Post-Game Talk: Flightless birds destroy the lowly Canadiens

dcyhabs

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May 30, 2008
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Do you think BUF failures come from fanbase impatience ?

How many years of top 5 picks do you need to become a playoff team ? Given Suzuki CC and Slaf contracts HuGo thinks they already have at least 3 of their top 6 players, one in his D+8 one in his D+6.
Impatient decision makers. It’s fine for the fanbase to be impatient, invent narratives that resonate in the crappy media, and clamor for change.

It’s the GM’s job to ignore all of that and build a winning team.
 

L4br3cqu3

Matter of principle.
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Watched the game til Armia scored before, went to do something else during the intermission, forgot there was a game going on, switched back and damn, 8-2 with 5min to play in the 3rd.

Those couple games since Laine came back gave me the hope I had before his injury, but I still think we should be discussing about our next top-5 pick, because that's pretty much where we're aiming. And I don't mind.

But yeah, coaching needs to be overhauled, and I think we missed big time on Montgomery... but hey, I'm just an armchair GM.
 
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PhysicX

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Can anyone explain to me why Matheson was placed on the first PP unit in the third period, after his blunders and poor performance all game? Please explain this to me... Make it make sense.
It's decisions like these that will spell the end of St. Louis' tenure here. The wrong players are being rewarded, and from far away, it reeks of a lack of "hard coaching."
Accountability.
 
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Deus ex machina

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Sep 12, 2023
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Just saying things can escalate quickly and the more noise is spewed the louder it gets. It's a phenomenon of this new social media landscape we live in.

I'm still trying to figure out how Trump got elected.
I'm trying to ignore that happened if i want to keep my faith in the human race.

But for HuGo, i'll give you that the noise is probably making it harder for them to stay the course.
 
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morhilane

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Feb 28, 2021
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Can anyone explain to me why Matheson was placed on the first PP unit in the third period, after his blunders and poor performance all game? Please explain this to me... Make it make sense.
It's decisions like these that will spell the end of St. Louis' tenure here. The wrong players are being rewarded, and from far away, it reeks of a lack of "hard coaching."
Accountability.

When shit hit the fan, MSL always give more responsibilities to Matheson...despite him being usually the biggest reason why shit hit the fan in the first place. It's been like that since the season stated.

The only players who were "held" accountable were Xhekaj, Slaf and to a lesser extend Dach (also Struble/Barron swapping but it's not always because of play). And it always felt like Xhekaj/Slaf were more scapegoats at the time since the whole team was bad/low effort outside a few players.

But the real question here is why the team sucks after a two days break. It's their worst record based on schedule-break: 0-0-2 record in 7 games (Utah, Flames were the OTs, and there was two Penguins games that were winnable had the players showed up).
 

HabbyGuy

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I dunno what Marty is supposed to do with Matheson, he clearly needs to be better than last night, he was just awful, he was the only true veteran on D last night along with Guhle who's still not a finished product.

Marty is counting on him for some help back there with all these young kids on the blue line. I get he was playing on his wrong side, but expecting one of the youth to do it instead is so much more difficult. The D is too green as it is, but Jesus Mike, you gotta get your head out of your ass.

Just f***ing brutal.
 

Habs Icing

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We got excited the last 4-5 games because the Habs won against bottom-feeding teams.

Before last night's game, the Pens were only three points ahead of the Habs, and they had played two extra games. So, you can say the Pens are hardly in the mix. They're not exactly a playoff team.

We look decent against the Ducks but soil the bed against the Pens. That's the context.

Then we look at the team. They don't shoot (last in the league) and can't defend (second-worst GA/GP).

This tells me we either

1) Have a team made of mostly sad sack players

or

2) Have players that don't understand the coaches

or

3) Hired coaches that don't know what they're doing.

Considering that at the start of the season, Hugo said we would be in the mix, something is obviously not working. And it's definitely not that they're only at the end of their third-year rebuild. The GM and the VP both said they would be in the mix. Now, were they being cagey and meant in the mix for the 1 OA pick? I'll leave that question for you to ponder.
 

L4br3cqu3

Matter of principle.
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I did but I closed it at 4-2 , it's a tank season who cares
I should've closed it at 4-2, as I probably would have thought the same as you. Why you heff to be mad, is only a game right?

The way in which they lost is unacceptable.
I agree with both of you, personally. I think we'd be in a better position if Laine wasn't injured from the start, but it is what it is, still didn't expect us to reach playoffs this season, thought we'd be bottom-10, perhaps even reach 'bubble' state, but now I expect bottom-5 and it's alright with me.

That said, last season we did lose pretty often, but at least the effort was there, team was fun to watch, now ? It's damn painful. Losing if the team works hard at least is honorable...

Won't blame everything on MSL, but he's lost, and he has no one to turn to, coaching-wise, cause nepotism is rarely productive.

Til HuGo do something about it, it'll likely remain painful til the end of the season, sparkled with some surprisingly inspiring games in-between.
 

HabbyGuy

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We got excited the last 4-5 games because the Habs won against bottom-feeding teams.

