Current Point Projections for 84 games

[Lafleurs Guy]

Since Kovalev run. Here's the PPG/near PPG imact forwards for each team :

Anaheim Ducks	Selanne, Getzlaf, Perry
Arizona Coyotes	Keller
Boston Bruins	Bergeron, Marchand, Pastrnak, Krejci
Buffalo Sabres	Vanek, Thompson, Skinner, Eichel
Calgary Flames	Iginla, Gaudreau, Monahan, Tkachuk
Carolina Hurricanes	Staal, Aho, Teravainen
Chicago Blackhawks	Kane, Toews, Bedard, Debrincat
Colorado Avalanche	Sakic, Hejduk, Stasnty, Rantanen, Mackinnon, Landeskog
Columbus Blue Jackets	Nash, Laine, Gaudreau
Dallas Stars	Seguin, Benn, Richards, Ribeiro, Robertson, Pavelski, Hintz
Edmonton Oilers	McDavid, Draisaitl, Hall, Nugent-Hopkins
Florida Panthers	Reinhart, Barkov, Tkachuk, Huberdeau
Los Angeles Kings	Kopitar
Minnesota Wild	Gaborik, Kaprizov
Montréal Canadiens
Nashville Predators	Forsberg, Duchene
New Jersey Devils	Elias, Hischier, Hughes, Parise
New York Islanders	Tavares, Barzal
New York Rangers	Panarin, Zibanejad, Gaborik
Ottawa Senators	Alfredsson, Spezza, Heatley, Stone, Stutzle, Tkachuk
Philadelphia Flyers	Giroux, Voracek, Carter, Richards
Pittsburgh Penguins	Crosby, Malkin, Guentzel
San Jose Sharks	Marleau, Thornton, Pavelski, Couture, Hertl
Seattle Kraken
St. Louis Blues	Kyrou, Tarasenko, Buchnevich, Thomas,
Tampa Bay Lightning	Lecavalier, St-Louis, Stamkos, Point, Kucherov
Toronto Maple Leafs	Sundin, Kessel, Marner, Matthews, Nylander, Tavares
Vancouver Canucks	Sedin, Sedin, Kesler, Miller, Pettersson
Vegas Golden Knights	Stone, Eichel
Washington Capitals	Ovechkin, Backstrom, Semin, Kuznetsov
Winnipeg Jets	Wheeler, Laine, Scheifele, Connor

Pathetic for the Habs.

That’s pretty sad. We should’ve had a better showing in the mid 2010s but MT was absolutely brutal.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Do you actually believe this team is better than it was last year ? You know we've had the 5th easiest strength of schedule so far, right ? The Habs are going to finish exactly at the same spot they were last year.

Caufield has never looked worse.
Anderson has never looked worse.
Guhle is seeing absolutely no growth in his offensive game, because somehow he's seen as Hal Gill.
Barron is struggling to even look somewhat decent.
Suzuki looks exactly the same.
RHP saw massive regression.
Monahan looks a lot worse.
Matheson loses braincell every time he takes a stride.
Xhekaj is in the AHL.
Gallagher is his same stupid self.
Ylonen is stuck on the fourth line.
Dvorak... im not even gonna talk about Dvorak.

I guess Slaf looks better! Even though he cannot beat his pathetic-ass PPG from last season, lol.

At one point we need to see results, and not just "MuuH stAT pADdInG wAtCheRs dOnT kNoW!1!"

The team would’ve been better no doubt. Probably still a train wreck defensively but the scoring would’ve been a lot better with Dach and Newhook in the lineup.

We’re not a deep offensive team as it is and we lost two top sixers.

And I think you’re dead wrong on Caufield. He’s played well almost all year. Not to say he hasn’t had some bad games but 6.7 percent is a ludicrous percentage. He should have double the goals he does.

Our goals for expected is much higher than what we’ve actually achieved.

I expected us to be a bottom ten club because of the D. But with the injuries and CC’s slump, there was no way this team was even going to play that well. We’re only where we are because of goaltending.

 

[Scriptor]

IN 4 YEARS ? BUDDY ? FOUR YEARS ? THE PLAN IS TO BE THE f***ING BUFFALO SABRES ?

I can't with this fan base. I cannot. The lowering of standards is excessive. The team hasn't competed since 2017. The team has had a losing record every single year since 2016-2017 except for one year.

The climate crisis might be resolved before the Habs make the playoffs again.

