Post-Game Talk: Another day, Another L. Habs lose 3-1 to the Caps

The Real Timo

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Jun 18, 2019
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This is second season of terrible hockey. Going to be more than next year. Takes time developing these draft picks. Our '23 pick hasn't even reached the draft yet. You see how long it is going to take Slaf. Every other team rebuild they said going to accelerate but still took five years.
agreed. 2027 or so is when Habs should look like they are ready to contend.

Colorado took basically a decade

I do appreciate the retool that took place a few years ago that landed the Habs key young pieces. But MB truely screwed this team in the 2021 offseason
Remember - Bergevin wins all his trades :cool:
 
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ChesterNimitz

governed by the principle of calculated risk
Jul 4, 2002
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The Pens game should be better they play a more wide open style that will suite our counter attack. It's going to a very long 3/4 of a season as teams will continue play us very tight for the most part with points on the line. I'm very very happy with our young D and although we do have some talent up front we can't maximize it's potential until we get much much deeper. Looking at Detroit's bottom 6 the other night showed just how far off we still are from a having a reasonably balanced club. HuGo are going to be very hard pressed to find an asset than can be a candidate for the additional 1st rounder they covet in 2023.
In this coming draft, I’ll take as many seconds as we can pry off teams who are looking for depth players.
 

Nicko999

Registered User
Jan 23, 2008
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Well they only traded Romanov for the 13th for Dach so…
I know but I still don't like the trade. Romanov was way overrated in here but so is Dach's potential. Guy ceiling is a 40 pts forward. Not been particularly impressed. He showed his good hands a couple of times and that was it.

I would have liked Hughes to trade Romanov for either a pick or a youngster with a bit more potential. Who knows maybe that was not an option.
 

ChesterNimitz

governed by the principle of calculated risk
Jul 4, 2002
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How has he been doing?


We all see the posts about Bedard, but what about the other three?
Fantilli? You draft him if you want a player who is a bigger, faster version of Stutzle. Fantilli was more impressive than Bedard at the recent U18 and if keeps producing at the NCAA level and once again outshines Bedard at the upcoming WJC, then there will be more than one scout that regards this large dynamic player as the equal of Bedard. As I repeatedly opined in the lead up to the most recent draft: beware of the consensus. It can at times be a trap for the unwary.
 

Habs

It's going to be a long year
Feb 28, 2002
22,780
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Did you find that they had trouble entering the zone tonight? The drop pass seemed to work very well, had to be at least 80% successful (just a guess). Caps were also drop passing every time, and it worked for them too.

we had the worst PP in the NHL last season using this awful strategy, it baffles me why on earth they are using it this season. It's a giant wast of time.
 

SirClintonPortis

ProudCapitalsTraitor
Mar 9, 2011
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Maryland native
I think it's fair to do some fan load management and watch only home games while skipping road games. We can get some things done with last change but if the opponent has it...we can't overcome the matchup.
 
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salbutera

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Sep 10, 2019
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we had the worst PP in the NHL last season using this awful strategy, it baffles me why on earth they are using it this season. It's a giant wast of time.
No Habs PP has sucked because they’ve never been able to replace the elite QB’ing ability Markov brought to the PP. There hasn’t been a PP QB since
 
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Habnot

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Feb 28, 2002
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I love the so called patience from so called Habs fans calling for a rebuild.

MSL and all the coaching staff are doing miracles staying in games with 4 rookies on defense, 3 of them under 22. I don't recall another situation as such. By the time Edmundson and Matheson come back - they won't will be playing like rookies. It will allow Hughes to trade Edmundson at the deadline for very possibly a 1st rounder.

Getting a top 5 pick is critical. Getting the pick and having our young players develop effectively in the NHL is even better.
 

willzyix

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Jul 16, 2020
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Until we get legit second line talent the team is going to be boring AF to watch. It's too easy to focus down on Suzuki and Caufield because the rest of the team either sucks (Dadonov, Hoffman, Gally, Dvorak, Drouin), isn't ready yet to contribute (Dach, Slaf, etc), or has no offense (Evans, Pezzeta, etc). Combine that with an awful D that can't help with the offense and it's a recipe for a ton of boring, low scoring losses.
 
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Habano

Allez les Bleus, (Blancs, Rouges)
May 18, 2012
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Advanced stats for night are in:

View attachment 594724


Xhekaj had a very, very good night, which matches the eye test, as did Nick Suzuki. He was strong at both ends.

Kirby Dach was excellent defensively but didn't provide much offense, which, yeah, that was his game tonight.

