Player Discussion Rafaël Harvey-Pinard

[Pat Riot]

For me we need to be actively seeking an upgrade.
Accepting his play as good enough is the same as accepting our team ranking as being good enough.
I don't get why people are loathe to let go of lesser players.
Some were insisting he would be our answer to losing Lehkonen and that he clearly isn't.
We have the means to pay more and get better that is exactly what we need to do.
We need to do it in every area and every role possible. I'm fairly certain that's what rebuilding is supposed to be.

Why you dont think he can be a good replacement for lekhonen?
Yeah he was injured this season like Lekhonen who was injured pretty much every season he played for us.
RHP scores 14 goals in 34 games last season which is more than every Lekhonen for us except his rookie season.
RHP can play good defense like Lekhonen and his contract his half price compare to lekhy one when he was a habs.
I dont understand how you can state so strongly that RHP isnt a fine replacement to Lekhonen

 

[Rapala]

Why you dont think he can be a good replacement for lekhonen?
Yeah he was injured this season like Lekhonen who was injured pretty much every season he played for us.
RHP scores 14 goals in 34 games last season which is more than every Lekhonen for us except his rookie season.
RHP can play good defense like Lekhonen and his contract his half price compare to lekhy one when he was a habs.
I dont understand how you can state so strongly that RHP isnt a fine replacement to Lekhonen

C'mon man you can't be serious.
RHP also played with Suzuki while doing it Lehkonen never had that pleasure.
He doesn't skate like Lehkonen he's not as smart as Lehkonen and I doubt very much he'll be as duarable as Lehkonen was for us.
Not on the same tier of player at all sorry.

 

[Mrb1p]

For me we need to be actively seeking an upgrade.
Accepting his play as good enough is the same as accepting our team ranking as being good enough.
I don't get why people are loathe to let go of lesser players.
Some were insisting he would be our answer to losing Lehkonen and that he clearly isn't.
We have the means to pay more and get better that is exactly what we need to do.
We need to do it in every area and every role possible. I'm fairly certain that's what rebuilding is supposed to be.

He's a bottom 6 winger that gets the job done. I'm not sure what we expect really. I'm probably the most demanding of all the fans, and I agree, but the blame isn't in the right spot here.

Can we upgrade on him ? I don't know. If we can, sure do it, but upgrading on him would mean we upgraded on Anderson, Gallagher, Ylonen, Pearson, White and Pezzetta because he's better and more useful than all of those.

None of the stats back up that he's the worse of the group above, except if you want to look at raw production, but thats unfair to a guy that played 40 games, 400 minutes and most of those with White/Pezz/etc. He has on on-ice GF % better than any of those listed, except for Pezz who's mega-sheltered. He's also better than all of those for on-ice shot attempts ratio. Basically, he's the only forward in the bottom 6, that comes out on top. I wouldn't blame Evans for not getting out on top because he's asked a lot, but RHP is 100% not the problem.

Of course upgrade on him if you can, but with Pearson, White, Pezz, Andy, Gally all there, why are we targetting RHP here ?

C'mon man you can't be serious.
RHP also played with Suzuki while doing it Lehkonen never had that pleasure.
He doesn't skate like Lehkonen he's not as smart as Lehkonen and I doubt very much he'll be as duarable as Lehkonen was for us.
Not on the same tier of player at all sorry.

Lekhonne is a pretty much "elite" middle 6 forwards, he's as good as you can get in that role. RHP is a good bottom 6 one. They don't fit the same niche.

RHP does provide similar PK abilities though, Armia and him are basically the only good thing about our PK both eye-test wise and stats wise.

 

[HabsCowboysOwn]

Another forgettable nothing player who got hot for 2 weeks, I never understood the love story. His biggest career feat will be his contribution to ruin the tank with some useless late season goals in 2022-2023.

 

[sampollock]

Another forgettable nothing player who got hot for 2 weeks, I never understood the love story. His biggest career feat will be his contribution to ruin the tank with some useless late season goals in 2022-2023.

needs to go down and never come back up

 

[Pat Riot]

C'mon man you can't be serious.
RHP also played with Suzuki while doing it Lehkonen never had that pleasure.
He doesn't skate like Lehkonen he's not as smart as Lehkonen and I doubt very much he'll be as duarable as Lehkonen was for us.
Not on the same tier of player at all sorry.

