Post-Game Talk: Habs can't stop a puck or stay healthy. Rags wipe out Habs in Montreal.

[Tyson]

Ouch. Dobes up soon?

He isn't ready.

 

[dinodebino]

He isn't ready.

Worse than Primo?

 

[Tyson]

We need a steady presence there. I'd also look to move Matheson and that would allow Guhle to go back to his natural side. At a minimum it would calm things down in our own end. The blueline is inexeprienced and we knew it would be an issue. But Dach's just as big a problem right now. That second line is horrible and he was bad filling in on the first today. I'm all for giving him the reps - we need to be patient - but in the meantime it's gonna be rough. And if you don't have Dach on the second, then a guy like Roy would be limited in what he can do if we bring him up. Unless Dach finds his game... it's gonna be ugly this year.

Agreed.

 

[dcyhabs]

It's not about "being time", it's about not wasting time, and especially wasting players.

Monahan was a great guy to learn from. Dvorak ain't. Anderson ain't. Armia ain't.

Buy them out. Give a few picks. Trade a promising A-/B player. I don't care, Get. Those. Guys. Out. Of. Town.

Well that's sort of the point. Hughes clearly doesn't want to retain salary, they don't have guys ready to fill the spots, but they can't go for it until they can drop Dvorak, Anderson, Armia, and probably Savard based on his play this year. If they ditch some of those guys at the trade deadline the team is going to be even worse this spring, and that may not be a bad thing considering the upcoming draft. One year, before too long, they'll have to sign some vets, and they probably want to show the team can play before they make their pitch. I hope Hughes has some guys in mind...

Main problem is the injuries, though. They have been crap whenever Guhle is out for 2-3 years now, and he's out a lot. Savard looks bad but he should be third pairing, he wouldn't look so bad there. Dach hasn't looked good yet, and based on Caufield's year that may not happen until next season. Slaf is hurt. Struble and Barron are hurt. Dumping Kovacevic is looking premature, he wouldn't fix the team but they are really short a defensive D and they need someone who can sit. Everyone they have on D, very much including Xhekaj, should be playing a lot of minutes somewhere.

Are they just accumulating fragile players or is the system getting guys hurt? One way or another they are going to need some high effort, high IQ older guys. Doesn't matter if they are aging out, they'll just need to pass on the accumulated knowledge. Savard and Gallagher just do effort, Dvorak and Anderson don't even do that.

 

[Tyson]

Worse than Primo?

I think he is easily good enough to play, my concern is whether he is mentally able to handle the pressure just yet.

 

[SOLR]

Well our Gs had some bad pad Thai.

What do you guys expect, Rangers are a top 4 team? If our G don't steal one we can't compete when a mature team like this right now. Lafreniere is becoming a star.

 

[MarkovsKnee]

If Detroit holds on we will be last in the division.... which is pretty much expected no?

We're already last in the Division. Detroit has 6 pts. We have 5.

We're 3rd last in Conference. Carolina is one point back but they have 3 games in hand (currently losing to Edmonton 2-0 after 2, so they may not pass us tonight).

Philadelphia is 2 pts back. They're really bad, too. Battle of the Basement on Sunday.

 

[FLHabs]

What did he say of interest?

It's just the way he's answering and overall demeanor. He did get a bit more "into it" with that last question from Gagnon. I guess he just didn't want to do a presser tonight which is understandable

 

[Naslund]

A couple of posters commented on the defense. There are two points I want to make.

1) Over the summer management made two trades. They unloaded Harris and Kovacecic. They were not top pairing d-men but they did an admirable job. HuGo must have thought that Barron and Hutson were ready to step up. Obviously, they are not ready.

2) In one of the training camp pressers MSL mentioned that he and Robidas came up with another scheme (or to use Marty's jargon) concept when in our defensive zone. Maybe they should go back to the old one.

When management decides that a Hutson with all his flaws on defense is NHL ready, that tells me they don't really care about defense. After all, what did Hughes say to Dach after trading for him? It wasn't are you ready to come to a winning team? No it was are you ready to play offensive hockey. (Or are you ready to score goals, I don't remember the exact words.) Now I'm not blaming Hutson for what is happening to the defense but the decision to play such a defensively flawed d-man in the NHL is symptomatic of management's thinking. We're gonna outscore the opposition. LOL!

1) Getting reps to Harris and Kovacevic make no sense. They were not parts of our near or long term future. That's why they are gone. We need Guhle, Hutson, Barron, Mailloux, and Struble (and Reinbacher) to get better at the NHL level, so that they peak when the team can compete for the cup again.

2) No scheme is going to help this defense, only time. A lot of it.

 

[Metallo]

If we had real journalist, that's a wide open garage door! "Why is the team giving so many scoring chances, so many shots and so many goals? What are you planning to do to stop that from happening?"

Quick fact: Since he started coaching the Habs, MSL has loss more games than any other NHL coach.

 

[Andrei79]

A couple of posters commented on the defense. There are two points I want to make.

1) Over the summer management made two trades. They unloaded Harris and Kovacecic. They were not top pairing d-men but they did an admirable job. HuGo must have thought that Barron and Hutson were ready to step up. Obviously, they are not ready.

2) In one of the training camp pressers MSL mentioned that he and Robidas came up with another scheme (or to use Marty's jargon) concept when in our defensive zone. Maybe they should go back to the old one.