You have a serious lack of patience. The team won't be a contender next year, or the year after that, or the year after that one, even if it keeps improving along the way.

2027-2028 is a perfectly fine timeline for a rebuild, considering Gorton came on board November 28th of 2021, after the start of the 2021-2022 season.

That's five full seasons after a partial season of analyzing what changes were needed. It also nicely coincides with the end of all toxic albatross contracts left behind by the former GM.

What exactly were you expecting from the rebuild in the first place? Instant metamorphisis?

You're frustration is based on something completely unrealistic.

I suspect that your appreciation the current management's job is also steeped the same lack of realism.

In 2027-2028, the Habs roster might look something like this, age-wise, for the top-9 and the D-Corps. a fourth line could hold more veterans, but I'd prefer using it as an audition line with younger players (maybe playing with one stabilizing veteran):

Trade acquisition of established youngster in 2025 (28) - Dach (26) - UFA in 2027 (29-29-30)
Caufield (26) - Suzuki(28) - Slafkovsky (23)
Newhook (26) - Beck (23) - Roy (24)
??? - ??? - ???

Plenty of suspects to choose from up front amongst Mesar, Heineman, Kidney, Tuch, Davidson and any of the players drafted by then.

Guhle (25) - Reinbacher (23)
Hutson (23) - Shutdown UFA D (31-32)
Xhekaj (26) - Mailloux (24)
Engstrom (24), Barron (26)

G ???
Montembeault (31) ???

2027-2028 will be a time where we have seen what the G prospects amount to such as Fowler and Montreal will either have a G tandem from within the system, or need to go out and sign a genuine starter.

We are not winning a Cup with a one-two punch of Montembeault - Primeau.

It takes time to add potential impact players. It takes time for those players to develop into such impact players.

What are you expecting? A miracle transformation? An extreme makeover where you waste all your assets on four or five players immediately without knowing if there is even any chemistry to be had?

Worse, actively engineering failure in the hopes you will land a high pick in a draft with a generationnal player once, twice or three times, even, praying you will be able to surround that/those paler(s) with talented depth in order to actually win a Cup?

I just don't understand your lamentations about a 5-year time period before we have a team worth talking about.

If the rebuild is well planned, 5 years very little to wait, often not enough even. Anything less is not a rebuild.

 

[Mrb1p]

The team would’ve been better no doubt. Probably still a train wreck defensively but the scoring would’ve been a lot better with Dach and Newhook in the lineup.

We’re not a deep offensive team as it is and we lost two top sixers.

And I think you’re dead wrong on Caufield. He’s played well almost all year. Not to say he hasn’t had some bad games but 6.7 percent is a ludicrous percentage. He should have double the goals he does.

Our goals for expected is much higher than what we’ve actually achieved.

I expected us to be a bottom ten club because of the D. But with the injuries and CC’s slump, there was no way this team was even going to play that well. We’re only where we are because of goaltending.

We lost Dach, Slaf, Caufield and Monahan last year, Id say thats not an argument you can make.

Caufield isn't looking like Caufield. No matter how you twist it, we all see the game, he's not the electric and dynamic player he was last year.

You have a serious lack of patience. The team won't be a contender next year, or the year after that, or the year after that one, even if it keeps improving along the way.

2027-2028 is a perfectly fine timeline for a rebuild, considering Gorton came on board November 28th of 2021, after the start of the 2021-2022 season.

That's five full seasons after a partial season of analyzing what changes were needed. It also nicely coincides with the end of all toxic albatross contracts left behind by the former GM.

What exactly were you expecting from the rebuild in the first place? Instant metamorphisis?

You're frustration is based on something completely unrealistic.

I suspect that your appreciation the current management's job is also steeped the same lack of realism.

In 2027-2028, the Habs roster might look something like this, age-wise, for the top-9 and the D-Corps. a fourth line could hold more veterans, but I'd prefer using it as an audition line with younger players (maybe playing with one stabilizing veteran):

Trade acquisition of established youngster in 2025 (28) - Dach (26) - UFA in 2027 (29-29-30)
Caufield (26) - Suzuki(28) - Slafkovsky (23)
Newhook (26) - Beck (23) - Roy (24)
??? - ??? - ???

Plenty of suspects to choose from up front amongst Mesar, Heineman, Kidney, Tuch, Davidson and any of the players drafted by then.

Guhle (25) - Reinbacher (23)
Hutson (23) - Shutdown UFA D (31-32)
Xhekaj (26) - Mailloux (24)
Engstrom (24), Barron (26)

G ???
Montembeault (31) ???

