GDT: Montreal Canadiens vs New York Rangers 10/8/17 7:00pm EST SN1, RDS (HD), TSN 690

[Kriss E]

As much as TSN is a bunch of Leaf loving blow-hards, they had this same point. Bergevin will be scrutinized, rightly, because of how he constructed his defense. When the rest of the league is trending to speed, transition, puck movement, and offense from the defense. Bergevin moved all of those guys away and focused on defense first guys with limited puck skills and offensive ability.

Outside of Weber's shot, where's the threat from the point? There isn't one. Mete is young but he doesn't have a very good shot, so he's mostly puck movement.

Subban, Hedman, Karlsson, Doughty, Burns, Byfuglien, Keith.. these guys are dangerous because they can beat you with a heavy shot or a quick, nice pass.

We don't have that, from anyone, which makes us super easy to defend.

If I get in Weber's shot lane, his imagination is limited so I know I've neutralized the threat. If I choke up on Mete's passing lanes, I know I've neutralized the threat. if Alzner or Benn have the puck at the point, I pressure them because it will be a turn-over or a dump in.

TSN has raised points about his decisions before, but things get real when the french guys start to question Bergevin.
The frustrating part for me is I could see the writing on the wall about this guy right as early as 2014.
He has balls though, I'll give him that. Go out there and tell the world he believes this horrendous defense is better than last year, now that takes courage.

 

[Habs 4 Life]

TSN has raised points about his decisions before, but things get real when the french guys start to question Bergevin.
The frustrating part for me is I could see the writing on the wall about this guy right as early as 2014.
He has balls though, I'll give him that. Go out there and tell the world he believes this horrendous defense is better than last year, now that takes courage.

The french media is going to defend him and pick on guys like Galchenyuk, then it will be someone else. It's just funny that they never can put 2 and 2 together and say, who drafted this guy, who took decisions on trading for Shaw, signing Alzner, losing Radulov, starting the season with so much cap space, beh non, he got us Drouin le ptit gars de chez nous!!
As I've said before, it's not only about the language here anymore, but the Habs are just not what they once were, winning is not important anymore.

 

[WeThreeKings]

The french media is going to defend him and pick on guys like Galchenyuk, then it will be someone else. It's just funny that they never can put 2 and 2 together and say, who drafted this guy, who took decisions on trading for Shaw, signing Alzner, losing Radulov, starting the season with so much cap space, beh non, he got us Drouin le ptit gars de chez nous!!
As I've said before, it's not only about the language here anymore, but the Habs are just not what they once were, winning is not important anymore.

It's a win-win situation for Bergevin and Molson

Bergevin - Feeds his delusions of self grandeur, his narcissism and gets to build a team in his own image. Gets to hire family members, friends, and set them up for life monetarily.. all of this with 0 accountability

Molson - Gets francophone people/players where necessary to appeal to his local market. Those who pay atrocious ticket prices then see a garbage product, fueling them to drink more garbage beer, at an even more egregious price.. therefore profiting from it even further.

 

[PhysicX]

Because Holtby and Bobrovsky have been surrounded by significantly better defenses and offenses in their tenures, Price loses games to them.

So instead of starting a top 3 goalie in the league, we should start a bottom back up, to ensure we lose.

Might as well forfeit the game. Keep the players fresh and injury-free for teams worse than ours. Heck, at this point, I'm unsure which teams fit in that category.

God forbid Price has another sub-standard outing tonight. I'll stay away from these forums and turn off the radio for a while. I've already seen enough goalie bashing to piss me off. Tunnel vision instead of analyzing the big picture, which has been explained on this forum and in the media ad nauseam.

 

[nhlfan9191]

It's a win-win situation for Bergevin and Molson

Bergevin - Feeds his delusions of self grandeur, his narcissism and gets to build a team in his own image. Gets to hire family members, friends, and set them up for life monetarily.. all of this with 0 accountability

Molson - Gets francophone people/players where necessary to appeal to his local market. Those who pay atrocious ticket prices then see a garbage product, fueling them to drink more garbage beer, at an even more egregious price.. therefore profiting from it even further.

I get the whole local pride thing. It's a French Canadian market and we had brilliant success in the past doing things using local talent. But the past 20 years, it just hasn't worked and eventually people have to come to the realization that you're choosing between employing French Canadians and icing a true championship team. It's sad seeing the French Canadian talent as thin as it is right now. But it's time to start knocking down walls and barriers and changing the direction of the franchise. People won't care about listening to a translator when they see this team lifting a Stanley Cup in the air again.

 

[blarneylad]

Price is the best goalie in the world.
Unfortunately for him, he is not on that great of a team while many other teams with solid goalies have better rosters in front of them.
That said, I expect we lose tonight again

I expect the team will play much differently tonight. But that is more wishful thinking than it is based on reality!

