Post-Game Talk: MTL win 5-4 against Penguins

[Rapala]

You don't find it odd that all the 70, 80, 90 goal seasons all happened exclusively between 1970 and 1995, which also corresponds with the greatest expansion of the league, going from 6 teams in 1966 to 26 teams in 1995, diluting the talent level, leaving the most talented players with much more open ice?

The 90's is when the talent pool got expanded to include much more Europeens, which slowly brought the concentration of talent level to the pre-expansion era. Both hockey and training became more sophisticated in that era, also helping to bridge the gap.

This over-reverence of past players based on contextual statistics is assinine.

Just stop it with the historical fact and logic. My brain gets over-loaded.

 

[Captain97]

Not exactly but close. You need that first pairing elite QB D. Hopefully, he’s available somewhere.

Gotta hope it's one of Hutson or Mailloux at this rate

 

[VAN-HAB]

I miss the Purple Pants/Toe nails couple

Just kidding

 

[CHwest]

This team shows that even if we miss the Playoffs this year, next year we'll be competitive for sure, if not better.

Hence why tanking isn't the answer, a high draft Pick won't help us next year. We have a Window right now, we'll have a Window next year and for years.

Stop IT with the infériority complexe, the need to draft b2b first overall to abuse a lotery system and wishing to luck on high draft Pick. Stop with the long term thinking, nhl23 gm mode gérant d'estrade annoying arguments.

 

[Redux91]

Why do we keep winning

The people who said we should of kept Ducharme and Petry for this year maybe werent far off the mark eh lol

Its incredible what just a few minor correct tweaks in on ice personel can do to teams..

Everyone was laughing at our defense just over a month ago wondering how we'd get by and it's just surreal to see where we are today, rookies or not, GOOD players are sometimes... good players lol

 

[JianYang]

Dach...........what a play in OT, made Malkin look old!!
Great game, even though Allen was hot garbage, and who would have thought to build a team that can score goals would win you games.
This is why Bergevin is running errands out in LA

Nice to see the kids continue to develop and play well under MSL. I still think there are some growing pains coming, but we seem to have a Coach who actually KNOWS what he is doing to HELP these kids.

No more grind da puck, as the motto. Grind dam it..............Carey, stop da puck!

I don't think Allen was garbage. He was perhaps mediocre, but in order to be garbage category, I'd have to see him give up stinky goals.

The first two goals were precipitated by awful bounces. The third goal you can argue he didn't play well, but that was a slick finish by Malkin.

And the fourth goal was a 2 on 1 where the pass got through to the other side.

 

[Sugi21]

His passes are tape to tape even using his backand.

Yeah he’s not fancy just makes the simple easy play but he’s not afraid to shoot it either hopefully he works on his slapper I’m sure he can develop a bomb a guy his size

When I first saw Guhle last year, I thought Serge Savard, all-round D.

When I saw Xhekaj at camp fresh from Costco also last year, I thought Larry Robinson, awkward, strong and with offence.

But I am trying to calm myself down and am saying McDonagh and Sergachev now, not so secretly hoping our young guys will actually be better than the two Tampa guys.

But we still need a Lapointe/Hedman PP trigger man.

I haven’t seen the old guys play but if they can be like Markov and Souray on the pp I’ll be Uber happy lol

 

[JianYang]

After 15 games:

Forwards
- Suzuki is on pace for 104 pts (55G, 49A) in 82 GP
- Caufield is on pace for 87 pts (49G, 38A) in 82 GP
- Dach is on pace for 77 pts (22G, 55A) in 82 GP
- Slafkovsky is on pace for 23 pts (all goals) in 77 GP

Defense
- Guhle is on pace for 38 pts (5G, 33A) in 82 GP
- Xhekaj is on pace for 22 pts (11G, 11A) in 82 GP
- Harris in on pace for 22 pts (all assists) in 82 GP

All of these guys are 23 years old and younger (Suzuki is the elder statesman of this group).

Among the vets we hope to trade at some point this year:

- Monahan is on pace for 43 pts (16G, 27A) in 82 GP
- Hoffman is on pace for 31 goals & 37 pts in 80 GP (largely thanks to his 4 goals in 3 games recently)

And to a lesser successful rate:

- Drouin with 26 assists in 79 GP
- And we won't even mention Dadonov.

It's been a fun ride so far but a line consisting of a 23 year old being your oldest, who was never pegged to be a 100 point player. Surely, there will be a correction coming there.

At some point, the 4 rookies on defense are also going to show volatility, and in harris' case, he might fall off big time given the schedule he's used to. So even with matheson back at some point, there should be a correction as well.

Montembault's run has been crazy as well, and should average out at some point.

I'm proud of the youth but it is reality this ride will end at some point because there's just to too many stars aligning to last a full season.

However, I have had to come off the stance that this is a bottom 5 team.... Probably more likely to be a bottom 10 team now when it's all said and done.

 

[JianYang]

We won 3 straight games. When’s the last time we won 3 straight? 10 years ago?

This come up alot. Last year the habs won 5 in a row under msl. Then the wheels fell off around the deadline when they traded a few veterans.

Before that, it was the 2021 playoffs where they had a 7 game winning streak at one point.

 

[BLONG7]

I don't think Allen was garbage. He was perhaps mediocre, but in order to be garbage category, I'd have to see him give up stinky goals.

The first two goals were precipitated by awful bounces. The third goal you can argue he didn't play well, but that was a slick finish by Malkin.

