I met Jonathan Drouin's uncle on a public bus in the Cayman Islands.
JD keeping his money off-shore just in case we ask for a refund.
I met Jonathan Drouin's uncle on a public bus in the Cayman Islands.
Suzuki-Poehling-Barber
Peca-Evans-Belzile
Weise-Vejdemo-McCarron
Varone-Verbeek-Alain
Leskinen-Fleury
Ouellet-Juulsen
Alzner-Brook
Lindgren/Primeau
Laval has the chance of being scary good on paper
It was Ekblad and Matheson and they were both piss poor on that goal.LOL, it was Ekblad, apparently. Not his finest moment. Some Panther fans are complaining about his skating/speed.
JD keeping his money off-shore just in case we ask for a refund.
Poehling's looking good, but I don't think they're going to mess with the top 3 centers because of his pre-season play. I don't see KK and Poehling both as centers in the top 9 just yet. Perhaps RP gets his start on the 4th.
Tatar - Domi - Gallagher
Drouin - KK - Armia
Lehkonen - Danault - Suzuki
Cousins - Poehling - Byron
(Thompson, Weal)
Shelter that 2nd line. Armia provides some size and 2-way play.
Suzuki and Poehling start out with reliable linemates.
I can only hope so... but in the end it's BErgevin. He will never admin screwing up that trade. I hope I am wrong.No, he will rapidly be booed out of town.
Was it on TVA?Did the announcers just find all their old Alzner comments from when we signed him and overdubbed "Chiarot" in his place? Hilarious listening to them trying to spin the signing as some great move.
That was the worst I've seen Kotkaniemi ever play. He was horrific. I think the first time he didn't screw something up was when there was something like 3 minutes left in the game. He managed to complete a pass that shift. He really needs to pick it up. I think I heard the announcer say he put up something like 15 pounds during the offseason which seems awfully lot. Not sure if that's good.I just finished watching the game.
Kotkaniemi looked terrible, sure it's only preseason but the last time he had a game that bad was the rookie tournament over a year ago. I don't think it's fair to blame it on his linemates as he was the worst player on his line.
It matters because he's got to gain confidence early on here to really break out offensively. This is the time when he should be forcing Claude to play him over Danault. Hopefully he really picks it up.
Otherwise Fleury and Poehling had strong games. Drouin's game does seem different, but he's still making mistakes and now he's even less involved offensively.
The issue with this is that you're probably stuck giving Suzuki the toughest minutes. Domi is a lot of good things, but one has to really not have played attention to give him the toughest minutes.
EDIT : Make it Drouin - KK - Suzuki. 3rd line. Also, Tatar - Danault - Gallagher worked pretty well, so there's no reason whatsoever to change this.
Poehlin going to have a good NHL career. He has the speed. To go with size, decent hands and hockey sense. Nothing in his way really.Poehling's looking good, but I don't think they're going to mess with the top 3 centers because of his pre-season play. I don't see KK and Poehling both as centers in the top 9 just yet. Perhaps RP gets his start on the 4th.
Tatar - Domi - Gallagher
Drouin - KK - Armia
Lehkonen - Danault - Suzuki
Cousins - Poehling - Byron
(Thompson, Weal)
Shelter that 2nd line. Armia provides some size and 2-way play.
Suzuki and Poehling start out with reliable linemates.
You give Suzuki tough minutes, but with line mates he could learn from. Good experience.
Drouin - KK - Suzuki ... very questionable defensively. Drouin is not the vet you want with these kids.
The reason to change Tatar - Danault - Gally would be to give KK an offensive weapon. Promote his offensive game, slowly swap roles with Danault, leading to Danault on 3rd line.
The guy is obviously confused. If this keeps up, he'll end up looking like Yakupov did.I got a question for you guys. Does anyone know what video Drouin and Ducharme looked at during the summer? Was it Debbie Does Dallas? Because it couldn't have been hockey videos.
Drouin - KK - Suzuki is questionnable; hence why, soft minutes. But I agree that you don't really want Drouin there.
This team isn't good enough anywhere to only give 13 or 14 minutes a night to Danault, unless the point is to tank. Frankly, Domi to wing makes more sense.
No, it's a gradual transition. Instead of 18/14, perhaps it's balanced at 16/16. Gotta get away from Danault in the top 6.
If Chiarot is Alzner 2.0 ...
LOL ... that's quite the statement.Why is it a need? I mean... two players just had their career season playing with him in what was possibly their toughest deployment, and the only part of the game that worked bad for the Habs last season is the one Danault didn't have anything to do with.
I mean, I get that you don't really pay attention to the fact that Domi's game at center isn't really that well-suited to tough competition, but you should probably make this less blatent.
Leskinon - certainly mobile and a good puck mover. Start in Laval and impress there for a potential call up..
Everyone who says they “can’t believe how awful Drouin played,” and how he has no pride, etc....
Where have you been for the last two seasons?
The guy has been mailing it in since he got here and Bargain Bin anointed him as his superstar. No effort, no problem. Therrien had Desharnais as his pet, Bargain Bin has Drouin.
That was the worst I've seen Kotkaniemi ever play. He was horrific. I think the first time he didn't screw something up was when there was something like 3 minutes left in the game. He managed to complete a pass that shift. He really needs to pick it up. I think I heard the announcer say he put up something like 15 pounds during the offseason which seems awfully lot. Not sure if that's good.
But Poehling looked really strong. Big body with enough skill and skating ability to be a threat. Plays hard. Surely he'll be in the opening night roster.
A few observations from last night's game...
Vets - preseason, first game... they all get a pass although Drouin still looks too much like Drouin.
Cousins - glad we signed him for our fourth line. He can play.
Folin - I might be the only one but I really like his play. He's big, physical, good first pass, joins the rush.
Evans - Smart and hard working but just a bit missing with his skating for now. A very good AHLer who's just not good enough for the NHL?
Hudon - not much different from last year. I think he's gone before the season starts.
Reilly - terrible first period but got better. At best, our 4th LD in my opinion and may be gone before the season starts.
Fleury - two good games in a row but should start the season in Laval to play lots and could be a strong call up in case of injuries.
Leskinon - certainly mobile and a good puck mover. Start in Laval and impress there for a potential call up.
And finally Ryan Poehling - very impressive. He's a complete hockey player. Reminds me of a young Ryan O'Reilly. It's just a question now of what's best... 20 minutes a night in Laval to start the year or 12 minutes a night in Montreal on the fourth line? He's improved tremendously even from a year ago and has a much higher ceiling than I thought he did. Also, a much improved skater from a year ago. Out on a limb, I think he's a better overall player than KK at this point.