Player Discussion Jake Evans (Part II)

[ZUKI]

Well, I agree he deserved a raise but to pay a player out of defensive abilities of one PO run? GM knows more than us that’s true but most of them throw money at players that don’t deserve it. Not saying Danault is not worth his contract, I personnally will never pay a defensive center more than 5M but that’s me and Im sure there is a lot of GM not willing to do as well. For the points of shutting down others centers, I agree but again you need to show some offensive abilities, you can’t just won faceoffs and play defensive on a 82 games schedule. He was the worst offensive player of the team last year, that is where it bothers me.

You don't understand that Danault doesn't score goals while playing against the McDavid, Mathews, and all the best lines, game after game ? And he did that for 3-4 seasons now, so it isn't a raise based on one PO run.

 

[Maitz]

You don't understand that Danault doesn't score goals while playing against the McDavid, Mathews, and all the best lines, game after game ? And he did that for 3-4 seasons now, so it isn't a raise based on one PO run.

No it's not, there is plenty of defensive centers in the league. If you just focus on not getting scored on you are one way center. You need center who contribute at both end of the ice. Its the same as the 2nd line center who puts up 60 pts but finished near even. He is John Madden 2.0, it's an important position but again 3rd C

 

[ZUKI]

You might have Phil confused with Price!! Remembering the game where Matthews had 8-9 shots, and the leafs out shot us 13-1 in OT, and KK went down and won the game for us....Matthews dominated in that game.
Relax man.....you will have to come to grips that Phil wanted out....remember he is the one, who dumped us.
We will see ya over on the Kings board

One overtime ? you based your opinion on his play during one overtime . Not us

 

[Le Tricolore]

They said the same about Phil and Thomas P before him

No they didn't.

Danault was drafted in the first round. Not too many guys are taken in the first round to top out as bottom six guys. Plekanec was playing with Kovalev and Kostitsyn when he was still breaking into the league, and was a fixture in the team's top two lines his entire time in Montreal minus the last few games before being bought out.

 

[ZUKI]

No it's not, there is plenty of defensive centers in the league. If you just focus on not getting scored on you are one way center. You need center who contribute at both end of the ice. Its the same as the 2nd line center who puts up 60 pts but finished near even. He is John Madden 2.0, it's an important position but again 3rd C

I know that there is plenty of defensive centres in the league. But Danault is one of the best at it. Top 5-7 of all the centres. And about the offensive part, Danault has had a bad season-mostly a bad start- but we can't say that his line were only focusing on not getting scored; They spent a lot of time in the offensive zone, they were just unable to finish the plays with a goal. Tatar and Gallagher didn't get their best offensive season either.

 

[ZUKI]

Those who thought Danault was worth $4.5M or under were just completely wrong. The obsession with offense and complete disregard to an elite defensive center is nonsense. I hope Evans is up for the challenge but we will miss Danault. Every single team looking to make the playoffs needs a player like Danault. Evans can probably put up offensive numbers similar to Danault but he's not elite on the D end. He's good but his game has to evolve a lot to do what Danault does in the 200' game and how he can shut down other teams top centers.

I fear this season will be entertaining but being mid pack in both offense and defense has me concerned. That's no man's land. Does anybody think we can be a top 5-10 range offensive team this year? A very small chance but possible. We will see

You just resume the situation perfectly.

 

[Habs Halifax]

Lineups like this make me wonder whether people want Gallagher to fail. Unless he hasn't/won't recover from his injuries Gallagher is one of our best wingers, it's non-sensical to play him on the 3rd line, doubly so to play him with guys who can't really produce much on their own. Also not sure what Drouin is doing on the 4th line, the only way he works is if he can produce enough offence to make up for the densive lapses and he's got no chance to produce on the 4th line, either play him with other offensive capable players or don't play him at all.

It's not a "3rd line" in usage. It's the 3rd listed line. And I explained my opinion on why I feel Gallagher fits better with Evans vs KK or Suzuki. You can wonder about it all you want. Gallagher is a bull dog type that plays a solid 200' game but his vision and play making skills are not as good as you think it is. Maybe Ducharme tries something different and it's more in line with what you want or he doesn't. We will see usage with Ducharme this coming season and things will be tinkered with. However, if you think we will be a top 5-10 range offensive team cause you put Gallagher with KK... that also makes me wonder about team success cause our offense won't be top heavy and we need a 200' shut down line. Lehkonen / Evans / Gallagher accomplishes that if Evans can fill that center role. Still wondering? Sure go ahead, we don't see things the same. Ignoring team D cause you want a more offensive structure when you don't have the tools for it is weird.

