I'm very very concerned

[Ubercron9000*]

over reaction thread? I think so. We are in a slump it happens. I haven't watched the games and only the highlights but some of the goals were weak ones where it was the goalies fault, bad bounces too. Confirms it with the goalie changes. We can't win every game. I understand it sucks but every time we lose I see reactionary threads about how small we are and how we suck and how we aren't really better than last year.

I understand the concern and frustration but it really is a bit much. I'm sure a lot here would blow up the whole team and start a complete rebuild because we are having a slump.

 

[windycity]

drama queens out in force

relax

 

[Hoople]

over reaction thread? I think so. We are in a slump it happens. I haven't watched the games and only the highlights but some of the goals were weak ones where it was the goalies fault, bad bounces too. Confirms it with the goalie changes. We can't win every game. I understand it sucks but every time we lose I see reactionary threads about how small we are and how we suck and how we aren't really better than last year.

I understand the concern and frustration but it really is a bit much. I'm sure a lot here would blow up the whole team and start a complete rebuild because we are having a slump.

Therrien created the loss of balance and chemistry on our lines that has this team looking like a fire drill.

Therrien can fix that problem by returning players to the lines that they were succeeding on.

His choice. Fix it and we get back on track. Keep the shuffle and it becomes time to accept that this is not the same team just two weeks ago and the dynamics will lead us to another failed season.

No over-reaction. Just stating the obvious.

 

[ECWHSWI]

Therrien created the loss of balance and chemistry on our lines that has this team looking like a fire drill.

Therrien can fix that problem by returning players to the lines that they were succeeding on.

His choice. Fix it and we get back on track. Keep the shuffle and it becomes time to accept that this is not the same team just two weeks ago and the dynamics will lead us to another failed season.

No over-reaction. Just stating the obvious.

wich players...

 

[Hoople]

wich players...

Sand?

Good try but I am not biting on your one liners.

 

[Sports1131]

It's an incredibly extreme slump, but it's still a slump. This is a good team. Perhaps not a great team, but a good one. My biggest worry is the timing -- only a few games left to get some confidence heading into the playoffs.

But this is not a bad team -- they didn't get near the top of the conference through luck; they have been the better team most nights this year. Need to get back to that and hopefully one win will be all that's needed to turn things around.

 

[Marc the Habs Fan]

I'm not really buying the ''it's only a slump'' angle.

Since being 20-5-5, the team is 6-7.

Most importantly, here's who we have beaten:

- The Rangers, who can't play in our building at all.
- Carolina, who have played historically bad hockey in the last 6 weeks or so.
- A Winnipeg team that was in a huge slump at the time.
- A Buffalo team that didn't even show up to play.

The other 2 wins were against Boston, our blood rival and a team we seem to always play solid hockey against, regardless of where each team is at in the standings.

It seems like we've failed every non-Bruins test for around a month. It's concerning.

 

[Subbanned]

I'm sure I'm not alone. I've been shaking my head for most of the season wondering how are we doing so well with this lineup? I don't think our team improved that much from last season. I think our team is still way to small, and we still don't have any studs we can rely on in the clutch.

I know we added two great rookies who will serve us well for many years, but no one can really count on them to carry us NOW.

So who can carry us now? We do have decent forwards in Pleks, Max, and Ryder, but honestly, these guys aren't show stoppers. Then we have about 5 guys who are slightly below this first group, but not not really "that" good, but not that bad. They are just okay. (Bourque, Eller, DD, Gionta, and Prust).

Our bottom 4 are pretty bad if you ask me - Moan, White, Blunden, Halpern (except on faceoffs), Army. I doubt these guys collectively score 2 goals for the rest of the season and they bring no physicality and passion to the team.

On the defensive side we are way too small and only have one outstanding defender in PK. Markov is okay on the PP, but not that good 5-5. His minus 10 leads the Habs on defense.

And finally there is the enigmatic Carey. He has too many bad games to make me wonder if he could be counted on over the long haul. I'm sure no one would disagree with this - he is no Roy and Dryden (guys who stole many games for us).

