HF Habs: Montreal Canadiens End of Season Press Conference

[dinodebino]

Meme

Meme!!!! There you go!

 

[HabzSauce]

Anderson played hurt.

Which is freaking crazy to me because Anderson played like a bull this season.

Guy didn't look banged up at all

 

[Beendair Donedat]

Savard was hired as new health and nutrition coach?

Buffet instructor.

 

[HabbyGuy]

The Foxhole Bergevin years broke a part of the fanbase, kinda like the pandemic broke many people. The ptsd is real

Those days are over, brighter days ahead.

 

[Runner77]

Man always wished Satan had played for the devils. Imagine if he had been the captain. Would so have gotten that jersey.

Would it be wrong to have one made ?

A golden marketing opportunity that many of us have dreamed about.

On a related note, Serge Savard mentioned that when he was GM and had Steve Penney on his roster, he thought of acquiring goalie Rick Knickle purely as a marketing stunt. I don't know if he ever attempted to make it happen.

 

[Runner77]

I think we'll have a better idea of the direction after monday's presser.

They also have Kapanen, Beck....Do they see Florian as a C?

Hughes might wanna give a chance to the kids he drafted at training camp, and then if it doesn't work out, they still have Dach and Newhook who can play C until the kids are ready.

Please no more Newhook at C. And Dach will hopefully get shipped out as soon as he recreates a mirage of him being healthy.

 

[Miller Time]

When you repeat the same thing over and over......

You sound like a typical 20-21 year old

 

[Runner77]

He’s always been enigmatic so his response is right on brand.

 

[26Mats]

Think they wanna give Dach a chance as a 3rd line C.

If your plan is to go further in the playoffs than we did this year, does that sound like a good plan to you?

 

[Skip Bayless]

If your plan is to go further in the playoffs than we did this year, does that sound like a good plan to you?

Obviously big question mark, but Dach has a higher ceiling than Dvorak in almost every aspect. Main loss is faceoffs, but if they get a 2nd line C with good faceoff ability, they can insulate Dach.

Can easily end up an upgrade on Dvorak, if not, you still have a bunch youngsters like Kap and Beck and Florian who will knock on the door. And I'm not sure that will be an immediate upgrade on Dvorak.

 

[vayrynen]

Neither Ehlers or Boeser spent almost their entire careers in negative for 5v5 xGF%. Laine has ONE single season where he's a positive. And it's not a small negative but almost always 45% or under. That is utterly baaaaaad.

That is the sad truth, that he will drag down his linemates, even though his special talent has enabled him to score on 5vs5 also. You can acquire that 6 million center, and he will produce like a 3 million center when paired with Laine. He has had the same shortcomings throughout his career, and the pre-season injury just made them more visible. Two consecutive summers with poor training, a concussion, a clavicle injury, and absence due to mental health issues. Then, a summer training period was followed by a major knee injury during the pre-season. It's quite likely that all of this has taken a step from his skating, which was a major weakness also before all this. (Please, do link the Columbus coast-to-coast video here.)

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

Buffet instructor.

Bad idea, there'll be nothing left

 

[Heineman Mineman]

Think they wanna give Dach a chance as a 3rd line C.

I don't like the sound of that, he showed on many occasions that he couldn't do the job at C. Hughes sounded like someone preparing for a 2C acquisition in the summer, I hope this plan hasn't changed.

I'd prefer that they play Dach on the wing, maybe even in Slaf's spot if he comes back from his summer in good shape and if he shows that he can reproduce what he did in this spot in the past. Restore his value. He could replace at center if there are injuries

 

[Hostile Offer]

You could literally of just ended your sentence at 'Matheson made mistakes because he played.'

At least Laine kept us in a couple games with PP goals, but he needs to get a LOT better next year

But Matheson costed us *far too* many games this year, an unacceptable amount. He's gone

Matheson plays such a high risk game and that can be infuriating at times but I thought he was mostly fine when he got his minutes cut and paired with Carrier. He's like Petry circa 2017, he can make so many good things happen with his skating that you can tolerate a gaffe here and there but god forbid if he has to be deployed in the top pairing.

 

[salbutera]

Matheson plays such a high risk game and that can be infuriating at times but I thought he was mostly fine when he got his minutes cut and paired with Carrier. He's like Petry circa 2017, he can make so many good things happen with his skating that you can tolerate a gaffe here and there but god forbid if he has to be deployed in the top pairing.

When Weber was out with injury and Petry had to assume top pairing / TOI responsibilities, his game also took a nosedive

 

[catmanhabsfan]

I agree, they just hire guys because they were local, none of them had standout careers nor would anyone jump to hire them but Montreal.

And their impact either positive or negative is negligible but it's a good gamble. Also isn't your money so what's the huge problem here? They can create a billion positions , pay them peanuts, and it's loyalty. Peoole like to work for loyal companies maybe players would want to play for a loyal team? Maybe that's good pr to attract others? And who are all these players coming up for retirement you're so concerned about we're the youngest team ffs not like they'll be 20 of them by next year lol and they arent in GM roles, head coach positions, head scouts. Chill out people

 

[26Mats]

Obviously big question mark, but Dach has a higher ceiling than Dvorak in almost every aspect. Main loss is faceoffs, but if they get a 2nd line C with good faceoff ability, they can insulate Dach.

