Player Discussion Paul Byron

[ahmedou]

 

[ahmedou]

Phase 3, Day 1: Paul Byron Media Op (Article nhl.com/canadiens)

“Just being on the ice with your teammates, I guess. For a lot of us, we've been in small groups for a long time. I've probably been in isolation at home with my family or in small groups of four or five for a few months now, so to be in a group of 30-40 people is pretty fun. It's a weird atmosphere with all the rules and regulations and masks, but that's to keep us all safe. At the same time, it was a lot of fun to get on the ice, skate again, see the teammates, and play hockey. It was weird but I enjoyed it.”

“Honestly, I thought about it every day, whether it would work or not. There are a lot of things that happen off the ice that we don't have control over. When we're here, there are a lot of rules and it's very strict and that's to keep us healthy. But when you leave the rink, that changes. People want to go grab something at IGA or go for dinner, but it's up to us to be responsible to make sure we're staying healthy for everyone. Every day I think about the teams in the US, what are they doing? But that's not something I can control. I've to just try to do my best here in Montreal to focus on the team here, and we'll see what happens. I'm confident we're going in the right direction.”

“There are a lot of rules and here in Quebec, people need to be wearing masks out in public, but then here we're on the ice, like nothing has changed for us. It's really the responsibility of each guy to make sure they're staying healthy and making good decisions. It's a little strange, but as hockey players, it's comfortable for us. It's normal. We trust each other to do the right things.”

“The process itself was quite challenging. We spent many, many hours on the phone talking through team calls. I think we were one of the few teams that on each call from mid-May, we were 15 or 16 guys on every single call. We had enormous participation from everybody, which was important for our group. A lot of guys care. This is our careers, and this is our lives, and those little rules changes are very important to us. Forget about the CBA stuff for a second, I think our team had a lot of health concerns that we voiced our opinions on. The NHLPA took to heart what we said, and I think it was important that they heard our voice. I think most of the guys on our team are happy with the deal, and it's certainly a bit better than what we had before. It's not a perfect deal by any means, but considering where the world's at right now and the economy, people losing jobs, people taking pay cuts, we're all pretty happy to be where we're and to be playing hockey for a living. I think we're tremendously fortunate for that opportunity and I think we're all pretty thankful for that. To be able to put on our jersey and play hockey and make people happy, it's a good feeling.”

 

[dackelljuneaubulis02]

Ironically. One of them scored on Tuesday.

He was one of our best forwards too which is sad but at the same time he gets WAY too much flak on here. And it's really because of the beginning of this past season where (at least I'm sure i heard) that Byron was playing injured. Dude has 2 20 goal seasons and is a great PKer, one of the fastest players in the league and people think 3 million is somehow a gross over payment. He can play up and down the line up and people have just not gotten over the fact that we got him for free. It's like some weird caste system bullsh*t.

edit: I didn't even realize his 15 goal 30 point season after the two 20 goal seasons was only in 56 games. So yeah would've likely hit 20 goals in 3 seasons with 2 40 pt seasons.

The best is his absurd S% which is a career 17% lol. Imagine actually thinking that this player is on one of the worst contracts in the league. Wow.

 

[le_sean]

He was one of our best forwards too which is sad but at the same time he gets WAY too much flak on here. And it's really because of the beginning of this past season where (at least I'm sure i heard) that Byron was playing injured. Dude has 2 20 goal seasons and is a great PKer, one of the fastest players in the league and people think 3 million is somehow a gross over payment. He can play up and down the line up and people have just not gotten over the fact that we got him for free. It's like some weird caste system bullsh*t.

edit: I didn't even realize his 15 goal 30 point season after the two 20 goal seasons was only in 56 games. So yeah would've likely hit 20 goals in 3 seasons with 2 40 pt seasons.

The best is his absurd S% which is a career 17% lol. Imagine actually thinking that this player is on one of the worst contracts in the league. Wow.

Byron is fine as a player but he kind of plays in his own bubble. He creates his own offensive chances. He doesn’t gel with anyone, but is just kind of the same on every line. If you want KK to have wingers that get the best out of him and help him grow, that’s not Byron.

 

[Rapala]

Byron is fine as a player but he kind of plays in his own bubble. He creates his own offensive chances. He doesn’t gel with anyone, but is just kind of the same on every line. If you want KK to have wingers that get the best out of him and help him grow, that’s not Byron.