So, is this two game losing streak about to be a lot more? Are the real Habs about to stand up? Will our lack of physicality finally catching up with us?

I'm concerned and now believe our playoff chances may be short-lived. I hope I'm wrong, but I'm usually pretty good at reading between the lines.

I welcome all rebuttals on any and all points, and look forward to good dialogue here.

TM

Bang on. We aren't as good as we've been, and I think an 82 game season would have seen reality continue to set in and we'd be a fringe playoff team at best. We have been lucky to have our hot streaks early on in a 48 game season and will make the playoffs based on that, but won't get very far. It will be a good learning experience for the kids but as you've said, we have many decent players but very few exceptional - only Subban and Price for their respective positions.

 

[ECWHSWI]

Sand?

Good try but I am not biting on your one liners.

failing to awnser such a simple question, I see.

 

[ECWHSWI]

Bang on. We aren't as good as we've been, and I think an 82 game season would have seen reality continue to set in and we'd be a fringe playoff team at best. We have been lucky to have our hot streaks early on in a 48 game season and will make the playoffs based on that, but won't get very far. It will be a good learning experience for the kids but as you've said, we have many decent players but very few exceptional - only Subban and Price for their respective positions.

if you look at #1 to #8 in the East, that's the case for pretty much every team... so, why would the other teams go very far ?

 

[Hoople]

failing to awnser such a simple question, I see.

Bless your heart.

 

[KingGallagherXI]

Our full lineup is just barely good enough to contend. But key injuries weaken the whole team pretty fast.

Diaz and Emelin are HUGE losses. Especially both at the same time. It's huge.

 

[Subbanned]

if you look at #1 to #8 in the East, that's the case for pretty much every team... so, why would the other teams go very far ?

No. We don't have the high end elite scoring talent that other teams do. We match up well in net and our top d-men are fairly comparable, but we're a step below with Patches, Pleks and Ryder as our most dangerous forwards. In the current top eight seeds only the Senators are in a similar plight and I would also peg them as falling out in a full season.

Pens - Malkin, Crosby, Neal, Iginla
Boston - Bergeron, Seguin
Washington - Ovechkin, Backstrom
Toronto - Kessel, Lupul, Kadri
Ottawa - Spezza
Islanders - Tavares, Moulson
Rangers - Nash (and then a lot of second-tier in Richards, Callahan, Stepan, Clowe [same tier as our guys, but more])

 

[SirClintonPortis]

Our penalty kill is rubbish and our defense has went from passable to ****ing awful. There is plenty of reason to be concerned for this season.

 

[ECWHSWI]

No. We don't have the high end elite scoring talent that other teams do. We match up well in net and our top d-men are fairly comparable, but we're a step below with Patches, Pleks and Ryder as our most dangerous forwards. In the current top eight seeds only the Senators are in a similar plight and I would also peg them as falling out in a full season.

Pens - Malkin, Crosby, Neal, Iginla
Boston - Bergeron, Seguin > Habs equivalent: Plekanec / and Seguin isnt all that great, overrated honestly.
Washington - Ovechkin, Backstrom
Toronto - Kessel, Lupul, Kadri Lets see what he can do in his first NHL playoffs before saying he's all that great will ya.
Ottawa - Spezza
Islanders - Tavares, Moulson > Habs equivalent: (50 pts player helped by JT) Patches, Ryder, Gallagher
Rangers - Nash (and then a lot of second-tier in Richards, Callahan, Stepan, Clowe [same tier as our guys, but more]) Richards isnt any good this year, and wasnt all that great last season either... as for Clowe, who cares? he's a glorified 4th liner - or that's the way he play/produces at the very least

Think you're overrating some teams, we may have overachieved in the first 40 games, but still, there's a reason most of these teams are below us.

Watch games, or at the very least boxscores, you'd be surprised by some of the names you've put as well as other names you forgot to add (example : Clowe isnt any better in NYR, but Brassard is doing great)

Outside of a few teams who have clearcut better players than us, like Pens with Malkin/Crosby, Caps with OV/Backstrom, all the other teams are more or less the same.

