Pre-Game Talk: - 2025 Playoff Round 1 - Game #1 : Montreal at Washington. Monday April 21st | Page 8 | HFBoards - NHL Message Board and Forum for National Hockey League
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Pre-Game Talk: 2025 Playoff Round 1 - Game #1 : Montreal at Washington. Monday April 21st

Who wins game #1 ?

  • Montreal

    Votes: 149 62.6%

  • Washington

    Votes: 89 37.4%
  • Total voters
    238
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JadedRandom said:
I haven't seen much progress from Mailloux defensively this year in Laval.

It might be that at this rate Mailloux will need another year in Laval to improve his defensive game enough for the NHL. Or it could also be that Mailloux never gets there; that lack of progress of his is truly concerning to me.

Anyways, no matter how that shakes up I think we're gonna go for a defensively-sound veteran at D in free agency or trade to replace David Savard, who's now too slow for us to retain anymore.

And since Hutson has managed to play well even on the right, and David Reinbacher looks incredibly good on the ice when he plays games for Laval, we fortunately have a lot more room for choice when it comes to UFA or trade targets on D.

We could still target a Rasmus Andersson as an RD, despite his tough year defensively and not looking nearly as good overall as he did last year. Or maybe Hughes would rather target a Ryan Pulock type of defenseman.

But given the added flexibility that Hutson on the right side gives us, we could also just sign a UFA defense-first LD like Gavrikov and call it a day.

Gavrikov would be a straight-upgrade on Savard, and be even tougher, better for possession, and most importantly a LOT more fleet-footed.

There would also be defensemen like Orlov, Provorov, Fabbro, Martinez, and Ekblad that we could "kick the tires" on irrespective of their handedness in UFA.

We could also offersheet Byram given Buffalo's impending cap bind.

Long story short, the specifics don't matter much but the important thing is to know that we have options, and a lot of them.

Which should allow our GM to make some much-needed upgrades on D.

I love Savard as a person and as a veteran, but 14 years in the league is a lot and I think he's basically done for in the NHL. I wish him the best, and a happy retirement though.

Anyhow, I don't think we'll beat Washington but I'll be cheering for the Habs to do so nonetheless. It'll be fun to see.
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Despite being a "fan" of Mailman, which is really about big, skilled defenseman with a nasty edge, see X, I "scouted" him about 15 AHL games and hugely disappointed. He doesn't seem to understand "keep it simple stupid" and while his offense is NHL level, you got to pick your spots...AND pick your timing. At times, he high risk pinches...or compete level is missing...or clearing attempts are peewee level...

I'm so frustrated with his inconsistency that I'm throwing "Jethro" at him and wondered if he's fighting some chemical demons. (Jethro from Beverley Hillbillies)

Haven't given up, but he's a few miles from NHL ready and flat lining. Too bad because his offense is Matheson level, but his defense is AHL level.
 
X needs to play to keep Wilson in check, Savard has nothing left in the tank

Other than that need to fix the PP, starts with splitting CC and Laine, useless having both on the same unit - watching Caufield play the right point is bewildering, won’t score from there if he was given a million shots and not a good enough QB to be a set up guy, it’s like a 1/2 man advantage and that’s not a dig about his height personally would replace Laine with Demi to have him set up in Kovy’s old office and CC at his old office.
 
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MarkovsKnee said:
Montreal is the youngest team to ever make the NHL playoffs. Let's remember that. Yes, we have some veterans, but this team is carried by its youth.

Demidov: 19
Slafkovsky: 21
Heineman: 23
Caufield: 24
Newhook: 24
Suzuki: 25

Hutson: 21
Guhle: 23
Struble: 23
Xhekaj: 24

Then spares: Roy - 21, Kapanen - 21, Dobes - 23.

That's insane! Half of our team is between the ages of 19 and 25.
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Plus a strong farm system
 
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Kudo Shinichi said:
Laine was pretty bad the last couple of weeks. Need him to be much better. If his line with Demidov can start going, we should have 4 good lines.

The Evans line tonight looked like it did before Heineman's injury.
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Laine can do better I agree. The key to winning this series is having Laine scoring more goals than Ovechkin. When Laine gets hot he is smoking hot.
 
