Can the team be entertaining and still land a top 5 pick?

[Runner77]

Can the team be entertaining and still land a top 5 pick?

See Subban thread.

 

[calder candidate]

Yes we could be entertaining and still lose losing 4-3 when the kids are scoring and we had lots of chances… unfortunately I feel that all this positive momentum will lead us to win more game than we should do we might drop us out of the top 5…

 

[Mrb1p]

If we are going to try and be an uptempo team we will need some help from our defense. Which player will be the puck mover back there? Matheson?

Barron

 

[OldCraig71]

Barron

It would be good if he can be that guy, we really need it.

 

[Canadienna]

I think there's some cognitive dissonance wrt this topic on here.

It seems everyone wants:

Caufield to score 40
Suzuki to pot 70 points
Anderson to get back to form
Guhle to play like a top4
Expiring $$ guys to play well
Etc.

But I think the reality is, if we're a bad team it means our young promising players didn't take big steps (or regressed) and if we're a decent/not terrible team we won't land 1OA.

I'm happy either way.

 

[catmanhabsfan]

its going to be like 90's hockey, lots of 8-5 wins and losses.

That would be awesome

 

[catmanhabsfan]

I think there's some cognitive dissonance wrt this topic on here.

It seems everyone wants:

Caufield to score 40
Suzuki to pot 70 points
Anderson to get back to form
Guhle to play like a top4
Expiring $$ guys to play well
Etc.

But I think the reality is, if we're a bad team it means our young promising players didn't take big steps (or regressed) and if we're a decent/not terrible team we won't land 1OA.

I'm happy either way.

This is exactly why I was wondering what others thought lol I'd love to see caufield pot 30 or 40 goals. Suzuki to hit 80 points. Dach make Hughes look like a genius..but can those things happen and we finish low? Not comparing anyone on our team to guys like McDavid et AL but they had some awesome players and still sucked . I want that for this year. Guess I'm greedy lol

 

[Apfel Struble]

This is exactly why I was wondering what others thought lol I'd love to see caufield pot 30 or 40 goals. Suzuki to hit 80 points. Dach make Hughes look like a genius..but can those things happen and we finish low? Not comparing anyone on our team to guys like McDavid et AL but they had some awesome players and still sucked . I want that for this year. Guess I'm greedy lol

They could happen if Montembeault/Allen get 0.890 save percentage while the team faces 33 shots per game

I'm not sure we're going to see that much scoring though, the D is instrumental to generate offence through controlled zone exits/transition plays and when you have Matheson-Edmundson as your first pairing... I hope Barron, Harris and maybe Guhle can help in this regard but this is a lot to ask to rookies

 

[Habs13]

I think so. I think we will start to see the results of the rebuild, which could be run and gin hockey for now, where we get out-gunned because our D and goalies aren't great. I'm good with that. I can stomach us losing 6-5 every night!

 

[Sterling Archer]

I just want to see a fun, offensive minded team score some goals and grow as a team. Wins losses don’t mean much this year. Players need to take steps to improve and that’s what I’ll look for. I just hope they’re not too good and manage to finish middling in a great draft year.

 

[Naslundforever]

Like another guy said, just dress crap goalies and build around offense for once in my lifetime.

 

[salbutera]

If we are going to try and be an uptempo team we will need some help from our defense. Which player will be the puck mover back there? Matheson?

Matheson, Harris, Schueneman, Wideman

Basically 4-of-6 D and one on each pair

 

[Naslundforever]

Matheson, Harris, Schueneman, Wideman

Basically 4-of-6 D and one on each pair

Edmunson can surprisingly move it too.

 

[Captain Mountain]

Maybe?

I'm happier to focus on a couple of players and get excited about the rebuild. If you ignore 2017-2019 (considering they finished 2018-2019 with 96 points and barely missed), then the last time Montreal has had consecutive seasons where they missed the playoffs in consecutive seasons was 1998-2001. And they didn't really bottom out then. From then to now Montreal has rarely been a true contender either. I'm pretty excited to see if HuGo can actually build a true contender.

 

[themilosh]

Yes we could be entertaining and still lose losing 4-3 when the kids are scoring and we had lots of chances… unfortunately I feel that all this positive momentum will lead us to win more game than we should do we might drop us out of the top 5…

the key here is that we will be competing in an offensive system for the first time in over 30 years. gone are the days of us relying on Hart Trophy goalies, and as a result we will be winning more games than a bad team with no offense which is what we have dealt with for so long.

Entertaining we will be, i suspect we are bottom 10 closer to 5th. With some luck we get last, bad luck we get 10th.

edit: with a high scoring product, the reins will be loosened for a long re-build, done properly.

 

[Runner77]

I just want to see a fun, offensive minded team score some goals and grow as a team. Wins losses don’t mean much this year. Players need to take steps to improve and that’s what I’ll look for. I just hope they’re not too good and manage to finish middling in a great draft year.

To me, if they are too good, it’s not a bad thing. It only means that they’re showing progress and that’s what we need.

