Out of Town Thread - New Year's Edition!

[CapSpace]

Sam gagner had an 8 point game. Who cares

And Jan Bulis had a 4 goals night.

 

[Schooner Guy]

What a disgraceful loss for the Senators last night. 5-0 vs lowly Chicago with the Sens having a golden opportunity to get in the driver's seat of a wildcard spot.

 

[the valiant effort]

The Blackhawks aren’t doing enough for their tank.

 

[Lshap]

Habs were 18th place that year.............normally this does NOT qualify for the playoffs.
All they needed was a Canadian Division and a world Pandemic to make it to da playoff that year.
That's all

How will the 18th place team do this year, in the playoffs?
Think about it.....

There was no 18th place in a league that never played each other. How can you compare totals between teams that played against completely different competition? It's like comparing an NHL's team's point totals to the point totals of an SHL team.

I know that's a bit pedantic (although technically correct). I just get a bit frustrated when the pandemic is framed as an advantage for the 2021 Habs without noting the obvious disadvantages. A bunch of games were cancelled due to Covid, leaving Montreal with (I think) the densest schedule in the league. Not surprisingly, all those back-to-backs started an injury chain that didn't end until the first game of round-1 against the Leafs. The last six weeks of the season Habs were missing Price, Weber, Danault, Gallagher, Tatar – our star goalie, top D, and best forwards.

It's just as valid to say that the Habs would've finished higher in the standings without the toll Covid took on our roster.

I realize it's a pointless what-if exercise, but whatever you think of that Habs team, it was no more a 'fluke' than one-off finalists like Dallas, Vegas, Nashville, NYR, and even one-off winners like St Louis and Washington. Opportunistic rosters that could've/should've lost, but found a way to win. Unsustainable, but a helluva lot of fun.

 

[BLONG7]

There was no 18th place in a league that never played each other. How can you compare totals between teams that played against completely different competition? It's like comparing an NHL's team's point totals to the point totals of an SHL team.

I know that's a bit pedantic (although technically correct). I just get a bit frustrated when the pandemic is framed as an advantage for the 2021 Habs without noting the obvious disadvantages. A bunch of games were cancelled due to Covid, leaving Montreal with (I think) the densest schedule in the league. Not surprisingly, all those back-to-backs started an injury chain that didn't end until the first game of round-1 against the Leafs. The last six weeks of the season Habs were missing Price, Weber, Danault, Gallagher, Tatar – our star goalie, top D, and best forwards.

It's just as valid to say that the Habs would've finished higher in the standings without the toll Covid took on our roster.

I realize it's a pointless what-if exercise, but whatever you think of that Habs team, it was no more a 'fluke' than one-off finalists like Dallas, Vegas, Nashville, NYR, and even one-off winners like St Louis and Washington. Opportunistic rosters that could've/should've lost, but found a way to win. Unsustainable, but a helluva lot of fun.

My point is and was, if it was a regular season, the team does not qualify for the playoffs..........this we know is true.
They finish near the bottom of their real division. Instead of finsihing 4th in in a Cdn division that had 56 games?
We just got lucky that the season wasn't 60 games, or Calgary beats us................
Luckily, Price went on a heater, and the guys scored some goals, and we all enjoyed it immensely.
But don't kid yourself, the real team showed it's ugly self the next season and the turd of a GM was shown the door.
He built one of the worse teams ever, with one of the best goalies in the league. We all knew this was not a good team, the results through the years since 2017 were down right awful.

Some fans, were not fooled by the Cup appearance.....and the well the fans of every other team will tell you there is no way you can do Cup Finals and 32 nd place in consecutive seasons....

 

[Lshap]

My point is and was, if it was a regular season, the team does not qualify for the playoffs..........this we know is true.
They finish near the bottom of their real division. Instead of finsihing 4th in in a Cdn division that had 56 games?
We just got lucky that the season wasn't 60 games, or Calgary beats us................
Luckily, Price went on a heater, and the guys scored some goals, and we all enjoyed it immensely.
But don't kid yourself, the real team showed it's ugly self the next season and the turd of a GM was shown the door.
He built one of the worse teams ever, with one of the best goalies in the league. We all knew this was not a good team, the results through the years since 2017 were down right awful.

Some fans, were not fooled by the Cup appearance.....and the well the fans of every other team will tell you there is no way you can do Cup Finals and 32 nd place in consecutive seasons....

Have to disagree. Finishing 32nd wasn't more real than making the SCF, they were radically different results based on radically different rosters and circumstances. Last year there was no Price, Weber, Danault, or Perry, and Gallagher and Edmundson became shells. Very different rosters, historic injuries, awful coach.