He's also given credit for being a great penalty killer when we've never had a great PK on his watch.
I get it he can be dangerous at times but PK starts with preventing goals not just scoring the odd shorty.
I've always found him weak at stopping up shooting and passing lanes. I'll admit he isn't the only one though.

 

[dackelljuneaubulis02]

Byron is fine as a player but he kind of plays in his own bubble. He creates his own offensive chances. He doesn’t gel with anyone, but is just kind of the same on every line. If you want KK to have wingers that get the best out of him and help him grow, that’s not Byron.

Oh yeah I think he should be with Danault

 

[le_sean]

Oh yeah I think he should be with Danault

Exactly my thoughts. I think they’d work well together.

 

[Kwikwi]

He was one of our best forwards too which is sad but at the same time he gets WAY too much flak on here. And it's really because of the beginning of this past season where (at least I'm sure i heard) that Byron was playing injured. Dude has 2 20 goal seasons and is a great PKer, one of the fastest players in the league and people think 3 million is somehow a gross over payment. He can play up and down the line up and people have just not gotten over the fact that we got him for free. It's like some weird caste system bullsh*t.

edit: I didn't even realize his 15 goal 30 point season after the two 20 goal seasons was only in 56 games. So yeah would've likely hit 20 goals in 3 seasons with 2 40 pt seasons.

The best is his absurd S% which is a career 17% lol. Imagine actually thinking that this player is on one of the worst contracts in the league. Wow.

Byron side check in the face that panthers player.
Few Game later he dropped gloves. Concussion.
Many months after he wasn’t the same player.
Now hes back. 20 goal form. He should be top 9
Could help kk get more points

 

[Kwikwi]

Byron fight Weeghar

 

[26Mats]

Byron side check in the face that panthers player.
Few Game later he dropped gloves. Concussion.
Many months after he wasn’t the same player.
Now hes back. 20 goal form. He should be top 9
Could help kk get more points

He's a top 9 player. But we already have so many small top 9 players, it's hard to or me to fit him in the top 9.

I'd rather guys like Kovalchuk and even Evans be in the too 9.

But we then Byron is on his game, he's really strong player.

If Domi and Kk can emerge, perhaps in 2021-2022, I've been always thought Byton-Danault-Lehkonen would be a great shutdown/4th line.


Kovalchuk Domi Gallagher
Tatar Suzuki Evans
Drouin Kotkaniemi Armia
Byron Danault Lehkonen

Maybe when hell freezes over Julien will break up the Danault line. It opens up many possible combos that might make us a better team.

 

[mynamejeff420]

He's a top 9 player. But we already have so many small top 9 players, it's hard to or me to fit him in the top 9.

I'd rather guys like Kovalchuk and even Evans be in the too 9.

But we then Byron is on his game, he's really strong player.

If Domi and Kk can emerge, perhaps in 2021-2022, I've been always thought Byton-Danault-Lehkonen would be a great shutdown/4th line.


Kovalchuk Domi Gallagher
Tatar Suzuki Evans
Drouin Kotkaniemi Armia
Byron Danault Lehkonen

Maybe when hell freezes over Julien will break up the Danault line. It opens up many possible combos that might make us a better team.

Why would Julien have any incentive to break up the Danault line? It's one of the best lines in the league, it would be incredibly stupid to do that.

Also all 3 of Byron, Danault, and Lehkonen are way too good to be playing on the 4th line, Byron and Lehkonen are great 3rd liners at worst, and Danault is a strong 2C at worst.

But to bring it back to Byron, he had 2 strong years where he played and scored like a top 6 forward before he fell off this year. Now why was that you may ask? Well, he started the year on the 4th line playing next to noted offensive black hole Nate Thompson. Safe to say that pairing didn't work well together. I don't think it's a coincidence that Byron looked better when he returned from his injury and actually got to play on scoring lines. He's an effective scorer with a good shot, we should be utilizing that.

As for where he should be slotted, in my opinion he's best suited to be playing next to Max Domi. Byron doesn't need to carry the puck to be effective, and Domi is a really strong transition player. All Byron really needs is for someone to get him the puck when he's in a shooting position (or a breakaway position) and he'll be able to score. Domi is a great passer and puck mover, making him the perfect compliment to Byron. Domi needs someone to finish his passes, Byron needs someone to get him the puck.

Plus they worked really well as a pairing together this season, why not reunite them?

 

[26Mats]

Why would Julien have any incentive to break up the Danault line? It's one of the best lines in the league, it would be incredibly stupid to do that.

