Post-Game Talk: Caufield scores OT winner to beat the BJs

[MasterD]

Yes! He played well no doubt. Captain material. Love the guy and he’s versatile. But I don’t want him leading our scoring. If he’s leading the way we’re going nowhere from that perspective.

Preach! People are so used to loving Plekanec and Desharnais and Gomez (lol) they think Suzuki is a #1C. Not on a very good team, he's not.

 

[Gravity]

A real number one would score regardless. Last year he had Caufield on his wing and went cold before CC even got hurt. I’m sorry but I don’t see him as a number one.

He wasn’t on the ice with other top centers, Dannault was.

Don't know why this is so hard to conceive. Toronto without Tavares, Winnipeg without Scheifele, Vegas against Stephenson before he broke out and Tampa (we all know how that turned out).

Lafleurs Guy out here preaching reality.

 

[The Real Timo]

I pride myself on my ability to speak fluent French but damn trying to listen to Montembeault is a challenge

He no Parler francais?

 

[the]

IF Monahan stays healthy and doesn’t play with Gallagher I think he will go PPG. He needs to be put in the right position but he’s got all the tools to be the first player since Kovalev to get 80 points.

 

[The Real Timo]

Preach! People are so used to loving Plekanec and Desharnais and Gomez (lol) they think Suzuki is a #1C. Not on a very good team, he's not.

Nobody will ever surpass Davey D’s greatness. No-bo-dy!!!

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Preach! People are so used to loving Plekanec and Desharnais and Gomez (lol) they think Suzuki is a #1C. Not on a very good team, he's not.

Btw, that’s not a slag on Suzuki and it shouldn’t be taken as such. He’s a really good player.

 

[MasterD]

Btw, that’s not a slag on Suzuki and it shouldn’t be taken as such. He’s a really good player.

Absolutely. I'm glad we have him. But we're not winning a cup with him as our #1C, unless it's a 1A/1B situation where he and Dach (or somebody else) both score 70 points and we're super strong on the wings.

IF Monahan stays healthy and doesn’t play with Gallagher I think he will go PPG. He needs to be put in the right position but he’s got all the tools to be the first player since Kovalev to get 80 points.

Defintely. Monahan is great, as long as he stays healthy.

 

[Saundies]

Anderson was a beast tonight. That's how you want him playing all the time. Hopefully goals start going in for him.

Matheson will age me 10 years from now until the end of the season; an adventure on both sides of the puck.

Nice to see Nick get one and the PK come up large at the end. That was a terribly reffed hockey game and it could have sunk them at any point.

Cole is just money.

We go.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Absolutely. I'm glad we have him. But we're not winning a cup with him as our #1C, unless it's a 1A/1B situation where he and Dach (or somebody else) both score 70 points and we're super strong on the wings.

If Dach is as good as we hope, I actually think he and Suzuki would actually be good enough. That’d be some good talent up the middle. If CC and Roy work out, add in guys like Newhook and a great young D… it’s actually not bad. Still needs more work but…

Bottom line is this team looks way better with Dach there. Sucks that we got robbed of seeing it this year but hopefully it means a high pick.

 

[HuGo Burner Acc]

Dach being a 70 points center would make him better than Suzuki by a large margin because of other things he brings in my opinion. Obviously getting a Celebrini/Catton we wouldn’t have to be concerned anymore about the C position.

The C position isn't in need. Suzuki had around 70 pts last year playing with Ahlers for half the year. If Caufield was healthy last year, he would've eclipsed 40 goals and Suzuki by extension would've probably been PPG or near it. Habs need another elite dynamic winger like Caufield. I'm willing to be patient with Slaf and Newhook with more ability to utilize his speed on the wing are fine for me going forward. But Habs need another first liner, preferably a scorer. Id almost prefer eiserman out of everyone in this year's draft

 

[The Real Timo]

Did anyone else feel that Wifi wasnt looking great after being drilled into the boards? I hope he isnt injured. THAT would be a real blow.

 

[HabsWhiteKnightLOL]

big + for Suzuki after he scored , the team started giving a shit and Columbus started playing scared.

