HF Habs: Montreal Canadiens Hockey Ops - Part 3

[WeThreeKings]

Well of course not but that's different than saying they missed the mark. There really wasn't one

If they had real intentions of doing more than they are doing, they'd throw a lifeline or shake things up. All we heard from Hughes is the long term plan is the long term plan and they won't deviate from that to help the team this season.

Theyll happily take another high draft pick and use this year as a great evaluation point for who can genuinely find a way to make an impact and turn things around and who might not have the mental fortitude to do so.

Plus the only move they made was Laine and he hasn't played a shift. I'm sure they'd love to evaluate how this team plays when everyone is in the chair they anticipated before the season began.

 

[salbutera]

I have serious doubts about MSL.They had a chance to get a real coach who speaks french and they passed.If they really wanted to push this thing along they should have hired Montgomery.If that wouldn't have worked then we could say Hugo may be an issue.It seems we have some very talented players but 80% of them are not playing up to their potential.That is usually a coaching issue.What exactly has MSL done since he has been the head coach?Most of the time the players look like they don't have a clue or like they don't give a shit.

Who is this 80%?

- Suzuki, Slaf, Caufield & Evans are on pace to better their career highs

- Anderson’s back to his career pace & Gallagher’s on track for 30G season a significant improvement

- Guhle is on pace to better last season as is Struble & Hutson is avg 22TOI

- Dvorak after a slow start has picked it up and back on pace for 30-35pts career avg

Might this be more of an issue of managing expectations?

 

[morhilane]

Who is this 80%?

- Suzuki, Slaf, Caufield & Evans are on pace to better their career highs

- Anderson’s back to his career pace & Gallagher’s on track for 30G season a significant improvement

- Guhle is on pace to better last season as is Struble & Hutson is avg 22TOI

- Dvorak after a slow start has picked it up and back on pace for 30-35pts career avg

Might this be more of an issue of managing expectations?

I think it's more that some posters are still in October despite November ending today.

Reading this sub-forum, some posts read like the Habs lost their last 10 games. They played for .500 in the last 10 with a record of 4-2-1 in their last 7 games. They were at the bottom of Moneypuck Power Ranking at the start of November, they climbing up and are now 21st. But I'm still seeing fans complaining about the Habs being at the bottom in advanced stats.

 

[Lshap]

I think it's more that some posters are still in October despite November ending today.

Reading this sub-forum, some posts read like the Habs lost their last 10 games. They played for .500 in the last 10 with a record of 4-2-1 in their last 7 games. They were at the bottom of Moneypuck Power Ranking at the start of November, they climbing up and are now 21st. But I'm still seeing fans complaining about the Habs being at the bottom in advanced stats.

And the last 8-10 games is exactly what most of us expected – progress. Nobody seriously thought we were making the playoffs (even if we saw it as a distant, best-case possibility). I was in the camp that simply wanted to see the kids be a little better than they were last season, and that's exactly what we're slowly starting to see. That's what a rebuild should look like. It should NOT look like a futile churning of prospects who can't develop themselves out of the bottom-5.

Our roster is already full of young draft picks. I'd rather see them improve and win than defer all progress onto the backs of future draft picks.

 

[ReHabs]

All we heard from Hughes is the long term plan is the long term plan and they won't deviate from that to help the team this season.

In other words: the Habs GM won't mortgage the future.

 

[HuGort]

Who is this 80%?

- Suzuki, Slaf, Caufield & Evans are on pace to better their career highs

- Anderson’s back to his career pace & Gallagher’s on track for 30G season a significant improvement

- Guhle is on pace to better last season as is Struble & Hutson is avg 22TOI

- Dvorak after a slow start has picked it up and back on pace for 30-35pts career avg

Might this be more of an issue of managing expectations?

Team not playing well though. A few have done alright but most haven't.

About 3 years in and we gone in reverse. Habs should be looking for better front office.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Team not playing well though. A few have done alright but most haven't.

About 3 years in and we gone in reverse. Habs should be looking for better front office.

You can count on one finger the amount of teams that got out of a rebuild in 3 years and you won't like their playoff history.

 

[ReHabs]

You can count on one finger the amount of teams that got out of a rebuild in 3 years and you won't like their playoff history.

Reasons to become more critical of the Habs GM:
1. A majority of his acquisitions are not progressing (Dach, Newhook, Barron)
2. His handpicked coach is not progressing
3. His non-sales have declined in performance and value (Monty, Savard, Matheson, Anderson)

These are all legitimate marks against the guys leading the rebuild, which means the rebuild can and should be questioned and individual decisions challenged. Note it has nothing to do with the team’s pt% or whatever.

If we accept that his decision-making cannot be taken for granted, then we have cause to re-evaluate his draft and development decisions too.

We can’t back out of the rebuild now, that’s for sure, but maybe we don’t have the right guys at helm leading it. I’d hate to see Demidov delivered to the wrong people.

Other than the players they inherited, they’ve mostly messed up or got players who haven’t progressed. Reminds me of Bergevin.