Also all 3 of Byron, Danault, and Lehkonen are way too good to be playing on the 4th line, Byron and Lehkonen are great 3rd liners at worst, and Danault is a strong 2C at worst.

But to bring it back to Byron, he had 2 strong years where he played and scored like a top 6 forward before he fell off this year. Now why was that you may ask? Well, he started the year on the 4th line playing next to noted offensive black hole Nate Thompson. Safe to say that pairing didn't work well together. I don't think it's a coincidence that Byron looked better when he returned from his injury and actually got to play on scoring lines. He's an effective scorer with a good shot, we should be utilizing that.

As for where he should be slotted, in my opinion he's best suited to be playing next to Max Domi. Byron doesn't need to carry the puck to be effective, and Domi is a really strong transition player. All Byron really needs is for someone to get him the puck when he's in a shooting position (or a breakaway position) and he'll be able to score. Domi is a great passer and puck mover, making him the perfect compliment to Byron. Domi needs someone to finish his passes, Byron needs someone to get him the puck.

Plus they worked really well as a pairing together this season, why not reunite them?
View attachment 356592

I could see a Byron Domi duo being successful - with the right 3rd wheel. Byron was great with Galchenyuk and Radulov. We need a good player with good hockey sense and size to complete that line. Perhaps Kovalchuk. Not Lehkonen or Armia...

I listed Byron-Danault-Lehkonen 4th in order of lines, but would have them playing against the oppositions top offensive line... so not really a 4th line...

I would break up Tatar-danault-Gallagher, or at least see what it gives, when we're in the middle of an 8 game losing streak - or at least, least if we're in the middle of a 2nd 8 game losing streak. Ya know maybe a change is ok? Maybe Clode? Although they're a great line, having each on a separate line strengthens 3 lines. And there are other good players on other lines that could benefit from playing with them. Tatar and Suzuki have chemistry. Gallagher would really help KK and/or Domi.

 

[mynamejeff420]

I could see a Byron Domi duo being successful - with the right 3rd wheel. Byron was great with Galchenyuk and Radulov. We need a good player with good hockey sense and size to complete that line. Perhaps Kovalchuk. Not Lehkonen or Armia...

I listed Byron-Danault-Lehkonen 4th in order of lines, but would have them playing against the oppositions top offensive line... so not really a 4th line...

I would break up Tatar-danault-Gallagher, or at least see what it gives, when we're in the middle of an 8 game losing streak - or at least, least if we're in the middle of a 2nd 8 game losing streak. Ya know maybe a change is ok? Maybe Clode? Although they're a great line, having each on a separate line strengthens 3 lines. And there are other good players on other lines that could benefit from playing with them. Tatar and Suzuki have chemistry. Gallagher would really help KK and/or Domi.

Yeah I'm not opposed to spreading out the wealth, since Tatar, Danault, and Gallagher are all really great players imo. Though I think a reorganization of the other lines, along with adding some solid depth, would mean that we wouldn't need to separate that top line and we could allow them to continue dominating against elite competition.

I do think you're underselling Lehkonen though, he's a really solid offensive talent (he can drive play offensively, even if he doesn't end up with flashy point totals) and he provides an excellent defensive conscience to whatever line he plays on. Really fits in anywhere in the middle 6 imo (also I disagree with the assessment that Lehkonen and Armia don't have good hockey sense). But yeah ideally we wouldn't have 2 complimentary players (Byron/Lehkonen/Armia/Weal) playing on the same line, at least in the top 6. In an ideal world you'd have something like:

Tatar - Danault - Gallagher
Byron - Domi - x
Lehkonen - Suzuki - Armia
x - Kotkaniemi - Weal

Byron, Lehkonen, and Armia are all good complimentary players, but are probably all best suited to play on different lines, and the Habs would be better suited to add established scorers in those extra spots. Now maybe that can be achieved to a certain extent by moving Gallagher or Tatar down, and bumping up one of those complimentary players down, but it's tough to say. I really don't love the idea of splitting up a line that good. Hard to blame the two 8-game losing streaks on them imo, as they weren't the problem.

Lastly, for the 3rd on the Byron/Domi line, I don't think it needs to be what you described. They actually had their most success with Weal as the third wheel (or 3rd Weal haha).