The captain boosted his troop , we could have ended this game before OT but Montombeau played a good game c ompared to the last one
It sure helps

 

[The Great Weal]

Man I wasn't going to do your homework for you, but let's just look at the eastern conference first

Matthews, Tavares, Nylander (count him as a W if you want), Crosby, Malkin, Larkin, Hughes, Hischier, Stamkos, Point, Zibanejad, Aho, Thompson, Stutzle, Barkov, Nelson, Cozens

That is 17 guys and I'm not even including a bunch of W/C that go back and forth

Western Conference

McDavid, Drai, RNH, Mackinnon, EP, Miller, Hintz, Pavelski, Kopitar, PLD (sad face), Eichel, Scheifele,

There's another 13 and I'm sure I'm missing a few. So 30 guys minimum there. Then we have the new guys like Bedard, Fantilli, and Carlsson who will probably surpass him quickly.

Then there are a bunch of W/C hybrid guys like Reinhart and Verhaege that are a lot more productive right now than Suzuki.

I see him in that Zegras, Stephenson, McCann, William Karlsson tier, which are probably the best comps for him right now.

Awesome 2C on a contending team, but you really hope that you have a 1C who is more capable of carrying the offensive load.

Well maybe you should bring out the evidence before making ridiculous claims. Your flawed list doesn't even have 32+.

Nylander is a winger, full stop. Lol at Nelson and Cozens.

RNH is not a fulltime center, neither is Pavelski. Dubois most definitely is not better than Suzuki lol.

You already included a bunch of W/C that go back and forth, we are strictly talking about centers here. Yes some guys like Bedard will pass him soon and others who are 37 like Kopitar will retire so won't be ahead.

You do realize that most of those guys are also playing with elite talent even if it's just on the PP right? Second place on our team last year had 38 points. That's like 6th or 7th place on most other teams.

So that's 23 better centers (some of which are arguable but I'll just say they are for the sake of the argument). You could say he's on the lower end sure, but again you're completely ignoring the linemate quality difference.

 

[Kobe Armstrong]

Well maybe you should bring out the evidence before making ridiculous claims. Your flawed list doesn't even have 32+.

Nylander is a winger, full stop. Lol at Nelson and Cozens.

RNH is not a fulltime center, neither is Pavelski. Dubois most definitely is not better than Suzuki lol.

You already included a bunch of W/C that go back and forth, we are strictly talking about centers here. Yes some guys like Bedard will pass him soon and others who are 37 like Kopitar will retire so won't be ahead.

You do realize that most of those guys are also playing with elite talent even if it's just on the PP right? Second place on our team last year had 38 points. That's like 6th or 7th place on most other teams.

So that's 23 better centers (some of which are arguable but I'll just say they are for the sake of the argument). You could say he's on the lower end sure, but again you're completely ignoring the linemate quality difference.

Alright I'm kinda tired of you

Your argument is that he can be a #1 c under the right circumstances. I hope so too, that doesn't make him a bonafide 1C like this whole discussion has been about.

Also Nelson has scored 35+ goals in back to back years and 75 points last season, Cozens went 31+37 last season and is younger than Suzuki and 6"3

Change your name to Nancy Nitpicker

 

[SlafySZN]

The celly

 

[The Great Weal]

A real number one would score regardless. Last year he had Caufield on his wing and went cold before CC even got hurt. I’m sorry but I don’t see him as a number one.

He wasn’t on the ice with other top centers, Dannault was.

No, a number 1C would not score PPG+ playing with Ylonen/Anderson/RHP and Savard-Guhle as the top pair. You need elite linemates. What star center doesn't have elite linemates? Nick isn't a top 10C, but with talent that can score a lot more than 38 points in a season like every other team, he can definitely solidify himself in the 15-20 range. Is that ideal for our cup aspirations? No. But nobody said Suzuki alone is enough. Sure you can say that Suzuki is not a 1C on a true consistent Stanley Cup contender, but I don't see how you can say having Caufield as your best forward is fine for a true consistent Stanley Cup contender.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Well maybe you should bring out the evidence before making ridiculous claims. Your flawed list doesn't even have 32+.

Nylander is a winger, full stop. Lol at Nelson and Cozens.

RNH is not a fulltime center, neither is Pavelski. Dubois most definitely is not better than Suzuki lol.

You already included a bunch of W/C that go back and forth, we are strictly talking about centers here. Yes some guys like Bedard will pass him soon and others who are 37 like Kopitar will retire so won't be ahead.

You do realize that most of those guys are also playing with elite talent even if it's just on the PP right? Second place on our team last year had 38 points. That's like 6th or 7th place on most other teams.

