Habs
It's going to be a long year
- Feb 28, 2002
- 22,931
- 17,791
How do you know that?
I'm like the Will Hunting of hockey bro, Rain Man, drop some toothpicks and test me ..
How do you know that?
I'm like the Will Hunting of hockey bro, Rain Man, drop some toothpicks and test me ..
The reason I’m worried is because I’d like to see us win a cup in my lifetime. A 30 goalscorer is good. If he’s consistent around that level he’s a decent second liner. But that’s not what we need him to be.
Moreover, I completely disagree with your assessment that his style of play changed throughout the year. And the numbers don’t support you on this either. There may have been short stretches where that happened but by and large he consistently put up the same metrics at the beginning of the year as he did at the end. The only difference was finishing. Twice he caught fire separated by a twenty something game goalless streak.
So yeah, if you aren’t paying attention to what he’s actually doing you’ll say ‘hey he was better later on’ but the underlying numbers are pretty consistent throughout the year. He had tons of chances but couldn’t convert. But he still put up 300+ shots. Still had tons of chances from in close. That was consistent for almost the whole year.
The biggest difference was shooting from mid ice. That dropped by like 75-80 percent. Absolutely putrid.
If he stays like that… it’s a blow to us winning cups. If he goes back to close to what he was, then we can probably put together two lines that are number one quality. It’s a big differences.
I couldn’t care less about putting stock in a player or not. You revise as they develop that’s how it works. I saw CC as a legit potential superstar. Now I have to revise downward from his injury. And until he proves otherwise, I have to view him as a second liner. I’m hopeful he can recover and there’s reason to believe he can. But we have to wait and see. Right now, he’s not the blue chip player I see him as before. There’s risk that’s been introduced into the equation that wasn’t there before.
Adding Demidov helps to de-risk any issues with CC. if CC were to not improve Demidov can pick up that slack. But I’d much rather have two top scorers than one. If CC returns to form and Demidov pans out? I’d say we become contenders pretty quickly. It makes a huge difference.
You watched 10 full games of his? Yikes, no offense.
The real irony here is, they know they f***ed up by not drafting Michkov and taking Reinbacher... but if we draft Michkov last year they 100% go with a D this year and we don't get Demidov. The only reason we got Demidov is because a mistake was made last year.....
Cool beans
@OldCraig71 hasn't been this excited since we the signed Elmer Lach as a free agent on October 24, 1940.
Still stoke, but here's a shitty thought: just imagine if Chicago would have succeed in getting the 4th OV and picked Demidov with it, how absolutely pissed we would be.
He is more talented than celebrini. Everyone said it. But celebrini is a good old Canadian kid who will challenge for selkes and put up a PPG minimum which is basically like the ideal player objectively. But for what Habs needed, demidov is much more valuable for what the rebuild was missing. They also needed a winger way more than a C
Celebrini is a better prospect, way more complete and he plays centerThey are both franchise talent player. I think you nailed it at the good old canadian kid.
Demidov being in Russia and unavailable to live scouting and interviews for team picking 2-3-4 is our absolute luck.
I think Dan Milstein is right. If Demidov would be in North America, we would debate him and Celebrini for 1st overall
Celebrini is a better prospect, way more complete and he plays center
Celebrini is a better prospect, way more complete and he plays center
Engstrom and Konyshyukov are both guys who may slot into a top pair/4 role. Also, there are basically no pairs of dmen in the league anymore where both log 25+ minutes…Slafkovsky Suzuki Demidov
(empty) Dach Caufield
Newhook Hage Roy
(empty) Beck RHP
(empty) Reinbacher
Hutson Guhle
Xhekaj Mailloux
Fowler
Montembeault
the missing keys are :
- 1D similar to Reinbacher who could log 25 minutes a night,
- legitimate second-line left winger who could complement Caufield and Dach
- 4th-line players who can put up around 20 points.
With this squad, you can expect the Habs to win in 10 years around 3+ Stanley cups, multiple conference finals, and have seasons of 60 wins
I see you as more of a Forrest Gump/Al Bundy mix but you can be Rain Man if it takes you to a safe space. Elmer Lach held out with us back in 1940, he demanded 1 free beer a week but ownership wouldn't budge. He got a 6 pack for the year and a contract that paid him $100 a week.I'm like the Will Hunting of hockey bro, Rain Man, drop some toothpicks and test me ..
Celebrini has way more pace to his game and he’s a C, that’s Demigod’s one flaw.. lack of high end pace - which will need to be worked on w Adam Nicholas and the dev teamHe is more talented than celebrini. Everyone said it. But celebrini is a good old Canadian kid who will challenge for selkes and put up a PPG minimum which is basically like the ideal player objectively. But for what Habs needed, demidov is much more valuable for what the rebuild was missing. They also needed a winger way more than a C
The Demidov being a winger thing is not clear to me. Many games this season he played at Center. It's not a case of "he's played center in Midget" or "he's just taking face-offs". One way or another this played in the Habs favor because he didn't have the Center premium.
I also envision Guhle and Reinbacher being a very good 1st pair. In that scenario, what we need is a really solid defensive guy to pair with Hutson. Maybe we already have that guy: Xhekaj, Mailloux, Engstrom, Struble or Konyushkov. Some of them are more offensively inclined, but who knows what kind of adjustments they can make playing with a very offensive minded partner. Some of them could complement him with their size and imposing frame limiting Hutson's weaknesses, while others could complement him with their strong skating and puck moving emphasizing his strengths. We will see what actually works out in the end.
Mailloux Xhekaj appears like a good option for a 3rd pairing. They have had a lot of success together in the AHL and they wouldn't be facing the top lines. I think this would be a way above average 3rd pair.
The Hawks will finish bottom 5 again for sure this year so they'll have another chance at drafting a player to ride shotgun to BedardThey had him on a silver plate at 2.
They had Bedard elite linemate for a decade. Will they be able to have access to another talent like Demidov ?
What a blunder.