Post-Game Talk: Habs Fall to Dallas, 4-1 -- Scapegoats wanted!

[Habs Halifax]

Defense slowly but surely gets back to earth.

• Petry ponctual bad games or stretch
• Reilly turning over some pucks and hating physical play
• Alzner horrible
• Benn non-factor, poor agility and imagination
• Mete tries hard, skate well and move pucks but unable to win a battle in D-zone
• Ouellet... well, still playing like a good third pair for now.

It's still ok and better than last year. There's hope, especially with guys like Mete, Reilly, Juulsen (and maybe Ouellet) whom still can get better. But we shouldn't be overly surprised if everything collapse.

I hope things collapse cause it humbles our expectations and maybe Management realizes we need to tank sooner rather than later. But do I expect a collapse? Only if there are key injuries to key players that last months. If we stay relatively healthy, we are tracking towards middle of the pack. It's a stupid strategy

 

[LePoche69]

Is Tatar playing hurt or something? 1 point in his last 5 games, and Gallagher is carrying the top line.

Did you think Tatar would keep the pace? "Invisible-Tatar" is a thing since he's in the NHL. Ok player, talented and reasonably skilled, occasional good games or stretches, but overall, always left to be desired.

 

[Habs Halifax]

Never did I say he wasn't right to go for the money, I understand him ( loved him a lot but seeing him refusing interview was a hit to the fans)
I Think he lacked manners and doesn't show much Respect towards Montreal and the fans (mostly why fans are mad at him)

Refusing an interview because you hate the DG is cheap and low.

Radulov knows the passion the fans and media have. He also knew he would be peppered with tough questions cause Bergevin reveled various info (right or wrong) since his meeting with the media in Dallas last season where Radulov reveled a lot of info (right or wrong).

Radulov declined interviews cause he was smart to do so. What has been said is done. He wants to move past it. But fans and media want to know the truth. The truth is already out there people. You just have to read in between the lines and be impartial

 

[Kriss E]

I'm not making stuff up. I'm asking questions and you are getting sensitive. Your approach is wrong and it leads to post wars. Come on man... learn how to talk and communicate. Questions/Answers and a conversation. Why does it have to be confrontational all the time? Do you live a negative life or something? It's weird that this is always your focus.

The question I asked is how high would you have gone above the Dallas contract? Do you believe that Radulov asked for more to offset the clear take home pay after taxes? You can answer them or you can focus on the line in the sand stupid post wars.

Do you support Bergevin giving Price $10.5M for him to stay from age 31-38?

Yes..always blaming everyone else but yourself despite writing such ''non-confrontational'' posts like this:

Reported by who in each case? Words from the GM's mouth >> Media reports. But you hate Bergevin so believe what you believe.

Do you really believe Bergevin didn't want Radulov back? He wanted him back at a fair deal and didn't want to over pay. If he did overpay, you would of been all over it.

Why oh why can I not stop these confrontations...
By the way, this is how you responded to my post saying ''A lot of crap gets reported. I am not saying this wasn't true, but you never know".

Are you having a tough life? Negative things going on??...

Take your own advice and chill.
I don't know how much Radulov asked, maybe it was more, maybe it was about the same, I have no idea.
For Price, I had said a year before his extension that we should look to move him.

 

[Hfbsux]

There were many of the negative ones who compared Radulov to Semin. Bring this up today and they take fits! This whole Pro-Bergevin vs Anti-Bergevin line in the sand wars needs to stop! It's ridiculous. Lets look at each situation for what it is and the info we have heard

Why can't we evaluate with the facts we know and change your opinion based on information we receive over time? Why do we have to be pro supportive or pro against all the time? With Bergevin and Radulov, I've been very consistent with what I have said for a while now and the narrative that is coming out in bits and grabs supports my opinions.

The difference between Bergevin and what many of us fans would have done is we would of signed him for what it took to keep him. Bergevin played hardball and bet on loyalty of him staying and lost.

Question: Was Bergevin wrong for expecting Radulov to sign with the Habs for the same deal he took with the Stars? I suspect most say yes?

To answer your question we have to consider the cap space and where the habs ranked has contenders. At the time, we did not have a whole lot of cap space. We could sign Radulov + Markov if they'd accept around 7M and 4.5M, respectively. Radulov obviously wanting more, this would make it impossible to sign Markov.

So what do we do? Sign Radulov (a 32 years old winger) to 8+M and leave Markov? Would this situation make our team better? Our team would be better than not signing either but would not make us contenders. Result: we probably lose in the 1st or 2nd round, and pick 16-25.

After Radulov accepted the Stars' offer, MB said Markov demand would make us "fall of our chair". Would it be better for our team to sign a 38 year old defenseman over 5-6M? Result: same as signing Radulov only.