Before last night's game, the Pens were only three points ahead of the Habs, and they had played two extra games. So, you can say the Pens are hardly in the mix. They're not exactly a playoff team.

We look decent against the Ducks but soil the bed against the Pens. That's the context.

Then we look at the team. They don't shoot (last in the league) and can't defend (second-worst GA/GP).

This tells me we either

1) Have a team made of mostly sad sack players

or

2) Have players that don't understand the coaches

or

3) Hired coaches that don't know what they're doing.

Considering that at the start of the season, Hugo said we would be in the mix, something is obviously not working. And it's definitely not that they're only at the end of their third-year rebuild. The GM and the VP both said they would be in the mix. Now, were they being cagey and meant in the mix for the 1 OA pick? I'll leave that question for you to ponder.

First of what they said is they wanted to be in the mix, not that they would be. Also the mix, doesn't mean playoff contention, it just means meaningful games later in the season compared to last. That particular ship hasn't sailed yet.
 

Lafleurs Guy

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Jul 20, 2007
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Is that our only problem - 2nd line center and right D?
Another dodge.

You’ve complained about it all year.

Is it our only problem? No. But it’s our most serious. It won’t change with a new coach.
We had a legit 2nd line center last season in Monahan and still ended up bottom 5. You seem to be saying like these are the only problems with the team. I am saying team has a lot more problems than that.
Us finishing bottom five was a planned play. That’s why we traded Monaghan and dropped like a stone after he was gone. We played really well last year in a losing cause. If we’d kept him we’d have finished higher.

Bottom line: there are things MSL has made mistakes on. Many posters here have been specific about pointing it out. But anything goes wrong here and you blame MSL. It’s lazy and it’s silly. Criticize him for what he can control.

Every coach has a shelf life and that’ll include MSL. But he hasn’t been nearly as bad as you’ve made it out to be. Most of his issues are roster limitations. And as bad as our start was he turned things around. Some of that is the schedule but he deserves credit as well.
 
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Habs Icing

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I dunno what Marty is supposed to do with Matheson, he clearly needs to be better than last night, he was just awful, he was the only true veteran on D last night along with Guhle who's still not a finished product.

Marty is counting on him for some help back there with all these young kids on the blue line. I get he was playing on his wrong side, but expecting one of the youth to do it instead is so much more difficult. The D is too green as it is, but Jesus Mike, you gotta get your head out of your ass.

Just f***ing brutal.
I only saw the first two periods but I agree with you, Matheson did not play well. But he is not the only problem on D. They're overplaying Hutson. He needs to stay within the 15-16 minute per game. Everyone is raving about his play but I just don't see it. Dach has the worst +/- on the team. Guess who has the second worst? Yeap, Hutson. As for his assists, more than half of them he is just leaching off of another player's goal with a secondary assist. He may look impressive with his jitterbugging and dipsey-doodling but most of the time it either leads to nothing or a breakout for the opposing team.

I know I gonna really get it from the fan boys for that last bit about Hutson, so I'm bracing myself.
 

Habs13

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Dec 30, 2004
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Pencil me in under roster limitations.

As I've been saying for ages now. This team has no depth at all. Now that Anderson has decided he wants to play again, he has nothing to work with. Outlet passes that send Dvorak on breakaways isn't going to result in anything. Ever. Dvorak needs to be shipped out. Evans isn't the answer. He looks good on the bottom line but is not the answer longterm either. Armia, despite scoring tonight, is trash.

Problem is who takes their spots? The answer that I see, is that management is waiting for somebody in Laval to step up and claim it - and they will. Won't be until deadline at the earliest though. I get it, to a point. Do we really want to rush Beck? Roy shit the bed twice. Mailoux plays Matheson level defense. Laval's vets are useless too - Beurré-Ballet and all that.

So, trades? Give up what to plug the leaks? Stop gaps à la Bergevin. We are going to flip whatever we can for whatever picks we can get but not until March.

I think we weather the storm and hope a juicy question mark lands on waivers once teams start getting injuries later in the season and are forced to expose guys they normally wouldn't.

This season was a "let's see what we have" year and the results are poor.

Demidov is taking a roster spot next fall, then we have sophomore slumps and questionable youth to figure out. We need Slafkovsky, Dach and Newhook to figure their shit out or at least show signs they can. We need Laine to fully recover and be who he was. Armia, Evans, Dvorak and Savard are gone by July. Primeau too. If we are lucky, Matheson and Anderson can fool a GM into sending us a piece and a pick. Gallagher is here for the duration of his contract.
 

HabbyGuy

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I only saw the first two periods but I agree with you, Matheson did not play well. But he is not the only problem on D. They're overplaying Hutson. He needs to stay within the 15-16 minute per game. Everyone is raving about his play but I just don't see it. Dach has the worst +/- on the team. Guess who has the second worst? Yeap, Hutson. As for his assists, more than half of them he is just leaching off of another player's goal with a secondary assist. He may look impressive with his jitterbugging and dipsey-doodling but most of the time it either leads to nothing or a breakout for the opposing team.

I know I gonna really get it from the fan boys for that last bit about Hutson, so I'm bracing myself.

Yeah, you're on your own with that one.

Good luck with that! :)
 
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