Hes earning half his salary so you expect him to be a lesser player but just like Lekhonen he is a very easy player to replace in a line up

 

[Leon Lucius Black]

Didn't expect him to repeat his point totals from last year, however I was hoping he could at least bring some energy in our bottom six and chip in offensively, but he's been invisible all year.

The injuries haven't helped him and he's always been a hard worker, so I won't be surprised to see him bounce back next year.

 

[Rapala]

Hes earning half his salary so you expect him to be a lesser player but just like Lekhonen he is a very easy player to replace in a line up

Great Montreal Canadiens fans the world over can rejoice we suck but we're saving a couple of million on the cap.!

 

[Canadiens98]

I don't think replacing RHP in the bottom 6 for next season is as pressing a need as some are making it seem.

His stats last season were increased by virtue of playing with Suzuki, and this season they've been hurt by both injuries and playing with Colin White.

 

[Mrb1p]

I don't think replacing RHP in the bottom 6 for next season is as pressing a need as some are making it seem.

His stats last season were increased by virtue of playing with Suzuki, and this season they've been hurt by both injuries and playing with Colin White.

Also luck. He was very lucky last year, this year he had none. Reality is he belongs in the middle. Somewhere between 25-35 points with good defensive instincts and outstanding PK abilities.

 

[Canadiens98]

Also luck. He was very lucky last year, this year he had none. Reality is he belongs in the middle. Somewhere between 25-35 points with good defensive instincts and outstanding PK abilities.

And for me, that's a pretty good bottom 6 winger if he can also bring energy

 

[Rapala]

Ylonen, Pearson, White and Pezzetta because he's better and more useful than all of those.

It's not like I haven't been pushing this agenda for about two or three months now.
The Anderson and Gallagher dossiers obviously can't be fixed...
yet

My premise is that If we want to be competitive next season and want a fair evaluation of where we stand we need to fill as many holes as possible.
I don't believe the magical missing link for our top 6 will happen for another two seasons minimum.

 

[Sorinth]

For me we need to be actively seeking an upgrade.
Accepting his play as good enough is the same as accepting our team ranking as being good enough.
I don't get why people are loathe to let go of lesser players.
Some were insisting he would be our answer to losing Lehkonen and that he clearly isn't.
We have the means to pay more and get better that is exactly what we need to do.
We need to do it in every area and every role possible. I'm fairly certain that's what rebuilding is supposed to be.

It's kind of ironic you bring up Lehkonen given that many people were saying similar things about him when he was a Hab and how we needed an upgrade on him and he wasn't a good fit for the bottom-6 or that he was a lesser player.

RHP in a bottom-6 role is perfectly fine, he's not moving the needle much in either direction. Our team isn't good enough not because our depth players like RHP are lesser players but because we lack enough high quality players. This obsession with depth players being key to any success or lack thereof is utter nonsense. So no we shouldn't actively be seeking an upgrade on RHP with the idea that doing so is going to make our team good, what we should acitvely be looking for is additions to the top-6.

 

[Rapala]

It's kind of ironic you bring up Lehkonen given that many people were saying similar things about him when he was a Hab and how we needed an upgrade on him and he wasn't a good fit for the bottom-6 or that he was a lesser player.

RHP in a bottom-6 role is perfectly fine, he's not moving the needle much in either direction. Our team isn't good enough not because our depth players like RHP are lesser players but because we lack enough high quality players. This obsession with depth players being key to any success or lack thereof is utter nonsense. So no we shouldn't actively be seeking an upgrade on RHP with the idea that doing so is going to make our team good, what we should acitvely be looking for is additions to the top-6.

What part about actively seeking to fill every hole possible don't you comprehend.
I'm sure some will find it ironic but I never shared most peoples views on who Lehkonen was or how valuable he was to our club.
Utter nonsense is thinking RHP is a quality 4th line player.
As it stands we have both Roy and Newhook who will play top six minutes. If we can add great.
What we don't have and need desperately is a bottom 6 who can play consistently in the other end of the rink.
What we don't have is a heavy checking line that can wear down opposing Dmen.
You surely have to see the difference between what our Dmen face game in and game out vs what we put on the opposisiton's D.
Go ahead and get top six help but don't expect it to mean much when games get intense.

