GDT: Habs' Post-Mortem (10AM ET Today) - Players, Hughes & Gorton Will Speak

[ChesterNimitz]

Absolutely bang on Chester! PMD's..............the more you have the better the team seems to be.
Habs are working on this, as we speak......better days ahead.

All one has to look at is the great Canadiens teams of the the late 1970s: the Big Three defencemen who were faster than most opposing forwards; a goalie who was one of the best of his era and a bevy of skilled forwards. Was it any wonder they won 4 Cups in a row? And rarely broke a sweat most nights beating every team. But it all started with that trio of exceptionally mobile defencemen. They brought a level of mobility from the back end that no other team could match. Without them, the team, even with Lafleur, Lemaire, Cournoyer, et. al. would never have achieved the success or renown they did.

The Big Three continued the evolution of the game first started with the emergence of Bobby Orr ten years earlier. It worked for Boston in the late 1960s and for successive teams since then, including the current Bruins team. Ask yourself where would the Avalanche be without Makar and Byram? Ask yourself why the Oilers, with two of the most dynamic forwards, have continued to fall short?

In my position, I suggest to my team managers that in their selection process that they choose the three most mobile defencemen; two centers who have the skating ability to control the center of the ice and a competent goaltender. That way, I suggest, regardless of the balance of the roster, we will be competitive.

Now apply my simplistic approach to the current Montreal team and see how close, if I am right, we are to being competitive.

 

[JianYang]

Was interested when the question was asked about the division and Gorton said they are only focused on the Habs.

Looking at the other 7 teams, only one has much age concerns with key players, Boston. And they have built a winning culture that should help them going forward. Just as an example, Florida's top ten scorers are all under 30. Tampa's only age concerns seem to be depth players (Perry, Maroon, Bellmare). Leafs should be decent for years as long as they keep their core. Buffalo and Ottawa have amassed impressive youth who are starting to mature. And Detroit gets another high pick, although they still seem a ways away.

It is the strongest division, although the way the schedule works almost 2 out of 3 games are against non divisonsel opponents. Playoffs look unlikely for at least a year or two.

Agree with a long term approach, the top teams took years to build. Was just curious that Hughes seemed to imply that expectations would increase next season and what exactly he means by that.

The Bruins are going to be in flux. What do they have at center after Bergeron and kreijci leave? Marchand will be in his mid 30s.

Tampa has tons of miles on their core at this point, which I consider to be just as important as the age.

Also, the leafs are no longer spring chickens. I recall their average age was quite high, and only eclipsed by the penguins. I know they have this perception of being young, but that's probably because they are still stuck on the start line. It's been around 7 years with this core being together, believe it or not.

Anyways, I wouldn't look outward too much if I'm gorton. Don't worry about stuff out of your control.

 

[Kimota]

I'd agree with that. But boring doesn't mean ineffective.

It was a terrible trade by Bergevin. But now that he's hear the questions are:
How do we best use him?
How do we best get his trade value up?

To me the answer is the same to both questions: play him on the wing with Suzuki or Dach.

A fun fact, before this year, he was on pace for 40+ points 3 years in a row. And, hi is best offensive season was last year, with us. He was on pace for 48 points without the injuries, playing with shit players. I repeat: boring doesn't mean ineffective. How many points would he put up playing with good players?

I would love to coach someone like that. Cause on paper, he's not too far away from what we look for in a player. He's got the size, strenght, he has skills. I would love to mold him into something more effective. Maybe if he could be just a little more physical and do some puck possession stuff.

 

[The Real Timo]

The Bruins are going to be in flux. What do they have at center after Bergeron and kreijci leave? Marchand will be in his mid 30s.

Tampa has tons of miles on their core at this point, which I consider to be just as important as the age.

Also, the leafs are no longer spring chickens. I recall their average age was quite high, and only eclipsed by the penguins. I know they have this perception of being young, but that's probably because they are still stuck on the start line. It's been around 7 years with this core being together, believe it or not.

Anyways, I wouldn't look outward too much if I'm gorton. Don't worry about stuff out of your control.

That;s when we swoop in and offer them Drouin, Hoffman, Armia and Gallagher... all at once. When someone offers you Gallagher you don't ask questions.

 

[LaP]

The Bruins are going to be in flux. What do they have at center after Bergeron and kreijci leave? Marchand will be in his mid 30s.

