Player Discussion Halfway Mark Grades

[Saundies]

Drouin got way more heat than Newhook despite being way better. Newhook has a ridiculously low IQ. I don't doubt his compete level but it's impossible to be this ineffective with that skating and shot.

Nice list. I'd probably just make Monty/Carrier/Laine higher and Struble lower but otherwise that's what I would have as well.

Thanks!

The only reason Laine isn't higher is just due to the lack of 5 on 5 offense and I attribute a ton of that to his injury/playing catch up all year + missing a ton of time next year. He just hasn't had the time to find his legs.

I wouldn't die on the hill of him being a B let's put it that way.

 

[David Suzuki]

Forward
Suzuki A
Caufield A
Slafkovsky C-
Dach D
Newhook D
Laine A
Evans A
Anderson B
Heineman A
Dvorak D
Armia B
Gallagher C

Dsquad
Savard C
Struble C
Xhekaj C
Carrier B+
Matheson B
Guhle B+
Hutson A+

Montombeau B+

Relative to my expectations.

 

[Frankenheimer]

My grades are all relative to my expectations at the beginning of the year for each guy.

Suzuki - A
Gally - C
Caufield - A+
Dach - C
Slaf - C
Evans - A+
Anderson - B+
Hutson - A+
Newhook - D
Guhle - B
Xhekaj - B-
Matheson - B-
Savard - C+
Heineman - A
Armia - B
Dvorak - D
Montemabeault - B
Laine - B
Dobes - A (Primeau was F)
Struble - C
Carrier - B

Notable performers:

Cole has looked really good and bounced back from what I saw as a so-so year last year.

Nick is his steady self.

Evans, Heineman and Hutson all come out looking great (and Dobes as well)

Anderson has bounced back great this season from last season. He's not going to be what we paid him to be but I'm glad to see he's found a role and took it seriously.

Notable lower grades:

Slaf and Dach - have underperformed expectations. Both can easily turn it around with a strong second half.

Gally - started out good but has petered off.

Newhook - doesn't look like the same guy as last year so far. I'm surprised how little offense he's creating.

Dvo - nothing more to say I haven't said 100 times over.

Struble looks like and should be the odd man out with Carrier in the lineup.

Primeau was probably the worst goalie in the league when he was up.

So if I understand your grading correctly, you had much higher expectations of Dvorak than what he is producing now? I suppose I'm among the few who didn't have high expectations and who has been pleasently surprised that he hasn't been a deadweight. I think this is actually the first year that he has positively contributed to the team and been trusted in that role. He has exceeded the low expectations that I thought everyone had of him. This is probably his best season here.

 

[OneSharpMarble]

Yeah give the guy who probably went through the worst year of his life a D. Battling back from a possible career ending injury to end up looking great after only 30 games, nope not good enough.

 

[ReHabs]

Everytime i see this either here or in the paper i never get it

A-B-C-D for everyone, those are all passing grades yet the team is not in the playoffs and playing for .524 not a passing grade either

Lots of good vibes here because of the recent surge. We've looked good in recent weeks and that's what is imprinted on the memory.

I think 0.524 is a passing grade for a team that has shown such a clear progression:

2021-2022 - 0.335%
2022-2023 - 0.415%
2023-2024 - 0.463%
2024-2025 - 0.524%

I'm expecting a small drop-off because since Dec 1 the Habs are 7th in the NHL with 0.658... seems a bit too good.

FYI

Bottom10th this year (so far) is NYR with 0.500
Bottom10th last year was shared by CGY, NJD, and SEA with 0.494
Bottom10th the year prior was STL with 0.494
Bottom10th the year before that was ANA with 0.463

Unless something changes I don't think we're finishing Bottom10th, so compared to last year that's a pass.

 

[tazsub3]

Im in the states and watched 90% of the games, some games I cant get I stand by my evals.

Guys I don"t want on the team 25-26 Anderson, Armia, Evans(yes Evans), Matheson,Savard, Dvorak. I know not likley to happend but

Can’t argue with not wanting on the team but giving armia a d is evaluating him for last 2 years and not being objective about his current state of play.
In fact if we are to use last 3 years armia as a base , this year would be an A hahahah

 

[calder candidate]

The best player on the ice most night
Hutson - A+

Mosty relaible players or player meeting the expectations
Evans - A couldn't ask for much more
Arima - A couldn't ask for much more
Suzuki - A
Matheson - B+ People are being overly critical
CC - B+
Guhle - B-
Montembeault - B Has is up and down like the team in front of him can't be too hard on him

Pleasant surprise
Dobes - A small sample but he is big, quick and in control
Laine - B+ Had to catch up mid season, cheat code on the PP, he isn't horrible the rest of the time
Heineman - B+
Carrier - B small sample but better than I expected
Struble - C- actually a bit of a deception but considering is role
Still got some in the tank
Gally - B-
Anderson - B-
Savard - B-

Was expecting more
Xhekaj - C+ playing better had a roller coaster start
Slaf - C Showing some flashes but need to move his feet get shot quicker to be more effective
Dach - D+ He is playing a lot better but had a the worst start
Primeau F

never liked the trade...
Dvorak - C playing better but not enough to increase trade value
Newhook - F he had some flashes yet not producing much offense, not very good on D isn't winng faceoff

 

[TT1]

Hutson A+ (it feels good to finally have 1 of these players, top 3-5 NHL dman in the making, personally i already have him as a top 10 dman)

Armia/Evans/Heineman A- (basically what they're doing based on ice time/usage, they get tough minutes and control a lot of the game)

Suzuki/Caufield A- (i'm a big Suzuki fan so i have high standards for him.. his puck handling/game management hasn't been up to his level this season, Caufield's been good offensively and solid defensively but i'd like to see better playmaking from him so he can take his game to the next level when he's not the go to sniper, he definitely has that ability)

Guhle/Carrier B+ (i'm also a big Guhle fan, he has more to give even tho he's been doing much better recently, consistency is key)

Laine/Slaf/Matheson/Monty B (i'll cut Laine some slack cus he's coming off big injuries and hasn't played much, great on PP but need to see more awareness/effort defensively at 5v5, Slaf's been doing much better recently but he has more to give as well, Slaf needs to pressure better, his forecheck/pressure hasn't been as good as last season)

not enough sample size for Dobes, don't need to rank the others, do better

 

[Rapala]

I'm more inclined to wait until the three quarter pole to rate these guys.
The first quarter was so bad and so out of character I'd like to forget it ever happened.
Our season started when we got Laine back and now even when he's out of the line up we see our team compete.