Line Combos: Next Years Lines

[KevSkillz4]

I remember when after D+1 of KK and trading for Suzuki the Habs were supposed to have a great 1-2 punch down the middle for 10 years. Fans never learn.

As much as I like those players and want them to succeed, Slaf has not played one game in the NHL yet, Dach has failed to convince in his first three years has been injures too, Suzuki has reached 60 points once in his D+5, Caufield has been streaky (on this one you Can blame DD I guess). Let's remain cautiously optimistic.

Nick Suzuki in his 2nd season in NHL, 41 points in 56 games that's 60 points on pace in 82 games. Last year, this team are bad and he put 61 points.

Don't just watch stats with a player like Suzuki, he is very good at all details of the game, high hockey IQ, we can all certainly hope a PPG two-way C for longtime with him. He is too good to be only a 60 points player.

 

[RationalExpectations]

Nick Suzuki in his 2nd season in NHL, 41 points in 56 games that's 60 points on pace in 82 games. Last year, this team are bad and he put 61 points.

Don't just watch stats with a player like Suzuki, he is very good at all details of the game, high hockey IQ, we can all certainly hope a PPG two-way C for longtime with him. He is too good to be only a 60 points player.

Last year was a high scoring year. Suzuki scored at a lower pace than Schmaltz or Keller, and ARI was as bad as MTL. I think he is going to be a good 2C in MTL, let us hope he can be more.

 

[admiralcadillac]

Last year was a high scoring year. Suzuki scored at a lower pace than Schmaltz or Keller, and ARI was as bad as MTL. I think he is going to be a good 2C in MTL, let us hope he can be more.

How old are Schmaltz or Keller?

 

[CanadianPantherFan]

Doing a podcast preview show, and Canadiens are one of the two teams I’m covering:


How do you feel the line combos up front and on blue line will shake out ?
How do you think Allen/Montembeault goalie break down will shake out ? Ratio % of games shared ? Confident with both ?
Surprises this season ? Concerns within the roster are ?

Thanks in advance!

 

[smirob]

Doing a podcast preview show, and Canadiens are one of the two teams I’m covering:


How do you feel the line combos up front and on blue line will shake out ?
How do you think Allen/Montembeault goalie break down will shake out ? Ratio % of games shared ? Confident with both ?
Surprises this season ? Concerns within the roster are ?

Thanks in advance!

How do you feel the line combos up front and on blue line will shake out ?

Really hard to predict with so many FWDS

Dadonov - Suzuki - Caufield
Slafkovski - Dvorak - Anderson
Drouin - Monahan - Dach
Hoffman - Evans - Gallagher

Matheson - Wideman
Edmundson - Barron
Harris - Savard

How do you think Allen/Montembeault goalie break down will shake out ? Ratio % of games shared ? Confident with both ?
70/30 for Allen/Montembeault respectfully - confident with Allen, not with Monty.

Surprises this season ? Concerns within the roster are ?
I think Dadonov will surprise. I think Dvorak will continue to thrive with MSL.
Concerns are RHD

 

[JoelWarlord]

Forwards are really anyone's guess other than Suzuki and Caufield sticking as a duo to start the year. Defence on paper barring any surprises or new acquisitions would likely be:

Matheson-Savard
Edmundson-Barron
Harris-Wideman

Allen will probably play about 60-70% of the games until close to the deadline when he'll be traded.

 

[Nico Cauzuki]

Dadonov - Suzuki - Caufield
Drouin - Dvorak - Anderson
Armia - Dach - Monahan
Hoffman - Evans - Gallagher

Matheson - Savard
Edmundson - Barron
Harris - Wideman

Allen
Monty


Concerns are definitely def ( probably the worst in the league ) and surprises i have Dach and Monahan ( if he can stay healthy )

Has for Slafkovsky unless we move some wingers we just dont have the space for him so i can see him start the season in the AHL unless HuGo can pull a miracle with some of our overpaid soft wingers

 

[MarioLeMoose]

Doing a podcast preview show, and Canadiens are one of the two teams I’m covering:


How do you feel the line combos up front and on blue line will shake out ?
How do you think Allen/Montembeault goalie break down will shake out ? Ratio % of games shared ? Confident with both ?
Surprises this season ? Concerns within the roster are ?

Thanks in advance!

Pretty safe to say our concerns are offense, defense and goaltending

 

[BigDaddyLurch]

Pretty safe to say our concerns are offense, defense and goaltending

...but other than that we're in awesome shape...Titanic-like shape...

 

[26Mats]

Doing a podcast preview show, and Canadiens are one of the two teams I’m covering:


How do you feel the line combos up front and on blue line will shake out ?
How do you think Allen/Montembeault goalie break down will shake out ? Ratio % of games shared ? Confident with both ?
Surprises this season ? Concerns within the roster are ?

