Post-Game Talk: Habs lose to bolts for the new year

[LaP]

I think kicking the can down to the summer after next is pretty much what fans did with Bergevin, isn't it? Always saying that the next summer is the pivotal one, meanwhile the players got older, more injured, and the roster depth decayed with a lack of talent coming in...

The fans do not matter. They have no power over the team's management. What's important is what Gorton does as a hockey president. Ideally MB should have been fired after the 2015-2016 season when the team imploded after Price's injury. At the very latest he should have been fired after the 2017 trade deadline when he acquired 3 dead weights for no reason instead of addressing the team's needs.

I'll give KH a chance to prove what he can do. Anybody who expected immediate results is living in la la land imo. It usually takes a minimum of 3 years before you can see the result of a new GM. Now maybe some guys around here possess incredible hockey knowledge and should be at the head of a NHL team and can already see KH is a failure i dunno. I'm not one of those guys though. But i know hockey enough to know that if the needle doesn't move by 2025-2026 then it will be the time for Gorton say next.

 

[salbutera]

The fans do not matter. They have no power over the team's management. What's important is what Gorton does as a hockey president. Ideally MB should have been fired after the 2015-2016 season when the team imploded after Price's injury. At the very latest he should have been fired after the 2017 trade deadline when he acquired 3 dead weights for no reason instead of addressing the team's needs.

I'll give KH a chance to prove what he can do. Anybody who expected immediate results is living in la la land imo. It usually takes a minimum of 3 years before you can see the result of a new GM. Now maybe some guys around here possess incredible hockey knowledge and should be at the head of a NHL team and can already see KH is a failure i dunno. I'm not one of those guys though. But i know hockey enough to know that if the needle doesn't move by 2025-2026 then it will be the time for Gorton say next.

Unless there underlying issues between ownership & Pres / GM the latter doesn’t get booted out within a 5-year window - they usually have 8-10 year windows

Shanahan has won how many playoff rounds again & how long has he been Pres? Holland? Etc

 

[Gillings]

please get rid of Barron or Harris and bring up Arbs

Noooo, Arbs needs to be in Laval. The kids down there need protection and they also need his character. He’s turned that team around with his presence.

 

[Habs]

Noooo, Arbs needs to be in Laval. The kids down there need protection and they also need his character. He’s turned that team around with his presence.

that's why I want him up here!

 

[ReHabs]

The fans do not matter. They have no power over the team's management. What's important is what Gorton does as a hockey president. Ideally MB should have been fired after the 2015-2016 season when the team imploded after Price's injury. At the very latest he should have been fired after the 2017 trade deadline when he acquired 3 dead weights for no reason instead of addressing the team's needs.

I'll give KH a chance to prove what he can do. Anybody who expected immediate results is living in la la land imo. It usually takes a minimum of 3 years before you can see the result of a new GM. Now maybe some guys around here possess incredible hockey knowledge and should be at the head of a NHL team and can already see KH is a failure i dunno. I'm not one of those guys though. But i know hockey enough to know that if the needle doesn't move by 2025-2026 then it will be the time for Gorton say next.

That was when he acquired Ben Scrivens to cover for Price, didn't he? Awful awful awful.

I don't want Kent Hughes fired right now but I think he made bold decisions with rushing Slafkovsky and with the Reinbacher pick and he has to live with it, however it shakes out. If we're not tanking we should be building, he's not been building either. Acquiring Matheson, Dach, and Newhook is fine but it literally hasn't moved the needle. We need a big piece or two on top of the tanking rewards.

 

[LaP]

That was when he acquired Ben Scrivens to cover for Price, didn't he? Awful awful awful.

Yup. We were 1st in the league in points when Price was injured. We had 20 points. Bruins had 13 points and Florida/TB 12 points. We were 7 points ahead of the last place giving access to the playoffs and 8 points ahead of the first team able to boot us out of a playoffs spot. After only 12 games this was an impressive lead. We were almost in a can't miss the playoffs position already. Getting Scrivens to cover for Price's season ending injury was definitely a fire worthy offense. I'm not sure but i think we had cap space too.