2027-2028 will be a time where we have seen what the G prospects amount to such as Fowler and Montreal will either have a G tandem from within the system, or need to go out and sign a genuine starter.

We are not winning a Cup with a one-two punch of Montembeault - Primeau.

It takes time to add potential impact players. It takes time for those players to develop into such impact players.

What are you expecting? A miracle transformation? An extreme makeover where you waste all your assets on four or five players immediately without knowing if there is even any chemistry to be had?

Worse, actively engineering failure in the hopes you will land a high pick in a draft with a generationnal player once, twice or three times, even, praying you will be able to surround that/those paler(s) with talented depth in order to actually win a Cup?

I just don't understand your lamentations about a 5-year time period before we have a team worth talking about.

If the rebuild is well planned, 5 years very little to wait, often not enough even. Anything less is not a rebuild.

2028 is way too far out. We need to start competing this year, I said this year but Ill allow it for injuries.

The goal is to compete for 5-10 years with a core, if we wait until 2028, Suzukis gonna be 28 by then and pretty much on the down swing of his career. That is way too long. And fan-wise too, it's quite a ridiculous time to wait. The fact is the Habs have been accumulating since 2018 now, we don't need a whole ten years of adding prospects, thats Buffalo, Edmonton, Avalanche, Toronto, Arizona bad.

 

[Habs]

Do you actually believe this team is better than it was last year ? You know we've had the 5th easiest strength of schedule so far, right ? The Habs are going to finish exactly at the same spot they were last year.

Caufield has never looked worse.
Anderson has never looked worse.
Guhle is seeing absolutely no growth in his offensive game, because somehow he's seen as Hal Gill.
Barron is struggling to even look somewhat decent.
Suzuki looks exactly the same.
RHP saw massive regression.
Monahan looks a lot worse.
Matheson loses braincell every time he takes a stride.
Xhekaj is in the AHL.
Gallagher is his same stupid self.
Ylonen is stuck on the fourth line.
Dvorak... im not even gonna talk about Dvorak.

I guess Slaf looks better! Even though he cannot beat his pathetic-ass PPG from last season, lol.

At one point we need to see results, and not just "MuuH stAT pADdInG wAtCheRs dOnT kNoW!1!"

well said, too bad we aren't allowed to say anything negative about MSL and Kent here, or we just get roasted lol. 'shut up you hater its a rebuild and players need to regress massively in order to move forward!!!!!!!'

 

[SannywithoutCompy]

That’s pretty sad. We should’ve had a better showing in the mid 2010s but MT was absolutely brutal.

The issue is with our drafting and development. We draft for need rather than BPA year after year after year. I get that when we get high picks (last year notwithstanding) it's usually in weak draft years, but then we see it's a weak draft year and reach for need every time.

Draft stacked with defensemen? Reach for a center, or a "unicorn" power winger (2012, 2013, 2018, 2022). Draft stacked with wingers? Reach for a defenseman (2023). Our best picks have been in the middle of the first round or end of the top 10 when we said "**** it" and drafted BPA (2016 [lmao], 2019, 2020).

Then there's the drafting for "safe" picks with low upside in the 1st round (2015, 2017). If Mailloux busts like Scherbak I can at least forgive it since they took a swing at talent.

Simple fact of the matter is this team is on track to be stuck in no man's land again, because in the last 15 years we could have been put on "autodraft" and gotten better results.

 

[WeThreeKings]

The issue is with our drafting and development. We draft for need rather than BPA year after year after year. I get that when we get high picks (last year notwithstanding) it's usually in weak draft years, but then we see it's a weak draft year and reach for need every time.

Draft stacked with defensemen? Reach for a center, or a "unicorn" power winger (2012, 2013, 2018, 2022). Draft stacked with wingers? Reach for a defenseman (2023). Our best picks have been in the middle of the first round or end of the top 10 when we said "**** it" and drafted BPA (2016 [lmao], 2019, 2020).

Then there's the drafting for "safe" picks with low upside in the 1st round (2015, 2017). If Mailloux busts like Scherbak I can at least forgive it since they took a swing at talent.

Simple fact of the matter is this team is on track to be stuck in no man's land again, because in the last 15 years we could have been put on "autodraft" and gotten better results.

They didn't reach in either of the last two drafts.

They took the guy at 1 on McKenzie's board.. and McKenzie's board -never- gets 1st OA wrong.

