Post-lockout Lineup

[Monctonscout]

Because he's pretty much done and we'd be out from under his contract.

And he's not a great fit here anymore, we have too many puck moving guys on the backend, and not enough muscle.

I hope he could come back and be great, but at this point I think it's best to just move on...

Why would he be "pretty much done"?

His knee is solid and he was playing big minutes KHL and seems to be moving well. I doubt he lost his vision hands or hockey sense.

Did I miss something and we are a cap floor team? So we're going to cut and buy out everybody and have 30 mil cap hit? For what? So we can overpay for some UFa nobody else wants?

 

[tinyzombies]

pacioretty (carry/shoot)
cole (carry/shoot)
gionta (carry/shoot)
bourque (shoot)
armstrong (shoot/cheapshot)
galchenyuk (pass/shoot)
leblanc (pass/shoot?)
palushaj (shoot/hurt)

plekanec (carry/pass)
desharnais (carry/pass)
gomez (carry/pass)
eller (pass)
nokelainen (pass/RH faceoff)

prust (hit)
moen (hit)
white (hit)
blunden (hit)

***

subban (carry/pass/shoot)
weber (shoot)
emelin (hit/shoot?)

markov (pass)
kaberle (carry/pass)
diaz (pass)

gorges (block)

boullion (hit)
st-denis (hit)

***

price (stop pucks)
budaj (sit)
desjardins (sit)

 

[overlords]

Pacioretty Plekanec Gionta
Bourque Desharnais Cole
Galchenyuk Eller Armstrong
Moen White Prust

Yes I'm splitting the first line. Sue me.

Subban Gorges
Markov Diaz
Kaberle Emelin

Lots to like about this one, I think.

We probably shouldn't be throwing gally to the wolves on pleks' line against top opposition. I wouldn't be opposed to seeing Gally play on DD's wing, if that's going to be the soft minutes line again. If Gally plays with Eller (which I'd love to see) I think Moen might be more effective at evens to make up for any jitters Gally may experience. Comes down to the decision of how hard you want Gally's minutes to be.

As for last year's 'top line'. No doubt Therrien starts with it intact, as it's just too easy to do so. Fact remains that if that line remains the soft opposition line, it can't keep both Cole and Patches. The other lines will suffer from lack of competent wingers at even strength.

So ideally...

maxpac - Pleks - gionta // Good first line at evens. May have some trouble passing.

Bourque - DD - Cole // I think bourque needs the soft opposition and giving him a great setup guy like DD just makes sense.

Moen - Eller - Gally // Great two way line. nuff said.

Prust - White - Armstrong // Crash and Bang.

Now if Gally struggles against better opposition you can easily swap him with Cole. Gally does great? Swap him with Gionta and Eller's line becomes beast defensively.

Anyway, that's all fun and good, but I imagine I'll be seeing armstrong and prust in the top 2 lines. Sigh.

 

[Marc the Habs Fan]

Its the perfect year to "rush" him. Pressure is at an all time low on the habs to perform. Most are expecting them to miss the playoffs again.

He can get a good taste of NHL life with a half season instead of the grueling 82 season.

My counter to this:

The fact expectations are low right now is part of the problem with keeping Galchenyuk up. Because no one expects anything out of this team, the media will turn this into a major story and most of the fanbase will immediately try to compare his stats to other top 3 picks and such. The people who don't follow prospects like we do here will act like Galchenyuk should be a difference maker right from the get-go because he was the 3rd pick.

As for the grueling 82 games... this 48 game schedule will be much more grueling. 4 games one week, 3 games the next week and it will alternate like that apparently...for a kid who barely played last year, he could very well hit the wall by game 22 and you've basically wasted the 1st year of his ELC.

 

[Andy]

Fact remains that if that line remains the soft opposition line, it can't keep both Cole and Patches. The other lines will suffer from lack of competent wingers at even strength.

I couldn't have phrased this any better. It really bothers me to my core that we use our two best wingers on the same line while the rest of the time can't score a goal to save their life because of winger depth. Maybe Gionta gets back on pace and Bourque wakes up, who knows, but still, for purposes of spreading the wealth, Pacioretty and Cole need to be split eventually if no one is scoring.

 

[Monctonscout]

My counter to this:

The fact expectations are low right now is part of the problem with keeping Galchenyuk up. Because no one expects anything out of this team, the media will turn this into a major story and most of the fanbase will immediately try to compare his stats to other top 3 picks and such. The people who don't follow prospects like we do here will act like Galchenyuk should be a difference maker right from the get-go because he was the 3rd pick.

As for the grueling 82 games... this 48 game schedule will be much more grueling. 4 games one week, 3 games the next week and it will alternate like that apparently...for a kid who barely played last year, he could very well hit the wall by game 22 and you've basically wasted the 1st year of his ELC.

