You should make the Habs your Eastern team
They're definitely one of my preferred teams. It's Winnipeg and Philadelphia for me but I have respect for Montreal, Washington, Boston, and New York. I remember rooting for them...when was it, 2009?
Alex Galchenyuk Thread 7.0 - "Turns Rust To Gold?" Edition
- Thread starter Habsfan18
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They're definitely one of my preferred teams. It's Winnipeg and Philadelphia for me but I have respect for Montreal, Washington, Boston, and New York. I remember rooting for them...when was it, 2009?
hogtownhabsfan*
Guest
I'll reserve judgment until I see Trouba play stronger competition. In the 2 prep games against Sweden and Finland, I found he rushed a lot of plays that resulted in easy turnovers. Love how he joins the rush, although he'll need to be more selective in doing so.
Yup, and to me, Ryan Murray is clearly the best D-man out of the draft at this point.
Analyzer*
Guest
Bit of fencing with the sticks is all it was followed by Gally staring down his opponent to death. Really wasn't worthy of a coincidental minor, but they did score 4on4 so...
Oh and after that I didn't see Gally back on the ice for a good 5 mins but I'll chalk it up to him being rested and preventing injuries because he was starting to get chippy so the coach was just trying to manage him well.
Didn't see the game, but is he a full time winger now? If yes, you guys think he will play on Pleks wing this season or next year? I wouldn't mind that, but I would prefer him at Centre. I think he could be as good of not better than Jamie Benn. However, I would love Therrien if he tries:
Galchenyuk - Plekanec - Gionta
If not, how about:
Galchenyuk - Gomez - Gionta as our third line (3 Gs, 3 Americans) and find another winger for Pleks?
I know it would likely not happen, but would be a cool name line!
Galchenyuk - Plekanec - Gionta
If not, how about:
Galchenyuk - Gomez - Gionta as our third line (3 Gs, 3 Americans) and find another winger for Pleks?
I know it would likely not happen, but would be a cool name line!
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I could see him eventually joining Plek, but maybe it would be a good idea to play on another line for a while before taking on a tough minutes role. Maybe with Desharnais-Cole, or with Eller and whoever?
AK playing with Eller elevated his game to a new level. Imagine Gally and Eller playing together.
In Jacques Beaulieu's mind and Housley's mind, he seems to be.
In the Habs brass' minds, he's a center going forward. They've made that clear when asked.
I would love if they can sign Ryan Clowe(Ufa) this summer to start next year with
Galchenyuk-Plekanec-Clowe
Patches-DD-Cole
Bourque-Eller-Gionta
Prust-White-Moen
Could be interesting! The other advantage is having another natural center on a line with Eller, could help cover for Eller's weakness on faceoffs.
Who know why he is playing wing with Sarnia? It surely because Beaulieu want a top line, or it can be that the Canadiens (Bergevin) asked Beaulieu to play Gally wing because they dont have someone to play wing on the second line(Plekanec), and the center position is ok for the moment with DD, Plekanec and Eller until Gally got some NHL experience...
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Myron Gaines*
Guest
On his goal, I love his body deke to freeze the whole defense when he enters the slot. He dekes people who aren't even in position to take the puck away from him.
Thanks for the video shout out Marc, really appreciate it 
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Well obviously none of us know for sure, but I'd lean towards the first. Like Marc mentioned, it's been stated by the Habs brass that they believe he is a centre.
Also I tend to think that Jacques Beaulieu really likes Galchenyuk's ability along the boards. I can't say that I blame him either, he rarely loses a board battle. I remember an interview where he even went as far as saying that he thinks Galchenyuk is a power forward.
Don't forget that Galchenyuk also has experience playing wing. He played LW in last years' playoffs. Sarault doesn't have any as he is a pure centre and Boucher can play either wing. So Galchenyuk becomes the odd man out and has to play out of position. Not that it's a big deal or anything, because he basically controls the ice from any position. He loves that right corner and likes to cut to the slot from the wing, so he looks almost like a natural winger at times.
.Well obviously none of us know for sure, but I'd lean towards the first. Like Marc mentioned, it's been stated by the Habs brass that they believe he is a centre.
