HF Habs: 2023 Roster, Schedule & Standings Thread

[Gravity]

I think you need to re-adjust your evaluation of Suzuki. Yeah his shooting percentage is stupid high and nobody expects him to score 50 goals or 45, this year or any year but he's definitely capable of scoring around 30 every year.. and he creates so many chances that his assist totals should be higher than they are, so I think if you adjusted his shooting percentage to a realistic number but gave him the expected assists, he'd be hovering around the same point total.

We have to look at the stretch Caufield and Suzuki are on since MSL has joined. It's been separated by a full off-season as well, so it's not like its a hot streak they are riding. Under MSL they are near PPG players and they aren't even in their mid 20s yet.

We have two star players already.

I totally want to pick in the top 10 this year as much as anyone else and get that true blue chip star talent from the moment their name is called at the podium. We need to accept that might not happen but that's BECAUSE of the young under 24 talent on this team.

I'd take Suzuki and Caufield being legitimate star first line players over them being 2nd line players and getting Fantilli.

I'm going to wait until the season ends and we've played harder opponents before I declare them stars. I may be slightly underestimating Suzuki but I've also seen that line disappear against good teams but with a remotely possible NHL goalie.

Moreover a lot of the recent wins or OT losses have been caused my goals from Anderson, Dvorak and Monahan all of which hold no value to the team's future. We could've had the youngsters producing and Ls rolling in (the best of both worlds) if not for them (and awful goaltending on the other end). Allen deciding to play Vezina caliber once every 5 games doesn't help either, neither does Monty suddenly learning to stop pucks.

 

[Fuonki]

Suzuki is greater than Point and it’s not close.

Since when did Suzuki score 92 points in the regular season, or 33 in the playoffs? Or even get close to having a single point-per-game season?

Besides, even if Suzuki was somehow clearly above Point (which he is obviously not), Tampa still had two even more important players (Hedman & Vasilevski) in their two-time Stanley cup winning team. Where do you get those?

 

[Gravity]

Suzuki is greater than Point and it’s not close.

Let me know when Suzuki hits 92 points first......

Since when did Suzuki score 92 points in the regular season, or 33 in the playoffs? Or even get close to having a single point-per-game season?

Besides, even if Suzuki was somehow clearly above Point (which he is obviously not), Tampa still had two even more important players (Hedman & Vasilevski) in their two-time Stanley cup winning team. Where do you get those?

Not to mention Kucherov, Stamkos and Cirelli.

 

[Habs Halifax]

Monahan...............no way we get a 1st for Eddy.
Having 3 in the 1st round next year is a great thing!!

I think it's possible to get a 1st for both. Remember, Eddy has one extra year in term and if we were to retain 50%, we should get a 1st. $1.75M for two playoff runs is very good value in a salary cap.

I agree we should get a 1st for a healthy Monahan.

I value the Panthers and Habs 1st cause I think they both fall in the 6-16 range. If we get another 1st, it's going to be 20+ or 25+. Those picks are similar value year/year. Trying to say the entire 1st round is deep is premature. Deep draft narratives are usually flawed. This draft is deep in the 1st half or top 10 at a min. So as a result, I'll take a 1st in any draft year if it's back of the bus area.

 

[WeThreeKings]

How are we getting the 3rd?

Ask Hughes.. but it looks like Anderson is going to be the piece.

 

[Habs Halifax]

Let me know when Suzuki hits 92 points first......

We going to let you know when he gets to 40, 50, 60, 70, 80+... every step along the way bud

 

[morhilane]

People saying Habs standing is helped by a favorable PDO. The Habs current PDO is 0.990.

 

[BaseballCoach]

Very thorough response thank you.

Putting aside the assumptions, etc. If I'm not mistaken you also think the 23-24 season will be a non-competitive season. Which is my point... we can't get out of Lose Mode after this upcoming draft, we likely have another bad season up ahead in 23-24. To me, it's rather discouraging to have a combined c. 250 games of rooting for the Habs to lose with uncertain gains.

Not really, I personally believe 23-24 will be a compete-to-make-playoffs year, with reasonable chance. I think that is a level we will not quite reach this year. So progress. Not disappointing to me if next year we are around 93-97 points.

You have a point.

Suzuki will always have a good shooting percentage. He rarely takes low-percentage shots at the keeper's chest protector, and he has a great eye and release.

 

[MarkovsKnee]

Not really, I personally believe 23-24 will be a compete-to-make-playoffs year, with reasonable chance. I think that is a level we will not quite reach this year. So progrewss. Not disappointing to me if next year we are around 93-97 points.


Suzuki will always have a good shooting percentage. He rarely takes low-percentage shots at the keeper's chest protector, and he has a great eye and release.

He's currently shooting at 26.9% which is completely unsustainable, but it's probably going to remain high all year even if he does slow down a bit goal scoring wise. We're mostly facing backups, and a lot of those guys suck.

 

[BaseballCoach]

He's currently shooting at 26.9% which is completely unsustainable, but it's probably going to remain high all year even if he does slow down a bit goal scoring wise. We're mostly facing backups, and a lot of those guys suck.

But it's not the backup's fault if his shots are very often from Grade A+ scoring areas.

 

[MarkovsKnee]

But it's not the backup's fault if his shots are very often from Grade A+ scoring areas.

