Laval Rocket: GDT: Game 2 Laval at Cleveland 7PM EST

[DAChampion]

Great point! He was a steal when they picked him.

Many here are out of touch because of all the weight they put on crappy public draft source lists. I remember Hughes saying after the draft that they couldn't have taken Florian any later as they knew a bunch of other teams were interested and going to snag him.

How do teams find out who other teams want to draft? Shouldn't they keep their lists confidential?

 

[HuGo Burner Acc]

Habs amateur scouting kept Habs from drafting well not Price

Price didn’t tell them to pick McCarron vs Shea Theodore who was next up at their draft position on central scouting list. Price also didn’t tell Habs to select KK instead of Tkachuk etc.

Or the big one during his youth, trade McDonough for Gomez.

 

[Habs Icing]

Even just asking the question is incredibly insulting to Price. The last Habs drafted goalie coming close to Price was Roy, arguably Dryden.

One thing, though. Dryden was not a Habs drafted goalie. The Bruins drafted Dryden.

 

[Rapala]

I love it! We've been thinking all along that Beck or Kapanen could be our 3rd line center of the future. It could be Florian.

I can actually see Beck and Florian on the same line in the future something we saw in a game down the stretch.
Both can play center and both can play wing very well. Marty seems to like the idea of having a lefty righty combination who can take faceoffs.

 

[Rapala]

Makes me wonder where Florian would go in a redraft given his performance so far.

And yet many on the board thought that it was too soon and just a nepo pick.

The nepo pick certainly helps offset some of the hiccoughs and snags we've hit with our pro scouting department.
Flojack's greatest asset in my mind is his ability to play a no flash meat and potatoes game all over the ice.
This type of game always translates well because it doesn't rely on a single spectacular talent it's a kind of plug and play.
I hope he has a great post season and a fantastic summer I wouldn't mind having another Xhekaj on the bench.
That way when we have to scratch one the flowers won't wilt.

 

[Pompeius Magnus]

Makes me wonder where Florian would go in a redraft given his performance so far.

And yet many on the board thought that it was too soon and just a nepo pick.

It can be both, FWIW. His being Arber's brother probably gave him a small edge versus other players they would have had in the same tier at the draft AND they did think he had untapped potential anyway.

 

[sandviper]

Fowler is good, but in this era of gigantic goalies, he looks small.

No doubt same was said about Wolf, but here we are….

 

[Rapala]

Agreed but he has played 2 simple, solid games against Cleveland.

I thought he and Reinbacher did some things well and some other things not so well.
Mailloux did take a dumb useless penalty but the team as a whole has to clean some of that up.
Pinelli made him look stupid but Pinelli also made Reinbacher stupid as well.
Personally I didn't think Reinbacher was as bad as some made out but he wasn't playing his "A" game for sure.
It was weird it looked like he glitched every so often as if something was bothering him.
The expectations probably skew the assessment a bit but we are talking about a D that helped garner a clean sheet.

It will be fun to see where both those guys are at against Rochester when their Playoffs start in earnest.
Hopefully he continues his decent positional play and manages to keep the game in front of him.

 

[JustAHabFan]

I didn't follow the AHL. But Laval was one of the top team in the AHL, why are they playing in Cleveland instead of Laval?

 

[BJCOLLINS]

We need guys pounding at the door to get to the next level. Not gently knocking.

None of our top 6 F (dressed last night) will make the Habs, AHL careers is their ceiling. Beck, FloJack and Kapanen are projecting upwards, Davidson & Tuch have intangibles that will give them a shot.

Small sample size but Fowler has all the attributes of an NHL goaltender. I really like him, he’s a potential game stealer.

Reinbacher, Mailloux and maybe Engstrom need more seasoning to make the big show. Reinbacher has the natural talent to make the team out of camp next year once he’s confident mentally and physically that his knee/body is solid. Mailloux & Engstrom(depth D) may simply be on the natural development curve you see with most NHL D …. they take that next step at 23-26 yo as their man strength kicks in.

I really like Beck, Xhekaj, Reinbacher & Fowler IF they spend another year in Laval they’ll be pounding on that door.

