Post-Game Talk: Who are these guys? Habs stamp out Bolts 5-2!

[Runner77]

Having Suzuki and Evans on the team is incredibly important to support all these young Cs coming in. It's like we didn't learn the lessons of this very season. We need vet support. I am not worried about Beck eventually replacing Evans, but you can't count on that right away. Sign Evans now, and if the kids can fill his shoes later on, just trade him!

I keep reading how Evans is a 4th C but maybe he’s now a middle six C. Obviously that shooting percentage is unsustainable but the rest of his game might be.

 

[Goalfield13]

I keep reading how Evans is a 4th C but maybe he’s now a middle six C. Obviously that shooting percentage is unsustainable but the rest of his game might be.

IMO, he has always been very useful to this team. I bet if you asked Suzuki, he would tell you how important Evans is to ease his load. People tend to not put value on bottom 6 players who can actually do it well. "You can put anyone on the PK" is what I was told. Yeah, but to play it well and in a clutch situation is another thing. Evans has shown his value in the playoffs as well. I don't even care about his points. That's just the cherry on top this year.

 

[JoelWarlord]

I have been hoping we'd extend Evans going back to the summer when there was talk about him being too soft, etc. but if the shooting bender continues much longer he might price himself out. I love the guy and I don't really "want" to trade him but he's playing at a 50-55P pace right now and it just takes one team getting desperate enough to pay him like a low-end 2C for it to no longer make sense for us.

 

[Runner77]

Habs have so many picks in the drafts coming up that trading Savard imo won't happen unless it's a trade that is simply too good to pass up which I don't expect. Who cares about adding a 3rd round pick for Savard? Savard isn't being moved, maybe not even Dvorak who is also playing some really good hockey currently.

We’re at the stage where bundling the many picks can help acquire better, higher picks. Extra picks are more valuable as currency rather than executing them, as we’ve seen with the trade that preceded the Hage selection.

 

[salbutera]

I keep reading how Evans is a 4th C but maybe he’s now a middle six C. Obviously that shooting percentage is unsustainable but the rest of his game might be.

Shhhhh…Unless they were drafted as elite talents a sizable portion of Habs fandom don’t believe in growth at NHL level

 

[Paddy17]

Caufield to me doesn’t get enough love on here. Makes something happen every time he has the puck on his stick. Battling for pucks. Skating’s fantastic. The production is there too.

It’s weird he’s consistently our most dangerous forward and barely anyone seems to care lol. Dude looks like a legit star now

He's the play driver on his line right now. I've noticed that he added a physical element to his game, this year. He's made some solid hits from time to time, and he's winning board battles too. He's just not the flavor of the month anymore, so fans don't notice as much.

I have been hoping we'd extend Evans going back to the summer when there was talk about him being too soft, etc. but if the shooting bender continues much longer he might price himself out. I love the guy and I don't really "want" to trade him but he's playing at a 50-55P pace right now and it just takes one team getting desperate enough to pay him like a low-end 2C for it to no longer make sense for us.

Evans is worth a 1st round pick right now. A player like him is gold for a contender in the playoffs. The question will be if he's more useful at his new salary than that 1st in the upcoming years. All depends on where that first is, and the salary he'll demand, I guess.

 

[BLONG7]

Habs have so many picks in the drafts coming up that trading Savard imo won't happen unless it's a trade that is simply too good to pass up which I don't expect. Who cares about adding a 3rd round pick for Savard? Savard isn't being moved, maybe not even Dvorak who is also playing some really good hockey currently.

I do think we may have some very pleasant problems on our hands right now.

 

[BLONG7]

I started calculating since their 7-5 win in BUF because that's where I feel they started to win more often than they'd lose. Habs have played 19 games with that game included. They've gone 11-7-1 in that span for 23 pts out of a possible 38. They've been playing .605 hockey the last several weeks. And 8 of their 11 wins were in regulation.

In fact, in those 19 games, Habs are 12th OA. And they're +8 in goal differential (64 GF vs. 55 GA).

They've had the 16th best PP since then. Middle of the pack, but not bottom third. And they've had the 5th best PK in that span. Their FOW is 50.1%, which is middle of the pack.