No, but good goalies can stop those chances more often than bad ones. No way that goal he got against Vancouver should have gone in. Terrible goal by Martin, but that's an example of why he has such a high shooting percentage.

It's a combination of a good shooter facing mostly bad goalies.

 

[Kudo Shinichi]

Cannot realistically see us being worst than any of these teams except Ottawa. If that's the case, then the highest we could finish pre-lottery is 7th.

 

[Adam Michaels]

For tonight:

- DET regulation win vs. FLA
- STL win vs. WPG: STL would be within 2 pts of MTL
- OTT win vs. DAL: OTT would be within 5 pts of MTL

- NSH vs. TBL: NSH win would put them ahead of MTL. TBL win would move 5 pts ahead of FLA and create more separation for the WC spot.

But a NSH win coupled with a FLA regulation loss would also put NSH ahead of FLA.

 

[rahad]

I've seen this each and every season. Some teams rise, some fall and some obvious ones like the Coyotes and Blackhawks are who we thought they were.

Heading into last year, Habs to me was a bubble team.... Started the season terribly like the Ducks and it was a hole we couldn't get out of and injuries piled up. In season momentum/confidence is a huge factor.

Heading into this season, I did not see "guaranteed" bottom 5. What I saw and predicted was MSL winning % from Feb 10th to end of season. Something around that and I believe it was 0.432% if I remember correctly. After this start, I'm going to say we finish 0.450 - 0.5 range. Hoping for the lowest pick possible but my gut tells me get something like the 7th or 8th pick.

Pretty sure no one saw the habs having more points than Colorado and the same numbers as Florida after 25 games.

 

[xX SEYF Xx]

For tonight:

- DET regulation win vs. FLA
- STL win vs. WPG: STL would be within 2 pts of MTL
- OTT win vs. DAL: OTT would be within 5 pts of MTL

- NSH vs. TBL: NSH win would put them ahead of MTL. TBL win would move 5 pts ahead of FLA and create more separation for the WC spot.

But a NSH win coupled with a FLA regulation loss would also put NSH ahead of FLA.

Mate, a bit early for this kind of tracking, no?

Rankings are going to shuffle big time from now till the TDL and what we think is a positive now can end up being negative lol

I'll get to monitoring surrounding teams after the TDL, now we dont have any clue lol

But any FLA loss is a win yes, that I agree, sink florida, sink...

 

[Adam Michaels]

Mate, a bit early for this kind of tracking, no?

Rankings are going to shuffle big time from now till the TDL and what we think is a positive now can end up being negative lol

I'll get to monitoring surrounding teams after the TDL, now we dont have any clue lol

But any FLA loss is a win yes, that I agree, sink florida, sink...

Never too early to track this. We'll continue tracking all year.

 

[the valiant effort]

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Cannot realistically see us being worst than any of these teams except Ottawa. If that's the case, then the highest we could finish pre-lottery is 7th.

The Habs have a wonderfully rich history of massive tumbles down the standings. You only have to go back to 2017-2018 for a situation similar to now: 13-12-3 after 28 games, followed by a .398 record that put them in 28th place.

Keep the faith, peoples.

 

[26Mats]

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Cannot realistically see us being worst than any of these teams except Ottawa. If that's the case, then the highest we could finish pre-lottery is 7th.

I agree with the current team. But if we move Monahanand other vets, that significantly weakens our already weak depth. Could put us into the realm of those bottom 6 teams.

 

[Nicko999]

Detroit-Florida is the most important game this season for the Habs.
It's still very early but would put the Wings 5 pts ahead.

 

[Phil Parent]

When Slaf plays with Caufield and Suzuki, we'll call the line Juraj ColeNick. Just gotta hope they are better than, ya know, Juraj Kolnik.

 

[26Mats]

Anyone know what the lines were today at practice?

Who's going to play center while Monahan is out?

 

[MarkovsKnee]

Detroit-Florida is the most important game this season for the Habs.
It's still very early but would put the Wings 5 pts ahead.

Yeah, well, Florida kicked their ass 5-1. That was Detroit's game in hand on us. They still have a game in hand on Florida.

Nashville lost 5-2 to TB. A win & they would have passed us; however they still hold 2 games in hand on Montreal.

Blues look like they're going to lose to Jets, so they stay 4 pts back & we gain a game in hand.

Sens are tied at 2 with Dallas, so far not a good night for the tank.

 

[Riggins]

The only way I see Florida missing is if five Metro teams get in and the Panthers finish 4th in the Atlantic behind BOS/TOR/TB. Detroit is a playoff pretender IMO.

Go Sens Go! 3-2 lead on Dallas.

 

[MarkovsKnee]

The only way I see Florida missing is if five Metro teams get in and the Panthers finish 4th in the Atlantic behind BOS/TOR/TB. Detroit is a playoff pretender IMO.

Go Sens Go! 3-2 lead on Dallas.

Lost in OT, but managed to pick up a point against a good Dallas team. I'll take it.

They jump SJS, move into 27th place, and have games in hand on both St. Louis and Philadelphia who they're two and one point back of, respectively.

They're 6 pts back of Montreal.

The two teams meet for the first this season next week.

 

[McGees]

Poop night for the tank.
This is why when people look at standings and think, “we are only a 7 points from bottom 5!” They don’t realize how hard it is for the bottom teams to get those points…and we are CONSTANTLY picking them up.

Won’t happen.
Pray for bottom 10 at this point.