 

[BLONG7]

One overtime ? you based your opinion on his play during one overtime . Not us

OK.....sure.
Are you serious...Danault was amazing the entire playoffs, and Price had one good game...OK.
HF, never disappoints.

 

[Maitz]

I know that there is plenty of defensive centres in the league. But Danault is one of the best at it. Top 5-7 of all the centres. And about the offensive part, Danault has had a bad season-mostly a bad start- but we can't say that his line were only focusing on not getting scored; They spent a lot of time in the offensive zone, they were just unable to finish the plays with a goal. Tatar and Gallagher didn't get their best offensive season either.

I will give you that Gallagher and Tatar had a tough year too.

 

[ZUKI]

OK.....sure.
Are you serious...Danault was amazing the entire playoffs, and Price had one good game...OK.
HF, never disappoints.

Why do you say that ? i didn't talk about Price. They were both amazing during the entire playoffs in my opinion, if you want to know

 

[BLONG7]

Why do you say that ? i didn't talk about Price. They were both amazing during the entire playoffs in my opinion, if you want to know

My orginal quote, was telling anothe rposter, that the teams success had more to do with Price, than Danault.....just my 2 cents.
We do not get by the Leafs, without Price...

 

[ZUKI]

I will give you that Gallagher and Tatar had a tough year too.

Why we just talk about Danault' s offensive game last season, but never mention his line mates ? In my mind, Gally and Tatar are the ones that are supposed to put the goals in that trio. If they don't , Danault won't get assists of course. So why it's only on him that the fans complain ?

 

[1909]

My orginal quote, was telling anothe rposter, that the teams success had more to do with Price, than Danault.....just my 2 cents.
We do not get by the Leafs, without Price...

... and without Leafs badly choking.

 

[ZUKI]

My orginal quote, was telling anothe rposter, that the teams success had more to do with Price, than Danault.....just my 2 cents.
We do not get by the Leafs, without Price...

Of course we don't without Price. But it doesn't change the fact that Danault did an amazing job too

 

[CHfan1]

Phil wanted out

I think this is a key point that people miss when talking about Danault, his contract, and the Habs. He was ready to move on.

 

[Habs Halifax]

You just resume the situation perfectly.

I believe we all agree that we need better offense and I think we had better offense in the last playoffs vs playoffs in prior years which is likely the reason why we were able to go on a run. However, people have to stop trying to improve the offense at the cost of our team D. Team D is important. Build from the back end out and adding guys like Suzki and Caufield helps our counter attack.

Trying to build top heavy teams with shitty D is for loosers.

 

[ZUKI]

... and without Leafs badly choking.

I think that Habs could have won a game previously we end in the 3-1 situation. But the idea of Habs play was to hit and hit the best players of the Leafs, knowing the didn't like physical games. Slowly they started to be scared of the hits, and they then disappeared. It was the good way to play against them.

 

[Maitz]

Why we just talk about Danault' s offensive game last season, but never mention his line mates ? In my mind, Gally and Tatar are the ones that are supposed to put the goals in that trio. If they don't , Danault won't get assists of course. So why it's only on him that the fans complain ?

Because its easy to complain about the center but to be honest I think he was the liability on the line the first 20-30 games he had like 6-7 pts and was horrible but its true we should talk about Gallagher and Tatar also. Danault use to get a lot of assists of Pacio, Radu and Gally goals.

 

[ZUKI]

I believe we all agree that we need better offense and I think we had better offense in the last playoffs vs playoffs in prior years which is likely the reason why we were able to go on a run. However, people have to stop trying to improve the offense at the cost of our team D. Team D is important. Build from the back end out and adding guys like Suzki and Caufield helps our counter attack.

Trying to build top heavy teams with shitty D is for loosers.