Also I tend to think that Jacques Beaulieu really likes Galchenyuk's ability along the boards. I can't say that I blame him either, he rarely loses a board battle. I remember an interview where he even went as far as saying that he thinks Galchenyuk is a power forward.
Don't forget that Galchenyuk also has experience playing wing. He played LW in last years' playoffs. Sarault doesn't have any as he is a pure centre and Boucher can play either wing. So Galchenyuk becomes the odd man out and has to play out of position. Not that it's a big deal or anything, because he basically controls the ice from any position. He loves that right corner and likes to cut to the slot from the wing, so he looks almost like a natural winger at times.
I agree, Galchenyuk and Eller would be the bomb and might be an interesting long term combo as well if Eller is to grow into a top6 player.
Thanks for the video shout out Marc, really appreciate it
Well obviously none of us know for sure, but I'd lean towards the first. Like Marc mentioned, it's been stated by the Habs brass that they believe he is a centre.
Also I tend to think that Jacques Beaulieu really likes Galchenyuk's ability along the boards. I can't say that I blame him either, he rarely loses a board battle. I remember an interview where he even went as far as saying that he thinks Galchenyuk is a power forward.
Don't forget that Galchenyuk also has experience playing wing. He played LW in last years' playoffs. Sarault doesn't have any as he is a pure centre and Boucher can play either wing. So Galchenyuk becomes the odd man out and has to play out of position. Not that it's a big deal or anything, because he basically controls the ice from any position. He loves that right corner and likes to cut to the slot from the wing, so he looks almost like a natural winger at times.
I agree 100% with your reasoning
Junior coaches don't have to answer to NHL general managers. Their responsibility is winning and does not involve appeasing the GMs of the drafted players. It's different in the AHL.
What makes me happy about him is that he can be groomed as a winger and transition to Center. Just makes him that much more versatile.
Indeed. While we should want him as our future no1 center its not impossible that we get the opportunity to acquire another no1 center in the future. Having one of the two that can play both positions is a great advantage, think Zetterberg-Datsyuk.
I'll give a small breakdown of Galchenyuk's ice time from today's game.
1st period:
7 shifts, 5:01 TOI
Even strength - 1:44
Power play - 3:17
Penalty kill - 0:00
2nd period:
5 shifts, 4:30 TOI
Even strength - 2:17
Power play - 2:13
Penalty kill - 0:00
3rd period:
4 shifts, 2:48 TOI
Even strength - 2:48
Power play - 0:00
Penalty kill - 0:00
Totals:
16 shifts, 12:19 TOI
Even strength - 6:49
Power play - 5:30
Penalty kill - 0:00
1st period:
7 shifts, 5:01 TOI
Even strength - 1:44
Power play - 3:17
Penalty kill - 0:00
2nd period:
5 shifts, 4:30 TOI
Even strength - 2:17
Power play - 2:13
Penalty kill - 0:00
3rd period:
4 shifts, 2:48 TOI
Even strength - 2:48
Power play - 0:00
Penalty kill - 0:00
Totals:
16 shifts, 12:19 TOI
Even strength - 6:49
Power play - 5:30
Penalty kill - 0:00
I think the center obsession is residual insecurity from the media firestorm in 2007-2009 (approximately) when the broad consensus was that the Habs were weak because they lacked a no. 1 center (we had Koivu, Plekanec, Grabovski, Metropolit, Chipchura, Smolinski, Lapierre, etc down the middle). The comparison was made with the prior dynasty Habs who were built around Jean Beliveau and skilled size down the middle.
This led to Bob Gainey going after Mats Sundin, Robert Lang, Vincent Lecavalier, and Scott Gomez. Gainey was desperate and there were several sagas involved. We drafted 5 centers out of our 7 draft picks in the 2009 entry draft; we also signed Mikael Johansson and Andreas Engvist as free agent farm system pickups. We then went for a center when shopping Halak. Basically, the search for that elusive 1st line center has defined the Habs in the past few years.
All of this to say, keep in mind that when discussing anything related to the Habs center depth you're not necessarily dealing with a rational audience.
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