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

[Lafleurs Guy]

I don’t understand how that’s insulting to some? Being a good 2C is very valuable.

I don’t get it either. Solid player. Well rounded and a great choice for captain. But number one? I personally don’t think so.

However, I think if Dach can get to Suzuki’s level and they’re both around 70 points? Then we’re actually in pretty good shape up the middle.

But man, I’d so much rather have a Cellebrini.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

You have a point but his biggest problem right now is lack of physical dominance and inability to finish/continue simple plays that shouldn't require high IQ to do. It's more about confidence and growth for me. It'll come. But he does make some low IQ decisions sometimes so again you have a point

I’m still more than open to a trip to the AHL for him. With Dach it made some sense to keep him up. But now? I’d prefer him rack up points with Roy.

Then bring them BOTH up next year.

 

[Gravity]

They had neither at the time they drafted him, nor for a while at D. And Hughes took some time to take off.

So what's to say they weren't unhappy during that time.......?

Thanks for ignoring the rest of the post, goes to show that you know damn well RHP/Ylonen/Anderson are dog shit linemates for half a season on the first line.

As for this post, you were vehemently shitting on Danault during the playoffs. Suzuki was still better than the other teams 1C. You don't think they sent out their top pair against the Suzuki line?

I read it entirely. If CC stays healthy this year, let's see if he tops it. I don't see it because he's way too inconsistent.

I was never "shitting" on Danault, especially not during the POs where he was arguably the MVP. I loved him during that PO run and just didn't think he'd be worth the upcoming contract (which I was wrong about). I also didn't like that he whined about KK relegating him to 3C.

Did you watch those playoffs, honestly? Suzuki was awesome for a young player but he was heavily sheltered.

I don’t understand how that’s insulting to some? Being a good 2C is very valuable.

Exactly. A 1B/2A nonetheless. He's invaluable.
I don't how I'm getting this tag of hating Suzuki. Love the guy but just think he tops out as a 2C on a contender.

I don’t get it either. Solid player. Well rounded and a great choice for captain. But number one? I personally don’t think so.

However, I think if Dach can get to Suzuki’s level and they’re both around 70 points? Then we’re actually in pretty good shape up the middle.

But man, I’d so much rather have a Cellebrini.

Preach. Amen.

 

[SlafySZN]

I don’t get it either. Solid player. Well rounded and a great choice for captain. But number one? I personally don’t think so.

However, I think if Dach can get to Suzuki’s level and they’re both around 70 points? Then we’re actually in pretty good shape up the middle.

But man, I’d so much rather have a Cellebrini.

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.

 

[Canadienna]

NHL Power Rankings: A frightening thought for every team – Sportsnet.ca

26. Montreal Canadiens (3-2-1) One core tenet of the Canadiens rebuild is that Nick Suzuki is capable of being a true No. 1 centre. What if that’s just not the case?

In my opinion we already saw he can be "the guy" with the right team makeup during the finals run.

You could argue between him and Danault but hopefully we're having that same argument between him and Dach eventually.

I think the focus should be on filling out top talent around Dach/Suzuki and fixing the D rather than worrying about Suzuki being capable as a 1C.

 

[Tyson]

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

 

[The Great Weal]

???

I don’t think he did this at all. He was our lead point getter but if you averaged it out over an 82 game season he’d be pacing for 60 something points. We won because we had a HOF goalie shutting the door.

He’s had plenty of opportunity to go beyond 70 points though. He’s not a young kid and he gets tons of ice time. Yeah, we put too much on him but if he were legit he’s be getting more points.

If he can name 28 does it matter? At best he’s a 1B. He’d be a lot more effective as a number two.

Well he absolutely did. He outplayed Malkin, Couturier/Giroux, Matthews, Scheifele (1 game), Stephenson/Karlsson, and Stamkos/Cirelli. Yes Carey Price was our MVP, but Suzuki completely drove the offense while the rest forgot how to score goals.

Plenty of opportunities? He was a rookie in his first year, played a shortened season the second year, was on the worst team in the league the year after, and last year the second leading scorer had 38 points. He's had zero support for linemates besides Caufield (since MSL joined) and Dach.

Name all of the better centers right now and give their point totals if they played with Anderson/RHP/Ylonen as linemates for half a season and our current defense "helping" out offensively. There are definitely not 28.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

In my opinion we already saw he can be "the guy" with the right team makeup during the finals run.

Really? I don’t think so.