 

[Sorinth]

What part about actively seeking to fill every hole possible don't you comprehend.
I'm sure some will find it ironic but I never shared most peoples views on who Lehkonen was or how valuable he was to our club.
Utter nonsense is thinking RHP is a quality 4th line player.
As it stands we have both Roy and Newhook who will play top six minutes. If we can add great.
What we don't have and need desperately is a bottom 6 who can play consistently in the other end of the rink.
What we don't have is a heavy checking line that can wear down opposing Dmen.
You surely have to see the difference between what our Dmen face game in and game out vs what we put on the opposisiton's D.
Go ahead and get top six help but don't expect it to mean much when games get intense.

Getting a high end bottom-6 guy is not a desperate need, nor is a physical checking line. It's crazy to think those are needs but having more then 1 guy hit 30 goals isn't the more desperate issue that needs to be addressed.

 

[Rapala]

Getting a high end bottom-6 guy is not a desperate need, nor is a physical checking line. It's crazy to think those are needs but having more then 1 guy hit 30 goals isn't the more desperate issue that needs to be addressed.

A winning hockey club in my eyes is certainly built differently from what you are projecting.

 

[Pat Riot]

What part about actively seeking to fill every hole possible don't you comprehend.
I'm sure some will find it ironic but I never shared most peoples views on who Lehkonen was or how valuable he was to our club.
Utter nonsense is thinking RHP is a quality 4th line player.
As it stands we have both Roy and Newhook who will play top six minutes. If we can add great.
What we don't have and need desperately is a bottom 6 who can play consistently in the other end of the rink.
What we don't have is a heavy checking line that can wear down opposing Dmen.
You surely have to see the difference between what our Dmen face game in and game out vs what we put on the opposisiton's D.
Go ahead and get top six help but don't expect it to mean much when games get intense.

The utter nonsense is thinking Lekhonen was such a valuable player to our team.

 

[Rapala]

The utter nonsense is thinking Lekhonen was such a valuable player to our team.

How much did you enjoy the Clarence S Campbell Bowl.

 

[Mrb1p]

He was very good tonight. Who woulda thought.

 

[Sorinth]

A winning hockey club in my eyes is certainly built differently from what you are projecting.

I find it quite funny that you feel like you can project what I think a winning team looks like based on me saying RHP is fine as a depth player and that adding scoring to a team that has a single 30 goal scorer is a much bigger need then a physical 4th line.

 

[Andy]

I think he has good hockey sense, but his bad footspeed and agility prevents him from getting in any kind of position to take advantage of his hockey sense.

I did not find his production last season to be fluky. He showed a good understanding of the game. He's just too slow to be effective right now.

 

[Rapala]

I find it quite funny that you feel like you can project what I think a winning team looks like based on me saying RHP is fine as a depth player and that adding scoring to a team that has a single 30 goal scorer is a much bigger need then a physical 4th line.

I certainly can if you think RHP is part of the solution.
The point is simple we probably won't be getting another thirty goal scorer this off season.
Should that prevent us from finding other upgrades if possible and even if we do get that player should we stop the rebuild.
It's not a question of prioritizing one way or the other the question is does this player make us a better team.
I'm a very firm no he doesn't. What can possibly be funny about that.

 

[Sorinth]

I certainly can if you think RHP is part of the solution.
The point is simple we probably won't be getting another thirty goal scorer this off season.
Should that prevent us from finding other upgrades if possible and even if we do get that player should we stop the rebuild.
It's not a question of prioritizing one way or the other the question is does this player make us a better team.
I'm a very firm no he doesn't. What can possibly be funny about that.

The funny part is you think you can find solutions for a bad team by looking at the players at the bottom of the lineup instead of the top. And claiming it's too hard to do something about the top of the lineup is the same excuses Bergevin used and Hughes proved to be false.

And not that it matters but RHP is one of our most used forwards on the PK, and our PK has been miles better during the games he's played vs the ones he missed. We are 81% on the PK when RHP is in the lineup and 70% when he wasn't. EDIT: And our record is also better with him in the lineup at .488 vs .462

 

[The Great Weal]

He was very good tonight. Who woulda thought.

Everyone had a great game lol. RHP's compete has been nonexistent for most of the year and that's a serious issue for someone who's playstyle works by being competitive.

 

[BozoTheClown]

He’s been a non factor all year.

Roy took RHP place in the lineup.