They also took Reinbacher at 5, and just because your public lists and internet scouts didn't have him there, doesn't mean that NHL teams didn't.

Nashville stopped trying to trade up the second we selected Reinbacher.
Coyotes wanted Reinbacher and settled for Simashev after we took Reinbacher.

Teams who were calling Montreal about 5 were trying to get up with Reinbacher, it was well reported in the lead up to the NHL draft by people who ended up accurately predicting the top 10.

Just because you call it a reach doesn't make it a reach.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

We lost Dach, Slaf, Caufield and Monahan last year, Id say thats not an argument you can make.

I don’t care about last year. I saw Dach challenging Suzuki for the number one role this year. Newhook had four goals and six points before he went down. There’s no doubt we’d be better offensively with or without CC being in that slump.

We’d still be a bottom ten team though. We’re so young.

Caufield isn't looking like Caufield. No matter how you twist it, we all see the game, he's not the electric and dynamic player he was last year.

I don’t have to ‘twist’ anything. His analytics are right where they’ve always been. Actually they’re a little better.

6.7 is just flat out dumb. Maybe his shot lost zip or whatever but there’s absolutely NO WAY it should be that low. On a normal year he’s pacing for 42 goals right now and everyone would be talking about how great he is. His play is just fine.

2028 is way too far out. We need to start competing this year, I said this year but Ill allow it for injuries.

It will take what it takes. Some rebuilds are shorter than others. We’re only two years in.

The goal is to compete for 5-10 years with a core, if we wait until 2028, Suzukis gonna be 28 by then and pretty much on the down swing of his career. That is way too long. And fan-wise too, it's quite a ridiculous time to wait. The fact is the Habs have been accumulating since 2018 now, we don't need a whole ten years of adding prospects, thats Buffalo, Edmonton, Avalanche, Toronto, Arizona bad.

I don’t give a shit about Suzuki. He’s not the kind of player you build around. And at 28 he’ll still be plenty effective. He’s not a HOF caliber player and we shouldn’t rush anything for him.

 

[Pacciosoftie]

Pretty sad considering this team is supposed to play an offensive style imagine they actually had to sacrifice some offence and play more defensive hockey.

 

[NORiculous]

Anderson I expected to have a career year, just not career worst lol

Hughes has said everyone can learn, no matter what age.

Last year, Hughes specifically said they were working with Anderson to help him convert more of his chances.

I guess this isn’t going as planned.

 

[Habs]

Hughes has said everyone can learn, no matter what age.

Last year, Hughes specifically said they were working with Anderson to help him convert more of his chances.

I guess this isn’t going as planned.

i love how the team always reverts to defensive hockey, like god forbid a guy wants to surpass 20 goals.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

Why do you wanna blame marty for players regressing? Seems like an easy out for people who want to pom pom our underachieving players , are they really underachieving or are they just what they are. 60-65 point players , AKA second liners in a league where scoring is historically back up

The players are free to step up and do something , maybe they simply don't have the talent to do it. I mean Suzuki and Caufield are not PPG players and have never been yet people parade them around like sure fire first liners

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

well said, too bad we aren't allowed to say anything negative about MSL and Kent here, or we just get roasted lol. 'shut up you hater its a rebuild and players need to regress massively in order to move forward!!!!!!!'

You can say whatever you want. But you’ll get a response if you can’t back it up. That’s the way message boards work.

 

[Miller Time]

Do you actually believe this team is better than it was last year ? You know we've had the 5th easiest strength of schedule so far, right ? The Habs are going to finish exactly at the same spot they were last year.

Yes. I do. And I think it was quite predictable based on what we saw last season & in camp.

I think we'll struggle in the last 1/3 of the year, also predictably, both because of how top tier teams tighten up their game heading into POs & because I suspect we'll move some players that will reduce the current talent available.

Where we finish will depend on a lot more than perceived "strength of schedule"... Oilers would still be considered a "weak" opponent from that shallow type of analysis.

Caufield has never looked worse.
Anderson has never looked worse.
Guhle is seeing absolutely no growth in his offensive game, because somehow he's seen as Hal Gill.
Barron is struggling to even look somewhat decent.
Suzuki looks exactly the same.
RHP saw massive regression.
Monahan looks a lot worse.
Matheson loses braincell every time he takes a stride.
Xhekaj is in the AHL.
Gallagher is his same stupid self.
Ylonen is stuck on the fourth line.
Dvorak... im not even gonna talk about Dvorak.

