Confirmed with Link: Matteau to MTL for Devante Smith-Pelly

[SteveCangialosi123]

I suspect DSP will be a scapegoat 30 or 40 games into next season when he's on a 20+ game goal drought and people mistakenly developed expectations that we had a solid third line winger.

People tend to oversell things like tenacity and puck battle ability when a player has goals going in.

I don't really have any problem with the trade since Matteau had very little value. Just not getting my hopes up on a fluky run by DSP.

I'm confident he hits 15 goals next year if he plays 14+ minutes a night with decent linemates.

 

[Kurt Cobain]

sure they do, Farnham had 7 goals in like 20 games and hasn't scored one since then

That's 100% more games played and farnham and knew you were gonna say him or someone else would. so no.

 

[Kurt Cobain]

I'm confident he hits 15 goals next year if he plays 14+ minutes a night with decent linemates.

absolutely. it's amazing how people want to put him down.. so many pessimistic fans of this team.

 

[DatBoyJPP]

that's 100% more games player and farnham and knew you were gonna say him or someone else would. so no.

but career 4th liner Bobby Farnham did go on a hotstreak this year. Not even debatable

 

[Devils Dominion]

absolutely. it's amazing how people want to put him down.. so many pessimistic fans of this team.

Analytics makes people experts in their own minds.

 

[Cheddabombs]

The chances are very low and even if successful the development time is probably going to be 3 to 5 years...

But I just think for where we are as a team, having the opportunity to make a choice at the draft table is a better scenario than a player with very limited ceiling.

That's where I disagree. I think for where we're at as a team getting a player like DSP (still young, fills an area of need, at least a surefire roster guy) is the much better option for us. I don't want hasten the rebuild to a point where we're giving up good future assets, but these are the type of shrewd deals that can make us better not only now but in the long-term without having to gamble at the draft table.

I suspect DSP will be a scapegoat 30 or 40 games into next season when he's on a 20+ game goal drought and people mistakenly developed expectations that we had a solid third line winger.

People tend to oversell things like tenacity and puck battle ability when a player has goals going in.

I don't really have any problem with the trade since Matteau had very little value. Just not getting my hopes up on a fluky run by DSP.

I don't know about that. From pretty much every poster I've seen here they recognize DSP is on a tear right now and will eventually fall back down to earth, and that's fine. It's more about how he's playing and the role he fills for this team that is promising.

 

[Triumph]

4th lines don't have streaks like this, he's a third liner at worst and will be one of the better ones in the league.. I think a Randy McKay type offensive player is what we have. The guy is finally getting chances to playing on a scoring line, just like Palmeri. I will stand by this comment. His potential is very high with that size and skill.

I know you mean Kyle Palmieri here, but you could just as easily mean Nick - there's a lot of Nick Palmieri in DSP. He could easily be out of the league in a few years.

I don't think the Canadiens were going to qualify him. He was arbitration-eligible and barely in a 4th line role there.

 

[mtnet]

Well I figure he just got here and is making a great show of it so far so I'm perfectly content to just enjoy that in the meantime without agonizing over projections. I suspect he's doing precisely what coach has asked of him so far and he's put in the effort to have this opportunity pay off for both him and the team. I think that was precisely the right thing to do as an intro to the team too, grant ample opportunity to sink or swim and just keep rewarding it for now so long as he's doing his job. I mean hell, we've granted some on this team abundant opportunity for doing much less than DSP has so far.

If he falls off a cliff and deemed a slug next season well I put my faith in Hynes to provide proper motivation. More importantly, I'm feeling reasonably confident Shero will take a measured approach to DSP's place on this team and already has in mind what else he wants to do with this roster in order to move the needle further in the right direction. Maybe this initial opportunity for DSP was just the sort of kick start he needed to get motivated. A taste of something to remember during the long offseason to make him forget about a change of scenery he never wanted while gradually losing confidence because he fears being viewed as mere spare parts already.

 

[MadDevil]

Analytics makes people experts in their own minds.

It seems like common sense to think that a 35% shooting percentage isn't sustainable. Plus, we've seen this before. Gomez, Tootoo, and Bernier all had good seasons on a bad team last year. Farnham had a hot streak this year. It's great that DSP is doing well, but 9 games doesn't invalidate the 190+ games before it. Chances are he's probably about what he was for those games, a ~25 point player.

