HF Habs: 2023 Roster, Schedule & Standings Thread

[Runner77]

Intriguing claim made by Renaud Lavoie:

Je veux juste vous ramener à la fin janvier quand Samuel Montembeault se fait arracher la tête par Zack Kassian. La réaction des joueurs sur la glace, aujourd'hui, ça me choque encore grandement. Des joueurs qui étaient sur la glace à ce moment, il n'en reste qu'un. Ryan Poehling, Jeff Petry, Brett Kulak et Laurent Dauphin ne sont plus ici. Il reste Mike Hoffman.

He’s saying there has been a fallout from late January when Zach Kassian ran over and wiped out Monty. The reaction by the Habs players who were on the ice in that moment, still shocks him greatly.

Looking at those players who were on the ice at that time, only one remains. Poehling, Petry, Kulak and Dauphin are all gone. Only Mike Hoffman is still with the club.

In the piece that contained the above quote, Lavoie adds that Hoffman only remains because he’s untradeable.

«Aucune équipe de la LNH n'a un intérêt envers Mike Hoffman» - TVA Sports

Lors de son segment avec Jean-Charles Lajoie, Renaud Lavoie a rappelé un triste événement où les joueurs n'avaient démontré aucun esprit d'équipe.

www.tvasports.ca

 

[26Mats]

Xhekaj needs time in Laval, nothing wrong with that.
Wideman needs to be the 7th D ASAP.

It's looking like a healthy dcore is:

Matheson Edmundson
Guhle Savard
Harris Kovacevic
Wideman

 

[Runner77]

It's looking like a healthy dcore is:

Matheson Edmundson
Guhle Savard
Harris Kovacevic
Wideman

While those vets remain unavailable, Renaud Lavoie claims that Hughes will have no choice but to make a move in order to add a veteran D.

 

[WeThreeKings]

To keep the right pace, we just need to lose our next 2 games. Gonna be tough but we've managed to lose to Arizona before.

 

[Habs Halifax]

A few details so far...

* 2.0 goals for/game (ranks 28th)
* 2.75 goals against/game (ranks 13th)

* 91.7% PK efficiency (ranks 7th)
* 5:26 SH TOI/game (ranks 23rd)

* 7.7% PP efficiency (ranks 28th)
* 5:58 PP TOI/game (ranks 19th)

* 54.6 faceoff winning % (ranks 8th)
* 54.8% at even strength
* 60.7% on the PP
* 45.0% short handed
* 51.2% in the offensive zone
* 57.8% in the neutral zone
* 55.8% in the defensive zone

* 20.48 hits/60 (ranks 21st)
* 18.5 blocks/60 (ranks 4th)
* 14.07 giveaways/60 (ranks 30th)
* 7.4 takeaways/60 (ranks 14th)

 

[Vachon23]

Xhakaj is 7th in the league for hits
Guhle is 20th

And no surprise, David Savard is #1 in the league for block shot. he has 9 more block shot then Romanov who is 2nd in the league (Romanov only played 2 games though)

 

[MarkovsKnee]

A few details so far...

* 2.0 goals for/game (ranks 28th)
* 2.75 goals against/game (ranks 13th)

* 91.7% PK efficiency (ranks 7th)
* 5:26 SH TOI/game (ranks 23rd)

* 7.7% PP efficiency (ranks 28th)
* 5:58 PP TOI/game (ranks 19th)

* 54.6 faceoff winning % (ranks 8th)
* 54.8% at even strength
* 60.7% on the PP
* 45.0% short handed
* 51.2% in the offensive zone
* 57.8% in the neutral zone
* 55.8% in the defensive zone

* 20.48 hits/60 (ranks 21st)
* 18.5 blocks/60 (ranks 4th)
* 14.07 giveaways/60 (ranks 30th)
* 7.4 takeaways/60 (ranks 14th)

The two bigs ones are the 2.75 goals against & the pk. Think most people thought GA was going to be +3.00. PK has been solid against 3 really good PP teams vs Toronto, Washington & Pens, which is why we won 2 of 3.

We'll see if those hold. Season is young & everyone is fresh.


If we're going there:

Suzuki tied for 10th in points
Caufield tied for 7th in goals

Monahan is 12th on faceoffs
Dvorak 25th on faceoffs
Evans 30th on faceoffs

3 top 30 faceoffs guys is amazing.

 

[Harry Kakalovich]

I guess some teams expect a night off in Montreal

 

[MarkovsKnee]

Need NJ & Ottawa to start winning. NJ plays Anaheim so that's a definite possibility, but Sens play Boston. High chance they go 0-3. Vancouver has already hit the panic button at 0-3. How long til things go sour in O-town?

I expected both NJ & Ottawa to be better than us.

Still 6 teams without a win. 3 in each conference.

OTT & NJ are 0-2
CBJ 0-3

Vanc & Minnesota are 0-3
San Jose 0-4

San Jose will finish 32nd. They're not competing at all. Chicago & Arizona players are at least working hard.

 

[Runner77]

Good news that they’re skating. Who knows how far off they are but can’t be that long.

 

[morhilane]

Good news that they’re skating. Who knows how far off they are but can’t be that long.

Armia should be back soon, I think it was 8 days for him. They might take it slow thought, if Hugues can't trade someone if they want to give more games to Slaf in the NHL.

 

[BozoTheClown]

Need to go on a 16 games losing streak before Christmas!!

 

[MarkovsKnee]

So who had the worst teams in East as Tampa Bay & Columbus? Both 1-3.

Then you have Minnesota in West at 0-3.

That's going to change, right?

 

[HabSgt]

I don't want to sound any early alarms here but I think we may be in trouble in the Connor Bedard sweepstakes vs the San Jose Sharks.