Can easily end up an upgrade on Dvorak, if not, you still have a bunch youngsters like Kap and Beck and Florian who will knock on the door. And I'm not sure that will be an immediate upgrade on Dvorak.

In my books both Dach and Newhook should be out of the top six and into the bottom six.

And I was thinking it would be good for Dach to start his comeback from the wing. So unless there are trades, the only two spots in the bottom six would be Newhook replacing Dvo and Dach replacing Armia. Dach actually has some similar attributes with Armia. Armia is more shoot first and has tunnel vision. Dach is more pass first, has good vision, but sometimes plays without urgency. Armia is better on the wall. But I think Dach can hold his own.

 

[JianYang]

Obviously big question mark, but Dach has a higher ceiling than Dvorak in almost every aspect. Main loss is faceoffs, but if they get a 2nd line C with good faceoff ability, they can insulate Dach.

Can easily end up an upgrade on Dvorak, if not, you still have a bunch youngsters like Kap and Beck and Florian who will knock on the door. And I'm not sure that will be an immediate upgrade on Dvorak.

Dvorak and dach are apples and oranges, but the dvorak situation does heed some caution. Dvorak had his most effective year with the Habs this season, and it also happened to be his healthiest. That's probably not a coincidence.

That story provides some optimism for the dach situation, however, the way he currently plays, he doesn't really look suited to play the kind of role that dvorak does. He would need to evolve his game to do that, but for starters, he must show some ability to stay healthy.

Dach feels like a square peg in a round hole at this point.

 

[Victoire HuGo]

I think Dach can be Armia's replacement. At the top of his game he was good at causing turnovers with stick lifts. He will need to improve his board play and maintain the puck protection skills he flashed.

 

[jaffy27]

A golden marketing opportunity that many of us have dreamed about.

On a related note, Serge Savard mentioned that when he was GM and had Steve Penney on his roster, he thought of acquiring goalie Rick Knickle purely as a marketing stunt. I don't know if he ever attempted to make it happen.

Imagine had he acquired Bobby Dollas from the Jets…..too much lol

 

[sampollock]

Looking forward to the draft day
Big movement by KH

 

[Ozmodiar]

Obviously big question mark, but Dach has a higher ceiling than Dvorak in almost every aspect. Main loss is faceoffs, but if they get a 2nd line C with good faceoff ability, they can insulate Dach.

Bottom 6 should insulate top 6, not the other way around.

 

[Skip Bayless]

In my books both Dach and Newhook should be out of the top six and into the bottom six.

And I was thinking it would be good for Dach to start his comeback from the wing. So unless there are trades, the only two spots in the bottom six would be Newhook replacing Dvo and Dach replacing Armia. Dach actually has some similar attributes with Armia. Armia is more shoot first and has tunnel vision. Dach is more pass first, has good vision, but sometimes plays without urgency. Armia is better on the wall. But I think Dach can hold his own.

It depends on the direction of the team. I personally don't think we are in a win-now situation come by October. We will add important pieces, and the expectation of making the playoffs again will be there, BUT, we are not going to be a finished product yet.

Hughes will most likely add some important pieces to the puzzle like a 2C, but we also have a lot of youngsters in the system who are not too far from making it who need an opportunity. Not only they need an opportunity, but Hughes needs to see what he has in hand.

I certainly don't want Hughes to go the Yzerman route and start trading and signing a bunch of UFAs just to have a better lineup next fall. I still hope the vision is longterm.

So for 3C, I see mainly two options. Dach/Newhook, or if one of Kapanen/Beck come into training camp ready for the big team.

 

[26Mats]

It depends on the direction of the team. I personally don't think we are in a win-now situation come by October. We will add important pieces, and the expectation of making the playoffs again will be there, BUT, we are not going to be a finished product yet.

Hughes will most likely add some important pieces to the puzzle like a 2C, but we also have a lot of youngsters in the system who are not too far from making it who need an opportunity. Not only they need an opportunity, but Hughes needs to see what he has in hand.

I certainly don't want Hughes to go the Yzerman route and start trading and signing a bunch of UFAs just to have a better lineup next fall. I still hope the vision is longterm.

So for 3C, I see mainly two options. Dach/Newhook, or if one of Kapanen/Beck come into training camp ready for the big team.

I think all of Beck, Kapanen, Roy, and F. Xhekaj, and perhaps also Farrell, haven't shown they are NHL ready. I don't think there is a need to make a spot for them for next year. They can play another year in the AHL. Same for Mailloux and Engstrom.

I think the difference with us and the Wings is we have more and better young talent. They have Raymond and Seider. We have Demidov, Suzuki, Caufield, Slaf, Hage, Hutson, Reinbacher, Guhle, Fowler. The problem with the wings is they didn't tank enough. We tanked a lot and now we're done tanking.

But I agree that we shouldn't sign mediocre stop gaps to long term deals. But maybe Kapanen, Beck, or Roy will show in this AHL playoffs that they're too good for the AHL, and then Hughes will make a spot dor them for next year.

 

[Adam Michaels]

I didn't follow all the scrums from yesterday. But I learned that there haven't been contract talks with Dvorak, but there have been with Armia.

I wouldn't be opposed to Armia returning if it's a 1-2 year deal and less than $3M as more of a place holder until the young kids start coming up like Florian, Tuch, and the like. He is a big part of the PK and the Habs had the 9th best PK of the league.