What we saw was that a HOF goalie can take you a long way. Suzuki played well enough esp given his age but he’s not why we won. The Lightning had five players (and two centers) with more points over the playoffs…

You could argue between him and Danault but hopefully we're having that same argument between him and Dach eventually.

I think the focus should be on filling out top talent around Dach/Suzuki and fixing the D rather than worrying about Suzuki being capable as a 1C.

If Dach and Suzuki are around 70 points, then I’d feel a lot better about things. And maybe that will be the case. But there’s a lot to be said about having that big center to lead the way. If we had that AND Dach and Nick? We’d be in great shape.

I’m still all for getting a killer center if we can.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Well he absolutely did. He outplayed Malkin, Couturier/Giroux, Matthews, Scheifele (1 game), Stephenson/Karlsson, and Stamkos/Cirelli. Yes Carey Price was our MVP, but Suzuki completely drove the offense while the rest forgot how to score goals.

He didn’t set the league on fire. Tofoli was our best scorer in one series and then disappeared the next. It’s amazing we got as far as we did actually.

Plenty of opportunities? He was a rookie in his first year, played a shortened season the second year, was on the worst team in the league the year after, and last year the second leading scorer had 38 points. He's had zero support for linemates besides Caufield (since MSL joined) and Dach.

He’s been in the league a long time. He’s not a kid. I think if he were a PPG player we’d have seen it by now.

Name all of the better centers right now and give their point totals if they played with Anderson/RHP/Ylonen as linemates for half a season and our current defense "helping" out offensively. There are definitely not 28.

We’ve already been down this path. There were 32 centers who scored more than Suzuki last year. Suzuki was like 74th in scoring.

Yeas, he brings more than scoring but he’s not Bergeron either. As others have said, he’s at best a 1B center. And I’d say he’d be much better as a second.

 

[The Great Weal]

I read it entirely. If CC stays healthy this year, let's see if he tops it. I don't see it because he's way too inconsistent.

I was never "shitting" on Danault, especially not during the POs where he was arguably the MVP. I loved him during that PO run and just didn't think he'd be worth the upcoming contract (which I was wrong about). I also didn't like that he whined about KK relegating him to 3C.

Did you watch those playoffs, honestly? Suzuki was awesome for a young player but he was heavily sheltered.

So if CC stays healthy for an extra 36 games, you don't think he'd have an extra 10 points to be over 76 points...

Did you watch them? How can you be sheltered when you're playing the second most out of all forwards? He was 1 second away from tying Danault for first in ice time, why are you blatantly lying?

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

So if CC stays healthy for an extra 36 games, you don't think he'd have an extra 10 points to be over 76 points...

Maybe but Suzuki shouldn’t need CC to put up points if he’s a real number one.

Did you watch them? How can you be sheltered when you're playing the second most out of all forwards? He was 1 second away from tying Danault for first in ice time, why are you blatantly lying?

Still didn’t rack up points the way you’re saying he did. Our best scorer by a couple of points but that’s not saying much. That team sucked.

 

[salbutera]

I wonder if Devils fans are constantly berating their scouting staff for picking Hischier over Heiskanen, Pettersson and Makar. Or are they just happy to have a great player.

I believe that should read fan

Pls continue..

 

[SwiftyHab]

if this pace keeps up we ain't crackin' for Macklin

Tanking season is over.

 

[Kobe Armstrong]

Lol go ahead and name all the 32+Cs.

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.

 

[Gravity]

So if CC stays healthy for an extra 36 games, you don't think he'd have an extra 10 points to be over 76 points...

Did you watch them? How can you be sheltered when you're playing the second most out of all forwards? He was 1 second away from tying Danault for first in ice time, why are you blatantly lying?

Let him do it this year then. I'd wager he won't as he's wildly inconsistent. In my eyes he's a 2C on a contender.

He was the 2C in the playoffs. Danault was shutting down 1Cs/first lines, while Suzuki was on the ice with Weber and Chiarot to help shelter him defensively. He had a good veteran 2way winger in Toffoli as well to help him. How can you possibly with a straight face say Suzuki outplayed elite 1C in the 2021 playoffs? That's incredibly disingenuous and borderline delusional.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

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.

I was looking forward to seeing Dach this year. I thought he had a good chance of passing Suzuki as our number one.

Now I just hope he comes back the same player….

 

[The Great Weal]

He didn’t set the league on fire. Tofoli was our best scorer in one series and then disappeared the next. It’s amazing we got as far as we did actually.