There was nothing to be fooled by in 2021. The team earned its playoff spot and SCF run, but it was quite obviously unsustainable. That doesn't make it a fluke or lucky or anything different than plenty of other one-off finalists.

 

[JianYang]

Have to disagree. Finishing 32nd wasn't more real than making the SCF, they were radically different results based on radically different rosters and circumstances. Last year there was no Price, Weber, Danault, or Perry, and Gallagher and Edmundson became shells. Very different rosters, historic injuries, awful coach.

There was nothing to be fooled by in 2021. The team earned its playoff spot and SCF run, but it was quite obviously unsustainable. That doesn't make it a fluke or lucky or anything different than plenty of other one-off finalists.

Not that I expected the Habs to be a finalist in 2021, but their covid stoppages were brutal. They played an sustainable schedule for the last couple months where they were playing either every other day, or back to back.

I'm guessing this is where the complaints came as well that the players weren't getting their alloted days off with a new coach also trying to implement his mark on the team. The division also had multiple time zones which makes it that much harder.

Didn't they also start OT with like 10 losses in a row?

All this to say that I think the 2021 team was better than the record suggested.

 

[Lshap]

Not that I expected the Habs to be a finalist in 2021, but their covid stoppages were brutal. They played an sustainable schedule for the last couple months where they were playing either every other day, or back to back.

I'm guessing this is where the complaints came as well that the players weren't getting their alloted days off with a new coach also trying to implement his mark on the team. The division also had multiple time zones which makes it that much harder.

Didn't they also start OT with like 10 losses in a row?

All this to say that I think the 2021 team was better than the record suggested.

Yeah, that's how I see it. It's unfair to point out how the Habs benefitted from the Covid season without acknowledging how hard it hit them. How much better would their record have been if their best players weren't overextended and hurt from January into April? Obviously they'd have had more wins, but we'll never know how many. Assembling Weber, Price, Perry, and Staal on the same team was cool, even if it was only for a short run.

 

[salbutera]

Interesting tidbit from 32 Thoughts podcast @ 19:30 mark. In one of Bettman’s first management meetings, Savard & Gainey were ready to duke it out over the signing of a player and the impact it would have on other signings.

Savard always talked as if he had an axe to grind with Gainey during his tenure as GM…

 

[BLONG7]

Have to disagree. Finishing 32nd wasn't more real than making the SCF, they were radically different results based on radically different rosters and circumstances. Last year there was no Price, Weber, Danault, or Perry, and Gallagher and Edmundson became shells. Very different rosters, historic injuries, awful coach.

There was nothing to be fooled by in 2021. The team earned its playoff spot and SCF run, but it was quite obviously unsustainable. That doesn't make it a fluke or lucky or anything different than plenty of other one-off finalists.

As you say..............agree to disagree.
And I will leave it at that.....

 

[Xirik]

Thought Habs fans would enjoy being credited for being very welcoming to the AGM of the Devils at the draft.



first minute is about the draft and Montreal

 

[ZUKI]

Sam gagner had an 8 point game. Who cares

my grandma got 12 kids . Who cares

 

[ZUKI]

It's really tough to argue after the fact TBH.

It's like the chicken-egg debate.

That team reached the Stanley Cup final when no one expected it and somehow Ducharme is still viewed as a moron.

Maybe he pushed the right buttons at the right time?

Not trying to defend Ducharme here, just thinking out loud.

KK was pissed that he was not playing and maybe he gave more out there when he was inserted into the lineup and so on...

from my understanding, the team was builded for the playoffs, but the season went bad because injuries, and i have to admit that Ducharme didn't seem to be able to establish a good system. The playoffs super run was made possible by few things; first, a healthy roster with the return of key players. Second, the teams was builded for the playoffs, as i said, so they started to play their game, and to end , Ducharme was out for a while, and his substitute found the way to install a system that was perfect for the team. I look stupid here but i can't recall the name of the A-coach
. Anyway, once Ducharme came back, he first let the players play their game , then he slowly starts to change the new system...and the Habs start to loose .

 

[ZUKI]

The Habs wouldn't have made the playoffs in normal circumstances. You should acknowledge this, first.

In terms of the 2021 playoffs, the Habs certainly beat three teams and earned their victories. The Habs also lost in the finals in the worst performing, most one-sided Finals in recent history. You need to square those two facts together -- the picture becomes clear. In the context of praising Bergevin and Ducharme, it has to be stated Habs were not a "SC Finalist" quality team.

As for the 2023 playoffs, the western conference will still not be weaker than the 2021 Covid Canada division where the Habs fell ass-backward into the playoffs.