Thanks in advance!

- Line combos are totally up in the air. In any season, how they start out Is rarely how they finish. But this is especially true this year. We don't know how good newcomers Slaf, Dach, Dadonov, and Monahan will be at this stage of their careers. And, we don't know who will have chemistry with who. What we hope for is that young players suzi, caufield, dach, slaf, harris, Barron, and guhke have good development years; and that vets like Dadonov, Monahan, Drouin, Byron, Dvorak, Anderson, Hoffman, Armia, and Gallagher have good years like Lehkonen did last year so we can move them.

As for D pairings, all depends on how ready Harris, Barron, and Guhle are at this stage of their careers. And we hope Norlinder, Xhekaj, and Fairbrother progress well in Laval. So much youth up and down the organization to be excited about, including Heineman in Europe.

All that while hoping for another bottom 5 finish. To answer your question about goaltending, I expect Allen and Montembault to be two of the keys to that bottom 5 finish.

 

[26Mats]

Dadonov - Suzuki - Caufield
Drouin - Dvorak - Anderson
Armia - Dach - Monahan
Hoffman - Evans - Gallagher

Matheson - Savard
Edmundson - Barron
Harris - Wideman

Allen
Monty


Concerns are definitely def ( probably the worst in the league ) and surprises i have Dach and Monahan ( if he can stay healthy )

Has for Slafkovsky unless we move some wingers we just dont have the space for him so i can see him start the season in the AHL unless HuGo can pull a miracle with some of our overpaid soft wingers

I like your d pairings. Will be interesting if Guhle can "brasse les cards."

 

[BigDaddyLurch]

I like your d pairings. Will be interesting if Guhle can "brasse les cards."

...unfortunately, unless Wideman has learned how to play actual D, that third pairing is going to get wrecked, which is a shame for Harris this season...we do need a RD that can knock Savard to the third pairing...finding one is the issue...

 

[Nico Cauzuki]

I like your d pairings. Will be interesting if Guhle can "brasse les cards."

hes my favorite prospect i think he starts the year in the AHL but if theres injuries im curious to see if they play him or Shuenemen but Kaiden his definitely someone who can force HuGo to make some moves but i hope we're patient with the kid def takes longer and hes our best def prospect

 

[themilosh]

...but other than that we're in awesome shape...Titanic-like shape...

at least Hugo is anchoring the Titanic to the iceberg.

 

[BigDaddyLurch]

at least Hugo is anchoring the Titanic to the iceberg.

...that's the plan...I love icebergs at this point...

 

[MrNasty]

Well the wingers are a bit of a crapshoot because based on the current roster the Habs have 16 NHL forwards.
I am gonna go with Slafk being sent to Laval purely because of numbers with him coming up due to injuries or performance. Pezzetta will surely get waived.
I have Byron (potentially still on IR) and Hoffman as the scratches.
Drouin comes in and steals #1 LW spot for now.
Dach starts on the wing - he needs to regain confidence and he needs to improve drastically at faceoffs.

Drouin Suzuki Caufield
Dadonov Monahan Gallagher
Pitlick Dvorak Dach
Anderson Evans Armia

Hoffman, Byron

I also think Guhle makes the team to start. Barron does as well but only if the team doesn't grab someone before then. Harris fills in on either side.

Matheson Savard
Edmundson Barron
Guhle Wideman
Harris

Primeau only sent down because he is waiver exempt but I wouldn't be surprised if he makes the team for good part way through year.

Allen
Monty

 

[BLONG7]

Well the wingers are a bit of a crapshoot because based on the current roster the Habs have 16 NHL forwards.
I am gonna go with Slafk being sent to Laval purely because of numbers with him coming up due to injuries or performance. Pezzetta will surely get waived.
I have Byron (potentially still on IR) and Hoffman as the scratches.
Drouin comes in and steals #1 LW spot for now.
Dach starts on the wing - he needs to regain confidence and he needs to improve drastically at faceoffs.

Drouin Suzuki Caufield
Dadonov Monahan Gallagher
Pitlick Dvorak Dach
Anderson Evans Armia

Hoffman, Byron

I also think Guhle makes the team to start. Barron does as well but only if the team doesn't grab someone before then. Harris fills in on either side.

Matheson Savard
Edmundson Barron
Guhle Wideman
Harris

Primeau only sent down because he is waiver exempt but I wouldn't be surprised if he makes the team for good part way through year.

Allen
Monty

Drouin on the 1st line is LOL for me..........can't shoot, wont go to the net, and is scared of his shadow.
We know all this, so even thinking of using him in a top 6 role makes no sense. He will hurt that line, and devalue himself even more, if that's possible.

