. Is he delusional? Coaches have asked him to be better in his zone and to show more creativity offensively. Martineau states that he has not excelled in either facet. If so, what’s there for him to be so happy about?

 

[HuGort]

They won't be bottom 5 but I don't think they get as high as actually challenging for a spot. Highest I see them is where Ott/Det were last year.

Habs were ravished with injuries last two years. More than any other team in NHL 100+ year history. They better than most think. Changing doctors and last June trainers, I think will be big help.

Especially losing front line talent for long periods of time. Guys like Dach, Suzuki, Matheson, Monahan, it's impossible to replace them.