I think at the end of the day it has more to do with his play than anything...unless Bergevin already has his mind made up taht he is going back. If he plays very well for 9 games and looks like an NHl top 6 player they'll keep him longer, if he struggles they won't keep him. Having missed all of alst year he needs lots of minutes wherever he is.

 

[tinyzombies]

pacioretty (carry/shoot) --- desharnais (carry/pass) --- cole (carry/shoot)
eller (pass/shoot?) --- plekanec (carry/pass) --- bourque (shoot)
armstrong (shoot/cheapshot) --- gomez (carry/pass) --- gionta (carry/shoot)
moen (hit) --- nokelainen (pass/RH faceoff) --- prust (hit)
leblanc (pass/shoot?)
white (hit)

markov (pass) --- gorges (block)
kaberle (carry/pass) --- subban (carry/pass/shoot)
emelin (hit/shoot?) --- diaz (pass)
bouillon (hit)

price (stop pucks)
budaj (sit)

 

[WestIslander]

Pacioretty - Desharnais - Cole
Bourque - Plekanec - Gionta
Eller - Gomez - Armstrong
Prust - White - Moen
Nokelainen

Markov - Gorges
Kaberle - Subban
Bouillon - Emelin
Diaz

Price
Budaj

 

[Luigi Habs]

From an article I read on RDS, there will be apparently no pre-season games.

First 5 to 10 games will be awful to watch I assume.

 

[Monctonscout]

From an article I read on RDS, there will be apparently no pre-season games.

First 5 to 10 games will be awful to watch I assume.

On the contrary, it will probably be very interesting with higher scores and some big momentum swings.

 

[tinyzombies]

Pacioretty - Desharnais - Cole
Bourque - Plekanec - Gionta
Eller - Gomez - Armstrong
Prust - White - Moen
Nokelainen

Markov - Gorges
Kaberle - Subban
Bouillon - Emelin
Diaz

Price
Budaj

I think this is right. Armstrong is a righty and from what I understand, poor defensively. So they're gonna want him on the right side for zone clears. I wonder if Bourque is better as a right winger though, I think he's a natural right winger..

I think Moen and Prust have to switch places though. Not sure they'll want Emelin on the right side just to get Bouillon in there. Maybe..

When Nokelainen is healthy, they're going to need him or White on draws cuz they're righthanded.

I never understood the Bouillon signing. We need to clear both Kaberle and Bouillon and get another big body I think, no?


so...?:

Pacioretty - Desharnais - Cole
Eller - Plekanec - Bourque
Armstrong - Gomez - Gionta (Colby might be ok on the left side with two solid defensive guys like this?)
Moen - Nokelainen - Prust
White

(make Prust and Moen compete for third line left wing slot)

Markov - Gorges
Emelin - Subban
BIG BODY - Diaz
Weber

Price
Budaj

 

[Marc the Habs Fan]

Renaud Lavoie ‏@RenLavoieRDS
Nothing confirm yet, but I except 25-26 players to the Canadiens training camp. Some team will invite 30 players.

2 guys from Hamilton and Galchenyuk basically.

Having missed all of alst year he needs lots of minutes wherever he is.

This. Which is why it has to be top 6 or Sarnia for him. He won't play more than 14 minutes a game on the Eller line if it's the 3rd, especially since we'll most likely be playing our 4th line more since it's better this year.

 

[hersky77]

What has gally done to warrant a shot in our top 6, he was sub par at the world juniors and dont give me that bs he did not play enough. He just wasn't as dynamic as he was supposed to be. Gally is going to be a superstar, but i feel he needs more seasoning in the ohl, before he can dominate in the show.

 

[cap10bfl]

Paccioretty DD Cole
Galchenyuk Plekanec Gionta
Bourque Eller Armstrong
Moen White Prust
Noke

Gorges Subban
Markov Emelin
Kaberle Bouillon
Diaz Weber

Price
Budak


Gomez Hamilton even with Cap hit, we still make it under 70m


Book it!

 

[Gally11]

I'm thinking this might work...

Patches - DD - Cole
Eller - Pleks - Gio
Prust - Gomez - Bourque
Moen - White - Armstrong (i heard white can play center)

Gomez and Bourque together could be disastreous but it is third line.

Gorges - Subban
Markov - Emelin
Kaberle - Diaz/Bouillon

 

[tinyzombies]

What has gally done to warrant a shot in our top 6, he was sub par at the world juniors and dont give me that bs he did not play enough. He just wasn't as dynamic as he was supposed to be. Gally is going to be a superstar, but i feel he needs more seasoning in the ohl, before he can dominate in the show.

I don't see superstar. Star, yes. His skating isn't good enough and he doesn't seem to be the hardest worker. Also, I read where he's a pass-first guy.

