Montreal Canadiens

[ericdaoust]

I'm guessing that it will be Markov/Diaz and Subban/Kaberle on the PP starting Wednesday with Gorges/Markov/Subban/Bouillon/Emelin leading the way on the PK. For Subban's sake Markov has to stay healthy. I would not like the idea of him being forced back onto PK1.

[habs83]

I'm guessing that it will be Markov/Diaz and Subban/Kaberle on the PP starting Wednesday with Gorges/Markov/Subban/Bouillon/Emelin leading the way on the PK. For Subban's sake Markov has to stay healthy. I would not like the idea of him being forced back onto PK1.

You have 7 Dmen listed there...one of Bouillon or Kaberle will have to sit. My money is on Kaberle.

Markov-diaz with Bouillon-Subban to start... but I could see Markov playing almost the entire 2 minutes.

Bouillon-Emelin-Markov-Gorges will see top minutes on the PK until Subban regain his game shape and understand the system, then he will be a main contributor there as well.

[ericdaoust]

You have 7 Dmen listed there...one of Bouillon or Kaberle will have to sit. My money is on Kaberle.

Markov-diaz with Bouillon-Subban to start... but I could see Markov playing almost the entire 2 minutes.

Bouillon-Emelin-Markov-Gorges will see top minutes on the PK until Subban regain his game shape and understand the system, then he will be a main contributor there as well.

Bouillon is terrible on the PP. I would rather give that spot to a forward, and I am rarely in favor of that.

[ericdaoust]

Not sure if I wrote it here but I certainly wrote it more than once on the forum, but I was certain that as soon as Subban accepted to sign for 2 years Bergevin would be more flexible on dollar amount. It was a tough negotiation because so many factors were included: Subban's production, Subban's negatives, Subban's overwhelming responsibilities, The Habs' insane amount of garbage on the payroll, the lowering salary cap, the uncertainty of the salary cap beyond next year and the contracts signed by the other RFA defensemen.

[ericdaoust]

Player of the game: Andrei Markov. He continues to run the ship and it's going in a good direction. The power play has been outstanding.

Honourable mention: Alex Galchenyuk. He had another two assists and finished plus-2. He and Brendan Gallagher missed a ton of chances too. Every time they are on the ice good things happen.

Goaltending: Carey Price had another off nice statistically but I also saw a lot of great saves mixed in. It's not about what happened, it's about making the next save.

Alexei Emelin could have killed Evander Kane if the stanchions were not modified. He finished with a game-high eight hits.

Two more points for Rafael Diaz, but his run on the top PP line will eventually come to an end because PK Subban will be in his spot at some point.

Something is wrong with Lars Eller. Maybe he was more comfortable a year ago when the expectations were lower. He is trending in the wrong direction.

Josh Gorges had six blocked shots.

[LeTrefle]

Plekanec-Gionta-Bourque on 1st PP.
But I like what Therrien did for the second unit: Cole with the kids. Desharnais is off right now while the kid are hot.

[newfcollins]

Budaj gets the start tonight.

[ericdaoust]

Budaj gets the start tonight.

Hopefully the Habs can keep scoring goals. Go Markov!

[habs83]

Emelin is impressing me big time since the beginning of the season. He plays with a lot of confidence and his hits are so hard.

With Subban finally with the team, the emergence of Emelin, the steadiness of Gorges and the healthy knees of Markov the Habs' top 4 on D is pretty impressive.

When Subban will be in game shape, it will mean that either him or Markov will be on the ice for about 50 minutes per game. I love that thought.

Barring injury, this defense and Price should keep the Habs in almost every game this season.

[ross10019]

Plekanec-Gionta-Bourque on 1st PP.
But I like what Therrien did for the second unit: Cole with the kids. Desharnais is off right now while the kid are hot.

As a Desharnais owner, I'm a tad worried about that, especially since the even strength points will be that much harder to come by with Patches out for 3 more weeks. Therrien, after the game, said that Desharnais was "trying to find himself". I think ultimately he'll bounce back and have a productive season, but a few more games of this and the 60-65 pt pace projections I had for him are out the window.

[ross10019]

Emelin is impressing me big time since the beginning of the season. He plays with a lot of confidence and his hits are so hard.

With Subban finally with the team, the emergence of Emelin, the steadiness of Gorges and the healthy knees of Markov the Habs' top 4 on D is pretty impressive.

When Subban will be in game shape, it will mean that either him or Markov will be on the ice for about 50 minutes per game. I love that thought.

Barring injury, this defense and Price should keep the Habs in almost every game this season.

Yes, I think the D is underrated, especially since you also have a pretty decent Bouillon/Diaz/Kaberle/Weber as 5th to 8th on the depth chart (yes, Kaberle's an albatross and will be bought out, but as a 6th/7th Dman I'd take a puckmover like him).