When management decides that a Hutson with all his flaws on defense is NHL ready, that tells me they don't really care about defense. After all, what did Hughes say to Dach after trading for him? It wasn't are you ready to come to a winning team? No it was are you ready to play offensive hockey. (Or are you ready to score goals, I don't remember the exact words.) Now I'm not blaming Hutson for what is happening to the defense but the decision to play such a defensively flawed d-man in the NHL is symptomatic of management's thinking. We're gonna outscore the opposition. LOL!

On all the first four goals the defense was brutal. On two of those, the forwards were as well. However, I tend to blame management moreso than the coaching staff, who have no soldiers to field. They're icing a bottom 5 roster, whoever the coach is.

 

[Zalos]

This is year 3 of the rebuild, not year one...seems like major regression. What's the plan?

A rebuild takes longer than three years, and there's not been "major regression". This is you going nuts over a game or two. We have a very young D and super mid goaltenders. We will get scored on a lot. It's not surprising.

How many times will people have to point out that this is still a bottom 10 team? We will lose a lot more often than we will win, especially against one of the best teams in the league on a hot streak.

 

[red devil]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1848918332788949193

https://x.com/i/web/status/1848918862776901808

 

[Yep]

 

[Whitesnake]

From a galaxy far far away to we are so far away from being a contending team....

 

[VT]

Compare d-men, Barron, Hutson, Struble and Mailloux have played less combined than Lindgren, Miller or Schneider. If 5v5, Hutson (19:10) and Mailloux (17:35) don't even have 15 games together, having played the most minutes as a defensive pair. Struble (16:18) was fourth in the standings, behind Savard. Did you guys really think that wasn't going to show? Especially if the Rangers centers are Zibanejad, Trochek and Chytil, with Panarin on the wing?

The only you player under contract who can lead his line, score with anyone (CBJ experience) is Laine and he's injured. The others are complementary players. Guhle, your best d-man - injured. Slafkovsky, your third best winger - injured.

But look on the bright side, you played better than Toronto against us.

 

[Tyson]

A rebuild takes longer than three years, and there's not been "major regression". This is you going nuts over a game or two. We have a very young D and super mid goaltenders. We will get scored on a lot. It's not surprising.

How many times will people have to point out that this is still a bottom 10 team? We will lose a lot more often than we will win, especially against one of the best teams in the league on a hot streak.

No shit a rebuild takes longer than 3 years...is it too much to ask for slight improvement? We are not going nuts, just stating the obvious that there is very little improvement.

 

[vokiel]

Primeau will need to stop giving away goals. Doesn't matter if he looks good on most shots if he lets in a softie every few periods.

No coach is winning anything with that defense. Our first pairing is Matheson-Barron, think about this. Then we have Savard who's pretty much done, Hutson and Mailloux who are less than 10 games into their careers, and Struble, another young guy. Stop the nonsense about the coach. St-Louis is one of the the best things we've got. Our only functional defenseman is Ghule, who's injured, and also very young.

We are finshing in the bottom 5 again, and probably next year again. This is what happens to rebuilding teams, it takes time, more than you think, and it hurts.

No teams would ever win anything with a green coach, filled with ridiculous ideals like Marty either.

 

[dinodebino]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1848918332788949193

https://x.com/i/web/status/1848918862776901808

This beatdown will have lingering effects on the kids. He’s got a lot of work to do this week.

 

[HabzSauce]

I think he is easily good enough to play, my concern is whether he is mentally able to handle the pressure just yet.

He wouldn't make much of a difference with the defence we're seeing right now.

Keep Dobes far away from this team except for the odd call up here and there

 

[GrandmaCookie]

Compare d-men, Barron, Hutson, Struble and Mailloux have played less combined than Lindgren, Miller or Schneider. If 5v5, Hutson (19:10) and Mailloux (17:35) don't even have 15 games together, having played the most minutes as a defensive pair. Struble (16:18) was fourth in the standings, behind Savard. Did you guys really think that wasn't going to show? Especially if the Rangers centers are Zibanejad, Trochek and Chytil, with Panarin on the wing?

The only you player under contract who can lead his line, score with anyone (CBJ experience) is Laine and he's injured. The others are complementary players. Guhle, your best d-man - injured. Slafkovsky, your third best winger - injured.

But look on the bright side, you played better than Toronto against us.

Who is the second one? I don`t count Laine as part of this team.

 

[Boss Man Hughes]

Well our Gs had some bad pad Thai.

What do you guys expect, Rangers are a top 4 team? If our G don't steal one we can't compete when a mature team like this right now. Lafreniere is becoming a star.

Lafreniere did nothing tonight.

 

[Tyson]

He wouldn't make much of a difference with the defence we're seeing right now.

Keep Dobes far away from this team except for the odd call up here and there

Agreed

 

[Naslund]

We need a steady presence there. I'd also look to move Matheson and that would allow Guhle to go back to his natural side. At a minimum it would calm things down in our own end. The blueline is inexeprienced and we knew it would be an issue. But Dach's just as big a problem right now. That second line is horrible and he was bad filling in on the first today. I'm all for giving him the reps - we need to be patient - but in the meantime it's gonna be rough. And if you don't have Dach on the second, then a guy like Roy would be limited in what he can do if we bring him up. Unless Dach finds his game... it's gonna be ugly this year.

Moving Matheson would be the stupidest thing we can do. Guhle and Matheson are the only decent guys we have on D. That defense (and the team) would not survive a season without this guy. It would break the confidence of many young players (e.g., Hutson), as they are not ready for taking over the responsibilities.

 

[SwiftyHab]

I just want to get excited about something. If we can’t make the playoffs we have to get better at least. We’re getting worse!