And got a 2nd round pick in the process, as well

Great info........thanks for providing us with such great info, much appreciated.

 

[Leon Lucius Black]

He’s not a 3C. I don’t get why people are falling for the insane shooting percentage. He’s not a good enough playmaker to be a 3C unless we were the 2008 Penguins with Crosby and Malkin as our top two centres. But our centres are Suzuki (barely PPG) and Dach (30 points). You don’t pay a guy playing way over his head when he’s shown nothing remotely close to this for his first 5 seasons. He’s not Sean Couturier.

After the last decade of Bergevin overpaying bottom six guys, I am surprised to see people acting like Evans is a must sign. GMs are always overpaying UFA C and Evans seems like a prime target for the next overpayment, luckily Hughes has seemed to prefer to prioritize paying top 6 forwards and top 4 D so I don't see him giving Evans a huge contract.

Heineman replaced Lehkonen at a fraction of the cost and soon guys like Beck/Kapanen will replace Evans at a much lower cost.

 

[Hins77]

It is unbelievable how the Barron Vs Carrier trade has had an impact on the team.
How can a 5’11 \ 180 lbs guy can be 10x more physical than a 6’2 200 lbs guy, how a guy being known as a defensive specialist can move the puck 10x better than an offensive specialist, how cutting a few minutes off Matheson’s time has cut down on turnovers etc etc…Hugo got this one right.

Trotz is a bad GM. Sorry preds fans. We traded lehkonen few years back vs A promising Barron at 19 years old and a second round pick. Today. We traded a 23 years old Barron vs a top 4 dman. We maybe lost the trade lehk vs Barron. But we win big time vs Carrier. So there is no lost here at the end.

 

[rickthegoon]

I have been hoping we'd extend Evans going back to the summer when there was talk about him being too soft, etc. but if the shooting bender continues much longer he might price himself out. I love the guy and I don't really "want" to trade him but he's playing at a 50-55P pace right now and it just takes one team getting desperate enough to pay him like a low-end 2C for it to no longer make sense for us.

The way Evans is playing now, some gm will definitly be calling Hughes before the tdl.
Of course there are not as many penalties called during the playoffs, but having a pk specialist of that caliber is a must have for a team making its final push to get playoff spot.
He’s just coming to his prime and no longer considered an injury prone player.
I agree with you ; he’s currently playing his way out of Montreal… no more team friendly deals for Evans.

 

[Ghetto Sangria]

After the last decade of Bergevin overpaying bottom six guys, I am surprised to see people acting like Evans is a must sign. GMs are always overpaying UFA C and Evans seems like a prime target for the next overpayment, luckily Hughes has seemed to prefer to prioritize paying top 6 forwards and top 4 D so I don't see him giving Evans a huge contract.

Heineman replaced Lehkonen at a fraction of the cost and soon guys like Beck/Kapanen will replace Evans at a much lower cost.

Heineman has replaced Lehkonen ? 3 seasons later and only his offensive impact. Not overall play. This is the problem with trading away all our useful vets. Who replaces them? Will beck or Kapanen hop right in and replace evans next season? Unlikely. So does that mean this team takes a step back next season because we gain a future asset, but are immediately worse? That seems backwards to me considering our young core is established and needs to start improving.

Armia can likely be immediately replaced. Savard and Dvo, too. Evans is another story. Would I pay him 4x4? That's a bit rich. I'd go 5 years for less cap personally. But if there is a chance to get him at a reasonable contract, I'd chose him over the future asset based on our window. We should either extend him or trade him at the TDL.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Heineman has replaced Lehkonen ? 3 seasons later and only his offensive impact. Not overall play. This is the problem with trading away all our useful vets. Who replaces them? Will beck or Kapanen hop right in and replace evans next season? Unlikely. So does that mean this team takes a step back next season because we gain a future asset, but are immediately worse? That seems backwards to me considering our young core is established and needs to start improving.

Armia can likely be immediately replaced. Savard and Dvo, too. Evans is another story. Would I pay him 4x4? That's a bit rich. I'd go 5 years for less cap personally. But if there is a chance to get him at a reasonable contract, I'd chose him over the future asset based on our window. We should either extend him or trade him at the TDL.