So that's 23 better centers (some of which are arguable but I'll just say they are for the sake of the argument). You could say he's on the lower end sure, but again you're completely ignoring the linemate quality difference.

Dubois is pretty similar with better possession. Cozems I’d definitely take over Suzuki. Younger bigger, already has a better season than Suzuki has in his career and is pacing at a PPG already. His possession numbers were stupid last year.

Again nitpick if you want but he’s a fringe number one at the very best. Bedard is already among the league leaders in scoring chances created for example…. Suzuki is near the bottom of the pack.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

No, a number 1C would not score PPG+ playing with Ylonen/Anderson/RHP and Savard-Guhle as the top pair. You need elite linemates. What star center doesn't have elite linemates? Nick isn't a top 10C, but with talent that can score a lot more than 38 points in a season like every other team, he can definitely solidify himself in the 15-20 range. Is that ideal for our cup aspirations? No. But nobody said Suzuki alone is enough. Sure you can say that Suzuki is not a 1C on a true consistent Stanley Cup contender, but I don't see how you can say having Caufield as your best forward is fine for a true consistent Stanley Cup contender.

Several guys would be PPG. We just don’t have those players. And they’d esp be PPg if they had half a season with Caufield.

 

[Adriatic]

Dubois is pretty similar with better possession. Cozems I’d definitely take over Suzuki. Younger bigger, already has a better season than Suzuki has in his career and is pacing at a PPG already. His possession numbers were stupid last year.

Again nitpick if you want but he’s a fringe number one at the very best. Bedard is already among the league leaders in scoring chances created for example…. Suzuki is near the bottom of the pack.

Was Bergeron a true #1 center??

 

[nhlfan9191]

Did anyone else feel that Wifi wasnt looking great after being drilled into the boards? I hope he isnt injured. THAT would be a real blow.

We’ve already had so many blows, what’s another? Being a Habs fan the last 3 seasons would be perfect for anyone with a pain fetish. Watching the Habs is like watching a Final Destination movie.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Was Bergeron a true #1 center??

He was a unique player. Carbonneau used to play every night against the league’s best players and would come out on top but he didn’t score that much. Bergeron did both.

So YES he’s a number one but not a conventional number one. He was so good defensively but still put up good points.

 

[admiralcadillac]

Nobody will ever surpass Davey D’s greatness. No-bo-dy!!!

To be fair, he had a solid career that he should be proud of.

We’ve already had so many blows, what’s another? Being a Habs fan the last 3 seasons would be perfect for anyone with a pain fetish. Watching the Habs is like watching a Final Destination movie.

You can’t have your cake and eat it too with a rebuild unfortunately

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

We’ve already had so many blows, what’s another? Being a Habs fan the last 3 seasons would be perfect for anyone with a pain fetish. Watching the Habs is like watching a Final Destination movie.

High draft pick will be a nice consolation my friend.

 

[Kobe Armstrong]

Dubois is pretty similar with better possession. Cozems I’d definitely take over Suzuki. Younger bigger, already has a better season than Suzuki has in his career and is pacing at a PPG already. His possession numbers were stupid last year.

Again nitpick if you want but he’s a fringe number one at the very best. Bedard is already among the league leaders in scoring chances created for example…. Suzuki is near the bottom of the pack.

I mean if those are his only flaws with my list, he should at least acknowledge Suzuki is in a range with like 10-25 guys for spots 25-50, it's hard to prove he's the 25 spot and basically shows he isn't a bonafide 1C

 

[The Great Weal]

Dubois is pretty similar with better possession. Cozems I’d definitely take over Suzuki. Younger bigger, already has a better season than Suzuki has in his career and is pacing at a PPG already. His possession numbers were stupid last year.

Again nitpick if you want but he’s a fringe number one at the very best. Bedard is already among the league leaders in scoring chances created for example…. Suzuki is near the bottom of the pack.

Pretty similar? He's never scored more points than him despite playing with a stacked forward group in Winnipeg, got completely killed against us in the playoffs, and got called out by his coach along with the rest of the main players for being awful in the next playoff appearance despite what his stats say.

I just don't understand how you can completely ignore linemate quality differences. Our 2nd leading scorer would have been 8th on the Sabres last year. The Sabres had 5 25+ goalscorers, we had 2. Cozens plays on an elite forward core, Suzuki plays on one of the worst. His "best season" was 2 points more. Suzuki showed considerably more at the start of their careers. No GM would take Cozens over Suzuki.