Bottom line is, we could only signed one of them. By doing so, our team would not have been contenders and we could have not rebuild. That's why I think it is not a bad move to have let both of them go. BUT, i would have rebuild right away and traded Pacioretty to get a bigger return than we had. Question is: How do you tell your fanbase that you are in rebuild mode after a 103 points season. Crazy but it was the right thing to do.

 

[teamfirst]

No it was on july 2nd presser for 10.5 million Price that he made the dog comment, on july 3rd Radulov signed with dallas, Your timeline is wrong.

That is exactly why i said......'' hey, i could be wrong'' , thanks for the correction tho

 

[Habs Halifax]

Yes..always blaming everyone else but yourself despite writing such ''non-confrontational'' posts like this:

Why oh why can I not stop these confrontations...
By the way, this is how you responded to my post saying ''A lot of crap gets reported. I am not saying this wasn't true, but you never know".

Are you having a tough life? Negative things going on??...

Take your own advice and chill.
I don't know how much Radulov asked, maybe it was more, maybe it was about the same, I have no idea.
For Price, I had said a year before his extension that we should look to move him.

Took me a while to get to any substance in your posts... And for the record, I only reply to controversial posting when it's done towards me first. Told you this before you know

1) So you don't believe Bergevin when he said Radulov asked for more to offset the tax difference between Dallas and Montreal? Are you aware of this interview or do you ignore it?

2) So you believe we should of not paid Price market value? Do you think we should of paid Radulov what he was asking for to stay in Montreal?

I'm guessing you preferred to re-sign Radulov but let Price go? Just trying to gauge your stance and strategy here.

 

[HockeyDBspecialist]

Did you think Tatar would keep the pace? "Invisible-Tatar" is a thing since he's in the NHL. Ok player, talented and reasonably skilled, occasional good games or stretches, but overall, always left to be desired.

Honestly, he isn't playing bad, but Danault should not be on that line.
He can't create anything in offense, good on forecheck and fast, but he just can't create anything on offense.
Hell, Gallagher is driving this line almost as the center and winger

 

[Harry Kakalovich]

The special teams were very bad last night. A few sloppy mistakes cost the Habs the game. That and the Habs need to score more.

 

[sandysan]

Interesting that Radulov was reported to be asking for more money from the Habs due to taxes though. Why?

Yeah trying to get the best deal for himself ( with our without those prickly contractual obligations) is just SOOOOOO out of character for Radulov.

its a complete mystery. Maybey the preds can use the bag he left them holding to go trick or treating tonight.

 

[Habs Halifax]

Yeah trying to get the best deal for himself ( with our without those prickly contractual obligations) is just SOOOOOO out of character for Radulov.

its a complete mystery. Maybey the preds can use the bag he left them holding to go trick or treating tonight.

Do you do believe he was asking more from the Habs to equal the take home pay he got with Dallas? Hard to understand your point beyond the sarcasm

 

[habsgirl5000]

Is Tatar playing hurt or something? 1 point in his last 5 games, and Gallagher is carrying the top line.

Uuummm no,

What you see now is what your going to get from Tatar, and it's what should be expected,

He had a lucky hot start, but he isn't going to keep that pace, he is a 20-25 goal scorer at best, and that's being optimistic

Not sure what you expected

 

[sandysan]

Some posters think that it's wrong for someone to want to get paid.

if you uphold your end of a contract, get as much as you can. That's WHY players want to go UFA. To get what the market will bear ( which, coincidentally is what we offered).

if you breach a contract then offer THREE different narratives of how you signed with a new team within the first 10 minutes, yeah some people might have a problem with that.

 

[DAChampion]

if you uphold your end of a contract, get as much as you can. That's WHY players want to go UFA. To get what the market will bear ( which, coincidentally is what we offered).

if you breach a contract then offer THREE different narratives of how you signed with a new team within the first 10 minutes, yeah some people might have a problem with that.

Radulov did not breach his contract for the Habs. He signed for 1 year and played for 1 year, with full intensity.

 

[sandysan]

Do you do believe he was asking more from the Habs to equal the take home pay he got with Dallas? Hard to understand your point beyond the sarcasm

He was going to UFA no matter what we did in the regular season. fine, that's his perogative. if, after having the stink washed off of his as someone who wont honor a signed contract, he wants more dough then let's see what the market will bear.

But to suggest intially that the habs had NOT made an offer ( untrue), then to suggest that they did then to follow it up with " actually i'm not sure, ask my agent" stretches it a little thin.