Juraj Slafkovsky and Chris Wideman also had very good nights at both ends even if they didn't get points.

The pairing of Harris & Kovacevic provides excellent defensive play, but no offense, which is true. I like that pairing. I think they'll make a fine bottom pairing.

Brendan Gallagher was good defensively but not good on offense.

Anderson provided strong offense but was poor defensively.

Cole Caufield had an up & down night - mostly down.

Jake Evans, Jonathan Drouin & Mike Hoffman were neutral.

Dadonov was awful.

Savard & Guhle were worse; however I felt this was a terrible game by Savard and he dragged Guhle down with him & Caps were definitely targeting Guhle.
I was gonna say Xhekaj was our best D last night but I didn't feel like defending my position against the send him to the AHL crowd. I'm glad the advanced stats corroborated the eye test. The kid belongs on the roster and hopefully he only gets better as he gains more experience.
 
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Habano

Allez les Bleus, (Blancs, Rouges)
May 18, 2012
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If MSL is dumb enough to keep implementing the infamous Drop Pass on the PP that fools nobody and is just an atrocious play, why not give Slav a chance while he's making up things out there?
I hate the drop pass also but the funny thing is, they are actually gaining zone entry with that stupid play. It's the not being able to set up when they enter the zone that is really bothersome.
 
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Sugi21

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Dec 7, 2016
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I know it’s early but give Slaf his 9 games and send him down somewhere he’s clearly not ready the speed of the NHL looks a little too overwhelming for him at times
 

HuGort

Registered User
Jun 15, 2012
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Nova Scotia
Colorado took basically a decade

I do appreciate the retool that took place a few years ago that landed the Habs key young pieces. But MB truely screwed this team in the 2021 offseason
I know there is no guarantee at end of 5 years, could be 10. That isn't what I said. I said 5 years of terrible hockey isn't worth 10 years of good hockey.
 

Adam Michaels

Registered User
Jun 12, 2016
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Montreal
Show boating shit just to cover his flaws is all Gally is anymore !!

I wouldn't call coming to the defense of his teammate and captain show boating.

Gallegher instills fear and intimation against NHL foes, says No one

He doesn't need to instill fear in anyone. He just needs to come to the defense of his teammate. Also, no one instills fear in Gallagher, either.

Did you find that they had trouble entering the zone tonight? The drop pass seemed to work very well, had to be at least 80% successful (just a guess). Caps were also drop passing every time, and it worked for them too.

Anyone watching the NHL will come to realize the drop pass is not a Canadiens thing. It's an NHL thing. Even the teams with the best PPs use the drop pass.

The difference is that most of the other teams have the kind of players on the PP that can do this effectively.

Montreal have some great pieces on their PP like Suzuki, Caufield & Monahan. But they don't have enough pieces to be able to pull of any PP strategy well.
 
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LaP

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Jun 27, 2012
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we had the worst PP in the NHL last season using this awful strategy, it baffles me why on earth they are using it this season. It's a giant wast of time.

Nothing can be done for our PP. I'm baffled so many fans can't realize than. We don't have a single dman able to do 30+ points on a regular basis. Matheson had one 30 points seasons in his career and his career average is 27 points in 82 games. All our dman are 20-25 points guys atm. Obviously the kids could grow to become solid 30+ points guys eventually.

There's one myth in hockey that i'll never understand. It's the myth that a dman can make great pass and great zone exits while playing in a top 4 without finishing the season with at least 30 points (in 82 games). That's an oxymoron. If you do great zone exist in control you'll get enough secondary assists to do at least 30 points (in 82 games). I call this the Josh Gorges syndrome.

All our dman are guys who struggle to do great offensive in control zone exists. They struggle to make great tape to tape pass that are longer than a single zone. You could have the better PP plan in the history of the NHL and you would still struggle to make this PP score goals. I've watched this team since the 80ies and i think it's the first time we don't have a single 40+ points dman. It's the worse defense (offensively speaking) i've seen wear this jersey for sure.

Il take 5 years of garbage hockey and 10 years of good over 15 years of average.

Totally agree with you on that.
 
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yianik

Registered User
Jun 30, 2009
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Fantilli? You draft him if you want a player who is a bigger, faster version of Stutzle. Fantilli was more impressive than Bedard at the recent U18 and if keeps producing at the NCAA level and once again outshines Bedard at the upcoming WJC, then there will be more than one scout that regards this large dynamic player as the equal of Bedard. As I repeatedly opined in the lead up to the most recent draft: beware of the consensus. It can at times be a trap for the unwary.
You mean like lemmings?
 

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