GDT: Toronto @ Montreal - October 14 - 7pm - TVA

[sheed36]

This Habs team is an even bigger mess than what I was expecting. Is everyone in the organization clueless or what? On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being in great shape and 1 being awful how much of a mess do you feel this Habs team top to bottom is really in? The top meaning Molson..

 

[void]

I'm sure DLR gives us a better chance to win than Galchenyuk.

 

[Peanut]

So DLR earned his spot there how?

Hoping for a big game for cap space tonight time to earn his money!

 

[sheed36]

Dlr is awful, wtf ? Shaw and Galchenyuk are better options

It's beyond stupid at this point with what's going on with Galchenyuk. Julien said that Galchenyuk would be give every opportunity to be a center and then MB comes out and says he will be a winger and not a center anymore. How about MB let his coach decide where to play the player. Watching the team has put together MB has much bigger things to worry about than where Galchenyuk plays.

 

[JuicyHam]

As much as I hater MTs constant line blending I'm not digging Julien's stick it out to find chemistry(unless your name is galchenyuk) approach. It's clear he didn't want to break any of the lines up so he just stuck dlr in there until plek is better.

 

[NobleSix]

Just echoing what's already been said: legendary GDT!! Thank you.

And poor Chucky. Until he shows them he's something he's not, they'll never let him be what he is.

He'll never succeed in Montreal. He's being put in a position to fail night in and night out.

He'll go to some other team and put up 60-70 points for the next 10 years and we'll get an old 2nd pair D and a mid round pick that busts.

 

[Habit11]

As much as I hater MTs constant line blending I'm not digging Julien's stick it out to find chemistry(unless your name is galchenyuk) approach. It's clear he didn't want to break any of the lines up so he just stuck dlr in there until plek is better.

This organization chooses to live and die with defensive minded centers. It’s a major part of the reason scoring is such a challenge.

 

[sheed36]

I'm not expecting a win tonight but this is a pretty big game for the Habs. They have their very tough 3 games in 4 nights California road trip coming up after this game and with a lost tonight could very easily go 1-7 or even worse to start this season.

I know it's still very early but you can't fall too far behind with the parity and 3 point games in the NHL these days because it will be very tough to catch up.

 

[WeThreeKings]

DLR outscores Matthews tonight.

 

[Jakomyte]

He'll never succeed in Montreal. He's being put in a position to fail night in and night out.

He'll go to some other team and put up 60-70 points for the next 10 years and we'll get an old 2nd pair D and a mid round pick that busts.

The frustrating thing is, he has ALREADY succeeded in Montreal. He got 30 goals in 2015-2016, most when he was centering the top line between Pacioretty and Gallagher. Then the first half of 2016-2017, he was near a PPG centering one of the top 2 lines between Byron and Radulov.

Then he got injured.

Coming back from his injury, he was put back on the top line for what, a game and a half, then bumped down the lineup. He's just been getting demoted ever since, away from center and playing with less skilled linemates.

I actually thought what was really unfair was after dicking around with Chucky on the wing for the 2nd half of last season, in Game 6 against the Rangers in the playoffs, Julien puts him out for 2 key faceoffs in the dying minutes when we needed a tying goal. He loses both and the Habs are eliminated. Honestly, what a terrible position to put a player in. Tell him for 30+ games that he can't play center, then make him take the most important draws of the season...

This season, his most talented linemate has been Danault. From Day 1 of camp, Mete got paired with Weber. Drouin got paired with Pacioretty. Hudon and Lehkonen were in the top 6. Chucky gets... Danault and Shaw, now Mitchell. Sure, he was on the first PP unit, but put in the high slot where he's meant to battle down low and screen the goalie... which has never been his skill set.

It just doesn't add up to me. The only explanation is that Julien is trying to send him some tough love message or run him out of town, which is a damn shame for a team that has had a dearth of skilled forwards, especially those that can successfully play center, in the last 10-15 years.

 

[Adam Michaels]

I think it's dreadful to have DLR go from a healthy scratch to 2C or 3C depending on time usage while Galchenyuk remains 4LW.

Julien before camp stated that he will experiment with Galchenyuk at center. This is the absolute prime opportunity to do that. And it won't be the case.

I do hope that if he doesn't start centering Byron and Gallagher, that he will be there by game's end.

 

[Andrei79]

This is when you realize a step up from Therrien doesn't mean much.

 

[The Missing Piece]

Amazing gdt very funny and well done. Excellent observations!

 

[MrNasty]

I think you folks are taking Lu's line-up as gospel but DLR was only practicing there this morning because Plekanec is a game-time decision. Doesn't mean he is starting or staying there. Calm down.

 

[MrNasty]

All coaches makes these decisions. Sergachev for example only played 5 mins last night.

This is when you realize a step up from Therrien doesn't mean much.

 

[Andrei79]

All coaches makes these decisions. Sergachev for example only played 5 mins last night.

6 year vet vs 19 year old rookie defenseman.

Great example, impressive insight.

 

[Bryson]

So does Molson use some of that 8.5M in Cap Space to buy the remaining empty seats again?

 

[Seath The Scaleless]

A+ game thread. Had me in tears

 

[Adam Michaels]

So does Molson use some of that 8.5M in Cap Space to buy the remaining empty seats again?

The Cap Space has now become the Sold Out Streak Stratagem.

 

[roy munson]

So does Molson use some of that 8.5M in Cap Space to buy the remaining empty seats again?

Media reporting empty seats for 1st home game + image is everything in that organisation = they bought those seats for real. I don't even doubt that, how sad?

 

[groovejuice]

Julien should get fired for this bull****. How is Galchenyuk not even tried as center. What the ****!!

A team really couldn't do much more to lower the value of a player. It's quite extraordinary. Neanderthal thinking in a modern game. Next thing will be to have bearskin uniforms and clubs instead of hockey sticks.

 

[Saxon]

Great corsi for, out shooting the other teams, " just bad pick luck" B.S.!! This team needs more finish in the top six......... meanwhile Chucky is on the fourth line....... that's genius level stupid right there......

 

[yianik]

So as it stands, we have a 1st line, a 3rd line and 2 4th lines.

Is it CJ being an absolute block head, or is he bowing to the MB decree of Chucky not being a center ?

What a great opportunity to give Chucky a chance at center with some skill at wing.

LOL. We need goals and we are putting arguably our worst offensive center on the 2nd line because that is much better than playing Chucky and his weak defensive game there.

Don't we get rid of people who put themselves before the team, or does that just apply to players ?

Somebody is being a complete and absolute idiot.

 

[Adam Michaels]

When Michel Bergeron makes sense in his article, you know there's a problem.

He said that he believes Bergevin is badly consulted as he's made a lot of bad decisions lately. He says that if he's MB, he and CJ would sit down just the two of them, no assistants and decide what needs to be done.

He also writes that if it was up to him, he'd put Galchenyuk at center between Hudon and Lehkonen. I would be all about such a line. And he'd put Plekanec on the 4th line as the aging veteran.

Pacioretty - Drouin - Gallagher
Hudon - Galchenyuk - Lehkonen
Byron - Danault - Shaw
De La Rose - Plekanec - Hemsky/Mitchell

And to me, if Plekanec is your 4C and Danault your 3C, you're in very good shape.

 

[PhysicX]

We won't win the game but we win the GDT! I actually watch Survivor so, for me, this is superb.

Same. Big Survivor fan.