I think that it just comes down to Domi being a really good player, one good enough to drive his own line, so all he needs on his wings are complimentary players. That's why he can have success with a Jordan Weal, or a Paul Byron, or an Artturi Lehkonen. I do think that in an ideal world though you'd find a good, well established top 6 winger (like Radulov) to play with Byron/Domi, so Domi and the winger can feed off each other and make plays, while Byron can be the finisher/3rd wheel. Do I think Kovalchuk is that player though? In my opinion he's too old, and he was really starting to slow down near the end of his tenure here, so no, I don't think so. Ideally it would be someone younger, with a longer track record of success (don't forget Kovalchuk was pretty terrible in LA, who knows when he'd turn back into a pumpkin).

To conclude my jumped up thoughts (and give a TL;DR of sorts), given the talent we have now, it may be a good idea to break up the TDG line and run a top 6 of Lehkonen/Danault/Gallagher and Tatar/Domi/Byron or something like that, but ideally we'd add a top 6 RW so we could keep Tatar/Danault/Gallagher together and run a 2nd line of Byron/Domi/Top 6 RW, so that Lehkonen can strengthen the 3rd line and play with Suzuki (giving us a really strong line, no matter who the RW is).

 

[ahmedou]

 

[ahmedou]

#Byron-PressConference(20/08/05)

“This was a fresh start for our team. Fresh start for everybody. We knew how big this opportunity was and where we were when we finished in March, and to get a chance like this just doesn’t come around very often. I’m 31. I haven’t played that much playoff hockey. So to have this opportunity put forth in front of us, I wanted to make sure that I just left everything I could on the ice. Play as hard as I can.”

“Having guys like Weber and Price Gallagher playing the way they're for us. Bringing out the heart in guys. It’s been a lot of fun playing alongside. And I just want to be in every shift for the team and do what I can to help out.”

 

[tooji]

Honestly, amazing vet. Love byron, so clutch this series

 

[dackelljuneaubulis02]

Honestly, amazing vet. Love byron, so clutch this series

and he gets no love. One of our only forwards who consistently created chances and also our highest scoring forward. the Byron hate is hockey hipster edge lord garbage. Fantastic depth. He should likely replace Armia with KK but if it ain't broke I guess

 

[HBDay]

Byron playing seven feet tall out there.

Fought off three penguins for that lehkonen goal.

 

[angusyoung]

Byron playing seven feet tall out there.

Fought off three penguins for that lehkonen goal.

All the penguins were standing around like....penguins

 

[ahmedou]

Paul Byron takes over camera duties to give fans a first-person tour of what he brought with him into the bubble.

 

[JianYang]

I was listening to a penguins post game show, which had a discussion with their penguin media rep in Toronto.

He thought byron was an "animal", and if he's available, the penguins should seriously look at him.

I can't say I disagree. He would be an excellent utility player who fits their brand... Their next version of hagelin basically.

 

[ahmedou]

Byron addresses the media via Zoom from the bubble in Toronto on Saturday (20/08/15):

“I didn't notice much of a change.. Muller is always somebody who talks with a certain intensity, he's hard. He's been in your shoes, he battled. Anyone who watched him play hockey knows the kind of hockey he played. You've instant respect for him: what he says to you, his opinions. Whenever he delivers a message, it's pretty heartfelt. Guys respect it, guys understand it and I think he's really good at teaching. His message was really good to our team yesterday. Everyone seemed to rally behind what happened to our coach and stay focused. Keeping all our attention on the game and worry about playing hard, because we knew Julien was going to be watching back home. The coaching staff spent a lot of time trying to get us to play a certain way and now it's up to us to just execute that game plan.”

 

[Grand Admiral Thrawn]

There's a reason he is called Lord Byron... Show some respect!

This guy has been great for this team.

20 goal scorer, always a threat on the PK, plays hard, very versatile, easy to coach, doesn't hinder any line he plays on in fact quite the opposite, and also has a certain Edge which is rare for a small player.

What's not to like?

 

[Skip Bayless]

I feel he's lost a step, still an efficient player on most nights.

 

[26Mats]

There's a reason he is called Lord Byron... Show some respect!

This guy has been great for this team.

20 goal scorer, always a threat on the PK, plays hard, very versatile, easy to coach, doesn't hinder any line he plays on in fact quite the opposite, and also has a certain Edge which is rare for a small player.

What's not to like?

I just sometimes get frustrated with him, Lehkonen and Armia when they're playing with our current top 6 offensive players.

When they're playing with Danault or on the 4th line I absolutely love them.