I guess Slaf looks better! Even though he cannot beat his pathetic-ass PPG from last season, lol.

At one point we need to see results, and not just "MuuH stAT pADdInG wAtCheRs dOnT kNoW!1!"

You should learn from a wise poster in another thread who pointed out how silly it is for posters to be sour on Guhle...

Sky is falling narratives aside, I think we've seen a lot of positive progression from most of our core future.

Suzuki continues to be rock solid despite getting virtually no offensive support.

Newhook was looking great in his first full top 6 season.

Dach got injured too early for any sound assessment of his progress, but his camp & pre-season had him looking ready for a big jump.

Guhle & Barron have progressed well & are playing quality minutes for players still short of a full NHL season under their belts.

Slaf has made positive strides.

Lindstrom & Strubble both positive steps in first year.

X, Harris & Ylonen have perhaps not taken as positive a step forward as desired, but that's also par for the course... Young players progress in spurts & stalls/steps back are inevitable.


I don't see any cause for concern & I see many positives from the situation thus far this season. Rome wasn't built in a day... Not sure what you expected, but I find it surprising that you are so concerned

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

The issue is with our drafting and development. We draft for need rather than BPA year after year after year. I get that when we get high picks (last year notwithstanding) it's usually in weak draft years, but then we see it's a weak draft year and reach for need every time.

Draft stacked with defensemen? Reach for a center, or a "unicorn" power winger (2012, 2013, 2018, 2022). Draft stacked with wingers? Reach for a defenseman (2023). Our best picks have been in the middle of the first round or end of the top 10 when we said "**** it" and drafted BPA (2016 [lmao], 2019, 2020).

Then there's the drafting for "safe" picks with low upside in the 1st round (2015, 2017). If Mailloux busts like Scherbak I can at least forgive it since they took a swing at talent.

Simple fact of the matter is this team is on track to be stuck in no man's land again, because in the last 15 years we could have been put on "autodraft" and gotten better results.

I think our problem was more development than drafting. Notice that TT’s late picks are panning out now that the old regime has been replaced.

As for Slaf, he was consensus number one. Not strong consensus but still… he can’t be called a reach. If anything we’d have drafted a center I’d it was for need.

In 23 we missed out on all the safe forwards. RB wasn’t a reach either - though we may have absolutely have been wrong. We have to wait and see there but Mich looks amazing.

 

[Miller Time]

Hughes has said everyone can learn, no matter what age.

Last year, Hughes specifically said they were working with Anderson to help him convert more of his chances.

I guess this isn’t going as planned.

Indeed.

I'm sure everyone involved is concerned/frustrated by Anderson's play.

Can't win em all

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

Since Kovalev run. Here's the PPG/near PPG imact forwards for each team :

Anaheim Ducks	Selanne, Getzlaf, Perry
Arizona Coyotes	Keller
Boston Bruins	Bergeron, Marchand, Pastrnak, Krejci
Buffalo Sabres	Vanek, Thompson, Skinner, Eichel
Calgary Flames	Iginla, Gaudreau, Monahan, Tkachuk
Carolina Hurricanes	Staal, Aho, Teravainen
Chicago Blackhawks	Kane, Toews, Bedard, Debrincat
Colorado Avalanche	Sakic, Hejduk, Stasnty, Rantanen, Mackinnon, Landeskog
Columbus Blue Jackets	Nash, Laine, Gaudreau
Dallas Stars	Seguin, Benn, Richards, Ribeiro, Robertson, Pavelski, Hintz
Edmonton Oilers	McDavid, Draisaitl, Hall, Nugent-Hopkins
Florida Panthers	Reinhart, Barkov, Tkachuk, Huberdeau
Los Angeles Kings	Kopitar
Minnesota Wild	Gaborik, Kaprizov
Montréal Canadiens
Nashville Predators	Forsberg, Duchene
New Jersey Devils	Elias, Hischier, Hughes, Parise
New York Islanders	Tavares, Barzal
New York Rangers	Panarin, Zibanejad, Gaborik
Ottawa Senators	Alfredsson, Spezza, Heatley, Stone, Stutzle, Tkachuk
Philadelphia Flyers	Giroux, Voracek, Carter, Richards
Pittsburgh Penguins	Crosby, Malkin, Guentzel
San Jose Sharks	Marleau, Thornton, Pavelski, Couture, Hertl
Seattle Kraken
St. Louis Blues	Kyrou, Tarasenko, Buchnevich, Thomas,
Tampa Bay Lightning	Lecavalier, St-Louis, Stamkos, Point, Kucherov
Toronto Maple Leafs	Sundin, Kessel, Marner, Matthews, Nylander, Tavares
Vancouver Canucks	Sedin, Sedin, Kesler, Miller, Pettersson
Vegas Golden Knights	Stone, Eichel
Washington Capitals	Ovechkin, Backstrom, Semin, Kuznetsov
Winnipeg Jets	Wheeler, Laine, Scheifele, Connor

Pathetic for the Habs.