Sorry, just basing it on the last several years of his career....some may think this is his year, but that ship has already sailed like 3 years ago.........

 

[Runner77]

Drouin on the 1st line is LOL for me..........can't shoot, wont go to the net, and is scared of his shadow.
We know all this, so even thinking of using him in a top 6 role makes no sense. He will hurt that line, and devalue himself even more, if that's possible.

Sorry, just basing it on the last several years of his career....some may think this is his year, but that ship has already sailed like 3 years ago.........

I have no expectations about Drouin, just hoping he manages to stay healthy so maybe his good friend MacKinnon can convince Sakic to acquire him at the trading deadline.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

We have 4 good players and 14 absolute chitters just mix em all up and finish 32nd not really hard to figure out

 

[Treb]

How do you feel the line combos up front and on blue line will shake out ?
Anderson - Suzuki - Caufield
Hoffman - Dvorak - Gallagher
Drouin - Dach - Dadonov
Byron/Pezzetta - Monahan/Evans - Armia

Matheson - Edmundson
Harris - Savard
Schueneman - Wideman
Leskinen

Allen
Montembeault

How do you think Allen/Montembeault goalie break down will shake out ? Ratio % of games shared ? Confident with both ?
Allen 50-55 games. Montembeault gets the rest. Primeau get some games when one is injured.

Surprises this season ?
The young guys will actually make the team better as the year progress when they come from the AHL. We will see vets traded a few weeks before TDL (like Toffoli last year). Slafkovsky, Ylonen and one/two of Norlinder/Barron/Guhle will end up coming up to the squad full-time.

Concerns within the roster are ?
Wingers are skilled offensively but many struggle defensively.
Lack of physicality throughout the lineup. You have some guys like Pezzetta and Edmundson, but apart from that not that much punishment power.
D is pretty weak. We have good prospects but many will be in their first full year as a pro or in NA.

 

[CanadianPantherFan]

This is a ton of feedback for me here. Thank you all. There are some bright prospects coming through the system if I’m not mistaken on the back end. Anything to comment on there briefly.

 

[Estimated_Prophet]

There is only one certainty and that is Caufield and Suzuki playing together with Caufield playing the left side on his off wing. Nobody on here has any idea how the rest of the lineup will shake out.

Slafkovsky, Guhle Harris, Barron and maybe Ylonen and/or Primeau are the top candidates to make an impact from our prospect pool.

 

[Treb]

This is a ton of feedback for me here. Thank you all. There are some bright prospects coming through the system if I’m not mistaken on the back end. Anything to comment on there briefly.

Harris: Joined the team after his NCAA season last year and did good. Looking at solidifying his spot in the line-up. Can also play RD so it helps in the mix & match that will happen with our abundance of LHD.

Norlinder: Ton of offensive flashes in Europe. However, he struggled last year in NA partially due to injuries (and potentially coaching as well as we've seen with other offensive players with play under MSL vs Ducharme). This year is big for him if he wants to get a spot on a blueline that might get crowded soon.

Guhle: Big boy that skates well. Did great in the WHL last year including the Memorial Cup. 1st pro year, but did very well in the few games he played in Laval during the Covid years. Will be pushing for a spot but it will be hard with the amount of LD we have.

Barron: Another good skater with some size. Did decent in limited time in the NHL last year. Will be interesting to see how he does as he is one of our few RHD so he might make it out of camp. Would change our D line to something like this:
Matheson - Savard
Edmundson - Barron
Harris - Wideman
Schueneman

Fairbrother: Had bad luck injury wise so he struggled a bit in his first pro year. Looking to come back healthy and be a fixture on Laval's blueline.

Xhekaj: An HF Habs favorite. Huge guy with decent skating. Gives big hit and is not scared of anyone, which made the OHL angry at him quite a few times. Will be interesting to see how he does against older guys that are not a lot frailer than him. Nice story from him having to work at Cotsco to getting an ELC with the Habs as a undrafted player.

Blueliner Arber Xhekaj inks deal with Montreal Canadiens, loaned to Kitchener Rangers

Hamilton native perseveres despite not being drafted into either the Ontario Hockey League or National Hockey League

www.therecord.com

 

[cphabs]

Doing a podcast preview show, and Canadiens are one of the two teams I’m covering:


How do you feel the line combos up front and on blue line will shake out ?
How do you think Allen/Montembeault goalie break down will shake out ? Ratio % of games shared ? Confident with both ?
Surprises this season ? Concerns within the roster are ?

Thanks in advance!

Top 5 22/23…

 

[CanadianPantherFan]

How do you all feel about current cap on blue line ? Moving forward projected as ? To outside eye it looks promising over next season or two. No real albatross there currently with term and $$.