 

[Andy]

Slava Malamud ‏@SlavaMalamud
Alexei Emelin has left Ak Bars Kazan. Habs fans can exhale and cross him off the list, too #DefectorsWatch

 

[hersky77]

I don't see superstar. Star, yes. His skating isn't good enough and he doesn't seem to be the hardest worker. Also, I read where he's a pass-first guy.

his skating will come in time ala tavares. He likes to get into the dirty areas, but hes shifted to a perimeter game which does not suit him at all. He's going to be a very good player in due time but I just cant see it happening this year.

 

[tinyzombies]

his skating will come in time ala tavares. He likes to get into the dirty areas, but hes shifted to a perimeter game which does not suit him at all. He's going to be a very good player in due time but I just cant see it happening this year.

That's what it looked like. He was cruising around looking to get open at the WJC, but didn't have the right linemates. But he did it every shift. If you believe Brett Hull (his autobiography), he says he played every shift differently. Gally was too predictable.

 

[tinyzombies]

I'm thinking this might work...

Patches - DD - Cole
Eller - Pleks - Gio
Prust - Gomez - Bourque
Moen - White - Armstrong (i heard white can play center)

Gomez and Bourque together could be disastreous but it is third line.

Gorges - Subban
Markov - Emelin
Kaberle - Diaz/Bouillon

Armstrong makes sense on that line because he's a dirty player and is going to need guys who can fight on his line. Not sure Pleks/Gio can survive with just Eller on their wing. That's a soft line.

 

[WeberBombs]

Patches - DD - Cole
Bourque - Pleky - Gio
Eller - Gomez - Armstrong
Prust - White - Moen

Gorges - Subban
Markov - Emelin
Kaberle - Bouillon

 

[Uber Coca]

What has gally done to warrant a shot in our top 6, he was sub par at the world juniors and dont give me that bs he did not play enough. He just wasn't as dynamic as he was supposed to be. Gally is going to be a superstar, but i feel he needs more seasoning in the ohl, before he can dominate in the show.

How about you stop mentionning a short-sample tournament and focus instead on his awesome play with Sarnia? He's been dominant in the OHL.

I'm not into rushing a prospect into the line-up, but if he outperforms others during the camp I'm all for giving him an opportunity. Hell, why bother bringing him to the short camp if he's going to get cut anyway?

 

[tinyzombies]

How about you stop mentionning a short-sample tournament and focus instead on his awesome play with Sarnia? He's been dominant in the OHL.

I'm not into rushing a prospect into the line-up, but if he outperforms others during the camp I'm all for giving him an opportunity. Hell, why bother bringing him to the short camp if he's going to get cut anyway?

He'll get his nine games if he earns it. Maybe we should do lineups for those nine games instead of some utopian lineup we think will happen.

Pacioretty-DD-Cole
Galchenyuk-Plekanec-Gionta
Eller-Gomez-Bourque (giving Gomer and Bourque the benefit of the doubt now that they're healthy)
Moen-White-Prust (nasty!)
Armstrong

 

[overlords]

He'll get his nine games if he earns it. Maybe we should do lineups for those nine games instead of some utopian lineup we think will happen.

Pacioretty-DD-Cole
Galchenyuk-Plekanec-Gionta
Eller-Gomez-Bourque (giving Gomer and Bourque the benefit of the doubt now that they're healthy)
Moen-White-Prust
Armstrong

Why in the world would you shift Eller to wing for Gomez?

 

[JAVO16]

Pacioretty-Desharnais-Cole
Bourque-Plekanec-Gionta
Moen-Eller-Armstrong
Prust-Nokelainen/Dumont-White

Gorges-Subban
Markov-Emelin/Diaz
Kaberle-Emelin/Diaz
Bouillon/Weber

Price
Budaj

I think Armstrong would be a better option for Eller if they want more scoring punch.

As for the D squad. I think it's a no brainer to put Gorges and Subban together as our top pairing against the opposing teams' best lines. Also, I'm torn on who to put beside Markov and Kaberle. Ideally, we would have two Emelins to side beside Markov and Kaberle since they are such similar players. On one hand, since Markov is not quite as soft as Kaberle, I would put the smaller and less physical Diaz next to him. On the hand, after all his injuries, I would prefer to put a guy not scared to go dig the puck out of the corners for him in Emelin. However, I think he'll prove that he's still superior to Kaberle so he'll be on the second pairing with the fourth defender most deserving of ice time. He might even displace Gorges as the top pairing left-hand defenseman which would open more options. In any case, I'm curious to see how Therrien will arrange his lineup.

And no, I don't see Galchenyuk making the squad.

Edit: Forgot Gomez wouldn't be bought out until this summer. I would put Gomez in either Moen or Armstrong's place then let the fourth line players fight it out for their spot every game (except Prust that is).