This is one of the biggest collapse i've ever seen in sports. First in the NHL after 12 games 4 points in front of the 2nd place. One month after Price's injury we were still 1st in the NHL leading by 1 points after 25 games. Then by the end of January we were 21st (after 50 games). Team was able to fight thru Price's injury for some time but with Scrivens and Condon in net it was just a matter of time. Team was not as good as i thought it was back then but man even if the team would have been good with Condon and Scrivens in net it was doomed.

I don't want Kent Hughes fired right now but I think he made bold decisions with rushing Slafkovsky and with the Reinbacher pick and he has to live with it, however it shakes out. If we're not tanking we should be building, he's not been building either. Acquiring Matheson, Dach, and Newhook is fine but it literally hasn't moved the needle. We need a big piece or two on top of the tanking rewards.

Honestly we are tanking. We are 31st for RW. Only reason we are so "high" in the standings is because of all the OT. We would draft 7th in term of P% if the draft would be today and this despite the team playing better than expected.

[edit] we also have the 4th worse goals differential which is often (not always) indicative of where a team should be in the standings.

 

[JianYang]

Yup



Honestly we are tanking. We are 31st for RW. Only reason we are so "high" in the standings is because of all the OT. We would draft 7th in term of P% if the draft would be today and this despite the team playing better than expected.

The team just keeps finding ways to hang in games. They've often pushed games to OT, but this three game losing streak they have found ways to lose tied games in the 3rd period every single time.

 

[LaP]

The team just keeps finding ways to hang in games. They've often pushed games to OT, but this three game losing streak they have found ways to lose tied games in the 3rd period every single time.

It's just a matter of time imo. I think we'll draft somewhere between 5th and 9th. We are not tanking Chicago style but honestly i can't fault management for not doing such a tank. But at least they are not trying to win by signing or acquiring useless vets. The only vets KH acquired he did as cap dump in trades to get picks and/or young players. Big test will be the deadline. If he keeps a healthy Monahan then you can argue he's not tanking absolutely.

 

[JoelWarlord]

I'm surprised that this game has kicked off so much concern about the State Of The Franchise. We controlled play and outplayed Tampa the entire game and lost off some bounces and a weak game from Montembeault. Pretty much exactly what you'd want to see during a tank year.

 

[Milhouse40]

That was when he acquired Ben Scrivens to cover for Price, didn't he? Awful awful awful.

I don't want Kent Hughes fired right now but I think he made bold decisions with rushing Slafkovsky and with the Reinbacher pick and he has to live with it, however it shakes out. If we're not tanking we should be building, he's not been building either. Acquiring Matheson, Dach, and Newhook is fine but it literally hasn't moved the needle. We need a big piece or two on top of the tanking rewards.

Dach's injury prevents us from seeing what we have there but with 11pts in his last 15 games at center and in beast mode, it was more than interesting. If he stay on that path and stay healthy, getting a top 6 center is building right?

How can you say it didn't move the needle since you've seen Newhook and Dach played 2 games in the same uniform together?

Our Top 6 is right now:
Slafkovksy - Suzuki - Caufield
Newhook - Dach - Anderson

We need to improve on that........but we also need to know what that top 6 can do, which not even Hugues knows.

 

[ReHabs]

Our Top 6 is right now:
Slafkovksy - Suzuki - Caufield
Newhook - Dach - Anderson

Will never be good enough.

 

[Milhouse40]

Will never be good enough.

Never said it was......but then again, we don't know what that is.

 

[Gillings]

that's why I want him up here!

He’s much more valuable helping Roy and company.

 

[Habs]

Why did MSL go all julien and mix the lines so cringeworthy tonight?

 

[1909]

That was when he acquired Ben Scrivens to cover for Price, didn't he? Awful awful awful.