 

[NJDevs26]

Bobby Farnham's leading point total in the AHL is 14. Smith-Pelly had a 27 goal, 43 point season in 55 AHL games two years ago at age 21, there's no comparing their potential. Maybe he becomes another Farnham/Tootoo like the naysayers say but there is still reason to suggest and hope he could be more.

It's the same reason I never thought Matteau was any big deal, he wasn't a big scorer in the AHL either. You're going to have minimal impact in the NHL if you can't even score in the AHL.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

Bobby Farnham's leading point total in the AHL is 14. Smith-Pelly had a 27 goal, 43 point season in 55 AHL games two years ago at age 21, there's no comparing their potential. Maybe he becomes another Farnham/Tootoo like the naysayers say but there is still reason to suggest and hope he could be more.

It's the same reason I never thought Matteau was any big deal, he wasn't a big scorer in the AHL either. You're going to have minimal impact in the NHL if you can't even score in the AHL.

This is an important point. And a list of players who produced in the AHL and didn't in the NHL isn't necessary. We know it happens, thanks.

 

[ForeverJerseyGirl]

I don't expect DSP's hot streak to continue, but he's definitely a better player than some of the comparisons (like Farnham or present day Tootoo) that people are giving him here. He's younger, he's shown some flashes of potential at the NHL level, and he seems to be a good fit here. It's not fair to expect him to be a top six player or anything like that, but it's also unfair to act like he doesn't have any more room to grow as a player or that a new opportunity wouldn't do him good. We've already seen that a new opportunity for a young player like Palmieri can have a big impact on production. DSP might not become as good as Palmieri, but a new opportunity could still be very beneficial to him, and he's young enough to take advantage of it. Not fair to expect the world of DSP, but not fair to write him off either. He's still young enough to grow.

 

[Emperoreddy]

No on expects him to continue his absurd shooting percentage. That isn't even the point.

The debate is whether he can be a 20-30 point player on our 3rd or 4th line. He absolutely has previous experience and the youth to expect he could be decent for us (no one realistically thinks a top 6 player here).

And the idea of getting a decent pick for Matts. Let us be honest here. Shero took advantage of a situation where DSP was completely in the dog house in an organization entering total mess mode so he made the move for a RW which we have none under contract for next year currently.

No team was going to give us a pick of real value for Matts. His only part of value is his age. He hasn't performed at any level. No one is giving us a 2nd or 3rd for that and picks lower then that we could only hope they turn into a NHL player at all. Gely only got a third (and its a third next year) was because he had some success in the NHL at one point. Matts has nothing. DSP is more valuable then a 4th or 5th round pick.

 

[goonybird]

DSP has a great attitude, he's doing well, and he's doing it the right way.

 

[DevilsFanInFla]

If DSP only hits the ceiling of what most of us expected Matts to hit, 3rd/4th liner, then we won the trade. Matts will be out of the league in 2 years unless he somehow miraculously gets better. Shero and Hynes took their time and evaluated him on and off the ice and he simply didn't fit. DSP won't be able to sustain his 30%+ shooting rate but if he can contribute 20 points or more on a 4th/3rd line, it's more than what we had in Matts so it's a win in my book.

 

[Devils Dominion]

DSP has better hands and net-front presence than Farnham, not doubt about it.

But I'll tell you this, Farnham is not a stone handed goon either.

He does have a little skill in him and we know he's an elite skater (at least above average).
If he learned to focus on the game more often instead of the shenanigans he could actually be expected to pop in 10-12 per season.

But at times he's his own worst enemy though he can also be effective as an agitator/pest 4th line contributor, aka Sean Avery.

 

[Triumph]

DSP has better hands and net-front presence than Farnham, not doubt about it.

But I'll tell you this, Farnham is not a stone handed goon either.

He does have a little skill in him and we know he's an elite skater (at least above average).
If he learned to focus on the game more often instead of the shenanigans he could actually be expected to pop in 10-12 per season.