 

[BLONG7]

TSN has raised points about his decisions before, but things get real when the french guys start to question Bergevin.
The frustrating part for me is I could see the writing on the wall about this guy right as early as 2014.
He has balls though, I'll give him that. Go out there and tell the world he believes this horrendous defense is better than last year, now that takes courage.

MB is just an idiot...a rookie GM in training...so once the franco media tire of him, we will then start all over...rinse and repeat...keep the seats full.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Might as well forfeit the game. Keep the players fresh and injury-free for teams worse than ours. Heck, at this point, I'm unsure which teams fit in that category.

God forbid Price has another sub-standard outing tonight. I'll stay away from these forums and turn off the radio for a while. I've already seen enough goalie bashing to piss me off. Tunnel vision instead of analyzing the big picture, which has been explained on this forum and in the media ad nauseam.

It's the standard go-to for people who watch hockey and want to talk it, but don't actually know the game well enough to analyze what happens on the ice.

They just see the pucks behind the goalie and think it must have been Price's fault. I don't think Price looked particularly on last night, but that happens when you let in two goals immediately off defensive screw ups.

A turn-over slap shot, through a screen, a bullet from the best goal scorer in modern NHL? Right top cheese? Yeah, not stopping that unless you get lucky.

The next sequence? Just sloppy play in their own end, not marking their men at all.

The powerplay goal? I mean, come on Weber, everyone knows its going to Ovechkin and your solution is to flop on the ice and take away the bottom the net.. the very same portion of the net that any butterfly goalie is going to take away. His read to shrink closer to his net on that play was about as poor of a read as I've seen from a defenseman.

 

[MXD]

The whole francophone thing is very weird though. I mean... Players like '17 Karl Alzner are usually not NHL'ers, and if they are, they aren't on multi-year, multi-million deals, unless they're Canadians of the non-Franco variety.

Every Franco guy on the roster came to be following a great move (except Streit). In fact, when Bergevin moved for a Franco guy, it was a great move pretty much every time, save maybe Matteau.

 

[BLONG7]

I get the whole local pride thing. It's a French Canadian market and we had brilliant success in the past doing things using local talent. But the past 20 years, it just hasn't worked and eventually people have to come to the realization that you're choosing between employing French Canadians and icing a true championship team. It's sad seeing the French Canadian talent as thin as it is right now. But it's time to start knocking down walls and barriers and changing the direction of the franchise. People won't care about listening to a translator when they see this team lifting a Stanley Cup in the air again.

Nailed it!! Great post!!!

 

[WeThreeKings]

I get the whole local pride thing. It's a French Canadian market and we had brilliant success in the past doing things using local talent. But the past 20 years, it just hasn't worked and eventually people have to come to the realization that you're choosing between employing French Canadians and icing a true championship team. It's sad seeing the French Canadian talent as thin as it is right now. But it's time to start knocking down walls and barriers and changing the direction of the franchise. People won't care about listening to a translator when they see this team lifting a Stanley Cup in the air again.

I have no issue with Francophone pride, or local flavor, or appealing to your local market. I get it.

But if you're GOING to do this. For f*** sakes, INVEST in it.

If I've made a decision that my company is only going to hire local talent.. I would be putting in bursaries, scholarships, work placements, anything I could do to ensure that the talent pool I'VE CHOSEN TO SELECT FROM is producing talent that I can get my hands on later.

Sure, those people I invest in MAY go somewhere else but it's the business philosophy
"What if I invest in my employees and they leave?"
"What if you don't... and they stay?"

 

[PhysicX]

I expect the team will play much differently tonight. But that is more wishful thinking than it is based on reality!

Oops. I was certain we were playing at home tonight. Well, it will be interesting to see how both teams perform. No clue what to expect.

 

[nhlfan9191]

I have no issue with Francophone pride, or local flavor, or appealing to your local market. I get it.

But if you're GOING to do this. For **** sakes, INVEST in it.

If I've made a decision that my company is only going to hire local talent.. I would be putting in bursaries, scholarships, work placements, anything I could do to ensure that the talent pool I'VE CHOSEN TO SELECT FROM is producing talent that I can get my hands on later.

Sure, those people I invest in MAY go somewhere else but it's the business philosophy
"What if I invest in my employees and they leave?"
"What if you don't... and they stay?"

The writing was on the wall for this team in 2015. Many people were saying the year Price won the awards, we were a lottery team without him. The people crying he was overrated disagreed. Well coincidentally, the next season he was hurt almost the entire year and we ended up with a top 10 pick, and if it wasn't for Price going 10-2 to start that year, we would've been in the hunt for Matthews/Laine. We're a team whose over realiant on a goalie whose now entered his 30's and we have a d core that he's probably not going to be able to save which makes paying him $10.5 million pointless. And that's not even mentioning our putrid offence. We should've blown this train wreck up in 2016.

 

[76]

It was such a horrible night, they are better than that. Hope a better start tonight. Let's go boys!