TO may have Kessel, Lupul and Kadri, but the later will play his first NHL playoffs, same for their goalie. NYI have JT but outside him, who will also play his first NHL playoffs, it's more or less the same. And you could do the same with pretty much every team except Pens and Caps.

Basically a bunch of decent/good teams with glaring holes.

 

[AlfredBundy]

I seriously can't stop laughing from this thread. Thank you so much.

Keep laughing! Hahahaha! It's so funny right? LMAO!

 

[Subbanned]

Think you're overrating some teams, we may have overachieved in the first 40 games, but still, there's a reason most of these teams are below us.

Watch games, or at the very least boxscores, you'd be surprised by some of the names you've put as well as other names you forgot to add (example : Clowe isnt any better in NYR, but Brassard is doing great)

Outside of a few teams who have clearcut better players than us, like Pens with Malkin/Crosby, Caps with OV/Backstrom, all the other teams are more or less the same.

TO may have Kessel, Lupul and Kadri, but the later will play his first NHL playoffs, same for their goalie. NYI have JT but outside him, who will also play his first NHL playoffs, it's more or less the same. And you could do the same with pretty much every team except Pens and Caps.

Basically a bunch of decent/good teams with glaring holes.

If you think Plekanec is as good as Bergeron or that Clowe is a fourth liner and Brassard has been great than it's clear that it is you who needs to watch games, and not just focus so much on the boxscores. And sure, dismiss Kadri's production on account of his lack of NHL playoff experience (because that makes perfect sense). Of course, this would negate your mention of Gallagher as any sort of valid point vis a vis your very own concocted rule. Regardless, you could mention JVR instead for the Leafs (he of previous beastly playoff performance since that is the benchmark for your evaluations apparently) and the effect would be the same.


Point still stands. Outside of Subban and Price, we just don't have the top-end talent that most legitimately good teams have. We've overachieved thus far and will make the playoffs because it's a short season.

No need to be upset about it, let's just enjoy our lucky shot at some playoff fun.

 

[la25ecoupe]

If we lose all games we might face the Bruins! Nice!

 

[ECWHSWI]

If you think Plekanec is as good as Bergeron or that Clowe is a fourth liner and Brassard has been great than it's clear that it is you who needs to watch games, and not just focus so much on the boxscores. And sure, dismiss Kadri's production on account of his lack of NHL playoff experience (because that makes perfect sense). Of course, this would negate your mention of Gallagher as any sort of valid point vis a vis your very own concocted rule. Regardless, you could mention JVR instead for the Leafs (he of previous beastly playoff performance since that is the benchmark for your evaluations apparently) and the effect would be the same.


Point still stands. Outside of Subban and Price, we just don't have the top-end talent that most legitimately good teams have. We've overachieved thus far and will make the playoffs because it's a short season.

No need to be upset about it, let's just enjoy our lucky shot at some playoff fun.

Clowe has been held pointless in all the NYR games he played except for two, Brassard is at a PPG with the Rangers... say what you want, but Brassard is clearly playing better than Clowe, CLEARLY.

as for the others, since you mention Price and PK I'd assume it's because you consider them top players. Maybe something like stars or superstars...

so (given the names you've put) how are we at a disadvantage vs the Isles who have two stars/superstars ? or the Sens who have one ? (actually two if you add Karlsson) or the NYR who have one (two if you count Lundqvist) ? or Boston (Seguin would be 4th or 5th in pts on the Habs, only 3 more pts than DD) ?

 

[TennisMenace]

Some of you think this is only a 3 game slump, but 6-7 in the last 13 sounds bigger to me. And, of our 6 wins, with the exception of Boston, the others were cream puffs.

Pitt, Toronto, and Islanders to a certsin extent own us.

 

[Em Ancien]

We didn't turn to rubbish overnight. Even if the team overachieved, they still aren't nearly as bad as we have seen the last few games.