And the fourth goal was a 2 on 1 where the pass got through to the other side.

Gave up too many on too few shots..................didn't like him last night at all.

 

[Rapala]

Gave up too many on too few shots..................didn't like him last night at all.

He was bad Sam I am stops both of those so called bad bounces with his reflexes.

 

[Canad13ns]

In response to the comment earlier that former players in their 40's-50's make the best coaches, I was thinking Mario Tremblay is a major counter-example. However, he was actually 39 when hired and "stepped down" when he was 40 (the most damage wrought on a team in the least amount of time?) Also had no experience. Maybe former players who have at least coached Bantam!

 

[Rapala]

We might have to re-peg Suzuki under this new management don't ya think. He's always been a point producer and now he has the green light to go ahead and produce points. I'm not looking at his numbers Before HuGo because they mean absolutely nothing in this current context.

 

[Redux91]

The real best part about Suzuki and Caufield tho..?

We already know they can Produce in the playoffs. It's crazy not having to worry about that so early in their careers

 

[Sorinth]

This team shows that even if we miss the Playoffs this year, next year we'll be competitive for sure, if not better.

Hence why tanking isn't the answer, a high draft Pick won't help us next year. We have a Window right now, we'll have a Window next year and for years.

Stop IT with the infériority complexe, the need to draft b2b first overall to abuse a lotery system and wishing to luck on high draft Pick. Stop with the long term thinking, nhl23 gm mode gérant d'estrade annoying arguments.

I mean if we could add a top pick it most certainly would help us, but your right that tanking isn't the answer anymore. The things that have to go wrong for us to tank would be worse overall then what we would gain from a top pick. It would be two steps back 1 step forward situation where we would overall be worse off.

 

[Guy Larose]

Why do we keep winning

Because this is a pro league and athletes hate losing? Don't know, just a thought.

 

[Jee]

Because this is a pro league and athletes hate losing? Don't know, just a thought.

But I want Bedard

 

[KevSkillz4]

But I want Bedard

All teams would want a player like Bedard... but like Stanley Cup, only one winner.

 

[Guy Larose]

But I want Bedard

Bedard was never in the cards because the Habs are too good to finish bottom of the league. Not making the playoffs either (probably). The only way I can see is if FLO or MTL stays down in the standings far enough to win the lottery.

 

[Catanddogguitarrr]

Chèque qu'un s'pire just wrote that, lol.
Well, not everyone can write perfect enne-glee-sssh, lol

But I want Bedard

If Mtl don't have him, you will survive?

 

[HabsAddict]

If we can add Dubois and possibly Laf, I'm good at finishing mid level.

Right now we are exactly in the middle of the entire league. Another month of this and it will impossible to finish bottom 5....unless we want to lose 10 games in a row. Time after time.

Last year, we were not as bad as our record, but not much better then bottom 5-7.

 

[sheed36]

The one thing I've noticed about Caufield this season, other than his great shot and goal scoring ability, is him battling hard and winning many board battles against much bigger players and coming away with the puck. He's like a little bulldog out there.

 

[Adam Michaels]

It's been a fun ride so far but a line consisting of a 23 year old being your oldest, who was never pegged to be a 100 point player. Surely, there will be a correction coming there.

At some point, the 4 rookies on defense are also going to show volatility, and in harris' case, he might fall off big time given the schedule he's used to. So even with matheson back at some point, there should be a correction as well.

Montembault's run has been crazy as well, and should average out at some point.

I'm proud of the youth but it is reality this ride will end at some point because there's just to too many stars aligning to last a full season.

However, I have had to come off the stance that this is a bottom 5 team.... Probably more likely to be a bottom 10 team now when it's all said and done.

I agree with you. In fact, I made a similar post in the Roster & Standings thread. That this is a lot of fun because we're seeing the young guys lead the charge. But that as fun as this is, come the dog days of the season in December, January & February, the team could come back down to reality.

I used the Sabres as an example. The last few seasons, they got off to a hot start and were in a playoff position (even leading the standings), and we were all wondering if they had finally taken that next step with their young guys. However, around December/January, they would start to lose consistently and fall back down to the bottom of the standings.

So we've seen the example of a young, up and coming team get off to a good start and then things get more complicated. So this could be what will happen to the Habs. And that's fine.

 

[admiralcadillac]

It's been a fun ride so far but a line consisting of a 23 year old being your oldest, who was never pegged to be a 100 point player. Surely, there will be a correction coming there.

At some point, the 4 rookies on defense are also going to show volatility, and in harris' case, he might fall off big time given the schedule he's used to. So even with matheson back at some point, there should be a correction as well.

Montembault's run has been crazy as well, and should average out at some point.

I'm proud of the youth but it is reality this ride will end at some point because there's just to too many stars aligning to last a full season.

However, I have had to come off the stance that this is a bottom 5 team.... Probably more likely to be a bottom 10 team now when it's all said and done.

When you say Montembeault will average out at some point - that doesn't make sense. Average out to what? It's not a dice game or the slots.

 

[Runner77]

The one thing I've noticed about Caufield this season, other than his great shot and goal scoring ability, is him battling hard and winning many board battles against much bigger players and coming away with the puck. He's like a little bulldog out there.

Caufield has bought in, lock, stock and barrel into MSL’s coaching.

As one of the pundits on TVA noted, Caufield is making the plays you mention on the road as well.