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Kudo Shinichi said:
Laine was pretty bad the last couple of weeks. Need him to be much better. If his line with Demidov can start going, we should have 4 good lines.

The Evans line tonight looked like it did before Heineman's injury.
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Heineman was f***ing awesome. He only played 12 minutes, but I swear I heard his name all night on the forecheck. Felt like he wasn't off the ice very much, but clearly he just made the most of his minutes.
 
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Long series, could go either way, I actually think this is a decent matchup for the habs, but they’ll definitely need to be better than what they’ve shown over the last 6-7 games. Heart says habs in 6, mind says Caps in 7. Can’t wait!!!
 
Habs7631 said:
For now.

HuGo gonna turn the farm + picks for help and next year we take off for a 12 year long contending window. :popcorn:
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I think he will trade the picks but I doubt prospects, they further along. This year's picks are 4-5 years away. Reinbacher and those guys are getting close. Hage, Fowler, Mailloux, Beck, Kapanen, Xhekaj. Maybe a year or two away.

Package all our picks for young center? Several teams are up against the cap.
 
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InsideLaineBOOM said:
Laine can do better I agree. The key to winning this series is having Laine scoring more goals than Ovechkin. When Laine gets hot he is smoking hot.
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If Laine is capable of doing more 5on5, it's time to show it. And also show it because he's playing against Dubois, a player he was traded for.

At this point he's such a liability that he's keeping Demidov from getting touches.
 
Quatre Vingt Treize said:
I think he will trade the picks but I doubt prospects, they further along. This year's picks are 4-5 years away. Reinbacher and those guys are getting close. Hage, Fowler, Mailloux, Beck, Kapanen, Xhekaj. Maybe a year or two away.

Package all our picks for young center? Several teams are up against the cap.
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I'm not a fan of Vincent but I believe there is enough talent on the Rockets team for a long run. There we might see a bit of maturing for Mailloux and Rein knees. Both of them are critical to replace Savard and Scarrier.

Otherwise we're on a RHD hunt...
 
HabsAddict said:
If Laine is capable of doing more 5on5, it's time to show it. And also show it because he's playing against Dubois, a player he was traded for.

At this point he's such a liability that he's keeping Demidov from getting touches.
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Dubois will defibitely be a motivating factor for Laine. Same with Ovechkin: Laine idolized Ovi while growing up, now he can challenge him in playoffs most likely for the last time in their careers.
 
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InsideLaineBOOM said:
Laine can do better I agree. The key to winning this series is having Laine scoring more goals than Ovechkin. When Laine gets hot he is smoking hot.
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I’m convinced he’s hurting. He’s always seemed a little nonchalant on the ice but during this final stretch, he’s really not been good at all.
 
BLONG7 said:
Monday?? That's a help for the Habs!! Is the rest of the schedule for the series released yet??
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It’ll be TV schedule dependent (i.e., when Leafs/Sens games are) but I would guess Monday and Wednesday, and two days off so Habs home game is on Saturday. Then I suspect a more normal one day off in between for the rest of the round.
 
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Kudo Shinichi said:
Laine was pretty bad the last couple of weeks. Need him to be much better. If his line with Demidov can start going, we should have 4 good lines.

The Evans line tonight looked like it did before Heineman's injury.
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We have balance......Heineman when playing well, changes the look of that line......

Laine has to get his head out of his arse, and get going. Newhook and Demidov are speedsters, and Laine is a turtle.....who can shoot the puck!!
 
Washington is probably the worst fit for us. We are terrible against big heavy team, that brings the play along the boards, when the cycle game is a big part of their offence. We usually can’t handle this.

One thing for sure, we gonna get bullied. MSL will have to pull his head from his ass and free Xhekaj.

WSH in 5.
 
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I won't make any predictions, but I'll give the Habs a shot.

The Caps will be big favorites, so the Habs have nothing to lose. Very few expected them to make the playoffs this season, yet here we are.

A Monday start would be really nice. Give the team some time to catch their breath and settle down a bit. They've looked super tight this past week, but did just enough to get across the line. This time will also give Demidov a chance to practice and build some chemistry with the team.

The Caps are a really good, big and deep team. Goaltending could be a big question mark for them, which could be a way for us to get into the series.
 
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