It's going to be ok, they're going to get back into form soon enough. I thought they turned a corner last night, late in the game. There was a lot more cohesion. Granted Pittsburgh was probably looking to just get back in the dressing room, but the Habs stopped killing themselves over and over.

Once we get Ryder back, we're going to have a better chance of opening games with a goal and hit our stride early, so we'll be fine.

 

[Kriss E]

I'm not really buying the ''it's only a slump'' angle.

Since being 20-5-5, the team is 6-7.

Most importantly, here's who we have beaten:

- The Rangers, who can't play in our building at all.
- Carolina, who have played historically bad hockey in the last 6 weeks or so.
- A Winnipeg team that was in a huge slump at the time.
- A Buffalo team that didn't even show up to play.

The other 2 wins were against Boston, our blood rival and a team we seem to always play solid hockey against, regardless of where each team is at in the standings.

It seems like we've failed every non-Bruins test for around a month. It's concerning.

We're still playing a lot worse than we could. Our goalies and defensive coverage have been awful. Seems to me you're also trying to find excuses for our wins.

I'm sure we'll get back to playing better.

 

[DAChampion]

Injuries sink this team nearly every year.

 

[hockeyfan2k11]

Some of you think this is only a 3 game slump, but 6-7 in the last 13 sounds bigger to me. And, of our 6 wins, with the exception of Boston, the others were cream puffs.

Pitt, Toronto, and Islanders to a certsin extent own us.

I have to question the knowledge of those who think this is a slump. We have been poor the last 1/4 of the season. We also have gotten absolutely destroyed the last 3 games. What we are seeing is not a slump. We're seeing a team with a craptacular defense in front of goalies who are not on their A-game right now.

I remember a week or so ago saying we don't know what team we have since it's a shortened season. We could go into a massive slump and end up being a 8-9 place team. I was laughed at. Well, we've come crashing back down to earth. The coaching staff need to get their act together and try to salvage a season that I personally think is already over.

 

[Kriss E]

I have to question the knowledge of those who think this is a slump. We have been poor the last 1/4 of the season. We also have gotten absolutely destroyed the last 3 games. What we are seeing is not a slump. We're seeing a team with a craptacular defense in front of goalies who are not on their A-game right now.

I remember a week or so ago saying we don't know what team we have since it's a shortened season. We could go into a massive slump and end up being a 8-9 place team. I was laughed at. Well, we've come crashing back down to earth. The coaching staff need to get their act together and try to salvage a season that I personally think is already over.

We've been playing with at least one AHL caliber (or actual AHLer) D for half the year but still managed to play quite well due to some smart decisions and tight checking.
We've gotten away from that style, our goalies haven't been as reliable, and we've had to deal with more injuries.

Maybe there's more to it than just a small slump, some players have been under performing and it's catching up. But still, we are not as bad as we've been the past 2 games (we weren't actually bad versus Toronto, Price just crapped the bed).
Diaz coming will surely help us. Even if he's coming back from injury, Bouillon getting 18-20min of ice time is just horrible, so it really can't be worse.

People say it's more than just these 3 games, that it's been 13games going 6-7. Remove those three blowouts though where we've looked as bad as any team can be, and it's 6-4, suddenly nothing to really cry about.
People love being dramatic in Mtl, good or bad, people overreact.

Do we have a 2nd seed team? I don't think anybody believes that. Still doesn't mean we're not even a .500 team, and it happens to various teams. Not every team just stays hot all year. The Bruins are 7-7-2 in last 16 games, Anaheim is 5-7-2 in last 14 games, are their seasons already over too? No need to be dramatic. You could say that the season was over before we even started considering nobody believed we'd win the cup anyways. People just love to over analyze things here, and seem to be completely oblivious as to what is happening around the league.
The Pens and Hawks are the only two teams that have simply been amazing consistently all year, every other team has gone through their share of struggles, and everybody looks like a horrible team when they struggle.

Bad streaks happen. Would it continue and make us plummet down to a PO bubble team that struggles to make it until the last game of the year? We'll never know in this short season. But give us two back to back wins, and people will shut up again.