Tampa has tons of miles on their core at this point, which I consider to be just as important as the age.

Also, the leafs are no longer spring chickens. I recall their average age was quite high, and only eclipsed by the penguins. I know they have this perception of being young, but that's probably because they are still stuck on the start line. It's been around 7 years with this core being together, believe it or not.

Anyways, I wouldn't look outward too much if I'm gorton. Don't worry about stuff out of your control.

Boston still has a very good defense and goalie specially if they find a way to sign Orlov (unlikely).

MacAvoy 24
Lindholm 28
Carlo 25
Grzelcyk 28
*Orlov 31

Ullmark 29

They still have Pasternak. Anyone expecting them to go from 135 points to below us in the span of a year is living in la la land imo. They'll have to find some help offensively and be creative but MacAvoy and Paternak are two solid players in their prime to build around.

 

[Rapala]

Not matching the offer sheet is fine, it's the bad trade for Dvorak right after.

That was a "Throw the Puck into your Own Net " moment managerial wise. He had a number of those.

 

[Rapala]

Not this cat, I knew we undervalued Danault, I don't think anyone was happy with trading for DVO though.

If Danault's play in Covid year two couldn't shut people up nothing could. The one thing that marked the last regime and will hurt for quite a while was how completely inept we were at assessing our own talent. That being what it was we could never expect them to be on top of Drafting and Pro Scouting.

 

[Rapala]

You want to trade Dach for Dubois? That is a poor trade, Dubois is older and will be a poorer player, no thanks.

The one thing we don't see mentioned in the PLD thread is just how much further ahead both Suzuki and Dach are creatively.

 

[Chili]

What Boston proved is that if you have a highly mobile defence you have the basis for success. That edge in mobility compensates for average goaltending and a less than dynamic group of forwards. And when one or two of your forwards have career years, you become the odds on favourite to win the Cup. When you have a mobile defence, you’re never out of a game.

Zdeno Chara wasn`t mobile and he`s headed to the HHOF. His impact on that team was huge, they were in bad shape before they signed him. Mobile D certainly is a factor but Boston isn`t the onl;y team that has them. What they have to me, better then any other team is the buy in to the team concept. They play for each other, guys who don`t are moved, even if they are highly talented like Kessell or Seguin.. The Habs had that in their playoff run two years ago and believe it should be a goal going forward.

 

[Chili]

The Bruins are going to be in flux. What do they have at center after Bergeron and kreijci leave? Marchand will be in his mid 30s.

Tampa has tons of miles on their core at this point, which I consider to be just as important as the age.

Also, the leafs are no longer spring chickens. I recall their average age was quite high, and only eclipsed by the penguins. I know they have this perception of being young, but that's probably because they are still stuck on the start line. It's been around 7 years with this core being together, believe it or not.

Anyways, I wouldn't look outward too much if I'm gorton. Don't worry about stuff out of your control.

The imminent demise of the Bruins has been predicted on here for years. Several key players have already moved on but they keep winning. And it will be a challenge finding new players to replace some of those guys. But the better organizations find a way.

As far as the Leafs, they put themselves in cap trouble but the saving grace has been their drafting, they keep finding NHL players later in the draft, the latest Matthew Knies.

It`s all about finding new players and that has been the Habs achilles heel for ages. Hopefully they are starting to turn that around because this division looks to be very competitive going forward.

 

[JianYang]

The imminent demise of the Bruins has been predicted on here for years. Several key players have already moved on but they keep winning. And it will be a challenge finding new players to replace some of those guys. But the better organizations find a way.

As far as the Leafs, they put themselves in cap trouble but the saving grace has been their drafting, they keep finding NHL players later in the draft, the latest Matthew Knies.

It`s all about finding new players and that has been the Habs achilles heel for ages. Hopefully they are starting to turn that around because this division looks to be very competitive going forward.

I haven't predicted the Bruins demise just yet. I thought that talk was premature, but I've also said Bergeron was the glue.

And I'm not saying they will bottom out, but I do think they will pull back to the pack at least.

The leafs have wasted so much of their window already but I haven't predicted their demise just yet. I'm just pointing out that their core has been around longer than perceived.

 

[1909]

Fact of the matter is that both Hoffman and Gally are vets and will not be benched or sent down for the likes of Ylonen or Belzile. Not gonna happen.

Only way more youth plays is either due to injuries or if some of these vets are traded for non roster players.

Of course.