I don't know why he signed with dallas, could have been taxes, could have been the fact that he would be playing with two players who were much better than his teamates in montreal.

but he wont honor his word, he chases dollars and lies about what transpired. the one year he spent here isnt enough to overturn all of that mess.

 

[Grand Admiral Thrawn]

Put a gun to Hudons head and tell him to start finishing (actually score a goal) and his reply will be "just go ahead a shoot and save both of us the trouble."

This guy can't finish if his life depended on it!

 

[OB5]

theyre a 6-5 team....sometimes they're going to play like the bad version of that.

 

[Deluded Puck]

I really do think people hate him so much that even if we win a cup with him as our GM, they will never forgive him for trading Subban. I get the dislike but I don't get the hate. There is a difference and some take it too far... they even attack others for supporting some of his moves cause when you hate, everything is madness.

Comes down to Criticism vs Hate. Not everything is negative or positive.

He’s made far worse hockey-related moves than the Subban one.

*Unnecessary Therrien extension, choosing him over Subban and then firing him months later
*Allowing Plekanec’s value to diminish
*Messed up the center issue by running with Desharnais-Plekanec for years.
*Markov Out, Alzner in
*Radulov walking
*Shaw contract
*Thinking Shaw was more valuable than Eller
*Handcuffed our goalie situation with the Price contract
*Tinordi, Beaulieu and McCarron all 1st round picks whose value went to near zero. A smarter GM would have dressed them up and sold them quickly.
*Sergachev trade.

He should’ve been fired long ago, and one good month doesn’t equal redemption.

 

[groovejuice]

Well, i think you are wrong there, he answered the question of a reporter that ask him if he was deceive that Radulov didnt show loyalty by signing with Dallas.....it was the presser after Radulov had sign with Dallas

To me he was more like defending Radulov with this answer.....but hey i could be wrong


edit.....The exact answer was ''if you want loyalty....buy a dog''

In order to put it in context, you need to look at the whole sequence. Bergevin played hardball and gave Radulov his "final offer". He then took that offer "off the table". Then he delivered to coup de grace by announcing, again in the media, that it was first come first served between Radu and Markov. Needless to say, neither of these friends and teammates bought that garbage. This is a textbook example of how not to negotiate.

In the mean time, while Bergevin was testosteroning his negotiation, Nill was wooing. He had his best players call Radu to encourage him to sign. He made him feel wanted and gave him a deal he could live with.

I'm not going to list all the times Bergevin's hardballing had repercussions down the road, nor which players he bent over and spread for - but the state of the team on ice and the empty seats in the stands speak volumes.

 

[JianYang]

Bishop is always godlike/lucky vs Habs, next!

This game reminded me why I couldn't stand bishop in tampa. His antics are embarrassing.

The embellishing, and interfering with players while outside of the crease, and drawing penalties in the process is very frustrating to watch. He's the type of goalie who makes you want to see free reign against goalies outside the blue paint.

 

[sandysan]

Radulov did not breach his contract for the Habs. He signed for 1 year and played for 1 year, with full intensity.

the preds still have the bag he left them holding.

That's a strange rationalization, because a guy who refused to uphold his contractual obligations with someone other than me, then that's none of my business and I shouldn't consider that ?

He SCREWED over the preds to chase cash, you know like ANY mercenary would.

 

[Kimota]

Bad transition last night. Maybe teams are starting to figure them out, but it seems like they didn't proceed with a game of give guys advancing together. We also continue to have trouble with bigger teams.

Tatar, Byron, Lekhonen and Danault are zero + zero = zero. Habs are returning back to Earth, apart from Domi and Gally, we have no real Top 2 lines players. And Domi often seem mixed up playing center in a defensive capacity.

Third goal killed us, the Domi penalty put the nail in the coffin. But I wouldn't blame Domi, it was a bullshit call where both players were going at it. Then the refs made a a joke of things for the rest of the game. It was so disgraceful to see. The penalty Jaime Benn got was pathetic.

 

[Hfbsux]

This game reminded me why I couldn't stand bishop in tampa. His antics are embarrassing.

The embellishing, and interfering with players while outside of the crease, and drawing penalties in the process is very frustrating to watch. He's the type of goalie who makes you want to see free reign against goalies outside the blue paint.

Loved it when Prust leveled him.

 

[MaxDummy]

Is Tatar playing hurt or something? 1 point in his last 5 games, and Gallagher is carrying the top line.

Tatar is playing like he always did in his career.

He isn't the player you saw in the first 5 games.. he also isn't the player you saw in the last 5.

He's somewhere in the middle.

 

[LePoche69]

Tatar is playing like he always did in his career.

He isn't the player you saw in the first 5 games.. he also isn't the player you saw in the last 5.

He's somewhere in the middle.

I would rather say he's both. Alternatively.