 

[PhysicX]

I have no issue with Francophone pride, or local flavor, or appealing to your local market. I get it.

But if you're GOING to do this. For **** sakes, INVEST in it.

If I've made a decision that my company is only going to hire local talent.. I would be putting in bursaries, scholarships, work placements, anything I could do to ensure that the talent pool I'VE CHOSEN TO SELECT FROM is producing talent that I can get my hands on later.

Sure, those people I invest in MAY go somewhere else but it's the business philosophy
"What if I invest in my employees and they leave?"
"What if you don't... and they stay?"

I'm of the same opinion. Well said.

 

[Rapala]

Looking forward to visiting MSG for the first time. Hopefully the Habs show up.

How I wish we would have used the same technology to reup the Forum where hopefully the Habs would show up.
Should be fun two goalies who got yanked yesterday.
0-0 might not be an impossibility...

OH wait who's dressing on D again.

 

[Tyson]

It was such a horrible night, they are better than that. Hope a better start tonight. Let's go boys!

I am not so sure they are better than this

Imagine if Mete has not been NHL ready. The defense would be even worse.

This team is in trouble.

The chickens are finally coming home to roost. Bergevin won’t be able to cover up his mess anymore! The warts are visible.

This is what happens when the main prerequisite for employment is being able to speak French. What a crock.

 

[otto bond]

Big fan of Price but he needs to step up for like all the games...not going to win them all but he needs to be sharper and I trust that he will.
This teams looks like average at best and they will not make the playoff with a roster like this.
Lucky for us, it looks like the Rags are in the same boat as us

 

[Habs Halifax]

3 road games to start the year on the road and all home openers for the other team. Is it me or does this seem rare? That's a tough schedule to begin the year and two of those games are back to back.

Let's see what the lineup changes are and how we respond!

Patch / Drouin / Byron
Hudon / Pleky / Galchenyuk
Lehkonen / Danault / Gallagher
Shaw / DLR / Mitchell

Mete / Weber
Alzner / Petry
Davidson / Benn

 

[Kant Think]

As much as TSN is a bunch of Leaf loving blow-hards, they had this same point. Bergevin will be scrutinized, rightly, because of how he constructed his defense. When the rest of the league is trending to speed, transition, puck movement, and offense from the defense. Bergevin moved all of those guys away and focused on defense first guys with limited puck skills and offensive ability.

Outside of Weber's shot, where's the threat from the point? There isn't one. Mete is young but he doesn't have a very good shot, so he's mostly puck movement.

Subban, Hedman, Karlsson, Doughty, Burns, Byfuglien, Keith.. these guys are dangerous because they can beat you with a heavy shot or a quick, nice pass.

We don't have that, from anyone, which makes us super easy to defend.

If I get in Weber's shot lane, his imagination is limited so I know I've neutralized the threat. If I choke up on Mete's passing lanes, I know I've neutralized the threat. if Alzner or Benn have the puck at the point, I pressure them because it will be a turn-over or a dump in.

It's hard to care about this team this year.

It's like all the hope is gone, the making of this team is so Pejorative Slured there's just no way we can hope for a cup.

I love to be hopeful, maybe when Bergevin is gone.

 

[Kant Think]

The french media is going to defend him and pick on guys like Galchenyuk, then it will be someone else. It's just funny that they never can put 2 and 2 together and say, who drafted this guy, who took decisions on trading for Shaw, signing Alzner, losing Radulov, starting the season with so much cap space, beh non, he got us Drouin le ptit gars de chez nous!!
As I've said before, it's not only about the language here anymore, but the Habs are just not what they once were, winning is not important anymore.

The masses love to be lied to and the liars love to oblige them.

 

[Tyson]

The scary part is that Molson is a bigger moron than Bergevin

 

[76]

I am not so sure they are better than this

Imagine if Mete has not been NHL ready. The defense would be even worse.

This team is in trouble.

The chickens are finally coming home to roost. Bergevin won’t be able to cover up his mess anymore! The warts are visible.

This is what happens when the main prerequisite for employment is being able to speak French. What a crock.

Last night was such an off one. It happens. I prefer having it at the start of the season. We turn the page and start again.
I'll wait for more games before starting to worry.

 

[CupInSIX]

They'll have a bounce back game just like the Penguins did last night when they trounced the Predators.

 

[Tuggy]

3 road games to start the year on the road and all home openers for the other team. Is it me or does this seem rare? That's a tough schedule to begin the year and two of those games are back to back.

Let's see what the lineup changes are and how we respond!

Patch / Drouin / Byron
Hudon / Pleky / Galchenyuk
Lehkonen / Danault / Gallagher
Shaw / DLR / Mitchell

Mete / Weber
Alzner / Petry
Davidson / Benn

Rangers game isn't a home opener, but yes it's a tough schedule to start. 3 games in 4 nights all on the road.

I expect a closer game tonight and hopefully we'll get 2 points.