We have no control over the draft and MSL wants to win just as all the players do. Let the chips fall where they may.

 

[Sterling Archer]

Matheson, Harris, Schueneman, Wideman

Basically 4-of-6 D and one on each pair

I’d add Barron to that list too.

 

[Estimated_Prophet]

I think there's some cognitive dissonance wrt this topic on here.

It seems everyone wants:

Caufield to score 40
Suzuki to pot 70 points
Anderson to get back to form
Guhle to play like a top4
Expiring $$ guys to play well
Etc.

But I think the reality is, if we're a bad team it means our young promising players didn't take big steps (or regressed) and if we're a decent/not terrible team we won't land 1OA.

I'm happy either way.

37 games under MSL and we had a pro-rated 71 points which would have been the 7th worst record in the league. Then consider that the only reason we broke a 9 game losing streak to win our final two is that the Panthers and Rangers iced AHL level teams for games that were meaningless to them. Normally both of these teams would have humped us face down in the dirt and our pro-rated 37 games would only churn out 62 points over 82 games.....good for the 5th seed at the draft lottery.

Now let's consider Suzuki and Caufield's production on a team that was playing at a level that would make them the 5th worst team in the league.

Pro-rated stats for Suzuki and Caufield under MSL:

Suzuki 82 GP 27 - 49 - 76

Caufield 82 GP 49 - 29 - 78

I would say that it is fair to conclude that these totals would represent a huge improvement over previous totals yet they have proven that it is entirely possible to make this leap while the team remains around the bottom 5 with a realistic chance of moving up via the lottery. Let's not forget that Petry and Dvorak both played close to a ppg over their final 25 games as well as strong showings from Pitlick and Evans.

The answer is yes, this team can still bottom out hard in a stacked division while some of our key youngsters take significant steps forward.

 

[MoneyManny]

It can be entertaining if you stop cheering for the team as a whole and start cheering for the individual players to find success. They can lose 8-4 every night if Suzuki, Caufield, and hopefully Slafkovski are on the scoreboard and i'll be very happy about the outcome.

 

[puckeater]

As long as there is upward trend in development we can see. They all have to earn their lumps.

 

[OldCraig71]

Matheson, Harris, Schueneman, Wideman

Basically 4-of-6 D and one on each pair

It will be interesting to see which defenseman is able to fill the role.

 

[PavelBrendl]

Definitely a possibility. The offence is better and the defence is possibly the worst in the NHL.

 

[catmanhabsfan]

I think there's some cognitive dissonance wrt this topic on here.

It seems everyone wants:

Caufield to score 40
Suzuki to pot 70 points
Anderson to get back to form
Guhle to play like a top4
Expiring $$ guys to play well
Etc.

But I think the reality is, if we're a bad team it means our young promising players didn't take big steps (or regressed) and if we're a decent/not terrible team we won't land 1OA.

I'm happy either way.

This is exactly why I was wondering what others thought lol I'd love to see caufield pot 30 or 40 goals. Suzuki to hit 80 points. Dach make Hughes look like a genius..but can those things happen and we finish low? Not comparing anyone on our team to guys oile McDavid et AL but they had some awesome players and still sucked . I want that for this year. Guess I'm greedy

To me, if they are too good, it’s not a bad thing. It only means that they’re showing progress and that’s what we need.

We have no control over the draft and MSL wants to win just as all the players do. Let the chips fall where they may.

Honestly ..thats a great way to look at things. I'm going to try and adopt that line of thinking

37 games under MSL and we had a pro-rated 71 points which would have been the 7th worst record in the league. Then consider that the only reason we broke a 9 game losing streak to win our final two is that the Panthers and Rangers iced AHL level teams for games that were meaningless to them. Normally both of these teams would have humped us face down in the dirt and our pro-rated 37 games would only churn out 62 points over 82 games.....good for the 5th seed at the draft lottery.

Now let's consider Suzuki and Caufield's production on a team that was playing at a level that would make them the 5th worst team in the league.

Pro-rated stats for Suzuki and Caufield under MSL:

Suzuki 82 GP 27 - 49 - 76

Caufield 82 GP 49 - 29 - 78

I would say that it is fair to conclude that these totals would represent a huge improvement over previous totals yet they have proven that it is entirely possible to make this leap while the team remains around the bottom 5 with a realistic chance of moving up via the lottery. Let's not forget that Petry and Dvorak both played close to a ppg over their final 25 games as well as strong showings from Pitlick and Evans.

The answer is yes, this team can still bottom out hard in a stacked division while some of our key youngsters take significant steps forward.

Excellently thought out. I appreciate hearing your opinion

 

[MTL Dirty Birdy]

It would be good if he can be that guy, we really need it.

Barron is an incredibly smooth skater. He’ll be good

 

[Milhouse40]

I want 6-7 of our kids above 60 points (30pts on defense)
I want high scoring games even if they are mostly lost.......

Only show up big against Florida (To help our pick).......and maybe Toronto, cause Toronto.