Thanks for this this is exactly the type of research i needed to reinforce my point , i said bottom 2 in the league since kovalev but i guess we are actually bottom 1 since im not really going to take into account the kraken

 

[Team_Spirit]

Pretty sad considering this team is supposed to play an offensive style imagine they actually had to sacrifice some offence and play more defensive hockey.

At least Michou, Clode and company could pretend they focused on D

 

[LaP]

Dvorak... im not even gonna talk about Dvorak.

I know a good phycologist of you want her number pm me.

 

[Miller Time]

i love how the team always reverts to defensive hockey, like god forbid a guy wants to surpass 20 goals.

Are they though?

There's a difference between playing "defensive hockey" and not having the talent to tilt the ice in your favor.

MSL gets flack from some fan circles because they claim the team lacks defensive structure.

We've seen what some coaches do when they have a talent deficit (Guy Boucher most notably), I don't think the Habs are at all trying to build their game in that style.

Not that it's ever just about a few players, but CC (6.7%), Slaf (5.1%) & Anderson (1.7% ) being absolutely brutal at converting the shots they/the team create is skewing our offensive efficiency down considerably.

Anderson & Cole just converting at career average bumps our team GF from bottom 5 to top 12... That's a big difference.

 

[Habs]

You can say whatever you want. But you’ll get a response if you can’t back it up. That’s the way message boards work.

I mean, I'm probably aware of that after 20 years....

Are they though?

There's a difference between playing "defensive hockey" and not having the talent to tilt the ice in your favor.

MSL gets flack from some fan circles because they claim the team lacks defensive structure.

We've seen what some coaches do when they have a talent deficit (Guy Boucher most notably), I don't think the Habs are at all trying to build their game in that style.

Not that it's ever just about a few players, but CC (6.7%), Slaf (5.1%) & Anderson (1.7% ) being absolutely brutal at converting the shots they/the team create is skewing our offensive efficiency down considerably.

Anderson & Cole just converting at career average bumps our team GF from bottom 5 to top 12... That's a big difference.

Yes all this is true, but the team still looks lost in most zones, especially on the entry and exit of the D zone. Our blueline is awful, and to be honest I don't think its any better with Savard

 

[Mrb1p]

I know a good phycologist of you want her number pm me.

I have no algea or cyanobacteria problems

 

[Miller Time]

I mean, I'm probably aware of that after 20 years....



Yes all this is true, but the team still looks lost in most zones, especially on the entry and exit of the D zone. Our blueline is awful, and to be honest I don't think its any better with Savard

We have a young roster that was at best a wild card team if everything went right...

I suppose you can call our D "awful". I call it inexperienced and playing above expectations.

I don't think we look lost so much as we are playing a style of game that is hard to win with, short term, with a big talent deficit to the opponent. Long term, as our talent increases (through internal maturity/progress & acquisition), the payoff could be substantial.

Either way, hard to evaluate it now aside from recognizing that the team, through 30 games, has exceeded most pundits & fan expectations as far as points/standings. I'll take that as a net positive any day all things considered.

 

[vokiel]

Pretty sad considering this team is supposed to play an offensive style imagine they actually had to sacrifice some offence and play more defensive hockey.

That would be great! Pretty good chance of getting the 1st Overall pick

 

[Habs]

We have a young roster that was at best a wild card team if everything went right...

I suppose you can call our D "awful". I call it inexperienced and playing above expectations.

I don't think we look lost so much as we are playing a style of game that is hard to win with, short term, with a big talent deficit to the opponent. Long term, as our talent increases (through internal maturity/progress & acquisition), the payoff could be substantial.

Either way, hard to evaluate it now aside from recognizing that the team, through 30 games, has exceeded most pundits & fan expectations as far as points/standings. I'll take that as a net positive any day all things considered.

just seems we can't get players over that 65 point hump and everyone is mostly ok with it. Frustrating.