Habs vs Sens

[Boss Man Hughes]

It's almost like a defenders first responsibility isn't scoring...

He is also very good at moving the puck and decent defensively

 

[EveryDay]

A 5’8 160lb defenseman who doesn’t defend cannot be a #1. Good gadget player though.

Show how dumb your takes are.

Continue to draft your Boucher type of player, it seems to work fine as Ottawa misses the playoffs for the last 9 seasons

Ottawa are at the bottom of the league offensively, its great!

 

[Boss Man Hughes]

Ya saying Suzuki has been able to manage as many points as Stutzle who was injured all year from game 4 on last year, what an admirable accomplishment.

And how do you know Suzuki was 100% all year.

 

[Kudo Shinichi]

I mean, yeah...it's the younger player who has produced at a higher rate than Suzuki has ever managed. I really like Suzuki, he's a good player...but honestly, he's a 1b at best. His ceiling is pretty capped there and i don't think it's reasonable to expect much of anything more than PPG in a good year playing 1C PP1 cherry minutes. Stutzle has the ability to push beyond that, and he's already actually done it.


The lack of a true 1C is really the biggest hole in the Habs rebuild. And that's not a sleight on Suzuki...it's just...the reality, that if you want to build a perennial contender, you need a top Center who can push beyond what Suzuki is capable of.

So Stutzle is a true 1C because he had 1 season worthy of a 1C (according to you) in 5 years?

Is Kadri also a true 1C? I mean he paced for a 100 pts just a few seasons ago...

 

[BehindTheTimes]

Ottawa will be trending down before they ever play a playoff game. It’s Montreal and it’s not close.

 

[Xspyrit]

Some things need to be added to this thread I think

Most points U-23, active players :

1- Sidney Crosby 506 pts
Connor McDavid 469 pts
Steven Stamkos 386 pts
Alexander Ovechkin 310 pts
5- Yevgeni Malkin 304 pts
Nathan MacKinnon 303 pts
Patrick Kane 303 pts
Mitchell Marner 291 pts
9- Tim Stützle 290 pts
.... (60 players)
Nick Suzuki 143 pts

Tim Stutzle turned 23 y/o yesterday on January 15th.

Who's the sens true 1C, which the habs is lacking? Stutzle? The same player who rarely takes faceoffs and who has produced at the same rate as Suzuki the last 2 seasons while being far worse defensively?

Maybe when Stutzle was 19 y/o but his 2-way game has evolved, I think he might start getting Selke votes as soon as this season. People quickly forget but the guy actually turned 23 y/o YESTERDAY. At that age, Suzuki had one 61 pts season and two 41 pts seasons.

Regarding defensive play, Suzuki has had bumps down the road with 2 really poor seasons in 2021-22 and 2022-23. He doesn't seem to have really good defensive metrics this season too (46.10 xGF% and 2.95 xGA/60 at 5v5). Stutzle on the other end is trending the other way as already mentioned. I don't have any other card on hand at the moment but :

Skater | HockeyStatCards.com

Skater | HockeyStatCards.com

So Stutzle is a true 1C because he had 1 season worthy of a 1C (according to you) in 5 years?

When a poster needs to fall into intellectual dishonesty, IMO he already lost the battle. As mentioned already, at Stutzle's age, Suzuki had ONE 61 pts season.

Continue to draft your Boucher type of player, it seems to work fine as Ottawa misses the playoffs for the last 9 seasons

Ottawa are at the bottom of the league offensively, its great!

- Tyler Boucher is just one of these Dorion things, but it might not even a Top-10 worst Dorion moves, as crazy as it sounds. There's no limit to the DAMAGE this guy did.

- It's not 9 seasons it's 7 seasons lol.

- Ottawa is 20th in GF/GP, which is below average but not bottom of the league. That said, after how the last seasons went, the focus was defensive play this season and they are 8th for GA/GP and lead the league for shutouts (7).

- Ottawa has scored 2.88 goals per game, good for 20th. Montreal has scored 3.00 G/GP which is 15th, so only 0.12 goals per games separates Ottawa from the average.

- I was expecting a need for Ottawa to find 2 new forwards who could bring offense in 2025-26 with Giroux and Perron approaching 37 y/o but it has already started this season with Giroux declining a bit more and Perron not even available to play so far (who was supposed to replace Tarasenko's offense). Greig has not scored more than his rookie season (0.33 vs 0.36 PPG) and Pinto PPG has actually regressed (but he's finally heating up lately), 0.66 to 0.40.

- I was also expecting Montreal current progression to happen next season but it seems to be happening now. Their GM(s) are doing what it takes to happen and spend the necessary money needed in Laine and Carrier acquisitions. Price's LTIR contract is also a bit lucky since it allows them to spend this cap and they probably get better goaltending than they would from an injuries diminished 37 y/o goalie.