Its not coincidence that the defense looks way better with Carrier.

We can't just go from Evans and Dvorak to Beck and Kapanen. Its not like Demidov where we can give him soft match ups, focus on scoring etc

Youd be tasking Beck and Kapanen to take hard defensive match ups. It's a recipe for disaster. Let them grow into that role over time.

Dvorak sucks and is definitely signing in the USA. That leaves Evans as the only option to retain. Otherwise you are paying for a UFA, and you're gonna overpay them the same you're overpaying Evans.

 

[Runner77]

My captain.

 

[Rapala]

We’re at the stage where bundling the many picks can help acquire better, higher picks. Extra picks are more valuable as currency rather than executing them, as we’ve seen with the trade that preceded the Hage selection.

Decent picks will always be the coin of the realm we talk about the shiny new toy syndrome every year.
It's actually hilarious because the majority of those picks lose value almost immediately.
LOL it's kind of like what happens when you drive a new car off the lot.

 

[BLONG7]

My captain.

Loved the hit on Kooch !!!

 

[le_sean]

Those players will not be as good as Evans for years, you don't just walk into the NHL and play that way. Expect a huge learning curve and years for them to adapt.

You don’t think they could get 28 points in a season? That’s his career high. Unless you’re thinking this year isn’t an aberration, which it obviously is. But I would say they could easily get that total in Year 2. Both are far more talented, far more intelligent.

 

[EveryDay]

My captain.

Do you have the replay of these hits?

 

[Runner77]

Do you have the replay of these hits?

Unfortunately not but here’s hoping one of our enterprising fans, does.

 

[ReHabs]

After the last decade of Bergevin overpaying bottom six guys, I am surprised to see people acting like Evans is a must sign. GMs are always overpaying UFA C and Evans seems like a prime target for the next overpayment, luckily Hughes has seemed to prefer to prioritize paying top 6 forwards and top 4 D so I don't see him giving Evans a huge contract.

Heineman replaced Lehkonen at a fraction of the cost and soon guys like Beck/Kapanen will replace Evans at a much lower cost.

It’s Grinder’s Glow. On a bad or tanking team there will be players who perform better than expected — fans grow attached and want to reward them. Now add in Jake’s injury issues, crazy high sh% this season, and the fact it is a contract year and you have a very high risk package on whatever contract he signs.

He’s a trade-first-and-then-we’ll-see case like I’ve never seen before. We simply have to cash-in at the deadline.

If Evans is dollar focussed (and he should be, given his injury history) he knows he has to cash-in as a free agent as well. Sean Monahan did exactly that, and more power to him.

 

[CHwest]

IMO, he has always been very useful to this team. I bet if you asked Suzuki, he would tell you how important Evans is to ease his load. People tend to not put value on bottom 6 players who can actually do it well. "You can put anyone on the PK" is what I was told. Yeah, but to play it well and in a clutch situation is another thing. Evans has shown his value in the playoffs as well. I don't even care about his points. That's just the cherry on top this year.

He is the type of player that can turn a contender short a lower line player into a cup winner, if a cup contender wants him I would rather have a good prospect than a late pick.

 

[TennisMenace]

Took them a looooong time to see that. They should really check this board more often. The wealth of observations and feedback they can rely on to make decisions is staggering. It's almost criminal they don't utilize all this intellectual capital that is available here free of charge.

N’est-ce-pas

 

[Sorinth]

Took them a looooong time to see that. They should really check this board more often. The wealth of observations and feedback they can rely on to make decisions is staggering. It's almost criminal they don't utilize all this intellectual capital that is available here free of charge.

Any GM looking to social media for how to run the team should be fired ASAP.

 

[OneSharpMarble]

You don’t think they could get 28 points in a season? That’s his career high. Unless you’re thinking this year isn’t an aberration, which it obviously is. But I would say they could easily get that total in Year 2. Both are far more talented, far more intelligent.

Evans game is not about points, do I think Beck can walk into the NHL and be on the first PK? Hell no, and I don't think it's fair to him to give him that level of responsibility so early

 

[chapeau]

Beck is likely going to be a better Evans, in a year or two.

Beck *might be a better Evans, in a year or two.