All of it hinges on Markov's health, as he is vital to the fortunes of this team at this stage, anyone can see that based on what the Habs have done when he's been injured. But with relative good health on D and Price there, and with the decent depth at forward (assumiing continued solid contribution from Galch/Gallagher and given a very solid 4th line situation), the Habs could surprise and slip into the bottom playoff spots. It will still be tough but I think they should beat out teams like Florida, Carolina, NYI, Winnipeg and Toronto and it will come down to a battle with teams like Ottawa, Buffalo maybe Washington given how bad they've looked, and possibly even Philly, given their major issues on D.

[ddp]

Yes, I think the D is underrated, especially since you also have a pretty decent Bouillon/Diaz/Kaberle/Weber as 5th to 8th on the depth chart (yes, Kaberle's an albatross and will be bought out, but as a 6th/7th Dman I'd take a puckmover like him).

All of it hinges on Markov's health, as he is vital to the fortunes of this team at this stage, anyone can see that based on what the Habs have done when he's been injured. But with relative good health on D and Price there, and with the decent depth at forward (assumiing continued solid contribution from Galch/Gallagher and given a very solid 4th line situation), the Habs could surprise and slip into the bottom playoff spots. It will still be tough but I think they should beat out teams like Florida, Carolina, NYI, Winnipeg and Toronto and it will come down to a battle with teams like Ottawa, Buffalo maybe Washington given how bad they've looked, and possibly even Philly, given their major issues on D.

The thought of Philly landing Seth Jones or 1 of the mooseheads is scary.

Does Kaberle have this season left and another? I thought he had a 2 yr deal. Won't be bought out if it was 2yrs.

[habs83]

The thought of Philly landing Seth Jones or 1 of the mooseheads is scary.

Does Kaberle have this season left and another? I thought he had a 2 yr deal. Won't be bought out if it was 2yrs.

There is another year after this one, but regardless, there is still one penalty-free buyout available to the Habs this summer. He will definitely be bought out.

[ericdaoust]

Team record: 4-2-0 (8 points)

Player of the game: Andrei Markov. He was one of the only bright spots with a power play assist on the lone goal and several great defensive plays when the game was still competitive.

Goaltending: Petr Budaj 22/27 (.815). He was not great but backups should not be asked to steal a game after the team completely stops playing. He can only do so much.

Goat of the game: Ryan White. Once again he takes things too far and this time it hurts the team. His double-minor (roughing, unsporstmanlike) led to the Sens scoring two power play goals. Things fell off the rails (not in the dobberhockey kind of way) after that series of events.

The Desharnais line continues to struggle. It's not alarming since we're only a handful of games into the season but still bears watching. I am not sure how this plays out but I am guessing there will be some line shuffling between them and the Galchenyuk line. I think Lars Eller ends up being the goat. After the way things have gone I am not sure about his future with the team. He might stick around but the team has depth up front so where will the ice time go?

The Plekanec line had a strong game. They were the only unit that really worked. Plekanec scored the goal.

The Glachenyuk line was not very noticeable tonight. Not bad, but they did not stand out.

[habs83]

Team record: 4-2-0 (8 points)

Player of the game: Andrei Markov. He was one of the only bright spots with a power play assist on the lone goal and several great defensive plays when the game was still competitive.

Goaltending: Petr Budaj 22/27 (.815). He was not great but backups should not be asked to steal a game after the team completely stops playing. He can only do so much.

Goat of the game: Ryan White. Once again he takes things too far and this time it hurts the team. His double-minor (roughing, unsporstmanlike) led to the Sens scoring two power play goals. Things fell off the rails (not in the dobberhockey kind of way) after that series of events.

The Desharnais line continues to struggle. It's not alarming since we're only a handful of games into the season but still bears watching. I am not sure how this plays out but I am guessing there will be some line shuffling between them and the Galchenyuk line. I think Lars Eller ends up being the goat. After the way things have gone I am not sure about his future with the team. He might stick around but the team has depth up front so where will the ice time go?

The Plekanec line had a strong game. They were the only unit that really worked. Plekanec scored the goal.

The Glachenyuk line was not very noticeable tonight. Not bad, but they did not stand out.

I think that Prust is the main reason why his line wasn't noticeable. Given the type of player that he is, there will be games like this one where his limited offensive skills will be more apparent, and I'm not only talking about the two amazing chances that he missed, where Anderson stole him. I'm refering to pure offensive instinct. He does not know what to do with the puck on his stick in the offensive zone, and a lot of plays were broken because of poor passes, bad decisions and limited vision. The kids are right were they should be, but Prust does not always see them.

I'm not saying to get him out of this line, because he does a great job protecting the young guys, but if Gallagher and Galchenyuk had a talented winger tonight, they would have hit the scoresheet for sure.

And as you said, White had an awful outing. We all know his role, but he needs to be more disciplined, otherwise he will miss a game or two pretty soon. You can't go to the box that many times without paying the price sooner or later.