 

[Kennerback]

Armia should be back soon, I think it was 8 days for him. They might take it slow thought, if Hugues can't trade someone if they want to give more games to Slaf in the NHL.

Considering the incessant injuries and lack of forward depth in Laval, they might juggle what they have.

 

[WeThreeKings]

I don't want to sound any early alarms here but I think we may be in trouble in the Connor Bedard sweepstakes vs the San Jose Sharks.

No alarms, anyone expecting us to be the worst team again is setting unrealistic expectations.

We just need to be around the bottom 5. Gives us good lotto odds and ensures a top talent in the draft even if we get bumped back twice.

 

[NewEraGM]

I don't want to sound any early alarms here but I think we may be in trouble in the Connor Bedard sweepstakes vs the San Jose Sharks.

It’s still a lottery. Everyone has this obsession about finishing last. It’s like 20% versus 5% chance between finishing last and 5th to last….

The only thing finishing lower down in the standings helps with is that you can only drop 2 spots but it doesn’t really help that much in winning the lottery or picking 1st.

 

[Habs Icing]

Good news that they’re skating. Who knows how far off they are but can’t be that long.

There are a couple of takeaways from that tweet.

Good news if you want the Habs to compete in general. Bad news if you want the Habs to compete for either Bedard, Michkov, or Chantilly Lace.

 

[Habs Halifax]

The two bigs ones are the 2.75 goals against & the pk. Think most people thought GA was going to be +3.00. PK has been solid against 3 really good PP teams vs Toronto, Washington & Pens, which is why we won 2 of 3.

We'll see if those hold. Season is young & everyone is fresh.


If we're going there:

Suzuki tied for 10th in points
Caufield tied for 7th in goals

Monahan is 12th on faceoffs
Dvorak 25th on faceoffs
Evans 30th on faceoffs

3 top 30 faceoffs guys is amazing.

Yup! Some more good context.

With the team D, there were too many fans thinking last year = this year. The D is completely different so if anybody pretended that is was one or the worse D core in the league, they were reaching cause they got Tank Fever. Eddy and Matheson are going to make it even better. Hopefully Eddy is back sooner rater than later (like last year).

The faceoffs are a nice surprise too!

 

[Habs Halifax]

Good news that they’re skating. Who knows how far off they are but can’t be that long.

Bet you when Armia comes back, he is eventually going to be with Suzuki/Caufield. Then Monahan and Anderson play with Dach

Caufield / Suzuki / Armia
Monahan / Dach / Anderson
Drouin / Dvorak / Gallagher
Whoever / Evans / Whoever

Also bet you that when both Eddy and Matheson are healthy, they are paired together.
Matheson / Eddy
Guhle / Savard

Then let the battle begin between..
Harris / Kovacevic
Xhekaj / Wideman

 

[Naslundforever]

Xhakaj is 7th in the league for hits
Guhle is 20th

And no surprise, David Savard is #1 in the league for block shot. he has 9 more block shot then Romanov who is 2nd in the league (Romanov only played 2 games though)

It’s a great sign of engagement and positioning, but also means habs did not have the puck much for stretches. Really different looks from those “Detroit Giants“ to the Pens and Leafs, fun dynamic hockey this year compared to the bubble.

 

[Lshap]

I feel like it's weird to be super involved in the tank race until around January. Just try to enjoy watching the team for now. It's still very early, young players will hit slumps, goaltending will be inconsistent...etc don't worry we will have a top 5 pick.

Wise words. We can obsess over Ottawa, Minnesota and San Jose being below us, we can look up at Philly and wonder WTF is going on... or we can enjoy the games and check back in a month to see how everything has reshuffled. Chances are our goaltending will spring a leak and our young D will lose some of their early-season adrenaline.

I'm not expecting Bedard. Won't happen. But I am expecting to draft a top forward next summer – we need another potential star in the top-6. And if our rookie defensemen win us a few more games and bump the Habs back a couple of picks later, so be it. The net-benefit is worth it.

 

[Naslundforever]

Bet you when Armia comes back, he is eventually going to be with Suzuki/Caufield. Then Monahan and Anderson play with Dach

Caufield / Suzuki / Armia
Monahan / Dach / Anderson
Drouin / Dvorak / Gallagher
Whoever / Evans / Whoever

Also bet you that when both Eddy and Matheson are healthy, they are paired together.
Matheson / Eddy
Guhle / Savard

Then let the battle begin between..
Harris / Kovacevic
Xhekaj / Wideman

Interesting how every D brings something different.

 

[Habs Halifax]

Wise words. We can obsess over Ottawa, Minnesota and San Jose being below us, we can look up at Philly and wonder WTF is going on... or we can enjoy the games and check back in a month to see how everything has reshuffled. Chances are our goaltending will spring a leak and our young D will lose some of their early-season adrenaline.

I'm not expecting Bedard. Won't happen. But I am expecting to draft a top forward next summer – we need another potential star in the top-6. And if our rookie defensemen win us a few more games and bump the Habs back a couple of picks later, so be it. The net-benefit is worth it.

Need two big pieces like Suzuki/Caufield quality. One up front and one on D. We need a PP QB and a top notch type.

Would be nice to get Adam Fantilli. Off to a great start in the NCAA at age 18. 8 pts in 4 games with 1 goal.

 

[Habs Halifax]

Interesting how every D brings something different.

Yup! We have better options this year on D and it will get better when Eddy and Matheson are back. Surely, there will be other injuries

* Matheson is likely better than what Petry provided last year (with Ducharme)
* Guhle is already providing more value than Romanov... in my opinion
* Savard is Savard
* Harris is one year older and improving game/game
* Xhekaj looks very mature for his age and experience. Much better than what Shu, Niku, Norlinder, etc provided last year.
* Kovacevic > Kulak