Habs are the worst defensive team in the league

[PaulD]

The Devils are a good team this year.

Best non play off team from last season.

 

[Suntouchable13]

MSL brought some optimism to the Habs, but they probably should have thought more carefully about hiring a guy who only coached PeeWee.

They're not going anywhere and aren't going to take the next step with MSL.

Options are really limited because of the French speaker requirement. Hey, I understand why the requirement is there but it is a real handicap.

 

[kerrabria]

Mailloux is the most offensive only oriented d we have. Guhle is the defensive beast but it's hard to play d with four youngsters when Matheson sucks defensively and Savard looks absolutely brutal this year.

Funny I literally just edited my post bc I thought back to how on 2012 draft night, the Penguins took Pouliot 8th OA, Maatta 22nd OA, and acquired Brian Doumolin in a trade. When they won the cup, Dumo was on the top pair, Maatta on the bottom, and Pouliot was a bust.

TL;DR I remembered that it won’t just be the first round picks

 

[HockeyVirus]

Only 13 centres in the entire league had more points than Nick Suzuki last year, but you says he's a #2 centre.

How does that work?

How you determine who is and isn't a first line centre, because it appears production has nothing to do with it, so I'd love to know what criteria you are using.

We see players put up points on bad teams all the time, especially ones that don't ask their players to be accountable defensively. Suzuki wasn't great defensively last year, and it seems the lesson he took was to push more in that direction to try and score more.

 

[StreetHawk]

Mailloux is the most offensive only oriented d we have. Guhle is the defensive beast but it's hard to play d with four youngsters when Matheson sucks defensively and Savard looks absolutely brutal this year.

Savard has also missed 20 games a season for the 3 he's been with Montreal.
To develop young D, you need a solid partner for them, otherwise, it's kids playing with other kids.

So, clearly a mistake on the Habs GM for not having a solid enough veteran Prescence to help the kids develop. Being another year old with 70 more games to their name won't do the Habs young D much if they are not getting better from game 1 to game 82 this season. Not with more young D being inserted onto the roster next season.

Looking back, too many roster moves to try to upgrade up front, with Newhook/Laine and all of that Zegras talk, and clearly overlooking what they needed on the backend to develop that group.

 

[frontsfan67]

But Hutson is the next Makar...this doesn't make sense...

Hahaha exactly. Makar always plays defence

 

[PaulD]

Options are really limited because of the French speaker requirement. Hey, I understand why the requirement is there but it is a real handicap.

Yup.
Therrien two stints ! That's a joke

 

[bossram]

Options are really limited because of the French speaker requirement. Hey, I understand why the requirement is there but it is a real handicap.

Why is it a requirement? That they have a requirement is dumb.

Get the coach a translator.

 

[Romang67]

Why is it a requirement? That they have a requirement is dumb.

Get the coach a translator.

Thanks for that setup. I'm taking the rest of the weekend off.

 

[Sasha Orlov]

Options are really limited because of the French speaker requirement. Hey, I understand why the requirement is there but it is a real handicap.

See I don’t understand why the requirement is there. It’s stupid and objectively bad for competitiveness.

 

[HabzSauce]

oh is Hutson the savior now? Did the Xhekaj obsession wear off already?

Some of you have the weirdest chirps. Maybe get a little more creative and accurate next time and you might be able to karma farm a few extra likes

But OP is 100% right lol this team stinks right now. Going to be a long ass year. We need a complete overhaul on our D and while I believe MSL is fine for this year, we will need a competent coach at some point to teach these kids how to play hockey.

I know it's early but this team somehow looks worse than it did last year without Dach and Hutson

 

[HockeyVirus]

See I don’t understand why the requirement is there. It’s stupid and objectively bad for competitiveness.

Because most fans don't care, but the people who do really care and they want to keep them buying their product

 

[Sasha Orlov]

Because most fans don't care, but the people who do really care and they want to keep them buying their product

Personally I’d hire an Anglophone coach and threaten to move the team to Houston if people complain

 

[HockeyVirus]

Personally I’d hire an Anglophone coach and threaten to move the team to Houston if people complain

...Is this Bettman's alt or something?

 

[Sasha Orlov]

...Is this Bettman's alt or something?

 

[FerrisRox]

We see players put up points on bad teams all the time, especially ones that don't ask their players to be accountable defensively. Suzuki wasn't great defensively last year, and it seems the lesson he took was to push more in that direction to try and score more.

Are you serious?

Nick Suzuki was abolutely good defensively last year. He received 14 votes for the Selke. What are you talking about?

Why don't you try again, and explain how have you arrived at the conclusion that a centre who was only outscored by 13 other centres in the entire league, and garnered 14 votes for the Selke isn't a first line centre.

 

[Phrasing]

Haven’t seen anyone mention 5 games yet.

 

[dgibb10]

Haven’t seen anyone mention 5 games yet.

It's been 3 years but sure.

 

[Maple Leaf]

who is hutson

 

[Bouboumaster]

who is hutson

In different cultures, he's named God, Yahweh, Allah, Akal Murat or Shiva The Destroyer

 

[Halakitlikethat]

For the people who don’t watch the games, Hutson isn’t even close to the issue. He’s arguably the teams best player already.

 

[Devonator]

This post is nonsense....Clearly my Flyers have a worse defense then the Habs!

 

[Bileur]

Personally I’d hire an Anglophone coach and threaten to move the team to Houston if people complain

This sounds like you were mentored by Melnyk.

 

[Hisch13r]

On a completely unrelated note, Kovacevic has been the Devils best D and I’d argue best player so far

 

[Czechboy]

I don't follow haba closely. I do follow the trades and proposals on HF closely though.

From that.. Habs posters have told me

Guhle is a top pair damn
Matheson is elite
Xhekaj would cost 'more than you can afford'
Hutson is Makar level
Monty is the next great goalie

All of these guys trade values are untouchable. They are elite.

So I find the defensive stats surprising after five games.