The rules were there for all the teams, not only for the Habs. You give credit to the Covid-19 for that place in the playoffs in another post from you. It goes the 2 ways ; Habs was devastated by the number of players that went out because of the Covid and also because of the injuries.How to build a system in these conditions ? They start to win once the roster was healthy.

Also Luke Richardson was name interim when Ducharme was out for a while. He had the chance to be able to work with the healthy roster and the players bought his system, really fast .He was a better fit than Ducharme for sure.

To end, it wasn't the worst finals performing team, if you take in consideration that Tampa were largely over the salaries cap, that both Price and Weber were playing with career end injuries, Habs were more praised for their fantastic run, and it have been said that Tampa were unbeatable not only by the Habs but by any teams because they were big time over the salaries cap

 

[DAChampion]

Weber was completely different! He was already an established borderline star in the league and the Preds were too cheap to give him a decent contract.

KK showed f***all in the league to warrant that salary he got offered.

RFAs are allowed to sign offer sheets.

 

[Spring in Fialta]

My God, Nashville's social media team are proper idiots.

 

[ReimanSum1908]

If Slaf was on the same development trajectory of Tage Thompson, sure. But you should be preaching patience to the Habs organization for rushing him and putting him in a position to fail.

To continue our other discussion, I find it hard to beliee you think Suzuki is a middling second line C and Gallagher (in his prime) was a topline forward. It doesn't square.

Nothing strange about that when Gallagher was an objectively superior player in their respective primes (if we believe that Suzuki is in his). Suzuki has had two short spans during which he looked like a top-line player, both of which coincided with him having one of - if not at one point early this season, the best - shooting percentages in the league and being line-mates with a superstar. Suzuki disappears without Caufield and a high shooting percentage whereas Gallagher played his best hockey after Pacioretty left.

The mystique of a player, who is fine but a bog average second liner, is based purely on skewed perceptions due to his having 'miraculously' "elevated his game in the playoffs" and having all the luck in the world early this year.

Gallagher was a monster, dominating possession and putting up exceptional underlying numbers including high-danger shots, scoring chances, and expected goals as the difficulty of his assignments increased later in his career. Suzuki is also protected by more favorable zone starts overall, though he's not sheltered.

Even disregarding their equally ridiculous (in the opposite senses) salaries during their primes, Gallagher was just a better player overall, under more difficult assignments, with worse line mates and luck.

 

[DAChampion]

my grandma got 12 kids . Who cares

Don't you?

 

[Team_Spirit]

Huge game for the wc spots. Isles outshot the Sabres 39-24 and win 3-2 on this goal;

 

[ReHabs]

To end, it wasn't the worst finals performing team, if you take in consideration that Tampa were largely over the salaries cap, that both Price and Weber were playing with career end injuries, Habs were more praised for their fantastic run, and it have been said that Tampa were unbeatable not only by the Habs but by any teams because they were big time over the salaries cap

It was the worst finals matchup I’ve seen in my lifetime. One team thoroughly dominated the other. Can you name a worse performing finals team? And I don’t mean simply losing in 5, but how they lost.

And I don’t mean this in an excessively negative sense because the previous round was amazing and the Habs played excellent against Vegas, and we’re too good in all facets against Winnipeg, and showed a lot of bravery against Toronto. It was the best playoffs of my generation… I just feel compelled to pour cold water on those who use this campaign to erect triumphant arches for Bergevin.

 

[ZUKI]

It was the worst finals matchup I’ve seen in my lifetime. One team thoroughly dominated the other. Can you name a worse performing finals team? And I don’t mean simply losing in 5, but how they lost.

And I don’t mean this in an excessively negative sense because the previous round was amazing and the Habs played excellent against Vegas, and we’re too good in all facets against Winnipeg, and showed a lot of bravery against Toronto. It was the best playoffs of my generation… I just feel compelled to pour cold water on those who use this campaign to erect triumphant arches for Bergevin.

"Worst" finals in my "lifetime "... here we go with the opera drama Should i conclude that you were to young to have seen the epic stanley Cup run of '93 ? it was so entertaining

" I just feel compelled to pour cold water on those who use this campaign to erect triumphant arches for Bergevin. "

My God, you are on a Mission Even his biggest defenders will never erect triumphant arches for Bergevin. People are not stupid or blind. Honestly , it sounds more that you just want to pour your cold water only on Bergevin's head or to discredite him of any success the team had..

 

[ZUKI]

Don't you?

Not really

 

[Gustave]

Huge game for the wc spots. Isles outshot the Sabres 39-24 and win 3-2 on this goal;

How did that count…

 

[Kennedys]

Hawks roster is putrid. It's 1989-90 Nordiques level of suckiness without a Joe Sakic

 

[the valiant effort]

PLD injured for this big game vs the Wild

Says all we need to know about what kind of player he really is