 

[Redux91]

I didn't follow the AHL. But Laval was one of the top team in the AHL, why are they playing in Cleveland instead of Laval?

Best of 5
First 2 games in Cleveland
Last 3 in Laval is how they're doing it

 

[JustAHabFan]

Best of 5
First 2 games in Cleveland
Last 3 in Laval is how they're doing it

I guess to minimize the traveling.

 

[Kudo Shinichi]

So does Fowler keep starting? Or do you go back to Primeau?

Likely Primeau.
Yes, Fowler had a shutout, but Primeau barely lost in the ahl all year. Only 2 regulation losses in 25 games.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Likely Primeau.
Yes, Fowler had a shutout, but Primeau barely lost in the ahl all year. Only 2 regulation losses in 25 games.

Taking a guy who just got a shutout and has given up 2 goals in 2 games is a pretty tough call to make.

I assume they'll run Fowler until he loses and Primeau will get the net back. There's also the organizational desire to see Fowler start these games and he hasn't given close to a reason not to give him more games right now.

 

[Treb]

Likely Primeau.
Yes, Fowler had a shutout, but Primeau barely lost in the ahl all year. Only 2 regulation losses in 25 games.

Vincent said Fowler plays for now.

 

[Kudo Shinichi]

Taking a guy who just got a shutout and has given up 2 goals in 2 games is a pretty tough call to make.

I assume they'll run Fowler until he loses and Primeau will get the net back. There's also the organizational desire to see Fowler start these games and he hasn't given close to a reason not to give him more games right now.

I'd argue not playing their regular season number 1 goalie with insane stats is a much tougher call to make.

Primeau is likely gone this summer and they could probably win the cup with Fowler, but I'm sure the coaching staff still care about Primeau and want to give him this opportunity that he deserves after what he's done this year.

 

[Kudo Shinichi]

Vincent said Fowler plays for now.

That was before Primeau was sent down

 

[Treb]

That was before Primeau was sent down

The question was about Fowler/Primeau.

 

[Kennerback]

It can be both, FWIW. His being Arber's brother probably gave him a small edge versus other players they would have had in the same tier at the draft AND they did think he had untapped potential anyway.

Arber was a late bloomer. Either for physical or focus reason. There’s a chance this trait runs in the family.

 

[WeThreeKings]

I'd argue not playing their regular season number 1 goalie with insane stats is a much tougher call to make.

Primeau is likely gone this summer and they could probably win the cup with Fowler, but I'm sure the coaching staff still care about Primeau and want to give him this opportunity that he deserves after what he's done this year.

If their goalie of the future is winning games in the playoffs, posting a shutout in the process, they have all the agency in the world to continue to go to Fowler.

 

[montreal]

Two things I totally agree with...Reinbacher struggled and Roy was invisible. One thing I know about Vincent is he won't hesitate to scratch Roy if he doesn't pick up his effort.

I don't think he will scratch Roy but I would like to see it.

 

[montreal]

But you also admitted you only saw 1 game so..maybe he hasn't made a miraculous improvement and you just caught a bad game lol

that's fair, as I always say you shouldn't scout players off just 1 game as you never know if you are just catching them on a bad night. The real smart person is the one that saw Xhekaj as a center, since he moved to center he's been on a rocket trajectory

 

[montreal]

How do teams find out who other teams want to draft? Shouldn't they keep their lists confidential?

When ISS started way back in the early '00's, I was one of the first people to purchase their scouting reports so I got to speak to the owner and he put me in touch with his head scout who I got to talk to a couple times. He talked about how teams mostly know who other teams like because the scouting world is so small that when they are scouting a game, they know who else is scouting the game. He gave me a couple examples but this was over 20 years ago, I can't remember the names off the top of my head.

 

[montreal]

I didn't follow the AHL. But Laval was one of the top team in the AHL, why are they playing in Cleveland instead of Laval?

Laval had the option, they chose it.

 

[Redux91]

Vincent said Fowler plays for now.

I'm impressed

Sucks for Primeau lol but hey, what can you do, he blew his NHL gig in the first place