But at times he's his own worst enemy though he can also be effective as an agitator/pest 4th line contributor, aka Sean Avery.

Sean Avery was a 2nd/3rd line player who had 84 points in his final season in junior.

Bobby Farnham has yet to score 10 goals in any season. College or pro. He's 27. He's not Cam Janssen skills-wise, but he's still probably not an NHLer, either, not without the shenanigans.

 

[Asamu]

Habs fan here. I'm very happy for you guys that Smith-Pelly seems to have found what he was looking for the whole time. Even if he stops scoring, (yes it will happen someday) DSP is a very good checker and likes to play physical. His energy will contaminate the rest of his line. It was hard with the Habs because he got benched a couple of times and couldn't find his confidence back.

Somebody said that 15g / 20a could be his potential. I second that.

I don't know if Matteau is going to stay for the Habs, as a 4th liner perhaps but I think his Mtl experience is temporary. How come this guy was a 1st round pick anyway?

 

[NJDevs26]

I don't know if Matteau is going to stay for the Habs, as a 4th liner perhaps but I think his Mtl experience is temporary. How come this guy was a 1st round pick anyway?

At the time Lou and David Conte thought he could grow into being another Zubrus-type player. Plus there was the whole bloodlines/son of NHL player thing, making him a 'safer' choice. Not to mention the 2012 draft looks kind of bad on the whole anyway. Ironically the Devils seemingly did fine later on in the draft atm drafting Severson and Blandisi, considering the talent remaining at that point of the draft. Everyone missed on Ghost two and three times though.

 

[TheUnseenHand]

Habs fan here. I'm very happy for you guys that Smith-Pelly seems to have found what he was looking for the whole time. Even if he stops scoring, (yes it will happen someday) DSP is a very good checker and likes to play physical. His energy will contaminate the rest of his line. It was hard with the Habs because he got benched a couple of times and couldn't find his confidence back.

Somebody said that 15g / 20a could be his potential. I second that.

I don't know if Matteau is going to stay for the Habs, as a 4th liner perhaps but I think his Mtl experience is temporary. How come this guy was a 1st round pick anyway?

Probably mostly just to troll the rangers. I can't think of another good reason.

 

[NJDevs26]

Probably mostly just to troll the rangers. I can't think of another good reason.

I don't really believe that, I think we (fans) just like to joke around a lot and it's something the fans think of but Lou wasn't going to use that high a pick just for kicks.

 

[MadDevil]

It's not like Matteau was some completely random pick at the time. He was #17 on CSS NA skaters last that year, and a lot of people seemed to have him going in the late 20's, where we drafted him. So far it looks like they were wrong. It happens.

 

[TheUnseenHand]

I don't really believe that, I think we (fans) just like to joke around a lot and it's something the fans think of but Lou wasn't going to use that high a pick just for kicks.

Obviously not. It was a weak draft and Lou and Conte did what they do in picking a "safe" player with almost no upside.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

Bobby Farnham's leading point total in the AHL is 14. Smith-Pelly had a 27 goal, 43 point season in 55 AHL games two years ago at age 21, there's no comparing their potential. Maybe he becomes another Farnham/Tootoo like the naysayers say but there is still reason to suggest and hope he could be more.

It's the same reason I never thought Matteau was any big deal, he wasn't a big scorer in the AHL either. You're going to have minimal impact in the NHL if you can't even score in the AHL.

who compared their potential?

someone said a 4th liner has never gone on a hot streak. that just isn't true.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Habs fan here. I'm very happy for you guys that Smith-Pelly seems to have found what he was looking for the whole time. Even if he stops scoring, (yes it will happen someday) DSP is a very good checker and likes to play physical. His energy will contaminate the rest of his line. It was hard with the Habs because he got benched a couple of times and couldn't find his confidence back.

Somebody said that 15g / 20a could be his potential. I second that.

I don't know if Matteau is going to stay for the Habs, as a 4th liner perhaps but I think his Mtl experience is temporary. How come this guy was a 1st round pick anyway?

Just a safe pick in a **** draft. The hope was he could develop into what DSP is doing for us right now. Be 3rd liner with some grit and sandpaper in his game and can chip in secondary scoring.

Didn't work at all.