God people like to complain.. everyone is entitled to their opinion of course, but is it just me or Brière on the 3rd and 4th line, although yeah he's overpaid, has been a really good source of depth scoring. He isn't worst than Lecavalier, yeah he's small but he's been a beast in the playoffs and now, with Vanek, this top 9 is much more balanced. Plus, we have in him a guy that can step up anytime if any of our top 3 centers goes down or is in a slump.... and if he doesn't produce and we want a more physical team, we can always sit him and play bigger players, cause we have the depth... We were able to get a 7 million $ player at the deadline so none of the moves MB has done so far has crippled our ability to add to this team.
Add to that the fact that Tinordi played 20 minutes yesterday and although he made a costly turnover in the 3rd, I thought he played a really good game for the habs... he carried the puck, he was a lot quicker than he was before, I thought we saw a glimpse of what the futur holds with him maybe becoming a solid partner for Subban for a few years... Then you got Beaulieu who was really solid before the olympic break and who will be on this team next year.
Maybe we don't win this year, but I really like the balance the habs have throughout their lineup. When Gorges and Price come back and when Vanek finds his grove with his new team, the way Pacioretty, Desharnais and Gallagher have been playing, I really think we can do damage now.. Maybe I'm overly optimistic, but I just can't wait for the playoffs this year as I feel this team is probably the best we've iced in 20 year and by a wide margin. We have a blend of veteran and young players, we have some skill and now a little more size upfront, maybe not enough, but we're getting there... we have one of the best goalie in the world, two world class defender and a very solid bottom 6 at forward..