The last drafts by Timmins are full of promising defensemen. We will see the results as soon as next year i think. Norlinder, Harris, Brook ( was good last season in Laval), and then Guhle , Struble . There a lot of skilled players in that group

 

[Sorinth]

It's not a "3rd line" in usage. It's the 3rd listed line. And I explained my opinion on why I feel Gallagher fits better with Evans vs KK or Suzuki. You can wonder about it all you want. Gallagher is a bull dog type that plays a solid 200' game but his vision and play making skills are not as good as you think it is. Maybe Ducharme tries something different and it's more in line with what you want or he doesn't. We will see usage with Ducharme this coming season and things will be tinkered with. However, if you think we will be a top 5-10 range offensive team cause you put Gallagher with KK... that also makes me wonder about team success cause our offense won't be top heavy and we need a 200' shut down line. Lehkonen / Evans / Gallagher accomplishes that if Evans can fill that center role. Still wondering? Sure go ahead, we don't see things the same. Ignoring team D cause you want a more offensive structure when you don't have the tools for it is weird.

So how many points do you think Gallagher produces on that line?

For reference last season Lehkonen and Evans were on pace for 23 points each over 82 games. So whether it's a "3rd line" in usage or not is irrelevant because Gallagher is still getting next to no offensive support from his linemates and that's a recipe for his production being neutered offensively. Nobody claimed he had great vision/play making skills, but he still needs offensive players on his line to be productive.

 

[Not The One]

Lineups like this make me wonder whether people want Gallagher to fail. Unless he hasn't/won't recover from his injuries Gallagher is one of our best wingers, it's non-sensical to play him on the 3rd line, doubly so to play him with guys who can't really produce much on their own. Also not sure what Drouin is doing on the 4th line, the only way he works is if he can produce enough offence to make up for the densive lapses and he's got no chance to produce on the 4th line, either play him with other offensive capable players or don't play him at all.

No kidding, we have a surplus of similar wingers but now have ridiculously weak centers. You're squandering both Gally and Drouin and there is absolutely no chance they reach their potential playing on these lines.

I hate negative posters and don't want to be one, so I'll stop there... but we're in for a very rough couple of years.

 

[ZUKI]

So how many points do you think Gallagher produces on that line?

For reference last season Lehkonen and Evans were on pace for 23 points each over 82 games. So whether it's a "3rd line" in usage or not is irrelevant because Gallagher is still getting next to no offensive support from his linemates and that's a recipe for his production being neutered offensively. Nobody claimed he had great vision/play making skills, but he still needs offensive players on his line to be productive.

I just went to the Habs site and realize that Gally wasn't bad but just missed around 20 games. His %S was at 13,2 %

 

[ZUKI]

No kidding, we have a surplus of similar wingers but now have ridiculously weak centers. You're squandering both Gally and Drouin and there is absolutely no chance they reach their potential playing on these lines.

I hate negative posters and don't want to be one, so I'll stop there... but we're in for a very rough couple of years.

You're such a negative poster

 

[Habs Halifax]

The last drafts by Timmins are full of promising defensemen. We will see the results as soon as next year i think. Norlinder, Harris, Brook ( was good last season in Laval), and then Guhle , Struble . There a lot of skilled players in that group

Agreed. Not all will turn into who we want or project them to be but the group is solid and probability is working in favor. Problem is it will take a bit and usually, guys on D only really shine or bust out in the 22/23+ age ranges. This is why people need to chill with Kotkaniemi as well. He's not on Suzuki or Caufield's development path. It's a longer one

 

[Habs Halifax]

So how many points do you think Gallagher produces on that line?

For reference last season Lehkonen and Evans were on pace for 23 points each over 82 games. So whether it's a "3rd line" in usage or not is irrelevant because Gallagher is still getting next to no offensive support from his linemates and that's a recipe for his production being neutered offensively. Nobody claimed he had great vision/play making skills, but he still needs offensive players on his line to be productive.

I'm not focused on Gallagher's production. I'm more focused on what line will be the new Danault line. Others like Toffoli, Caufield, Anderson, Hoffman are better fits with KK and Suzuki. Gallagher is overpaid, I've move past it and I would just let him do this thing... head down and playing north/south and shooting at all angles while providing good leadership and solid 200' game (likely our next captain).

Gallagher with Evans and Lehkonen at 5/5 but Gallagher gets PP time. I would expect meh results at 5/5 with production and he gets to pad his stats on the PP. That's how I would manage it and you don't have to agree. And like I said, Duchame will tinker so we will see different options and maybe we change our minds depending on what we see.