Why the hell would you re-sign UFA Armia???
Habs win in Philly by the skin of their teeth
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Honestly I’m looking at what you’ve posted and I’m pretty glad we didn’t.
How many of those contracts look good to you?
ugly finish!
Caufield goal-scoring rampage continues
He's machine, he's getting a lot of scoring chances, he missed two breakaways. He's that good, he can afford it.
The Flyers are similar to the Habs, plenty of defensive deficiencies and they leave plenty of room out there for scoring chances. We played well till the last 5 minutes of the third period. Most of the team showed the wear of two games in two nights and seemed to fall apart.
The call on Xhekaj was the worst officiating I have ever seen, Hughes should call the league about that one, just brutal.
The call on Xhekaj was the worst officiating I have ever seen, Hughes should call the league about that one, just brutal.
I watched over 2 periods of the game, as I really wanted to see Michkov since I have been hard on him in the past and did not want us to pick him (though I thought for sure the pick was going to be Will Smith who is even smaller) his stats had me do a double take as clearly he's gotten off to a great start but I wasn't impressed at all. I thought he had a good shift on the PP in the last minute of the 1st and I missed parts here and there but overall just wasn't overly impressed.
That was painful to watch though as it looked like 2 bad teams, I thought a number of Habs disappointed. Newhook, Dvorak, Armia, Xhekaj, plus Kapanen did not look very good either and Mailloux I would not have called up until he shows he can fix his defensive issues more, shows imo he needs more time in Laval.
That was painful to watch though as it looked like 2 bad teams, I thought a number of Habs disappointed. Newhook, Dvorak, Armia, Xhekaj, plus Kapanen did not look very good either and Mailloux I would not have called up until he shows he can fix his defensive issues more, shows imo he needs more time in Laval.
I agree. People here have been overly invested on Michkov, but I thought he was not good at all. Made some nifty passes on the PP, but by and large was bad without the puck, easily overpowered and not very dangerous. His game this year has been on the PP and has one of the worst defensive plays of the year, which led to his team losing the game.
Both skates off the ice, that's gotta be rough.This was the worst non-call for me.
I re-watched the highlights and noticed that Caufield celebrated the goal well before anyone else realized it was in... goal scorers know !
Yes should've been a 2 to DD for getting manhandled by Erik Karlsson.This was the worst non-call for me.
Gallagher is a warrior. His tenacious will run off on your players
He’s a rookie playing his first ever games at this level. Remember Slafkovsky the 1OA? Young players need time.
Producing despite being not fully up to speed is a good thing imo but for his own sake I hope he doesn’t pick up bad habits and cheat to produce.
Like Patrick Kane’s OT Cup Winner in 2010 or Crosby’s Golden Goal at the Olympics
Michkov a rookie, point a game player on one of worst teams in league. He's 100 points written all over him as he matures
Tortorella wants him to cheat, which is weird, he is becoming soft.
I thought Michkov showed quite a lot of talent. He was not dominant, but the skills are there.
He was not great in that game though.
He'll be a top player for sure, maybe not elite, it remains to be seen, but a pretty good one.
Looks aren't deceiving they are two bad teams. The Flyers goaltending would be considered bad in the AHL.
I won't comment on the Vets you mentioned but Kapanen is not going to move the needle very much IMO.
He's adequate but nothing more so far. I guess they like that he hasn't crumbled defensively but he's playing a rung or two above his pay grade.
Mailloux will be back in Laval soon.
Unless he gets a couple of steps faster, two more years in Laval won't help. He is an inefficient skater.
It seems like Evans is the only center who could compliment Anderson and Gally. That looks contrary to say but they somehow contribute to the pace of the game I would never beleive it could happen. But for how many games they will do better than their opponents?
Everything depends on what their role is with the team will be moving forward. If they stay with the current plan and TOI, there won't be a drop off.
The game to game analysis of this guy is already nauseating. It's coming from both sides.
Certain guys are lamenting not taking him and run to their keyboard everytime he farts on the ice to talk about his perfect smell.
Then you have another side that will pick a weaker game and use that to bring him down.
I have purposely not posted about him since training camp, but it looks like there's no escaping it in many threads and it looks like it will be that way for the next 15 years.
I think so. He might have a ceiling higher than Newhook and Xhekaj. Dvorak and Armia are desperate cases, they are old. Mailloux is still very young and could improve when placed on good conditions of learning. Laval is a good place.
I watched Tortorella. He's not himself. He surrendered to the soft culture of the organisation.
He's paid to stay calm in front of the cameras and collect his check.
That old dude sitting behind the glass is fighting for his life.This was the worst non-call for me.
To appreciate the current state of the re-build and why the team is struggling early this season, one only needs to review why the team was largely competitive last year. What has changed?
As I have argued, the Canadiens were competitive last season for three reasons: 1) their top line of Suzuki, Slafkovsky and Caufield was one of the league's most impactful, top lines; 2) their goaltending was consistently above average and 3) their defence was among the most mobile in the league.
This year, until recently, Suzuki's play has been listless and unproductive, Slafkovsky has been injured, with only Caufield playing to an expected high standard. The goaltending has been a mixed bag, with the team stealing some games when Montembleault was the best player on the ice, while in some other games, both Montembeault and Primeau have looked vulnerable. It is however on defence, that we have seen the biggest adverse change. This season, the best one could describe the overall mobility of Montreal's defence is: mediocre. We have four defencemen (Savard, Mailloux, Xhekaj and Hutson) who are at best average skaters. Of our four most mobile defencemen (Barron, Guhle, Struble and Matheson), two are injured, one is just returning from an injury and one appears to be playing through an injury. Delete the under appreciated Harris and Kovacevic (who, in terms of mobility, was at least the equal if not more than the noted four average skating defencemen) and one can quickly see why the team has had such trouble exiting our defensive zone.
There is some salvation. I would replace Mailloux with Engstrom, as it is clear to this writer that Mailloux is not yet NHL ready. Hopefully, Guhle and Barron will be able to return shortly. While still an adventure in the defensive zone, Barron has the skating ability to evade the first forechecker and that ability will somewhat mute the effectiveness of opposing teams' forecheck. Lastly, and most importantly, whatever injury is hampering Matheson's top end skating, will pass and we will again see the same player who played such a major role in the team's limited success last season. I cringe to think what our defence would be without Matheson's mobility. So does MSL.
Before the season, I opined that the team's supposed depth in defensive prospects was somewhat illusory. Until I see what Engstrom, Reinbacher and Trudeau can accomplish at the NHL level, my skepticism will remain.
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