26Mats
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- Jun 23, 2018
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Will be interesting to see where the chemistry is. Who knows:
Caufield - Suzuki - Dach
Laine - Demidov - Slaf
Player Discussion Kirby Dach: Welcome to Montreal part 2
- Thread starter MarkovsKnee
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Caufield - Suzuki - Dach
Laine - Demidov - Slaf
I’m definitely not sold on Dach being a centerman given his faceoff ability of lack there of… but it’s worth revisiting with duos as someone else mentioned. Sadly I think the second line with a healthy Laine would’ve looked great. Hope it can be when he returns.
I really like the work he does with Suzuki and Caufield, and this isn’t new. He was borderline elite with them two years ago as well. This does at the very least open the door to trying one of Demidov/Slaf at center in the future or possibly Hage slides in there.
WeThreeKings
Demidov is a HAB
Exactly my point...we should not consider installing him at a position he may have never played
Why not - it's worked so well when we've done it before
Kaiden Ghoul
Youppi va t’il devoir chauser ses patins calvaince
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I wonder lately how Slaf would do on the right as a leftie first pass player, i really like the top 6 if Demidov can handle the C position in a couples of seasons
HuGort
Registered User
Dach better on wing with Suzuki and Caufield than center . He's good playmaker for them and adds size, strength. That line has taken off since he went there. Plus his poor faceoffs and bad defensive zone coverage not hurting team on wing. It's a double gain.
Ozmodiar
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- Oct 18, 2017
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The whole face-off thing is overrated. This won’t be the deciding factor.
- face-off technique can be learned, improved upon.
- as 2C, he will defer to Suzuki for important face-offs such as PP1 and final 2:00 of game. D-zone goes to Evans.
Strip away special team, neutral zone face-offs, changes on the fly, face-offs when there’s 2+ goal lead …. It’s really more important that he’s a good possession hockey player.
Barkov was bad on the dot for his first 4 years while having good possession metrics. On the flip side, Vermette’s first 4 seasons saw good face-off % with bad CF%. His good FO% looked like AB’s CF% and his bad CF% was like AB’s FO%.
Kopitar took a while to get going on the dot as well. 5th or 6th season.
- face-off technique can be learned, improved upon.
- as 2C, he will defer to Suzuki for important face-offs such as PP1 and final 2:00 of game. D-zone goes to Evans.
Strip away special team, neutral zone face-offs, changes on the fly, face-offs when there’s 2+ goal lead …. It’s really more important that he’s a good possession hockey player.
Barkov was bad on the dot for his first 4 years while having good possession metrics. On the flip side, Vermette’s first 4 seasons saw good face-off % with bad CF%. His good FO% looked like AB’s CF% and his bad CF% was like AB’s FO%.
Kopitar took a while to get going on the dot as well. 5th or 6th season.
26Mats
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He hasn't been used as a center. I'm not sure what he was drafted to be. I don't pretend to be in contact with HuGo or be able to read their minds, unlike some. In the draft video, when it was time to talk about Demidov, a scout said he could be a future number 1 center. Did the team release that quote by chance? Others have also speculated he may be a center. Either way, I'm sure management will figure it out. I'm not worried about it. I certainly don't have him penciled in as a center. Those lines I posted were more a potential possibility than how I think things should or will be.
Ozmodiar
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Ordered by likelihood of being the future 2C, IMO:
Hage
Dach
Newhook
Demidov
Beck
Kapanen
Koivu
Without considering 2025 pick.
LaP
Registered User
It's overrated when you compare a player with 49.5% versus another one at 52%.
But Kirby is at 35.3% in career and 37% this year. It's simply way too low.
Kudo Shinichi
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Dach has only taken 27 faceoffs this year.
Evans took 10 more faceoffs in the last 2 games than Dach has all season.
Leon Lucius Black
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Lots of young players struggle with faceoffs early in their career and improve once they get more experience. There are the rare guys like Crosby/Bergeron who are great at them at the start of their careers, but even someone like McDavid was barely over 40% in his third season and has been over a 50% guy in recent year.
Dach's first year here he was bad to start, then he improved as the season went on and was almost 50% in January before getting hurt and struggling on faceoffs when coming back.
For a guy who has 35 total faceoffs in the last 2 years it'll take him time to get the timing down on faceoffs.
Dach's first year here he was bad to start, then he improved as the season went on and was almost 50% in January before getting hurt and struggling on faceoffs when coming back.
For a guy who has 35 total faceoffs in the last 2 years it'll take him time to get the timing down on faceoffs.
WeThreeKings
Demidov is a HAB
People overrate face-offs anyways, especially for your 2C.
Is he taking a big faceoff draw on a PP or PK? Unless Suzuki gets waived, no.
Is he taking a big defensive zone draw? Not unless they iced it.
Is he taking a big draw trying to tie the game in the offensive zone? Again, not unless the other C gets waived.
Neutral zone faceoffs are control, sure, but they're not back breaking and plus when he does get better, the difference between 48% and 50% over a full year isn't that many possessions.
While being 50%+ is nice on face offs I agree that coming in at 47% or so isn't such a thing. But close to 40% is way too low. But guys are able to improve it and just as we know Dach is better than his Blackhawk days I think it's way too premature to think he can't improve on the dot.
100% fine with Dach moving to wing with Hage/Beck coming into the fold. Hope he can fill in when possible.
I love his work below the circles.
I love his work below the circles.
I think we decide whether or not Dach is a center after we give him time to recover, play wing and get his confidence back then put him back and see how he does. I will say it does create a rather large hole at 2c and an abudance of top 6 wingers though once Laine and Slaf are back alongside demi next year
HuGort
Registered User
Yup, since Dach moved to the No. 1 line, he has 4 points in 3 games. More importantly , Suzuki has 3- 3-6 totals in those three games, while Caufield had two goals, giving him eight on the season. Dach is better playmaker.
Dach isn't durable. Poor on faceoffs and defensive liability in own end. Team way better last two games.
Gravity
Generational Poster
2nd line wing or 3rd line C..
Otherwise, stay on 1st line, better be producing more than a PPG..
Quite simple really.. if your #1 line doesn't have PPG players, something is wrong..
Lazy lazy lazy has nothing to do with his injury,not that he's alone but he should be watching from the pressbox, oh wait that would require real coaching skills.
Habs Halifax
Loyal Habs Fan
He's a dynamic puck carrying winger who is on record saying he prefers to play center. Why would he say that? Seems to be a very smart kid