I don't want Kent Hughes fired right now but I think he made bold decisions with rushing Slafkovsky and with the Reinbacher pick and he has to live with it, however it shakes out. If we're not tanking we should be building, he's not been building either. Acquiring Matheson, Dach, and Newhook is fine but it literally hasn't moved the needle. We need a big piece or two on top of the tanking rewards.

You also need players to stay healthy. All the players you have mentioned and who are with the Habs right now are on the injury list or have been for meaningful amount of time last year and-or this year.

Why did MSL go all julien and mix the lines so cringeworthy tonight?

Only 11 forwards + he lost Anderson at some point.

 

[Habs]

You also need players to stay healthy. All the players you have mentioned and who are with the Habs right now are on the injury list or have been for meaningful amount of time last year and-or this year.


Only 11 forwards + he lost Anderson at some point.

but before the injury Slaf was playing on the bottom line, it looked like he mixed them up?

 

[salbutera]

Yup. We were 1st in the league in points when Price was injured. We had 20 points. Bruins had 13 points and Florida/TB 12 points. We were 7 points ahead of the last place giving access to the playoffs and 8 points ahead of the first team able to boot us out of a playoffs spot. After only 12 games this was an impressive lead. We were almost in a can't miss the playoffs position already. Getting Scrivens to cover for Price's season ending injury was definitely a fire worthy offense. I'm not sure but i think we had cap space too.

This is one of the biggest collapse i've ever seen in sports. First in the NHL after 12 games 4 points in front of the 2nd place. One month after Price's injury we were still 1st in the NHL leading by 1 points after 25 games. Then by the end of January we were 21st (after 50 games). Team was able to fight thru Price's injury for some time but with Scrivens and Condon in net it was just a matter of time. Team was not as good as i thought it was back then but man even if the team would have been good with Condon and Scrivens in net it was doomed.

Honestly we are tanking. We are 31st for RW. Only reason we are so "high" in the standings is because of all the OT. We would draft 7th in term of P% if the draft would be today and this despite the team playing better than expected.

[edit] we also have the 4th worse goals differential which is often (not always) indicative of where a team should be in the standings.

Couple of points:
- Habs had very little cap space
- Secondly the hot start coincided with Plekanec being a PPG player, then he signed his 2-year extension in late Nov and his offense went dark
- Also the 9-0 start (?) / scorching hot start had DD and Weise firing on all cylinders out of the gate, Fleischmann was doing good as well.

Then the offense died, Petry got hurt, Price got hurt…. and Condon couldn’t stop a beach ball. The org tried to acquire a G, was it a Alex Auld who reluctantly agreed to come to Mtl and was never into it? Had a great next couple of seasons w Minny, where he wanted to be

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

I don’t understand the appeal of this coaching staff. St. Louis said they’re trying to focus on making a player like Caufield a more complete player but in my opinion there was nothing wrong with the way he was playing the previous two years after they took over. Let your skill players be your skill players unless they’re becoming a detriment to team defence which Caufield wasn’t for what he brought offensively.

Cc has played really well. He should have close to 20 goals. His shooting percentage has nothing to do with coaching.

 

[nhlfan9191]

Cc has played really well. He should have close to 20 goals. His shooting percentage has nothing to do with coaching.

It can if they have him overthinking the game.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

It can if they have him overthinking the game.

I don’t think so man. If anything his underlying numbers are better than they’ve ever been. It’s probably explained by two things: shoulder surgery and bad luck.

 

[nhlfan9191]

I don’t think so man. If anything his underlying numbers are better than they’ve ever been. It’s probably explained by two things: shoulder surgery and bad luck.

I guess we’ll see. I would rather see a drop in production due to coaching as opposed to something relating to an injury immediately following a surgery.

 

[jrom]

but before the injury Slaf was playing on the bottom line, it looked like he mixed them up?

I saw a couple of times a player from the 1st line coupled with 2 bottom 6 guys. Even Slaf had a few shifts where he was the top guy paired with them but that was on top of regular 1st line play.