He’s been in the league a long time. He’s not a kid. I think if he were a PPG player we’d have seen it by now.

We’ve already been down this path. There were 32 centers who scored more than Suzuki last year. Suzuki was like 74th in scoring.

Yeas, he brings more than scoring but he’s not Bergeron either. As others have said, he’s at best a 1B center. And I’d say he’d be much better as a second.

No he didn't score a billion points but he didn't need to, he outplayed the other teams top centers when he needed in every matchup. The Habs during the Bergevin era never outskilled a team, they tried to outplay them which is exactly what Suzuki did.

Normally I'd agree, but again, he's got dog shit linemates. 38 points was second in the team. That is worse than most team's 3rd liners.

Did you close your eyes when looking at the list of those 32 "centers"? Because a good bit of them don't play center full time.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

No he didn't score a billion points but he didn't need to, he outplayed the other teams top centers when he needed in every matchup.

We used Dannault against other teams top centers.

The Habs during the Bergevin era never outskilled a team, they tried to outplay them which is exactly what Suzuki did.

Normally I'd agree, but again, he's got dog shit linemates. 38 points was second in the team. That is worse than most team's 3rd liners.

I get it. Tough assignments. But that doesn’t make him a number one either. He’s NEVER shown himself to be a guy capable of leading the way. He’s Ben the best of a bad lot. That doesn’t make him a number one.

Did you close your eyes when looking at the list of those 32 "centers"? Because a good bit of them don't play center full time.

Nitpick all you wish. Like I said does it matter if he was 28th? Ultimately he was 74th in league scoring. That’s not a number one.

 

[Kobe Armstrong]

Let him do it this year then. I'd wager he won't as he's wildly inconsistent. In my eyes he's a 2C on a contender.

He was the 2C in the playoffs. Danault was shutting down 1Cs/first lines, while Suzuki was on the ice with Weber and Chiarot to help shelter him defensively. He had a good veteran 2way winger in Toffoli as well to help him. How can you possibly with a straight face say Suzuki outplayed elite 1C in the 2021 playoffs? That's incredibly disingenuous and borderline delusional.

What Suzuki did show was that he was a gamer who can shine in big moments. There were times when he got rocked and I thought he was hurt but he always got right back up and it seemed to motivate him. He was very solid in the playoffs, and it shows that if we build a good enough team around him we can have playoff success, even without that star center

 

[Redux91]

This great PGT turned awful reeeeal quick boy..damn

You guys couldn't do this elsewhere eh lol

 

[Gravity]

What Suzuki did show was that he was a gamer who can shine in big moments. There were times when he got rocked and I thought he was hurt but he always got right back up and it seemed to motivate him. He was very solid in the playoffs, and it shows that if we build a good enough team around him we can have playoff success, even without that star center

I agree with the bolded. Disagree with the rest. The moment we played a skilled team where Danault couldn't shut down 2 lines, we got demolished.

 

[The Great Weal]

Maybe but Suzuki shouldn’t need CC to put up points if he’s a real number one.

Still didn’t rack up points the way you’re saying he did. Our best scorer by a couple of points but that’s not saying much. That team sucked.

Well during the COVID season he didn't even have CC until the end and mostly played with Drouin and Anderson. The year after Caufield had like 1 goal in 30 games until MSL came. Last year he had Caufield for half a season. Not to mention that what center produces 100+ points playing with scrubs? You need guys like CC to help out, it's not a bad thing to need more talent.

In what way did I say he did? I said he outplayed the other team's top center in matchups during the playoffs which he did.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

What Suzuki did show was that he was a gamer who can shine in big moments. There were times when he got rocked and I thought he was hurt but he always got right back up and it seemed to motivate him. He was very solid in the playoffs, and it shows that if we build a good enough team around him we can have playoff success, even without that star center

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.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Well during the COVID season he didn't even have CC until the end and mostly played with Drouin and Anderson. The year after Caufield had like 1 goal in 30 games until MSL came. Last year he had Caufield for half a season. Not to mention that what center produces 100+ points playing with scrubs? You need guys like CC to help out, it's not a bad thing to need more talent.

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.

In what way did I say he did? I said he outplayed the other team's top center in matchups during the playoffs which he did.

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

 

[The Real Timo]

Once Dvo comes back, you could see him on the first line.

Oh you meant Monahan. lol. I’ve been watching Habs for 30 years. Dvorak on the 1st line sounds on par for the course.