Actually I think both Columbus and Buffalo are quite ahead of us in there rebuild and have better elements. Yet we manage to get the W against both of them. I think the collective game is slowly starting to gel and the team will progress a lot this year (if injuries can stop) and for that we need that team to avoid penalties.
Post-Game Talk: Caufield scores OT winner to beat the BJs
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Lafleurs Guy
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He was 66 points playing WITH Caufield.
It would be one thing if he were pacing for 100 points with him and the dropped off but that wasn’t the case.
WRONG. Caufield only played 46 games. And there has never been a good 3rd wheel for the line.
Lafleurs Guy
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Over the course of that span, Suzuki averaged a 66 point per 82 game season. ie. less than a point per game.
Maybe loosing Savard for 6 weeks will provide the management a good overview of what it would be if we traded him at the deadline. But seriously if we where to be stuck with Matheson, Ghule and Xhekaj on the left side it would not be the end of the world. Similarly on the right side we can only hope that Reinbacher, Barron and Mailloux makes it to the next level. So really the decision will be how ready will that group be when Hutson is ready to join this group... enough to get rid of Matheson?
One guy that does not get talked about at all is Struble. All games I watched for the Rocket he was by far the most stable on the back end.
What are you talking about? With Caufield for 36 more games and a good 3rd wheel he probably gets well over 80 pts on a BAD team.
Lafleurs Guy
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Suzuki had 37 points in 46 games with Caufiled. That averages out to 66 over 82. Same as what he finished with.
Who cares? He is on close to an 80 pt pace with Caufield this season even though he has not been good in most of the games. And they still don't have a good linemate and the team is worse without Dach.
Lafleurs Guy
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He’s pacing for 70 and before last night was pacing for like 40… we’re like seven games in and Suzuki has been invisible for most of them. We’re talking a small sample. He’s not going to finish with ten goals for example.
Last night was his best game. Took some shots and was rewarded for it. Hopefully we see more of that because he’s a better player than he’s shown.
Milhouse40
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They really need to find a decent partner for that duo.
The line of Newhook has been great, although not showing on the scoreboard, but they are hard to spit up right now and the line of Monahan as been doing the job,
Really hoping the return of Dvorak could make this happens but not sure how it's going to work out.
26Mats
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Yes, I think Struble is now getting talked about more. I think Kovacevic has also played his way into the long term conversation. We can't have all 6M to 10M cap hit dmen. Though if Kulak can be moved for a 2nd, maybe that is Kovacevic's long term fate.
This is actually a very good point and a bit why I would like Suzuki to play with RHP and Anderson who he finished the year with last year and put Caufiled with Newhook and Monahan when Dvo is back. Or with Monahan and Slaf before Dvo is back. I think it would be worth a try.
The guy I would target for a trade is Xhekaj. I know people will through all sorts of things at me for saying this but the price tag he will have will be very big for a 3rd pair guy. Struble could easily replace him on the left side and we could have another enforcer on the fourth line down the road. Kovacevic and Struble are the type of guys that will allow us to put more money on the top 4.
26Mats
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I hear you. And maybe Xhekaj will be one of the many D traded. But I like having Xhekaj given we have some small stars like Cole, Suzuki, Newhook, and hopefully Hutson. Nice to have an enforcer that can be on the ice 20 minutes a night. That puts him in the unicorn category.
Don't get me wrong he is one of my favorite player on this team and his progression might make him un-tradable. At the same time though he might be "The Guy" that will bring the biggest return.
Patience with all our young guys, they are assets for Hughes to bring this team to the next level.
26Mats
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Yeah it will be interesting to see what Hughes will do.
Guys like Xhekaj and Monahan may bring big returns, but they are also very valuable to the team. So we'll see what happens.
I hope they show Barron how to tie up a guy in front of the net cause that first goal was basic defensive stuff that needs to be cleaned up for him to be a top 4
LesCanadiens
Hardcore Curmudgeon
Mark my words for review. It won't be Xhekaj. He's not just a 3rd paring guy who can fight. He's a born leader and character guy. Those intangibles will make him indispensable, IMO. And just think how much better he will get in the tangible areas (defense, offense) considering how young he is.
SlafySZN
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larek
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bsl
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I would prefer newhook on line 1 and money with Slaf and ylonen
Dach was looking like our best player. If he'd kept up his dominant play he would've been a legit #1C.
I'd love to see him long enough to back up that statement.
SlafySZN
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Yeah i’m still not over the fact that we won’t be able to see him play this season. Very sad, for a guy that looked like he was gonna take a huge step.
The Great Weal
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Why is that? Because hes drafted two first liners since 2003? The guy sucked and the development also sucked. Habs are the only team not to draft someone that has hit at least 70 points in a season since 2003.
Redux91
I do Three bullets.
I'm sorry but you cannot use "paced for" to try to win arguments lol.. I'm sorry but we just cant
I wont go further into it because obviously "we'll never know how it really would of went"
